arakhnes

The snow is back!

2006-12-19T18:52:00.000+02:00

Well, it is past the middle of December after all... and to have 6 degrees Celcius in Moscow is out of the ordinary. Last night it started snowing again, the temperature dropped to -3 and I think this is the beginning of the beautiful winter! I'll miss part of it, as I am going to Greece next week for the holidays.

I went to two parties over the weekend. The company party was a lot of fun! We played games outdoors, in the mud and under the rain, there as the show of the people with the fire balls (usual Russian show, but it was very nice to watch the group swirling the fireballs in the dark night, under the rain, I thought I was in the middle of the woods in Siberia!), there was a great performance of drums in a wooden gazebo (the whole place, including the floor, was vibrating from the music and the people dancing), there was a nice dinner and dancing afterwards. We spent the night there.

Then on Saturday Evelyn had a Christmas party. So, as soon as I got back to Moscow from one party on Saturday afternoon, I had to prepare for the next! So, I cooked (cheese pie with my mom's fyllo which I made, cheese spread with curry, cabbage and carrot salad, semolina and almond cakes), I got dressed, I packed the food and went to her house. We then finshed the cooking there. The party was a great success! Very different people, from many countries... Everyone enjoyed themselves! I ended up spending the night at her house, since the last guests left at 3:30 and we then had a drink and reviewed the party...

Tomorrow there is the Corporate party of our company. And on Saturday I am going to the opera at the Novaya Opera to watch the Snow Maiden.

(Work - Rework - Pending Work - Workload) New Year :)

2006-12-17T19:01:00.000+02:00

Hello you all!

Very brief summary for the autumn for me:

September - move from Burhaniye, replace İstanbul
October - repair at home, study, cleaning, working
November- working, working, working
December till now- studying, studying, studying
After December 18 - to mid-January! is planned for semi-holiday - cooking, crafts, visit to Bursa and preperations for work & study :)

And I want to kick off the season! - Christmas - Kurban Bayram and New Year for this at the same time!

First meal in Moscow

2006-11-28T17:49:00.000+02:00

As promised to myself, the first meal I cooked in Moscow was trahano, the Cypriot one... It was one Saturday, a couple of weeks ago. There were still boxes in the apartment, but it was the first Saturday I was at home, so I had to celebrate! Then, next Sunday a friend came to help me put books in the bookcases. Of course, I cooked lunch for the two of us.

While preparing the dough for the cheese pie, I was thrilled to realize that the flour here in Russia is IDEAL for rolling out the fyllo (the dough leaf). My dough and fylla came out perfect! As a filling, I just spread tvorok (the simple Russian white cheese that ranges from creamy to hard dry) and sprinkled paprika on it. The result was delicious! I also cooked the red trahano from Assos, Tijen's gift. It was also delicious!

Last week I was in Athens - it was a great break, I saw family and friends and enjoyed the very mild weather! My mom came down to Athens as well and we spent time with my nephew. Christos - Kalliopi's brother - also happened to be in Athens for one day and it was a pleasure to see him.

Maria - a close friend of mine - gave me two new types of trahano: one sour but containing tomato (made by her mother in law and herself) and another white and sweet. I cooked the sour one yesterday. It was exceptionally rich and very tasty... I'll try the other one at the end of the week... Well, I said before that I could live on trahano, if there was no other food in the world. And I think that this story proves it.

No other major news. The weather is very mild here, considering the time of the year and the fact that I am in Russia. This week the temperature reached +6!!! This is "warm" for Moscow wintertime...

I moved into the new apartment!

2006-11-10T18:13:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was the first day that I slept in the new apartment. Not all of my things are unpacked yet, but today half of the rooms will be set up and livable. Over the weekend I plan to take everything out of the boxes and also put the books in their place... This will take me some time, as the books are far too many! I realize this only when I pack or unpack them! I thing that one quarter of the boxes were books! A friend of mine is coming to help me. We'll have lunch: trahano (I promised this would be the first dish to cook in the apartment) and tyropitta (cheese pie) with home made dow.... I think it is a very appropriate lunch for a cold winter sunday.

The weather is a little crazy... It is snowing in the evening and during the night, but in the morning the temperature rises, half of the snow melts - and becomes mud - and it rains. I can't say though that I have had trouble because of the weather thus far... I walk to where ever I want to go without hassle.

Last Monday a friend and I went to the performance of the Maurice Bejart ballet, in the Tchaikovsky Conservatory. It was a fantastic performance! They presented four ballet pieces, representative of Bejart's past work but also of the future of the ballet (http://www.elementmoscow.ru/articles.php?i=173000&s=02-in-depth) .
I was moved to tears by one piece, a solo performed by a male danser. But the most amazing situation was when my friend - without knowing the title of one of the ballet pieces - sensed it and related it to a personal story! The Tchaikovsky Hall was also impressive!

Next cutlural event for me: Rossini's Cinderella on Wednesday evening. The orchestra director is Theodoros Courentzis, a Greek who is called "the maestro of Siberia" because he is working with an orchestra in a Siberian city and who is thought to be one of the most promising conductors.

Time to go home and unpack more kitchenware...

Just to say hi!

2006-11-02T18:37:00.000+02:00

It's been some time since I've been able to access internet. I am busy arranging everything, so that I move into the apartment. I'll get the keys on Saturday and I'll move in mext week. On Sunday I need to go for shopping - this time I'll have a car and a driver with me, so I won't relive the mega adventure....

I am looking forward to settling into the apartment, getting a computer and be in regular touch with everyone. And also follow up on your ideas about activities and research which you sent me in September, just before I left Cyprus.

Although it snowed twice already - on Sunday night and today - the weather is keeping quite well. It is November but most of the days the temperature is above zero. This is mild for Moscow at this time!

I am dying to see the article on the Lezzet magazine! I am still loughing at your email title: "Famous gourmet and Kavala cuisine authority"....

Regarding Orhan Pamuk, I have ordered his book Istanbul before the announcement of the Nobel prize. I saw it at the Athens airport bookstore and want to read it. Have you read it? There is another Turkish writer about whom I read recently and meant to get his books if they are translated in Greek or English, but I don't remember his name now. I'll look for it and we'll discuss. I have also ordered an interesting book on Jewish food, with a lot of information on life of the people in different countries, a lot of pictures etc..

I won't keep talking about books and cookbooks, my time at the internet cafe expires shortly...

The famous gourmet and Kavala cuisine authority says good bye for now!

B(ooks) & B(ayram) ~Ç

2006-10-27T21:53:00.001+03:00

(
Illustration is from http://www.redhousechildrensbookaward.co.uk/ )
I had a quite relaxing week, after the tiring days of working and travelling from/to Ankara... So when I read your efforts to learn French and do some shopping I felt tired even while i was reading....

After you wrote the details about Russian grammer, even French seemed quite easy... I discovered through National Center for Language that:

There are 422 words in current Turkish from Greek, 14 words from Rumca ( i don't understand the difference it is either politic or etimologic may be meaning from Pontus language, ancient Greek?) and 40 from Russian! Borç (borrowed money), izbe ( very old and bad conditioned place) haraşo ( basic knitting stitch) are from that 40... I don't know how they are written in Cyrill alphabet, but i am going to start with them when i will come there... :)

Books, books... Christos already celebrated Orhan Pamuk's Nobel prize.. The attitudes towards him quite mixed, like mine... I liked his one of the first books, cannot read one, read one of the best-sellers in a very bad mood etc. So I am trying to make my mind too about his writing mastery....

However, i myself started some kind of writing process: Writing for kids! First i registered to a "Children Literature" course in Bilgi University and also i am in a kind of enterpreneur for children books.... Have i already mentioned it to you?

And Ramadan Bayram is over... We call in daily - language as "Şeker Bayramı" Sugar/Candy Bayram which radicals don't like... However our "Bayram"s are really sweet, special sweets are prepared, candies and chocolates offered to visitors... For this Bayram, we cooked sarma, "şekerpare", "güllaç" and "trufle". I will give the recipe for Güllaç, as i promised in the previous post...

Good Luck / Bonne chance / İyi şanslar (For Greek and Russian, i have to study<<<)

A Mega Adventure at the MEGA Mall

2006-10-23T18:03:00.000+03:00

Last Saturday I had the brilliant idea of going to one of the 3 malls that are just out Moscow's MKAD, i.e. the 3rd ring road. One can take the metro to almost the last stop and then take a mall bus. I had done all my reasearch - and optimization ;-) - beforehand on two of the malls, regarding exact location and instructions of how to get there. I had been to one of them already and decided to try the other. It looked more convenient, as the bus ride after the metro stop was shorter. The web site - in English and with a lot of information - was saying that one would not have to wait for the bus for more than 15 minutes.

I suggested the idea to a new friend of mine, Evelyn, an Irish girl who is spending the year working in Moscow. She found it good and joined me. We met at 10 am and went happily to the mall. Indeed, we did not have to wait at all on the way there. The bus was full of people, but we did not experience any trouble. We walked, shopped, we had coffee and a long chat, had lunch, crossed IKEA at a leasurely pace - I decided on what I need to buy for my new apartment - we had lunch at IKEA - where I met someone I knew (what are the chances of that in a city of 12 million people!!!!) and then got to Achan. There we were overwhelmed by the sheer number of people in the store! I have neven seen so many people in a store, not even in America, in the big supermarkets and not even in Houston's Auchan which was bigger than this.

