weekend update

we've had a busy week completing a number of projects around the house. first, we realized after creating the julia child wall that the kitchen was in need of a paint job. in anticipation of my family & ben's grandmother coming to visit in june, we decided to get right to work. after about 5 minutes in the paint department at bauhaus, it became clear that what we really needed was a yellow kitchen:

i love yellow kitchens! and am very much enjoying mine. next up in the kitchen will be the installation of a new cabinet, then a little re-organizing and it should be complete.

in other areas of the house, we picked out curtains for the guest room which were installed yesterday. i think they're pretty cute:

and spent much of saturday worked on a few re-organizing/beautifying projects in various nooks & crannies around here. after this was all done, we deserved a treat. so, i baked a strawberry rhubarb cake

and invited adam & julianne over to enjoy it wih us.

now we are feeling ready for our visitors... and just wishing they'd come earlier!

to my sister on her 35th birthday

today, you would have been 35. another milestone birthday. i think you would have probably been a little depressed about getting nearer to the big 4-0, but you usually had a pretty good attitude about these things. and, as you always proudly pointed out, you never looked your age.

we would have thrown you a party, or had a sister's weekend, like we did for your 30th, when we stayed on the lake in cooperstown. just us three. sarah and i threw an impromptu aretha franklin performance, singing & dancing along to her greatest hits, as you sat skeptical, slightly embarrassed for us, watching from the couch. you laughed with us though, took it all in stride... your two younger sisters, sooo dramatic.

we'd be planning your trip to turkey, your first, and all of the celebrating we'd do as a family.

now, when i cook something you would like - which is not very often, as you were a very picky eater - i like to pretend i'm cooking it for you. i think of the time when i bought salmon to make us a special new year's eve dinner, then learned you didn't like salmon, so i made you a cheeseburger instead. then you found a hair in it-my hair- and wouldn't eat a bite. we could barely stay awake until midnight that night, didn't finish the bottle of champagne after watching the ball drop.

on your ninth birthday, you got a michael jackson barbie doll among the other gifts you opened at breakfast. you were obsessed with him, hung his mail-ordered glove from the ceiling in your room, spinning in the breeze next to the unicorn and rainbows you were quickly outgrowing. being the impatient 5 year old i was, i took the doll out to the backyard while you were at school and lost his tiny microphone in the grass before you'd had a chance to use it.

on this may 25th, i want to celebrate with you, to honor you. i want bake you your favorite cake and watch you blow out the candles after a champagne toast. i want to be sarcastic with you; hear you laughing from the other room. i want to help you pick out a dress to wear in my wedding. i want you to know ben better and meet his family.

i want to sneak up behind you while you're reading the sunday paper, perched on a kitchen stool, poke you in the back and make you jump with surprise, shrieking my name. i want you to fall in love completely with someone, and tell me all of his best and worst habits. i want to sit around making fun of each other and pull your hair until you've had enough and your eyes go wide. i want you to tickle my knees until i laugh so hard i can't breathe; to hear stories from childhood that only you remember best. i want to do your make-up and share beauty products, sit up talking well past our bedtime. i want to hear you say my nickname in your mocking tone... kahhhtyyyaaaah. i want to tell secrets in soft candlelight on summer nights in the back garden.

mostly, i just want you to be here, celebrating with us, on your 35th birthday.

happy birthday, to my oldest sister.

my julia child wall

#5234390824 reason why i love ben: my new julia child wall.

we recently purchased a very nice set of stainless steel pots & pans. i adore these pots and pans and how effortless they make cooking (though clean-up, not so much). but upon unpacking them, we were faced with the dilemma of where to store them without the risk of scratching & damaging them.

then i remembered: julia child! in her highly-functional kitchen, which i aim to mimic, all of the cookware was hung for easy-access. she even outlined them with a magic marker (i won't go that far):

i explained it to ben, and he got right to work...

...and now i have this! thanks, dear : )

somebody's getting mawwwiiied

since ben and i have successfully set a date for our turkish wedding ceremony, we have been scrambling to prepare for the july 2nd ceremony. americans probably think we're nuts (at times, i'd be inclined to agree), but in turkey it's less common to plan these things so far in advance. however, that doesn't make it any less stressful!

getting legally married in turkey is no easier than in the states. we've embarked on what has felt a bit like a scavenger hunt (though, not as fun), beginning with shopping for invitations. in turkey, invitations are big, and bold, and... lots of times a lil' over the top. fortunately, we were able to choose an invite that at least comes in an envelope and not in a box. next step is to organize the list of hundreds of guests who will receive the invitations-- by hand delivery.

