Kitchen fashion :)

Monday; even hearing the name makes us feel worse normally like it has some guilt of following the day we all love most. Sure this depends on from which angle you look at the issue, but the first always carries the biggest portion of burden :) so I guess Monday looks at us with a big smile on his face thinking how useless and nonsense our complaints against him are. In my house Monday means weekly cleaning of the house that my brother calles 'Türkan's torture on vacuum cleaner and rugs' :) Sure men can never understand and can never see what see as we clean :) After all were tidied up I've took a shower which refreshed me and gave me the power to turn the lappy on and work on communities here. I've seen awesome comments as usual that mean so much for me and want to thank all here once more. Writing a blog needs to much work; one needs to surf the net and own folders to find different things to share while trying to knit and crochet new items for one's shop, but I guess I got used to doing this after five months passed. Sure I still couldn't complete making the charts and writing the instructions for the items I've shared just the photos earlier, but at least I could give a few receipts lately and this is something for an inexperienced blogger (they say never say this and write as you've been doing this for ages, because people follow such bloggers more; but I want this blog to be sincere, warm and friendly and have no rush in having thousands of followers :)). Yesterday I gave a receipt which will keep you a bit in the kitchen so I'll share something relevant; an apron today which will be your company as you cook your dish. I've knitted this for a lovely lady; Deborah, running the lovely shop 'MarvyMisc' on Etsy in pale yellow, crocheted all around in stripes with various colors, embellished the conjuction points in different colored figures and I believe it's really beautiful. I hope you all will like it...

So delicious...

It's been another quiet weekend day, because the weather is so hot outside to take a long walk, especially while fasting. Sure the needs of the house never ends and I still had to go out for some shopping to the mall just beside my house, but most of the day I was at home. Fasting starts around 3:30 am. so on weekends I prefer not to sleep before it and wake up later than usual. It was nearly noon when I woke up and after the morning routine I've took a few photos of the sofa set in my salon. They are hand carved and too big and as one gets older it gets really hard to clean them so I want to sell them before I get old if I can. They are unique pieces so one can't give them away so I'll try my luck on web which will also give me more experience on making business online besides running a little shop handmade. Suddenly I've realized I wanted 'dolma' and asked mom if she could do some, sure didn't refuse so I want to write some about it and give the receipt for the ones who might be interested. Dolma is a stuffed vegetable dish common around this region of the world; Turkey, Caucasus, Russia and most of the Middle East. The vegetables commonly used are pepper, eggplant and tomato. There are ones made of vine and cabbage leaves wrapped around a filling called 'sarma' and 'yaprak dolması' that are the most delicious ones for me and the receipt will be for the one that are made with vine leaves. INGREDIENTS: 1/2 kg. vine leaves, 5 big onions, 1/2 cup of olive oil, 2 glass of rice, 1 spoonful mint, 4 spoonful currant, 4 spponful pinon, 1 spoonful sugar, 2 teaspoon salt, 2 mature tomatoes... First of all you'll chop the onions and grate the tomatos. Take the chopped onion to a saucepan and parboil it with olive oil for 10 minutes. Then start to add all the other ingredients one by one and parboil them all for an extra 5 minutes. Add a glass of water and let it boil till rice swells and no water left in the saucepan. Take the filling off the stove and let it chill for 2 hours so it will not burn your hands as you wrap it with the vine leaves. Take one leave, place a spoonful of filling, fold the both sides and than wrap it like a cigar. After all the leaves are filled, place them in a pan that's not deep, pour a spoonful olive oil over them, add 1,5 glass of water and cook them for 15 minutes. Your 'sarma' is ready when it's chilled. Take them on an oval plate, put slim slices of lemon on them and they're ready to be served. I hope you all will like it...

Saturday Finds...

It's been a quiet day that I've spent knitting. I need to complete five baby cardigans that were sold this week, because the listings are renewed and new items had to be ready in case they may be bought anytime. I've finished the orange one today and now I'm on the red and dark blue one. Yesterday I've started the hardest one also and I gues all will be ready before the end of next week. It was in the evening when I could have some time to turn the lappy on and work on Google + where I've seen awesome comments on the items I've shared. Such lovely words and even the +1s always make me happy, because it's your items being appreciated that encourages you to add new ones to your collections. After all were done on google; I've signed in Etsy and there I've realized I haven't made a treasury for more than a week and through this long period so many friends have included items from my shop to their marvelous treasuries. I always note the ones that notification messages don't drop to my inbox also and try to include them to my treasuries; not to payback or forward, but to be fair and friendly :) So today you'll see 16 awesome items from the shops of fellow Etsians in my last treasury that I've named 'Harmony of Mismatch'. I'm sure you'll love all the items...