Anyway, after we finished shopping, we went back to the bus stop to get the bus back to the metro station. It was already 5:30 or so in the evening. Well, that's were the adventure started. Firstly, all the roads as far as the eye could see were totally blocked by traffic. We could see the bus coming, but it took more than 20 minutes to reach us, due to the traffic. Then, there were SO many people at the bus stop! We could get on the first bus but just as we were ready to, someone blocked the door and his friend from behind us started passing to him the contents of two big supermarket carts in plastic bags! The available space in the bus was filled with the supermarket bags and we stayed out of the bus. The lady who was in front of us insisted on staying on the bus. She was half inside and half outside the door, while the driver was trying to close the door! After many attempts the door closed behind her - and left her in one piece thankfully!

To make a long story short, Evelyn and I waited for another hour or so for the next bus, and then the next.... Did I mention that it was drizzling and it was cold? Anyway, we could not get on any bus, because once a bus would stop and open its doors (not all stopped, although they were empty), a huge force - the crowd - was pushing us and we could not fight back. There was no way of even getting close to the bus door!

Evelyn had suggested early on to walk to the metro station. I was not enthusiastic about it, since I knew that we could reach the metro station only after walking on the highway. But after loosing all hope that we could get on the bus with all our bones intact, we decided to start walking. In fact, many people were walking out of the mall and on the highway. We followed them and even managed to clarify where the metro station was...

So, the two of us carrying the shopping bags started walking (THANKFULLY, I kept myself and did not buy all the things I wanted to get, so we did not have to carry that much).... through the mall parking lot, onto the MKAD, at night, under the light drizzle, crossing the entrance and exit ramps, moving in between the cars, which were moving slowly due to the traffic conditions... we were on the shoulder of the highway when we realized that a bus was also moving on the shoulder of the highway, and passed just next to us! Fortunately, there was just enough room for us and for the bus! Closer to the metro station there were proper sidewalks. It was great to walk on the sidewalk, even if it was full of ditches with mud. But, we soon realized that a mini bus was behind us, moving on the side walk!

Our adventure lasted for about 15-20 minutes. We arrived at the metro station safe but very tired! We cancelled all of plans for the rest of the evening and each of us headed for our residences. I collapsed in the bathtub and then slept immediately!

Every time I'll look at my beautiful green handbag and my red snow boots, I'll remember this day!

The sheer number of people here is overwhelming! It is impossible to imagine that simple situations are so difficult here, just because of the crowds.

As my nephew said to me yesterday, as a comment to the letter I wrote to him: "Aunt, when you I read in your letter that Moscow has as many people as the whole of Greece, I fainted!"

It's Tough to Learn Russian!!!!

2006-10-19T18:26:00.000+03:00

Today I had one of my two weekly Russian classes. As I said to the teacher before we started, it's a torture both for me and I think for her as well! I think that I am good at languages - I speak four already. One would assume that it'll not be such a big issue to learn covnersational Russian. I don't have higher aspirations that that! Just to be able to communicate in every day life. Well, I am not sure I'll manage any time soon! Of course, it is much more difficult to concentrate now then it was years ago, when I was studying the other languages. But still! I am putting in the effort. I study. I write the exercises twice. To no avail, so far. This language is SO difficult!!! A Russian colleague confirmed the other day that Russian is probably the second most diffucult language, after Chinese! He was saying this to console me probably, but I am more disappointed since then!

Just to give you a flavour of what I have to face! Firstly, there are two forms of plural for the nouns (I am not sure this is true for all the nouns, but it does not matter...). The first form of plural applies when you are talking about 2, 3 or 4 things, people, etc - or number of things, people etc. that end in 2, 3 and 4, for example 24, 43, .... The second form of plural applies when you are talking about 5, 6, .... up till 20 and then about 30, 40, .... anything ending in 5, 6 or zero. What is the logic behind this???????? It beats me, really! And to make things worse, the terminations of the nouns are not consistent. The words change form in different ways!

Today I learned that there are 6 (SIX!!!!!!) cases for the nouns! In Russian there is still dative case, which was dropped from the Greek language long ago. I'll accept that, as I can understand the meaning and use of the dative (I am still assuming the underlying philosophy will be the same as in Greek, I may fall from the clouds next Monday, when Daria - my teacher - will explain what the Russian dative case is...). The worse part is that there are two cases which depend on the preposition after the verb and before the noun!!!!! In other words, if you put "with" before the noun, then the form is different from the form when you put "in" before it!!!!!!

And the last example, if you are not already convinced: there is only one past tense - I felt some relief when I heard it, as in Italian and in French the past tense is especially difficult. But the terminations of the verb in the past tense do not depend on the personal pronoun! They depend on the gender of the person!!!!!!!!!! In other words, the expression "I thought" has two forms, depending on whether "I" is female or male! What is the logic behind that!!!!

Anyway, it's a real struggle!

It's the Time for Trahano!

2006-10-16T17:13:00.000+03:00

It is cold today! In the morning when I woke up at 6:30 it was -1oC and when I got out of the hotel it was 0oC! On the way to work I saw very few tiny snow flakes, probably the frozen humidity in the atmosphere. I already bought two pairs of boots for the snow - the apres ski type, not elegant at all, but warm and not slippery, which is all I care about at this point!

Well, as I have been saying, I am very comfortable at the hotel. But since it start getting really cold, I really miss the possibility to make a hot trahano soup (tarhana, for you). So, I thought that trahano is a good topic for today's post. For one more reason: as a warm greeting to my friend Artemis, who is going through some difficult times but I am sure she'll come out stronger than before! Artemis was the one who took me to the north part of Cyprus and showed to me all the places she knew from her childhood. I'll send our blog link to her, so she can follow our conversation from London where she'll spend the winter. And I thank her for "having me with her" yesterday, while she was watching Haroula in concert in London.... I wish I was really there!

Among all the things we analyzed (to death, probably) with Tijen and you last August, was the topic of trahano, which is a dish that I absolutely love and could live upon! I always have the taste of trahano that my yiayia was often cooking on the stove for us for supper in winter! In Cyprus there is yet another version of trahana, made with wheat and sour milk or yogurt (I think), which one can eat also as a biscuit without cooking. The first time I tasted it was at Artemis' house, on her birthday, a few years ago. She had invited a lot of friends - as usual, since she is one of the most social people I have ever met - and cooked as a first dish trahana with vegetables. I don't remember the rest of the menu, I am sure everything was delicious. But the trahana was unforgettable! It ended up creamy and full of taste, somewhat sour from the trahana. Since then, I tasted the trahana cooked with chicken stock - made by Mrs. Loula, another really great cook - but I prefer Artemis' version and I am always cooking the Cypriot with vegetables myself!

Well, I have with me TWO types of trahana: the Cypriot one - I could not leave it behind, when I emptied my apartment - and the red one Tijen bought for me at Asso.... Most probably, the first two dishes that I'll cook in my apartment will be trahana!

As I said, I'll send the link of our blog to Artemis and also to Yekaterina, another new friend I met here in Moscow. We had a great dinner and a long chat at the Japanese restuarant yesterday!

Regarding the photos, I am glad you liked them! I totally forgot to tell Christo to "censor" them so that I could hide the pictures of the patterns from you ;-)

Windows and doors are two of my favourite subjects! And in Aivali, there were SO many interesting ones! Did you like the picture of the yellow window and door you ordered while we were in Moshonissi?

I wanted to say for a long time but I forgot: please send my greetings to Sherife for Ramadan and in general!

And speaking of Sherife and remembering the copper coffee irbiks, I have to tell you that I found and bought some excellent pieces of old copper kitchen pots and other utensils... most of them are from the end of the 19th century! I am delighted and can't wait to put them in my kitchen... Pictures coming soon, once I have a computer!

Enough for now! I am going to the gym!

Have got my mail! ~Ç

2006-10-15T06:08:00.000+03:00

When i came back last night to home, i found the envelope from Christos - photo CDs! I just looked at them and i loved your photos, how much detail you caught. Incredible!

I found this picture very artistic ( since it is 2 MB i can't load to the blog, this is less colored / impressionist version) and thought to have a very big one on the wall...

And, you have taken many windows and doors photos which we can make a beautiful collage.

PS. Don't ever assume that I didn't realize the samples you have taken from my Anchor magazines :P... [ I didn't make copied them for you :(( ]

Notes from the internet cafe!

2006-10-11T18:40:00.000+03:00

Your last two posts were lovely! I wish I could drop by for a weekend to accompany you to the bazars and restaurants!

And to know personally a second food writer! This is unfair!!!!!!! This was my first reaction! But then I thought I am fortunate because you introduce me too to your foodwriter friends.

I'll check all the web sites when I move into the apartment. I want to send you the electronic collection of recipes and books I have on turkish cuisine and we'll discuss - I am sure!

Speaking of bazars, I will always remember your mother's expression when she saw all the collanders I bought from Havran market, and her question: "don't they have them in Greece?" I have to tell you that I forgot in Christos' car the wooden spatula for turning the bread in the wood oven. And as I was writing these words, I read an email from him asking me whether there will be a wood oven in my new apartment in Moscow!!!

