I didn't know my specialty eggs with potatoes was the famous "Tortilla de Patatas" loved by the Spanish until I was told so (http://www.euroresidentes.com/Recetas/tortilla_patatas.htm). So not knowingly I was actually cooking a Spanish dish. I was also told that I would find myself if I go to Spain! Why not?

Speaking of cooking, it wouldn't be fair if I don't mention the French Onion Soup that I so eagerly cooked after tasting it for the first time in Zikhron Ya'aqov in Israel. The people who tried my soup would know as they loved it (asking for the second plate).

Last night, after some time of not cooking I spontaneously decided to cook for the evening meal. But this time I must confess the Tortellini i tried to do was not all that successfull. Well, at least I tried..

Sometimes you really try hard and it just doesn't happen, then perhaps you need to let go...

Mayfly

The common mayfly has a life expectancy of just one day, but is he miserable about it? Not one bit...
For those of you who may have missed it... i love it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvC_KHU4AqE&NR=1

http://www.vodafonemayfly.co.uk/mayfly.swf

Keeping in shape

Me, eating healthy food

For those of you who might be concerned about me keeping my figure, there you go... Me, eating healthy food and keeping perfectly in shape... heh ...

Hot Day

Woke up early this morning to have a fresh start and vote in the general elections, as they had previously warned people about how hot it was going to be today... I was clever to do that, as it is now so hot in the mid day, you can't go out...

I was walking back after the voting experience, and I kept on seeing cats on the street lying in different positions, passed out from the hot.. (poor animals)

My specialty eggs with potatoes

Got back home and prepared a nice breakfast, this is my specialty; eggs with cubic potatoes and spices (yes, I can cook), together with classic turkish breakfast elements (like tomatoes, cheese, olives, cucumber, etc).

Oh, I love having a long breakfast on Sundays...

Leb-i Derya

The thing about summer that I absolutely LOVE is that you can go home after a work day, have a rest, unwind, relax, and at about 9-9.30 pm get ready to go out and meet your friends for a late meal and drink, and the day is yet to begin!

This is what we did Friday night, by going to a lovely restaurant-bar that I like called "Leb-i Derya" (http://www.lebiderya.com/lebiderya/eng/1_2_index.html).

It's a nice place with a beautiful seaview, overlooking Istanbul... The service is good.

Hope we all enjoy the long days of summer...

İyi ki Dogdun Nur

Happy Birthday Nur!

Mutlu Yillar...

All the Best for You...
Lots of Love

(She is in Serbia at the moment, travelling with other students, take good care, we will have another holiday when you come back)

What a Party!

Wednesday night we were on a yacht called Keyif Style (http://www.keyiforganizasyon.com/index2.html), which I would recommend to anybody, together with all IT team, about 200 people, for a goodbye party to John, who has been with us for the last year...

It was such an amazing party, with live music, band, food, drinks, fireworks and belly dancer late night... Full of surprises... It was also the first time I translated drunk, but the audience was no different, so no one recognised he he...

Well, as I need to filter all the crazy pictures, I can give you the bosphorus bridge in different colours which we enjoyed... (see me other pictures)

Holiday in Chesme (Çeşme) - 2

One of the greatest things about our holiday was discovery. Although I had been in a different part of Çeşme before (Ilıca), the girls and I had never been here, so together we discovered the corner cafes, beautiful jewelery shops, streets and food...

The streets of Alaçatı resembled Italian or Greek towns with beautiful houses and small shops...
A dead cat to prove how hot it was... :) and eccentric jewelery (we looked everywhere for this ring with a friend but it came up when we were not looking for it)

Holiday in Chesme (Çeşme) - 1

Just got back from Çeşme this morning. Got really black as seen in the picture on the right.

To go back to the beginning, going to Çeşme was troublesome as I bought the ticket for the wrong date, I was almost going to stay in Istanbul! The ticket was for 00.30 after midnight, which makes it the next day, I bought it online (like I always do) it did not give any warning. When I got to the coach station I did not even have a ticket (as it is online ticket) and no print out either and they told me I had traveled the previous day. To cut the long story short I had to travel on the hostess seat which was very uncomfortable, but there was another guy that did the same thing as I did (booked for the wrong date), so I wasn't the only one, but they didn't take him. He had to stay.

When we got there, with the girls it was too windy the first day. Çeşme, Alacati is a major windsurfing point in the world so no wonder it was windy, but not good for holiday makers, so we thought that it was going to be like that all the time. But gosh did we miss the wind.. All the rest of the time it was very hot (like it should be).

The hotel we stayed in was Grand Ontur Çeşme (http://www.onturcesme.com/), it is a nice hotel, one of the biggest in Chesme, Dalyan, with a beautiful, crystal clear sea, big pool, activities and a great night club that we loved... The only trouble is they don't run it very efficiently, but great nature.

The hotel is located on a cliff and down the cliff there is a club called Life, which resembles a lot to our Reina is Istanbul (http://www.reina.com.tr/2007/) We adored the club, but there again they had a problem. They could not run it properly. If that place had been in Istanbul, it would have been packed... But we still enjoyed, a lovely place down the hotel..

The night view of the dock & the beach...

Holiday

Going on holiday tomorrow for one week. Finally things turned up for me for a time off. Still haven't packed, many things I need to do in the last minute. I will leave some unfinished work as well which I hate.

Time off from the blog too. I will probably not post anything for a week. But when I come back, the blog will be very colourful and lively full of holiday memories...

So see u later then...

Put yourself in my pyjamas

Have you ever bought something thinking it was great and came home and realised it actually sucks! This is what happened to Gamze and I on Saturday.

For a start I am an underwear lover (which should be another section on the blog) and I would go to any shop that sells good underwear, I can spent hours in there... I noticed this shop on Satuday walking with Gamze, and we went in. Then I spotted this pink nighty with shorts and a top and it was so cute. Gamze loved it too. It had green frogs on pink material. Ofcourse we had to buy it, a pair each.

We came home, tried them on, and we tried to find something nice about them but we couldnt. The cut wasn't right, the shape wasn't right, it just wasn't right. We went back to change it the next day, but we actually had fun! Because the people that worked there did not quite know what to do and they all messed up with the accounts because of us! Hah! Great fun.
Well, at least I SOMETIMES have fun...

Just a thought

2 summers ago I was in Sue Knight's trainers training in Istanbul, Gezi Hotel. It was a beautiful experience, great time but most importantly we shared lots of things together, with the people, sorting out our issues, dealing with emotions. There was this participant called Peter from Netherlands. I remember him quite distinctly as he supported me a lot during the course with his input and advice. One day I was confused on one issue and he talked to me in such a way that, he was fully there with me. I remember telling him that I could not decide which way to take, and if I go one way, then it may finish, I will loose what I have and he said to me "may be that's the answer".

They say people already know the solution to their problems most of the times, but they suffer as they don't have the courage to do it. I hope we all have the courage to do what needs to be done...