Koza Han

You may remember me talking on the silk production in the city I live in; Bursa. Around the region, silk has been produced for more than a thousand yesrs. Bursa silk has a difference from other famous silk on the world; it's crepe, woven from raw silk thread in traditional weaving looms in a traditional way. Normally the silk is stretched on the loom, because the thread is used dry, but on this type of silk they use wet thread so after being woven it gives the fabric a special touch. The silk trade in the city started on the ancient times, because Bursa was on the 'Silk Road'. For the merchants inns and caravanserais were being built by the Sultans and Emperors in the city and one of the most famous ones for silk trade is Koza Han. You can understand from the name which means 'Cocoon Inn'. Both cocoon, fabric and silk products were and are sold there since 1491. I know a photo may stand for a million words so I'll share a few here to give you a better idea. Just an a advice; remember to visit it if you have the chance to coem to Bursa some day just like millions; including HM Queen Elizabeth II. I hope you all will have the chance to see it with your own eyes and feel the soft touch of the awesome silk of the city. I'm sure you all will like it...

Denim on beach ???

It was early in the morning that I woke up feeling my bed shaking, I guess it was a little earthquake and I was terrified, tried to go back to sleep, but it was a bit hard to do this. I get more nervous and afraid than I should, but we experienced a really big one in 1999 August and with the recollection and memories of all the casualties and wreckage in neighboring cities, we all are on tenterhooks and always ready to run to survive if we have a chance. So even a strong wind swinging the curtains or the bed makes me check the chandeliers. I know I need to learn to cope with this, but it seems a bit impossible while nature reminds its there with such nasty surprises :) I tried to spend some time in bed, turning asides and finally gave up and got up. After the daily chores, I turned the lappy and worked some on my shop till it was evening when I went out for some grocery shopping. Sure on my way I dropped by to a yarn store and bought the yarn I need for the items I have to renew as soon as possible. I've replied to every comment on google + communities that each draw a big smile on my face everytime I read. It was time to think on what to share here on my blog after all and I think on these hot days that people spend their time on beaches; it's good to share a beachbag I've sewn of denim and embellished with flowers that I've made of corron fabric. As you'll see on the photos, I've tried to add some glitter by surrounding the flowers with spangles. I hope you all will like it...

Summer dessert...

In guess fasting on hottest days of Summer makes one think on drinks and food more than usual :) The first thing to break our fast is to grab a big glass of water with many icecubes and then all other juices. All through the dinner maybe we drink liters of liquid and thirst seems to stay forever even if you drink barrels of them. Human kind always find magical ways to solve such problems and here at the Mediterranian coast where the weather and humidity gets unbearable on Summer time, people found an awesome way to cope with thirst. It's a dessert which is a combination of sherbet, ice and water custard. Will give an easy receipt for it today. CUSTARD: 2 lt. water, 1,5 glass of starch, 1 tea glass of sugar. Mix them all and cook till you have custard. Take it to a tray and put in the fridge till it gets solid. Then cut it into cubes on the tray to use when you serve. SHERBET: 2 lt. water, 1 spoon of food color (red), apint of ginger, a pint of cinnamon, 2 glass of sugar (sure if you have the chance to get 'measles sweet' ; a Turkish sweet that traditionally given to the children with measles, you can drop two or three pieces into the pan as you boil which will give an awesome taste and aroma to the sherbet). Put them all in saucepan, boil them and let it chill till you put it in the fridge. When you're about to serve; take your ice cubes and put them in the blender, turn it on and have some snowlike ice particles. take your bowls; first put some custard cubes, then pour the sherbet on and then the snow. Just on the first spoon; you'll feel the freshness. I hope you all will like it...

Southern Hemisphere...

Time to time I feel like I'm not fair as a blog writer :) Especially as a citizen of a country which suffered too much of unfair discrimination on many bases; I guess I'm a bit more sensitive on such things. This time it's not much serious, but a problem that annoys you has to be solved somehow. What I've been thinking lately is that I plan and run my shop and blog according to time and seasons of Northern Hemisphere. Sure while living there one does this unintentionally, but running an online business has crucial points like this one has to consider. I put my winter items to my shop when it's Fall here in my country which means I disregard the other half of the world (sure I know the population density on two hemispheres are not the same, but still I feel like such an acton is a bit rude). I've realized this a few day ago when I've got an order of baby cardigans from a lady in New Zealand while the Sun was scorching my country. So I guess from now on I'll renew the winter items in my shop when the listing expires without waiting the season change. As it's said; life has new lessons for us every single moment we live and all we need to do is to be awake and attentive to get the experience waiting for us to get :) So today I've decided to make a collage of winter accessories in my shop, especially for the 'Southerners' :) I hope you all will like the collage and the items :)