Letter from ΧΡΗΣΤΟΣ to Çiğdem

2006-10-11T18:31:00.000+03:00

ΕΦΧΑΡΗΣΤΟ ΠΟΛΗ ΓΗΑ ΤΗΝ ΚΑΣΕΤΗΝΑ.
1 ΟΚΤΟΒΡΗΟΥ 20006
ΧΡΗΣΤΟΣ

Translation:

Thank you very much for the pencil case.

1 October 2006

Christos

(this is one of the first two electronic letters he wrote; it has many orthographical mistakes, so don't copy the greek; notice also the date! he writes his name correctly, though)

I have another friend who is a food writer :) Ç

2006-10-08T10:39:00.000+03:00

(Photograph from the website http://www.istanbulfoodworkshop.com/)

As you see i am very motivated to write :)

Last night i attended a book-launch, and i felt very intellectual and very New Yorker ( in all movies there is bookstore scene, well OK... in romantic comedies). The co-author is the sister of a closed friend of mine, the venue is an old building in Bebek - in Bosphorus-, in veranda of the bookstore... Since it is Ramadan, i didn't drink any wine, but it was place for it.. Özge, the author she is academician in Food History and the book on 19th century Ottoman Cuisine. She and the other writer also they run a kind of institute in İstanbul: İstanbul Food Workshop. They adapted the recipes to today with full of very nice pictures.

As a very interesting coincidence, i had a chance to taste one of trials it is helva with musk and rose water, very special one... Wait for soon, the English copy is coming!

And Katerina will be a celebrity for Turkish food community next month, since October matches Ramadan- this issue of Lezzet Magazine is fully Ramadan theme.

"Ramazan Geldi, Hoş Geldi" - Welcome to Ramadan ~Ç

2006-10-07T13:18:00.000+03:00

I am ashamed when I've read both Tijen's and Christo's comments; since even i am miserably lazy to write even a comment! So, flash news of the last one month, let's say since our immigration from Burhaniye...

Renovation at home: new kitchen cupboards are ordered for our old warehouse-kitchen; painting is continued.
The holy Ramadan month started! I love the warm atmosphere of this month, fasting, family iftar dinners, iftar dinners with friends, mosques with Mahyas, Karagöz & Hacıvat, "Ramazan pidesi" and Güllaç ( wait for my own recipe ;). I am all of the rest fun part of Ramadan, except the essence - fasting. This year my first trial resulted with disaster, i serioulsy became sick of headache and then v----ting :((
I started a project in Ankara. I am quite excited to arrange sometime for me in Ankara to visit my Mekkas: Akdeniz, Akdeniz ( Mediterrenean, Mediterrenan) a lovely restorant, Şıkdüğme - a fantastic hobby shop, Samanpazarı - fleamarket and if i succeed two suburbs- Nallıhan (the one famous with needle laces)and Beypazarı
I discovered this two blogs and fascinated by them and i believe you - you and Kalliopi, maybe Maria- like it. However I've doubts about Christos, Tijen: Crochetroo and Thimble .
And finally i would like to greet your father from here, I loved the idea he follows our blog :)

До скорого!

Apartment Hunting

2006-10-06T17:29:00.000+03:00

Hello from Moscow!

I apologize to everyone for not keeping in touch frequently, but I still haven't moved into an apartment yet and hence, don't have easy access to personal email. I've started looking at apartments only this week. Moscow offers the biggest variety in apartment style and quality I have ever seen in any country I've lived in. Most apartments are furnished. I must confess that most of the times the style is not to my taste - I would say it is quite opposite than my taste! Additionally, one can find the strangest layouts and decorations.

Yesterday I saw a nicely furnished apartment, which had a study room with wood panels on the walls, green wall paper and decorations in between, Victorian style desk and book cases and a large iron safe! The apartment overall was very nice, but I was wondering who could use this room nowadays!

In any case, I decided to look for apartments in old buildings - called pre-revolutionary or early century (meaning 20th century of course). They usually have high ceilings, larger rooms, thick walls and wooden parquet floors. The window sills are so wide, that one can put cushions and create a little corner to sit and read.

I found 3-4 that are really nice and am thinking of renting one of them. Of course, one important factor is whether the apartment has enough space for my books and my kitchen utensils. The best one I saw so far is 5 minutes walk from my office, relally lovely but my books and kitchen stuff would not fit. I tried to think every possible way to fit in there, but today I decided that it is not big enough!

Anyway, I hope I'll get settled soon - it'll be after October 25th. Then I'll have internet, skype, email, etc... and I'll be fully on line!

On Monday I start Russian lessons!

Notes from a Moscow resident

2006-09-25T18:18:00.000+03:00

It's been only about 20 days since I last posted, but there have been so many changes since then! Moving to Moscow, changing a job that I had for the last 8 years, getting into a totally different environment... Thankfully, I had a long and good vacation during the summer, so I was able to deal with the stress and rush of the last few days. And I was fortunate that my sister was able to come to Cyprus to take over everything that had to do with the movers and putting the house in order after they emptied it.

The weather in Moscow is unusually warm - it was 29 degrees Celsius. So, I get to enjoy the outdoors during the weekends. Yesterday we went to a huge park, with many impressive soviet buildings, two huge and beautiful fountains, markets that sold plants and flowers, a botanic garden and a forest with many lakes in it! We crossed only a small part of it, but we were walking for 5 hours! I had to struggle not to buy flowers yet, but I made a list of all the plants I want to buy.

Next week I'll start looking for an apartment and hope to be settled before the winter comes!

Closing, I would like to add few comments:

the lemonade recipe is given to me by Mrs. Loula, my "mother" in Nicosia; she is a great person, full of life and always giving to others; I always admire her ecxcellent relationship with her close but also distant relatives, from her side and her husband's side; she is also an excellent cook! I was always planning to help her pick olives from the many olive trees she has, but was always at a trip when it was time to pick the olives
you and the other lemonade-preparation group added pizzaz to the lemonade recipe, with the special ice cubes, the presentation and the beautiful photo!
I want to greet my father through our Arakhne; he has recently started to read our blog - and I am told he likes it!

No photos for this posting, but I promise that as soon as I get a computer I'll be posting many many pictures... and I still need to find a way to send you the pictures from our vacation...

Da svidanya! (see you again! - I'll be able to write in Russian soon, as I am starting lessons)

Limonata or Lemonada...~Ç

2006-09-09T12:51:00.000+03:00

As a result of great teamwork, this holy lemonade is ready to drink...

Mum and me: squeezing the lemons, peeling, and making the mint-ice cubes
Şerife:adjusting the sugar
Tijen: taking the pictures
Ayser Hn: sponsoring with the garden...
And the oscar goes to you: for the recipe!

Whole-summer lemonade:

Ingredients: 2.5 kilos of lemon + 1/2 kg sugar ( for the ones who liked more sugarful may add more)+ 2-3 small mint bunches...

Wash and squeeze the lemons and grate 2-3 lemons to add lemon zest.
Add the juice (and any pulp that goes through stainer) into a pan and the lemon zest.
Add the sugar in the pan and heat the lemonade in low to medium fire. Stir continuosly, till the sugar dissolves.
The lemonade should not come to the boiling point. Turn it off when all sugar is dissolved and it startes to steam.
Leave it to cool completely. Put in a jar with 2-3 mint bunches and keep in refrigerator.
Use it diluted with water upon your taste.
Make ice cubes with mint leaves, serve and drink :) Afiyet olsun...

Photo Memories from a Lovely Vacation

2006-09-06T10:50:00.000+03:00

It was a great trip! I travelled overnight from Kavala

to Mitillini

The boat trip was very exciting! Seagulls following the boat, the sunset, the fishing boats each having marked its fishing territory with the fishing lanterns and the nets.

From Mitillini, I crossed over to Aivali, a little town on the sea front with a majestic charactrer.

Memories of the past everywhere, in Aivali and Mosxonissi...

Lively colours of the present in Havran, Burhaniye and Cunda ...

I fully share all your highlights and would add the following:

food with intervals of food

the green waters and the majestic doric columns of Asso

my claim to fame - being interviewed by a food writer for a food magazine....
having a story for everything
the sunset seen from Seitan sofrasi, from Aivali and from Denetko
listening to the music in the car
the bibila lessons, the scores of antique mantilas with the interesting oya, the "treasures" I bought at the Burhaniye bazar, the wooden knitting needles, the endless reviewing of the pattern magazines, the plans for future vacations......
the hospitality of you and your mother, the warm company of Sherife, finding a new friend in Tijen

I think that, among the many passengers and their relatives and friends, we were the last ones to stop waving to each other, as the boat was departing from the port of Aivali.

με υγεία και του χρόνου!

