Keylimiz - Our Kehl

I can not deny it I am in love with this bakery in Kehl and so fond of those cookies especially those star cookies (étoiles glacées). Look at that holy light coming from the doughnuts..

Strasburgumuz - Our Strasbourg

In one of my flights to P, in the plane, I met this very interesting Turkish lady from the South who had to escape to France as a political refugee with her husband where she started from scratch a new life. She was back to Turkey too attend a funeral after almost 20 years. She told me about the story of her brother-in-law who was killed in a political manifestation and after visiting the country at the end of thosse 20 years, she sadly looked at me and told me with her deeply watered eyes that all those political battle was in vain, all that they have lost, all that has been deyed was so in vain, that war of those times, brother killing brother was such an absurd act.

And as we landed at Basel-Mullhouse airport, she had a joy unpredicted by me and inhaled and said "here we arrived at our Switzerland !"

Well, she was exiled and had "their" Switzerland.

After this unusual flight friendship, P whose husband and both herself lawyers for human rights, P and I, named each of our places "our"s: our France, our Strasbourg, our Monoprix, our Tarabya, our Bakifkoy, our Alsace, our Kiziltoprak, our Migros, our Kookai..

So here we are in our Strasbourg chatting and laughing likeanytime we are lucky to come together, anywhere on "our" Earth.

in our streets and in our cafes..

as long as we are free and have each other.

anywhere on "our" earth

On the Road Again

After coming back from Greece I slept for 12 hours than was awake for 2 hours and slept back for another 10.
And had to prepare my luggage in a couple of days to head for my P and lovely husband's new apartment, 5 mn from the EU building.

Well, need to make a correction. I had to prepare my luggage in the curious company of Thomas of course.

Well, one may be surprised on how much a woman would need for a holiday of 5 days only.

Back to my Greece For A Day

I had to go to Greece for one day only :(
Well, everything was just as I left it only with a cooler weather, the cafes, the ouzerias, my favorite bus drivers, all elenis, all thakis, my lovely home store owners, just my favorite restaurant was in renovation and closed but our lady in the kiosk never deceives me, she was there too.And she waved his hand and laughed to invite me closer after taking this photo and offered me 4 happydent chewing gum as an good old friend gift although we couldn't understand each other's language and none of our words. She knows.. that I am so much into her and so many things about this lovely little town.

A new discovery has been Kratas though in the bakery where I was waiting for my bus. Oh, I was delighted by the softness of the outer shell and the aroma of the inner side and tried to understand what it was inside. The ladies in the shop who happened to be very serious in the beginning laughed at my interest and surprise in Kratas. Although language was not a way to communicate, they were able to explain me that they were rose "lokoumis"(delights) that they wrap in the delicious soft dough prepared probably with butter and nuts. Oh, my!

I bought some rose delights from the shop and will try to find the recipe in the internet somehow.

A Home Was Her Dream

Everything began I guess the night we were out for a party and I didin't realise how much she could be drunk. Well that night she was... really drunk.. I mean she was there, she fell to the next door roof to the bar we were in, there was the traffic police on our way home and she was even funny to the policeman although she was not the driver.
Anyway, the next mourning she was- we were- feeling miserable. So much that she must have resulted to change her life and to transform it to what she really would like to have : a home.
Yes, she rented her own place. A brand new studio that she turned to a beatiful colorful bird nest.
So, these are the photos of the first days..

Stanno Tutti Bene*

Stanno Tutti Bene - Everybody's Fine was the title of the beautiful movie by the italian director Tornatore where the old Marcello Mastroianni visits all his children in their homes all around the country and worries for their lives in modern Italy but results at the end of the movie that everybody's fine.

So we are all fine.. At the end..

After long hours of pain, worries, waiting..


...of good wishes(the bouquet was a gift by my favorite gardener on earth which is our building's gardener)

reading, resting..
and reading, resting again..
..we are all fine and back to normal now(almost- chiko still has some abnormal allure).
The thing is, after the chico disaster, there has been this scary virus in my computer(even between system files) and I lost the connection cable to my camera which caused the lateness of the post that will follow this one will be entered now but dated with the original dates of the photos.
Good to be back onthis screen!

How to Prepare an "Open Tummy"

Karni Yarik (Open Tummy) is one of Mom's favorite dishes and I decided to share the way I prepare it with you on a saturday morning where Ayshe woke us early up to start cleaning the home.
Karniyarik is a meaty aubergine dish which I think tastes typical mediterranean cuisine. So the tummy we are talking about here is belongs to the aubergines :)

Well these pictures were taken in the vacuuming noise of Ayse which was happy at the end with the good lunch she had after then and enjoyed the talk with my sister and Pelin who would come over for lunch. They were all delighted with the delicious smell of the karniyarik and borek(pastry) in the oven.
As you can see, I first peeled the aaubergines in pyjamas and ripped all along the long axis.
then fried them in 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

and then I filled them with the cooked mixture of minced meat, salt, black pepper, oignons, garlic, finely chopped ripe tomatoes, and peppers

garnished hem with sliced green peppers, addd some diluated tomato sauce and put them in the 175 degrees Celcius oven.
Waited until the green peppers looked roasted and delicious (about 45 minutes).
Which tasted great..!
So you will need for 6 large aubergines;
vegetable oil -2 tablespoons
minced meat - 300 gr
green peppers - 2 to garnish, 2 for the cooked filling
2 large ripe tomatoes or 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
oignons -1 and a half if medium/large, 2 and a half if small
garlic - 4 cloves
tomato paste - 2 tablespoon for thje sauce diluated with 3/4 cup of water
salt, pepper
To prepare the filling first sautee the chopped green peppers oignons and garlic then add the meat. When the meat looses its pink color add chopped tomatoes, salt, black pepper. Cook for about 15 minutes.
Afiyet Olsun!(bon apetit)