there was the affidavit for eligibility to marry in turkey that i had to visit the consular section of the embassy to obtain and have notarized. going to the consular section of the embassy is never fun (picture the dmv but with a LOT more security). luckily this visit was fairly short and sweet, and i even met some other kind folks, including a kid traveling through turkey who had gone to college in my hometown. small world. essentially the affidavit states my parent's full names and whether or not i have been married before. nope! easy-peasy.

then i photocopied the document and brought it to the ministry of foreign affairs, where my original document was stamped and signed off by various officials. this is always an important part of any legal process in turkey, though i was glad that this one was much less complicated than when i got my driver's license (which took weeks). now the document is complete and ready for delivery to the municipality which will marry us.

then ben and i visited a health clinic near our home where we had blood drawn to determine if we are carriers of sickle-cell anemia. the clinic was tiny, and their resources very limited (no band-aids, and had run out of paper to print our documents so we quickly drove around the corner to a shop where ben had 200 or so copies made- they were so grateful when we returned with the extras they could use for other patients), but the staff so, so kind. the two ladies who drew my blood kept smiling at us, then told ben and i that we 'go very well together.' then they turned to each other and said i'm like a barbie doll (it's the ridiculously pale skin). once our blood was drawn, they stamped our documents and we left- the service was free of charge.

now ben and i are almost ready to be married in turkey, with a few minor details yet to be taken care of. oh yeah, and i guess we should also begin now to mentally prepare ourselves for actually being married...!

holiday

yesterday was a holiday here in turkey, called 'youth & sports day,' marking 91 years since ataturk, turkey's founder, landed in samsun to launch the fight for national independence. to ben and i this meant a bonus day off from work, spent going to the movies & then lunch and margaritas with adam and julianne... fun!

for the kids, it meant a day off from school, though some, like those who attend the school across from our building, still had to show up for a morning assembly before enjoying the rest of the day. as i was sipping my morning coffee yesterday, i kept hearing strange noises coming from the school, and finally went to the window to find out what it was: turkey's next emerging rap star, taking advantage of the open mic to display his beat boxing talents for all within ear shot. it certainly gave me a laugh...

wassup. wassup. wassup.

heyyyy good lookin'

one major challenge that comes with living in turkey (and, i'd imagine, any place far away from where you came) is learning to navigate meals with entirely different (read: limited) ingredients at your fingertips. not only is there no where near the variety of- pretty much anything (picture the orange juice aisle in any supermarket in the states and just continue from there) that you'd find in america, but in addition, all of the produce in turkey is seasonal. meaning, produce isn't mass-produced year-round from greenhouses, nor is it shipped into turkey from other parts of the world. our options include what is grown here in turkey, and only when it is naturally in-season. this presents a slight problem for someone like me who loves to cook, entertain, and try new recipes.

heyyy sweet baby dohhncha think maybe we could find us a brand new recipeee

my most recent disappointment was discovering that red onions are not available year-round. it's something that's been on my grocery list for the past several weeks - red onions - because i love the flavor they add to an ordinarily simple sandwich, or salad. i assumed the grocer that i typically visit on my way home from work had run out of them when i only found white. but then, when i really needed them this weekend for a recipe that called for shallots (not available in turkey), i went searching, only to find that they are in fact a seasonal vegetable, and, according to the produce guy whom i spoke with, 'they're not here yet.' this was slightly maddening, considering that using them as a substitute for shallots was a stretch, and now i'd have to omit that from the recipe entirely. these are the little disappointments you just get used to when living in a foreign land.

homemade pesto pasta, with plenty of extra garlic & cracked red pepper

luckily, over time, i've learned that there are many substitutions that i can utilize (such as the use of a particular sour yogurt that has more of a butter-like consistency, in place of sour cream). that, combined with the rare shopping trip to the commissary to stock up on things like cheddar cheese, shallots, limes & frozen pork products, have helped me to get around most obstacles.

i've also acquired a habit of scanning food blogs and online magazines and the ny times, for fresh ideas (radishes! turns out you can do a lot with radishes, including roasting them, which is good because they are a year-round vegetable in turkey. too bad they cut off the greens or i'd cook those up, too).

roasted potato salad with rosemary and sweet red peppers

but i think what's really happening is that i've slowly succumb to the lifestyle change that is a seasonal pantry, served up with a side of plane-jane orange juice. that's right: you won't find any extracalciumvitamin-denrichedsome pulpsplenda-sweetened orange juice in this girl's fridge. and i understand now that when i see asparagus in the store, i need to put it on the menu as much as possible for the next few weeks, before it's gone. and to make dishes that are a bit simpler, more fresh, requiring less substitutions and less ingredients, in general. come to think of it, this is probably what we should all be doing, anyway.

and, when in doubt and at a complete loss for creativity, it doesn't get much more simple- or delicious- than a good old-fashioned fruit pie.

strawberry rhubarb pie

an addition to today's post

upon reading the post below, ben still couldn't believe i was right about the protest rat not holding a cigar. in fact, he went on to say that he's SEEN them. in new york. not only holding a cigar, but also wearing a tux, and that it's supposed to represent the boss that is being protested against (because, as we all know, bosses ALWAYS smoke cigars... and wear tuxedos).

i'm just saying.

because it's thursday, some benisms

here are a few of the latest benisms... happy thursday everyone!