(in health, next year also)

Güle Güle -"Adio" ~Ç

2006-09-01T19:21:00.000+03:00

Unfortunately I couldn't paste Greek alphabets... But last night, after your "farewell" i studied alphabets and basic words... kalimera, kalinihta... And i find a gem!: Food and restaurants section for 3-4 pages.. So next time at least i will be able to communicate with your mum in our language :)

Thank you very much for your visit, for "Being just our reason"... I feel that i nurtered last week in many aspects... The highlights of a fish-memoried fish:

Our fish-theme dinner w Tijen
Your first manicure
Solution creation and conferences in your shop
Zeytinbağı-Zeytinbağı-Zeytinbağı
Future destinations: Crete, Moscow, Kavala, Athens ( previous Portugal remained)
35 + 19 = 43 :p
Each will choose her own subject!
Never-fitting dresses in Ayvalık pazarı
A touch of spice ...

I know there are many, many more... But i want to keep all from "nazar"! As we and you say "Health to your hands and mouth"

No comment :( ~Ç

2006-08-20T06:09:00.000+03:00

(<- Photo, Tijen İnaltong)

Hellooooooo,

My last post was in June, 17. Today I forgot the password first and I couldn't find how I was doing the small wave just before Ç! It is obvious that I am OK with creativity but I need to go long long long with punctuality.... Although I don't write I do many Arakhnes things, hopefully :) I prepared an executive summary for you to give an idea of two months
before we see each other next week in Burhaniye:

1) Apricot fest: Our next door neighbour is Tijen İnaltong, a food writer whom I known for 4 years from her workshops, books and her yahoo groups. She recommended the house - i must say bungalow- which we rented for this summer. There was "an" apricot tree in their garden and in June and early July we produced almost every kind of side-product from these apricots: Sun-dried as you seen in pictures, marmelades, pestil ( dried layers of fruit pulp as it is explained in the dictionary), juice and icecream - you may taste this last one!- You may find the link for Tijen's blog just below:
http://mutfaktazen.blogspot.com/

2) Weddings: In mid-June, there were two and in August, 11 there was one wedding ceremony. The first bride was my close relative and next door neighbour in mother's house, the second bride is younger of sisters whom we met in our Greece tour in Thessaloniki, just before to meet you! The older of the sisters is my friend in the States where i spent my 5-6 weeks together this year. So as you see my Greek visit yielded 3 good friends for me! The third bride is my ex-intern in the consultancy job, but she is like a cousin for me, and another coincidence after the internship she started to work in Yapı Kredi Bank which I worked for 4-5 years and her colleagues are my ex-colleagues at the same time. Small world! (I realized that I attended the first wedding in June, 27 in Gönen the town famous of needle laces in South Marmara)

http://gonenoyasi.sitemynet.com/ ( I found this site just i was looking a page for ypu to show Gonen, it is interesting, again Turkish, just surf. The name of the site is "oya" of Gonen, in one of your postings you did mention about the etimology of lace, oya etc. I love to talk about this issue, let's keep it to face to face)

Although to be in 4 different ceremonies ( 2 quite traditional, 2 more modern), I would like to write about "kına gecesi", unfortunately i couldn't load the original photos, so the info and photos from net. Kına means "henna" and this ceremony focuses on farewell of bride to exactly to her mother, own family and the objective is to make mother&daughter to cry. Now I am realizing that it is very psychodramatic way of eliminating the catharsis of especially the bride who is going to be in a totally new environment, if you think traditional families.

This brief explanation from the official site of Ministry of Culture, is you find time to visit you will see more about authentic marriage rituals: http://www.discoverturkey.com/english/kultursanat/halk-dugun.html

Night Next Before The Wedding Day, A Women’s Entertainment Where Bride’s Fingers Are Freshly Tinged With Henna ( Kına Gecesi):

This night in which the bride will be together with her family, relatives and friends all of which are women is just before the day of fetching bride as known the main wedding day. This night which is called “Kına Gecesi” is celebrated in the bride’s home. The bridegroom’s family and other guests are met and hosted in the bride’s home.
Usually dry henna brought by the bridegroom’s family is broken to pieces in a silver or cupper vessel by a woman whose father and mother alive, not experienced any separation. After preparing the bride, veil ornamented with red flake is placed over her head, and she is brought into the middle with accompaniment of hymn, folk songs about henna. Hands and feet of the bride are dyed with henna. The bridegroom’s side is under the obligation to put money in the hand of the bride. Dying ceremony of henna is different according to regions. The henna so dyed has such names and types as “iplik kınası” (henna for yarn), “sıvama” (smearing), “kuşgözü” (bird eye).
After leaving woman who came together for dying henna close friend of the bride remain with her and enjoy themselves till morning.

3) Olive oil

I am not going to write anything new about this divine gold liquid, however i will share with you the new tastes in Ayvalık and Burhaniye with Tijen's guidance. İnşallah, we will stop there with you, too.

The first one is Laleli, and my favorite is olive oils with original aromas, in which the aromatic herb or fruit is squeezed at the same time with olives, lemon and olive are processed at the same time for example.

http://www.zeytinim.com/engindex.aspx

The second is "Kürşat" and their olive pastes are delicious, unfortunately i couldn't find them on the internet, so you will see live!

That's all for this month, until see you next week.

In Memoriam

2006-07-24T01:14:00.000+03:00

The little girl is my grand mother Katina, pictured with her father. She must be less than two years old, which means that the picture was taken either in 1912 or in 1916(*). At the bottom left there is the name of the photographer and at the right it says Trebizon.

This is the only picture of her as a child and of a member of her family.

I am wondering whether the photographer went to Pafra or Sampsous or whether my grandmother with her family went to Trapezous, maybe to visit Panagia Soumela.

These days mark the 25th anniversary of her death.

(*) My grand mother's identity card was stating 1911 as her birth year. However, she was always insisting that she was born in 1915 but her relatives said 1911 so that she could be considered old enough to be hired at the tobacco factories of Kavala.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪«Ανάβουνε φωτιές στις γειτονιές…» ♪ ♪ ♪

2006-06-25T12:06:00.000+03:00

On June 23rd a very ancient custom takes place in Greece. As the song says,

‘They light fires in the neighbourhoods…’

in the evening and children and adults jump over the fires. In many areas of Greece the custom is performed in its entirety, including girls bringing the silent water from a well, a public water fountain or the sea (in the latter case, from fourty waves).

But we used to do only the fires, when I was a child. ‘St. John’s fires’ of the fires of ‘Kli'don’ (from the ancient word Κληδών), as we call them, because June 24th is the one of the days that our church dedicates to St. John.

All the children of the neighbourhood collected pieces of wood and grass and we were lighting the fire in the corner in front of our house. In this fire we also were burning the flower wreaths that we made on May 1st and had hung above the entrance door of the house. Then we jumped over the fire. I was afraid and managed only to jump at the edge of the fire, not really over it. I remember my mother, who was not afraid to jump over the flames.... Usually, after a while, the neighbour started ouring water on the fire over the wall of his garden and was spoiling our fun!

In the ancient Greece, this celebration was dedicated to the Sun and the Light and took place around the summer solstice - just like today. The first day of the new moon after the summer solstice was also considered as the first day of the new year in Athens in the ancient times.

The title of this posting is from a song of one of the best greek albums Άγιος Φεβρουάριος (Saint February). The themes of the songs are about Aivali and Smirni.

Does your mother remember this celebration in Thalassia?

I am leaving today for a remote Russian village, where I will not have easy access to internet. More news when I come back to Moscow, next weekent.

I HOPE YOU ARE ENJOYING THE SEA!

The History of Each Place Written with .... a Needle

2006-06-22T21:06:00.000+03:00

This is the title of the newspaper article, from the Kathimerini newspaper, announcing the exhibition of Greek needle lace at the Benaki meseum. I managed to go one Thursday evening.

There weren't many pieces, but there were unusual and very old pieces of kopanelli (do you remember my post a few months ago?) and bibila lace. Most of them came from the islands and mainly from Creta. Among the bibila pieces, were two smal handbags, presented as a gift to Queen Victoria, and two samplers with a variety of small flowers, trees, grass.... You can see part of one in the picture of the article. They were magnificent and - of course - reminded me of the book you gave me!

It was written that the name "bibila" comes from the turkish words "bir biri", which mean one next to the other. Is that the meaning? If so, it is most intersting to know that the greek term for this lace comes from the turkish words, because the turkish name for this lace "oya" probably comes from the ancient Greek word "ouyia" (still used today) which means the edge of the fabric, as the bibila usually decorates the edges of fabrics. We must add this topic to the list of issues to investigate when we start our research project for our book on lace.

Other important pieces in the exhibition were shoulder covers from Creta, made from thin linen, embroidered with colourd threads, in filtiré, with inlaid motifs. Very ellegant and very artistic! You would have loved them!

Another important note in the exhibition was the influence of the Greek lace tradition on the italian reticella lace. There are some excellent examples of reticella lace in the lace file I sent you with the Pandora's email some time ago - the one I had to break in three parts.

The exhibition was one of the events of the Coference of the International Lace Organization (OIDFA http://www.oidfa.com/), which took place in Athens in May.

Well, that's all for today. I am tired and will go to bed early, as I was travelling from yesterday afternoon till this afternoon. I flew over the Aegean - MOST beautiful at this time of the year! I hope you are enjoying the sea and the vacation life, and that's why I forgive you for not writing often!

Greetings from Moscow!

Lesvos

2006-06-18T22:40:00.000+03:00

ΚΑΛΗΣΠΕΡΑ!!!!

I was away for 38 days during my last trip and the seasons changed. So, during my first summer weekend in Cyprus I spend the whole weekend taking out the summer clothes and putting away the winter clothes and washing carpets, blankets, clothes, .... what I should have done one month ago!

The news of you renting a house for the summer appeared magical to me! I am picturing a cure little house in a small resort town, near the sea. You could go to the sea every day!!! Magnificent! It is an excellent idea to meet in Burhaniye and/or in Lesvos! My plans for the next 2-3 months are a little up in the air, however I'll try to find time for some vacation. I've never been to Lesvos!

You really meant when you suggested the trip down the Aegean, from a Greek island across to a Turkish town and back again!!!

The capital of Lesvos is Mitilini and some times we call the whole island Mitilini - I think it is the only island whose name is confused in this way.... Lesvos is the homeland of many artists. The poetess of ancient times Sappho (7th century B.C.), the folk painter Theofilos (end of 19th century - beggining of 20th century), Stratis Mirivilis one of our most important novelists and one of our two Nobel laureate poets Odysseas Elytis come to my mind now.

Here is a painting of Theofilos, very relevant to our blog's name. There is a museum with many of Theofilos' works at Molyvos.

One of Mirivilis' novels is called "Panagia the Mermaid".... Now that I think of it, it is one of many many many examples of how the sea is weaved into the life of the people in a very natural way... I now found out that the name comes from a fresco in this little chapel, which is called Panagia the Mermaid and is located in the village where Mirivilis was born.

Lesvos is also notorious for two products: ouzo (especially from Plomari) and the most famous Kalloni (meaning Beauty) salted sardines (a strange name to be associated to salted sardines, don't you think? in fact, it is the name of the bay where these sardines are caught).

And I'll close with a folk song from the shores of Asia Minor - I am not sure if it comes from Aivali or Smirni. It is a dialog, probably between a mother and her child. The translation is not making it justice, but I am sure you'll sense the sentiments behind the words. I love this song! I think it is best sung by Domna Samiou (I'll introduce her to you in another posting).

In one of the upcoming Pandora's envelops I intend to include a CD with the traditional songs of Asia Minor, Konstantinoupoli and Smirni, as well as new songs about these places. I am not sure how soon I'll be able to compile this, but I have it in my mind.

Don't worry about the change in the format of the blog... we'll fix it.

ΚΑΛΗΝΥΧΤΑ!

Troubleshoot....Ohmmm ~Ç

2006-06-17T09:54:00.000+03:00

After publishing two posts today there is a huge blank in the middle of the blog... I hope this posting will recover it....

I had found this image when i am looking for knitting and waited to post a suitable theme, it is for this troubleshooting one, c'est la vie !

Baptism-Bez kesme & Burhaniye ~Ç

2006-06-17T07:21:00.000+03:00

I loved your Baptism preperations, however i tried to remember whose Baptism is this - it is dramatic, i know :(- Your Venezulean friend's youngest? And unfortunately i couldn't see in detail your bibila lace... i hope you will be able to take a closer photograph....

10 days ago, I participated to the one of my friends "faşadura-bez kesme (cutting fabric) " ceremony. She is five-months pregnant for a boy and faşadura is a Jewish ceremony for baby preperations, the term is Spanish most probably, have you heard it before? This is from a French web site for baby-showers...

Turquie: La "Fasadura" est très populaire parmi la communauté juive.Organisée au 7ème mois de grossesse, c’est une fête célébrée entre femmes uniquement , pendant laquelle un cérémonial est organisé autour de la découpe d’une étoffe blanche qui sera gardée pour confectionner le vêtement de baptême du nouveau-né.
Il pourra aussi servir pour confectioner le doudou du petit. (http://www.babyshower.fr/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=19) (http://www.laurencesalzmann.com/photos/anyos_munchos
/anyos_munchos06.html)
this is where i got photo, it is again from Turkiye, Ece Mizrahi's faşadura ceremony and it is from 80s i guess from the ladies haircut and earrings' style :P)
And this is Turkish one I am going to translate the basics however i do wonder how much you are going to get about it :)

türkiyeli yahudilerin geçmişten günümüze yaşattığı önemli geleneklerden biri de doğacak bebeğe giysi hazırlama günü olarak tanımlanabilecek faşadura'dır. faşa giysi anlamına gelir...faşadura, hamileliğin 5. veya 7. ayında pazartesi veya perşembe günleri, (inanca göre dua kapılarının açıldığı, tevrat okunan günler) anne adayının evinde, yakın akraba, eş-dosttan kadınların katılımıyla gerçekleşir. önce bir masa hazırlanır. masa güzel bir örtüyle ve çiçeklerle süslenir. eve gelenler masanın etrafında toplanır. bebeğe gömlek dikilecek kumaş (genellikle ince patiskadır) masaya serilir. toplantıya çağrılanların maddi gücüne ve aileye yakınlığına göre getirdiği hediyeler üstüne konur. doğacak çocuğa bereket dilemek için kumaşın üzerine şeker ve para atılır. yakınlar arasından, henüz anne ve babasını kaybetmemiş kadınlardan biri makası alır ve dualar, iyi dilekler arasında gömleği biçer. gömlek biçilirken törene katılanlar bebek için hayırlı, uğurlu, sağlıklı olması için dualar ederken, anne için de "a la primera boz" temennisinde bulunurlar. bu, "tanrı bir avazda (bir tek çığlıkla, bağırmayla) kurtarsın" anlamına gelen ispanyolca bir deyimdir. bu gömlek daha sonra özenle saklanır ve bebek doğduğunda ilk olarak bu gömlek giydirilir.faşadura töreni daha sonra hep birlikte yenilip içilerek tamamlanır. bu törenle, hem tanrı'ya "sen bana bir nimet verdin, ben hamile kaldım, ben de sana olan inancımı, güvenimi bebeğe hazırlık yaparak gösteriyorum" denmektedir, hem de "hiçbir dilek emek harcanmadan, onun için hazırlık yapmadan gerçekleşmez" diye özetlenebilecek bir yaşam felsefesi sembolize edilmektedir (http://sozluk.sourtimes.org/show.asp?t=fasadura)

And Burhaniye... For this summer we rented a summerhouse in Burhaniye( http://www.burhaniye.bel.tr/), very close to Ayvalık if you heard and just opposite to Midilli (Lesbos) island. We are going to there this Tuesday morning and except some occasions in İstanbul we are planning to spend summer there. It is to early mention it but i am dreaming to visit Lesbos, i will take my passport with me. The first question could you manage to come there, Burhaniye, this summer and the second one can we make it to visit Lesbos together this summer?

I am looking forward for your answers ;)

(PS: My draft posting published finally it is just under your last two posts, i loved your copper kitchenware and the iron cast ones, and also your St.John's wort writings and once again i think that how much we have common!)

Pots and pans

2006-06-14T00:48:00.000+03:00

I am returning to Cyprus tomorrow, after another very long absense! To celebrate the occasion - and to remember how my house is - here is a picture of my collection of moulds and copper pans. I got most of them in America. I love copper kitchen utensils!

I also love cast iron utensils! Decorative as well as of use. I had bought a set of heavy cast iron frying pans, which have become completely non stick with the use and care. Last week, while in Athens, I made spinach pie and since I could not find the oven dish, I decided to bake it in the large cast iron frying pan. It came out excellent! I will be using it to bake pies from now on.

The lavender in the picture is from my lavender plant.

The other plant is fried "sword grass" (spathohorto), as we call it. In English it is called St. John's wort; scientific name Hypericum Perforatum. Have I ever told you about this? We have been using it in our family as long as I remember... It is actually a small bush, which produces yellow flowers around this time of the year. We put the branches with the flowers and leaves (fresh or dried) in olive oil and leave it in the sun. The oil becomes orange colour - we call it "sword oil" (spatholado). We then keep it in bottles and use it on wounds. It has very strong healing properties! My grandmother and my great aunt (her sister) prepared it every year; my mother and my aunt (her cousin) still do it. I recently learned that one can use it on the face, as a moisturizer. I tried it and it does leave the skin really soft. I never asked myself where the name came from, but I recently was told that it probably comes from the old times, when people used it on wounds by swords.

After a very long time....

2006-06-03T19:50:00.000+03:00

Well... it has been too long since either of us posted in Araknhe! Most of this time I was in Russia and you were in America! I was checking whether there was a new post but did not have the time to write.

I am still in Moscow, returing to Athens tomorrow after one full month abroad (Germany, Netherlands, England - one day in each of these countries - and then in Russia for three weeks). We started a new project with a Russian steel plant, located east of Moscow in a small town is in the middle of a forest with artificial lakes. It would be very nice if it were not for the moskitoes, which make it unbearable to stay outside.

As you remember, my mother, sister and friends came to Cyprus for the baptism. We all had a very good time! Till the baptism everyone was busy with the preparations, as my sister made everything (clothes, the decorations and even the cross that the god parent is giving to the child) by hand, with the help of my mother and our friends during the last two days! Here is the dress, made of thin silk and soi sauvage from Soufli

My sister designed it and made it with my mother. My sister was wearing the same design in blue and white. Can you see the bibila lace around the neckline? It was my only contribution to the baptism! Kalliopi decorated the basket used to take the clothes to the church.