:: while discussing the protests that took place in front of our home office in albany this week, and more particularly the large inflatable rat that was pictured in the new york times

ben: oh yeah, the rat with the big cigar, right?

me: what?

ben: it's a rat that has a big fat cigar between its fingers... that's what the unions usually protest with, right?

me: there's no cigar, just a rat. where did you come up with the cigar?

ben: leave me alone.

:: standing in the kitchen, waiting for me to finish dinner

me: ben, get your hand out of that cheese, it's for dinner.

ben: i didn't! (gesturing to the container the cheese is in) it was gonna break, so i prevented it.

me: that's a lie. next time, think of a lie i might actually believe.

ben: i did, but it was too late.

me: oh yeah? what was the better lie?

ben: (quiet for a few seconds) ...that was a lie.

::eating a fish dinner at the antalya resort last weekend, next to a koy pond

so, do you think if we threw some of our fish in the pond one of these guys would eat it? or would they be like 'no, that's one of our own, that would be cannibalism.'

antalya get-away

on friday night ben and i flew down to antalya to spend the weekend at an all-inclusive resort. these are quite common on the mediterranean and aegean coasts of turkey, and luckily for us, close enough to go for the weekend. after a little over an hour of travel we arrived at the lovely green palace hotel, where our main concern was which restaurant to eat in, and where to sit on the beach. t'was marvelous! and the perfect mini-vacation before the start of our busy summer.

we spent the first night exploring the hotel grounds, which were especially beautiful when all lit up at night

of course, any turkish resort would not be complete without some bizarre nightly entertainment-- the europeans love it! we weren't sure what this lady was doing & didn't stick around long enough to find out.
we caught our first glimpse of the beach in the moonlight
the view from our balcony at night
and in the morning
our saturday mostly consisted of this:
it was nice to see ben so relaxed

zee germans take their sun tanning to a whole new, sometimes topless, level. these ladies were at it all day, every day.
the beautiful hotel grounds...
delicious tropical drinks...

...and one fabulous fish dinner made our weekend get-away complete. here's to the start of a wonderful, if incredibly busy, summer. cheers!

speaking of my summer wardrobe...

ain't these fun?!

there is a touch of grey outside my window today... it could be clouds, or it could just be the pollution has accumulated from the lack of rain. either way, i don't care. i'm wearing cute shoes! and tomorrow? i'm headed to a beautiful city by the sea. and it's thursday! happy thursday!

the perfect weekend

ben and i spent a very low-key first weekend back in ankara. it didn't consist of much, aside from lounging, baking, and hanging with friends. how refreshing it was to not have a million things to do for the first time in well over a month!

on friday nite we hit up a new american-style bistro where the owner, a friend, ordered up samples of the new cuisine for us to critique. i must say, it's nice when your opinion is appreciated, and much nicer when lots of good food is involved! after ben and i had talked all day about looking forward to spending a night on the town, we were home by nine, utterly exhausted. yep! we're old.

saturday started off with a trip to the beauty salon for a long-overdue mani/pedi. i returned home and made a rhubarb cake, recipe courtesy of one of my favorite cooking blogs.

what a treat to have fresh rhubarb (thanks adam for buying it from the commissary!)

and turn it into this! looks like a pie, but the crust is actually made from cake dough... go figure.
later we headed over to adam & julianne's for dinner. we hadn't seen them since getting back from the states and it was great to kick back and catch up with one another. adam showed us his sparring chickens... turns out standing them up on beer cans roasts them to a tender, juicy perfection. delish!
kathryn did the impossible and got even CUTER while we were away
and kept ben and i entertained, as we sipped our kentucky derby-inspired mint juleps and enjoyed some delicious basil and lemon zesty-ricotta-rific bruschetta. dinner is always a treat at the price's!
but seriously, i just loooove that face.
and ben was really happy to find she's gotten over her fear of him-- shaving probably helped
a wonderful evening was had. sunday was spent reorganizing my summer wardrobe and reading through my new cookbooks, all of which i would highly recommend (esp. this, this, and this) and pretty much gearing up for a summer of fabulous fashion with plenty of baking and cooking goin' on... stay tuned!