Christos, Kalliopi's brother, with my younger sister decorated the baptism candle.

The church was a very small one. It was actually a cave in the rock.

Many more photos from the baptism when we meet!

Unfortunately, we did not get to celebrate Easter properly this year. We were all in different places and the preparations for the baptism took priority. I managed to avoid travelling for two full weeks so that I could stay with my mother and sister while there were in Cyprus and then Athens. It was good! I got to see my boukamvelias starting to bloom. The pictures are not so clear, as I used my mobile. For a long time I wanted to reply to your Bahar Geldi message with some flowers from my verandas and I took these just before I left for the latest trip.

I am looking forward to hearing your news from your latest trip!

American Way, Finally!!! ~Ç

2006-04-25T22:50:00.000+03:00

As you've already seen this post was "drafted" since April 25! Almost 2 months past and of course the agenda is changed. Very briefly the highlights from tha days in the States:

MY Sex and the City t-shirt!

Turkish Night in Boulder
Easter- Egg Hunt
Greeley Museum- Pioneers' Spirit
Mexican food
Jazz - Maria Scheneider
San Francisco-Asian Culture
Napa Valley - Falcon Crest, Copia, vine, wine...
Colorado mountains...

I am hoping to write in these titles someday, but for sure i must write about Copia- The Culinary Center in Napa, maybe you already know or have been.

İnşallah :) from now on - although it is summer- we post everyday!!!!

It feels like autumn here!

2006-04-07T09:44:00.000+03:00

Good morning!

I would have loved to match your spring posting with one from Cyprus and I was planning to put pictures of my flowers from my verandas, but the weather here this week is more like autumn than like spring: it is cloudy and cold and it rains from time to time.... Despite this, my lavender is full of flowers - I was startled when I saw it, picture will be provided over the weekend - and my cactuses also have flowers. But the bougenvilias, the hybiskus' and the jasmin are very much behind.... They now have small new leaves and I hope they'll be in full bloom by the end of April when my mother, sister and friends will be here for the baptism.

Seattle! One of the most exciting things you can do there is to take a boat trip from a small town with a harbour north of Seattle and go our through the straights of the San Juan islands into the Pacific ocean to see the orca whales travelling to warmer waters. It takes a full day, but it is well worth it! The boat follows the whales from a distance but you can clearly see them swimming in and out of the sea. At the end of the trip, our boat sped up, went ahead and stopped on the path of the whales. The captain switched off the engine and we were waiting... when the whales arrived near the boat, they surfaced IN FRONT OF US and dived again, passing right under the boat! It was one of the most exciting pictures in my life, to see the mother whale and the baby into the green waters passing under the boat! I remember that I screemed. You will see also sea lions, bald eagles, seals, etc... but seeing the whales is the most exciting part of the trip.

My cough still persists, so I tried the onion and honey medicine: thinly sliced onion with honey in a jar; after a few hours there is a thin liquid on top; I take one spoonful three times a day. It seems to work!

Bahar geldi - Spring time!!!! ~Ç

2006-04-01T20:27:00.000+03:00

Typical of me, i couldn't search, write and post what i want... And for today for the first day of beautiful April, i am going to fill our blog with flowers! However i should mention about "Marginal" - it has really a different approach to flower arrangements in terms of colours and decorations....

http://www.marginalflowers.com/main.htm

I discovered Marginal looking a flower arrangement for the engagament ceremony of one of my relatives... A very close friend of mine recommended the florist and instead of ordering on the phone, i would like to see at place and it was a very good decision!!

This beatiful setting was easily made of from their advertorial CD, the glass of water the shop owner brought me when i asked to drink water and the vase already there. Incredibly grace....

I also bought a twin-set of "sümbül" hyacinth, for the first and 60th birthday celebration of my mother... Normally she doesn't celebrate it, but my cousin's wife prepared a surprise for her!

And these are the lovely pink hyacinths....

"Welcome to Spring! "

2006-03-26T23:22:00.000+03:00

I just read the notes you put under the picture. I don't know if you'll believe it, but my first guess as to who your mother was, was correct! My first choice was the girl in the middle... second after the drum player, as you say... Then I searched again and found your younger aunt. They look very much alike I think, so I chose her.

2006-03-26T19:04:00.000+03:00

Dear Çiğdem,

your last posting and the picture really moved me! I don't really find any more words to say, other than to thank you for sharing the picture with me! I tried to find who your mother is on the picture. Is she standing second from left?

My maternal grandfather was born in Avdira, very close to Thalassia, as you can see on the map! Next time you are over, we'll go to both villages!

Today, after the celebration mass and the small reception, I went to Izmailovo park, which is the flee market of Moscow. Although the articles they sell nowadays are mostly commercial, one can still find beautiful handmade things. Among the things you would have liked: siberian cashmere shawls (hand knitted in lace patterns), hand painted plates from Uzbekistan, in beautiful blue colours and geometrical patterns (they brought in my mind the tiles in the beautiful old mosque Kalliopi and I visited in Skoutari - Uskudar, but I don't remember its name now...)

Speaking of Uskudar, a few weeks ago I came across the latest copy of Saveur magazine and read the article about the 100 best things they selected. Among them there was the Çiya Sofrasi restaurant in Uskudar, which was described as serving authentic turkish cuisine and was highly recommended. I found many more references and articles in the internet on the restaurant and its owner and chef. Have you ever been there? Next time I am over, we should go.

The week will be stressful and busy! On Thursday I hope to return to Greece, after almost four weeks in cold Moscow!

March, 25 1950s ~Ç

2006-03-25T13:11:00.000+02:00

( the second line of the students; the blonde girl, second on the left is my little aunt, my mum is the second girl on the right after the guy with drum, and older aunt is standing on the right of my mum after another girl, she has two hair braids)

This is very interesting example from the daily life of ordinary people in the history of two countries: My mom, two aunts and their best friends - like blood sister as they say "ahiret kardeş". "Ahiret" means the life after death which refers that their friendship is forever,- family members and almost all the village... People of Tıkızlı (Thallasia) Village Turkish Primary School, are celebrating March 25, independence day of Greece as far as i know from Ottoman Empire ! :)

I found this picture, while i were digging for my older aunt (büyük teyze)' s photos for her grandchild's third birthday :) I prepared a custom-made book for her as "Hilal's third year book"..

Greetings from Moscow!

2006-03-22T21:02:00.000+02:00

Καλησπέρα Çiğdem!

After I read your very nice posting, I made a cup of hot water, honey and lemon, which I am now drinking while writing this.

I am glad that I reminded your mom and aunts of the Μάρτη. Let's remember to make it for ourselves and put it on next March.

It is my third week in Mosow! I am very busy with work (sometimes staying up till 4 am) and I was again sick, this time with fever. After a few days of trying to fight it alone, I eventually went to the doctor, who gave me 4 types of medication. It still took one week to pass! I am not fully recovered, but I feel better. This winter has been particularly difficult!

I had forgotten the βεντούζες (şişe çekmek) till I read your posting! I never had them on me, but my grandmother - and later I - did this for my mother, when she had bad colds in the winter. In fact, now that I remember it, my mom used to say that the best technique was that of our great aunt Pagona - the aunt of my grandmother. After some time of simply heating the glasses and putting them on the skin, she used to move the last ones up and down, till they came off by themselves. I used to be very afraid of the whole ritual when I was watching my grandmother, but once I had to do it myself for my mother I did not feel it was so difficult. Now that I feel tired from work and from coughing, I wish I could have one session of βεντούζες!

I think that Moscow is a very peculiar city, but I can't really explain why.

The Kremlin is a mythical structure! I have seen it only from the outside, but I am always impressed by the towers (each has a different shape), the colours (brick red and green) and the church domes inside and around it.

Another paradox is the Red Square, which is far smaller than what it seems in the soviet parade videos. When I first saw it, two years ago, it was at night, it was empty, the cedars along the walls of the Kremlin were full of snow and the clock was ringing 9 pm - it has a very soft tone. I thought I was in a fairy tale...

The churches of Moscow are beautiful buildings, each with its own style, decoration, colours... St. Basil's at the end of the Red Square, seems like a toy.

I am thinking of photographing them in the summer. The two themes I will shoot in Moscow are the churches and the Kremlin towers.

On the other hand, you see many ugly buildings made of concrete. There are boulevards inside the city having seven lanes each way, a strip with trees in the middle and a side road with two lanes each way! The same extremes you find in people....

Anyway, on Saturday evening I went to the Novodevichiy convent, which is inside the city. It was the time of the Saturday vespers and there was a very harmonic women's choir. I enjoyed the mass. Tomorrow I am invited at the reception in our embassy for our independence day, which is on the 25th of March. And on Sunday I will go to the mass service for our independence day...

On the 25th of March we traditionally make fried cod fish in batter and serve it with yogourt garlic sauce. This is an exception during the 40 day fasting period before Easter. There are variations of the yogourt garlic sauce. My grandmother made it with smashed garlic, yogourt, dried bread crumbs, walnuts pounded in the mortar, salt and olive oil. Just mix well and serve with the hot fried fish pieces. Usually in our house the sauce finishes first, before the fish.

Kalliopi posted a nice comment about the kourambiedes, we thank her! I am not sure what she thinks about the βεντούζες (şişe çekmek)!

I hope you will have access to the internet when you are in the US!

Καληνύχτα!

Miscallenous .... ~Ç

2006-03-20T12:31:00.000+02:00

Geçmiş olsun ( get well soon) Katerina’cım...

I feel that I cannot catch the pace of our Arakhnes... Last week – i must say the week before- i intented to write about LMV, childhood – as the theme of my “ex”-company’s year end meeting and all free associations came to my mind .... (I have written this 3 weeks ago! :()

Then, I had to complete Love was everywhere, then reply to your Vien-Greek writing...
Personally I am in a period “leave-move-change-start” and i thought to write sthing about this.. Then I saw you are sick... your home made remedies are very interesting and i wanted to write about it- OFFF... a lot of things to do, even for pleasure.

Anyway .... let’s move spontaneously... First remedies.. While I am writing these, i have cold too....

1- Echinesia
2- Hot water-honey-lemon
3- Hot milk-honey-ginger
4- Onion/sugar/honey... this is an impactful recipe especially for children recommended by a member of my yahoo group “Hayattan Renkler / Colours of Life” however i lost it...

However the most original one is “şişe çekmek”... You heat little glasses and put to the back and push it back like a vacuum.. I do believe you have the same.

In Turkiye we have a naturalist, spritual healer as it is called "Lokman Hekim-the arabic version of doctor-" which i heard for the first time printed on a classic yearly wall-calendar. I should go further on it..

Finally, as I shared you thru e-mails I “moved”. Moved from job to school and a free lance job, moved from my own flat to mother’s.... It’s not a move literally but a move for me in: April you know i am going to “fly” to States for 4-6 weeks...

This chest / box ( Pandora’s chest ) is a farewell present from my beloved ex-colleagues... It is almost specially designed for Arakhnes: they put in it; 3 yumak and a şiş; a beautiful set of a knitted bonnet and atkı; Candan Erçetin’s CD which you will get a copy asap, the books i gave them to read...

Although the original Pandora’s box is full of “negatives” I continue to perceive it something has a lot of surprises... So, this lovely lily-flowered chest is for me a symbol of past ( the books), today ( the CD, and hat and atkı) and the future ( the knitting set as a source of future knitting projects ) and reserves many things in it. I loved it!

March is quite important month for me... My birthday is 12 of it :) I checked your Μάρτης :)My mother remenbered it and she said: "Yes, we were making Mart ipi-March string- but i don't remember what does it for, let's ask your aunt!" My elder aunt as i call her Büyük Teyze explained it as the same you wrote. And my other aunt, she remembered to and decided to make a one our families the newest member, her grand-child a 11-months girl!

I want to prepare a special posting for March as soon as i found some time...

Other issues "coming soon" our recipes from Cpyrus visit :), the flowers... Aşure... if i also could add to the previous ones as i have already written :(

Love.

Kourambiedes, a recipe from an Alexandrian lady

2006-03-11T22:35:00.000+02:00

Returing to cooking after Kavafis' poem, the first recipe I thought appropriate is the one I am using for kourambiedes. It belonged to a lady from Alexandria I met in America many years ago and was given to me by her daughter.

I used this recipe many many times over the years, mainly for giving the sweets as a gift. It never failed me!

Kourambiedes
(recipe of Mrs. Athineou)

Ingredients

250 gr. pure butter, softened (leave it out of the refrigerator till it is soft)
1 cup of powdered sugar
1 egg
2-3 tablespoons of cognac (it can be replaced by vanilla powder)
150-200 gr. roasted almonds
flour (about 800 gr. , as much as the dough will take, i.e. "judge by the eye" as we say)
powdered sugar for dusting

Directions

In a bowl mix the butter with the sugar and beat well till the mixture becomes fluffy (you can use the mixer, I do it with a rubber spatula). Add the egg and beat well. Add the cognac or vanilla and mix. Add the almonds.

Add flour and start working it in, till the dough is soft and can be shaped.

Shape in half moons. Place on a lightly greased oven tray and bake atabout 160 degrees C till they are golden.

Brush with water and sprinkle with a lot of powdered sugar.

Καλή Επιτυχία!
(meaning Good Luck; my mother always writes this phrase at the end of the recipes she copied in her recipe book and the ones she sents to me over the years. )

I should note that I make these kourambiedes to some friends in Italy every time I go to see them for the last 15 years. They love them! Sometimes the sweets turn out to be a little overbaked, sometimes they have less almonds, often I don't use the exact recipe measures, but every time these friends find them better than the previous time and ask me what is the secret! It is a great satisfaction for me to hear their comments: "they absorb just enough when they are immersed in espresso", "the butter flavour is more pronunced than last time", the almonds are more cooked", ... Every time they find something original to say!

Dedicated to Çiğdem for Her New Ventures

2006-03-11T21:36:00.000+02:00

Dedicating Kavafis' poem ΙΘΑΚΗ (Ithaka) to Çiğdem

for her new endeavours!

May the journey be as rewarding as the destination!

While I was looking for a good English translation for this poem - one of the most known, most cited and most loved in Greece - I found a picture of the manuscript!!!!

Ithaka

As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope the voyage is a long one.
May there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbors seen for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

Trans. Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard

Two sites of interest for Καβάφη, the Alexandrian poet, are:

http://cavafis.compupress.gr/

http://www.lsa.umich.edu/kelsey/galleries/Exhibits/cavafy/intro.html

A Poem by Seferis in Four Languages

2006-03-08T00:28:00.000+02:00

I recently re-read Seferis' poetry and thought of copying one of his poems here.

Although this poem is part of one of his most famous collection of poems - ΜΥΘΙΣΤΟΡΗΜΑ (Mithisto'rema, Mythical Narration), written in 1935- I had not noticed it till the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympiad, which I thought was a magical work of art. The poem was read just before this moment:

The French translation is by Jacques Lacarrière (a writer himself and a friend of Seferis) and Egéri Makrakis. I don't know the English and Italian translators.

ΜΥΘΙΣΤΟΡΗΜΑ
Γ’

Ξύπνησα με το μαρμάρινο τούτο κεφάλι στα χέρια
που μού εξαντλεί τους αγκώνες και δεν ξέρω πού να τ’ ακουμπήσω.
Έπεφτε στο όνειρο καθώς έβγαινα από το όνειρο
έτσι ενώθηκε η ζωή μας και θα είναι πολύ δύσκολο να ξαναχωρίσει.

Κοιτάζω τα μάτια· μήτε ανοιχτά μήτε κλειστά
μιλώ στο στόμα που όλο γυρεύει να μιλήσει
κρατώ τα μάγουλα που ξεπέρασαν το δέρμα.
Δεν έχω άλλη δύναμη·
τα χέρια μου χάνουνται και με πλησιάζουν
ακρωτηριασμένα.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mi sono svegliato con questa testa di marmo tra le mani
che mi stanca i gomiti e non so dove posarla.
Cadeva nel sogno mentre uscivo dal sogno
così le nostre vite si sono confuse
e sarà difficile assai separarle ancora.

Guardo gli occhi; né aperti né chiusi
parlo alla bocca che sta sempre sul punto di parlare
reggo gli zigomi che hanno trapassato la pelle.
La forza m'abbandona;
le mie mani si smarriscono e tornano mutile a me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I awoke with this marble head in my hands
which exhausts my elbows and I do not know where to set it down.
It was falling into the dream as I was coming out of the dream
so our lives joined and it will be very difficult to part them.

I look at the eyes: neither open nor closed
I speak to the mouth which keeps trying to speak
I hold the cheeks which have passed beyond the skin.
I have no more strength.
My hands disappear and come back to me
mutilated.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Je me suis réveillé, entre les mains cette tête de marbre
Qui épuise mes coudes et où donc la poserai-je?
Elle tombait dans le rêve comme je sortais du rêve :
Ainsi se sont jointes nos vies et il serait très dur de les dissocier.

Je regarde les yeux : ni ouverts ni fermés.
Je parle à la bouche qui sans cesse essaie de parler,
Je soulève les pommettes qui ont percé la peau.
Je n’en peux plus.

Mes mains se perdent et me reviennent,
Mutilées.

Μάρτης (March string bracelet)

2006-03-04T21:31:00.000+02:00

We have a custom, which we were following as children but it tends to be forgotten nowadays.

On the 1st of March the children are given a string bracelet - we call Μάρτη (i.e. March), made of two colours of strings: red and white. The two strings are twisted many times tightly and then tied around the wrist of the child. The child wears the Μάρτη during the whole month of March. The bracelet is supposed to protect from the sun who becomes stronger, as srping approaches. At the end of March the bracelet is cut off and the child should throw it on a roof, so that the swallows take it and use it to build their nest.

My maternal grand mother (Anneannemin) was making the Μάρτη for us.

I remembered this custom today, as a lady came into the shop and bought cotton perlé to make the Μάρτη. She bought red and white but also a turquoise cotton perlé, to blend with the red and white... It was the first time I heard of the turquoise in the Μάρτη. I assume it will be for the bad eye.

Do you have something similar?

Pictures of our home towns

2006-03-04T21:07:00.000+02:00

A very beautiful picture of the mosque at Ortaköy - my close friend of many years Maria, who liked very much our ΑΡΑΧΝΕΣ, found it in the ΚΑΘΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ newspaper and sent it to me ...

... and part of the view from our house in Kavala... I have taken this picture many times, since every time I have the impression that it is more beatiful than before...

Traditional home remedies for the cold

2006-02-26T22:04:00.000+02:00

Kalispera!

I have been quite sick these days: a bad cold, cough, blocked chest, aches, etc... I don't like to take strong medication for the cold and I usually try to let it have its cycle and pass on its own. It takes a long time, though, and I usually get much worse before I get better. This time I remembered some traditional home remedies - foods I should rather say - and had them. I really feel they helped a lot, eased my cough and blocked nose.

Yogurt with garlic: I heard this from a Serbian colleague and since I like both garlic and yogurt, I decided to try it. I just crashed a lot of garlic into yogurt and ate it. It may be bad for the breath, but it is excellent for the cold! I now read that it is good for faryngitis and laryngytis, the common cold and fever. In Greece we know that garlic - and onion - is good for the heart. In fact, I was told that my grandfather - the one from Χειλή (Şile) - used to swallow one clove of garlic every day.

Latte caramellato: an italian traditional home medicine for the cough. You put several (3-4 or more if you like) spoonfuls of sugar in a wide pan and heat it until it caramelizes. Then you pour one cup of milk while stirring with a wooden spatula. The caramelized sugar solidifies when it comes in contact with the cold milk. You should then continue to stir carefully and let the milk boil till the caramel dissolves. You should drink it hot. You must be careful while preparing it, so as not to spill the caramel and get burned.

I hope you will not need these soon, but if you do try them and let me know if they will work for you.
Have a good week tomorrow!
Κατερίνα

Love was everywhere ! ~Ç

2006-02-23T20:00:00.000+02:00

Katerina ! Arahnaki mou!

I loved all you have written about your trip to Vien and I am very glad once again to know you and to move our friendship to a more visual environment.

These are highlights about i planned to write about famous "St Valentine's Day" "Sevgililer Günü" in Turkish and "Agape ...something..." in Greek.

For sure St. Valentine day ( Sevgililer Günü / Lovers Day in Turkish) became a commercial day with full of advertising activities.

After a long time I realized that I detached myself from the gravity of St. Valentine Day – no hurry for celebration or gifts and no grief because there is nobody to celebrate...

February 14, Tuesday started with snow and an outside meeting, when i come back to the cafeteria i have seen these lovely, heart shaped pink cookies for “Sevgililer Günü”...
At the meeting we chat about St. Valentine in line with the day’s agenda and we all agreed that the best way to celebrating this unique day is “ being at home, wining and dining, music and candle light”...

My close friends know that, starting from first half of 2005 i became a TV-addicted. I watch almost all Turkish soap operas... Last year’s favourite was “Bir İstanbul masalı – An İstanbul tale” and “Haziran Gecesi – The June Night", if the translation is correct. This year without discussion my star is “Beyaz Gelincik – The white poppy”. I am in “platonic" –see Greek mythology is everywhere too:)-and "tele-love" with the main actor – Erkan Petekkaya. I think for the years – since teenage period- i am not in this kind of absurd position.

This afternoon i was thinking to post something about St. Valentine, my ideas to post a poem of Greek &/ Turkish poet in English or the image of the Kiss by Gustave Klimt. It is a classic icon of love and lovers and until my trip to Spain i don’t like the style and the picture.. In Barcelona i met Klimt’s kiss a porcelain sculpture, what a concidence it was the week of February 10s. İn 2003 and again in Spain love was everywhere. That porcelain reproduction of the Kiss charmed me. The circular lines, soft pastel colors... I couldn’t afford to buy that object – a very famous boutique and the price was € 4000!- but i begged for the catalogue... So i have it at the end!

While i was googling about the Kiss of Klimt I met Brancusi’s Kiss – a sculpture. And the sculpture yesterday evening on the TV. Beyaz Gelincik Ceren bought and placed to their bed-room :-0. It was very interesting to see that the “Kiss”es in everywhere too.

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) ’s “Kiss”

His style is highly ornamental (which personally I love-Ç) . The Art Nouveau movement favored organic lines and contours. Klimt used a lot of gold and silver colors in his art work - certainly an heritage from his father's profession as a gold and silver engraver. Klimt's works of art were a scandal at his time because of the display of nudity and the subtle sexuality and eroticism. His best know painting The Kiss, was first exhibited in 1908. As everything coming out of Klimt's hands, it was highly controversial and admired at the same time.
Another interesting coincidence, the original Kiss is in Austria, where I intended to write after yours “Greek inn” J. And the style of the painting is defined as Symbolism.

İstanbul hosts an important Picasso exhibition in months, hopefully i am going to visit on next Wednesday. On March 24, there is a conference on Picasso and Klimt: comparison on two artists.

Constantin Brancusi (1876-1975)’s Kiss

Although he was active mainly in Paris throughout his life, originally he was Romanian, he was from Balkans..

He preferred the technique of direct carving in stone -- a process newly popular among French sculptors in the early 1900s -- and was capable of reducing natural forms to near abstract simplicity. His work in both stone and bronze concentrated on variations of a small number of themes -- heads, birds, and his renowned couple embracing The Kiss.
The original Kiss is in limestone, and it is in States now ( The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection -- Philadelphia Museum of Art -)

It is a coincidence or not, both Kisses are dated to 1908!

And now the Kiss for Orchestra!!! This is what I have found on the internet thru the googling for Klimt-Kiss... It is a clear evidence of impact of art. A master piece (in this case two master pieces) can touch somewhere and give inspiration to another piece of art.

The last word for red&pink hearts day, coming from our intersection point: Two Greek poems for love one is ancient the other is Rebetiko which is “ithaf edilmiş”=dedicated to a be-loved gold flower...

Sappho 610-580 B.C.translated by Willis B

KLEIS

I have a small daughter who is beautiful

like a gold flower. I would not trade

my darling Kleis for all Lydia or even

for lovely Lesvos.

NIGHTS I STAY AWAKE WITHOUT HOPE...

Rebetiko by Yannis Papaioannou, Translated by Gail Holst

-My small daughter .....My gold flower .... Christiana, London 1984-

Nights I stay awake without hope

Lonely I walk the streets.

In front of the bars of your window

I spend my sad hours.

How I long to meet you again,

To find our old joy once more,

To give you my kisses again

So my black saddness will leave me

But there where you are in a strange place,

Who knows where you wander now?

I wonder if you still think of me

Or suffer for someone else.

I will add more opinions and feelings into pictures later on for sure :) and create another post about Turks / Ottomans & Vien .

Love....

My latest tour around Europe

2006-02-20T23:59:00.000+02:00

Here I am, following a long absence due to a tough travelling schedule during the last two weeks. After passing by Athens for a weekend, I left for Paris on February 13th, for Vienna on the 15th, back to Athens - through Paris - on the 16th, back to Cyprus on the 17th, on a plane to England - through Athens - on the 19th (yesterday) and tonight I am in Warsaw, Poland. Tomorrow morning I'll take the train for Krakow, back to Warsaw on Wednesday and back to Athens the same night....

I rarely go to a restaurant when I am on my own. But it was my first visit ever to Vienna and I decided to find a characteristic Viennese restaurant and have dinner. The hotel recommended the Griechenbeisl, which turned out to be Vienna's oldest restaurant. I highly recommend it if you ever go to Vienna! The environment and decoration are charming, the service and the food are very good. The building itself is very interesting, and very old!

Here is their web page http://www.griechenbeisl.at/lang_en/page.asp/index.htm
from where I copy the following information:

Welcome to the Griechenbeisl, Vienna’s oldest inn

The Griechenbeisl (The Greek Inn) is one of Vienna’s oldest inns. Artists, scholars and politicians would congregate in the Griechenbeisl to eat, drink, debate and reflect – often into the early hours. From the world famous balladeer ‘Der lieber Augustin’ to later figures of the stature of Beethoven, Schubert, Wagner, Strauss, Brahms, the painters Waldmüller and Schwind, the opera singer Schaljapin, writers Mark Twain, Grillparzer and Nestroy, and political personalities such as Karl Lueger and Graf Zeppelin have all appreciated its traditional Viennese cuisine and creature comforts. The framed autographs on the walls of the famous Mark Twain room ensure that their presence lives on here.

History of the Griechenbeisl

The Griechenbeisl is first mentioned in the registry of the City of Vienna in 1447. From around 1500, the present Griechenbeisl appears as an inn by the name of ‘The Yellow Eagle’ and later as ‘The Red Roof’ and ‘The Golden Angel’. In the mid 17th Century numerous tradesmen from Greece and the Levant settled around the area of Fleischmarkt which became known as the Greek quarter. Beside the inn stands the Greek Orthodox Church, the seat of the diocese.

Completed in 1861, the church is the only ecclesiastical work by Theophil von Hansen, architect of the Austrian parliament. It was around this time that the inn adopted the name ‘Griechenbeisl’. In 1852 the then landlord Leopold Schmied introduced Pilsner Urquell beer, a novelty at the time. From then on, the Griechenbeisl started to acquire a reputation that made it known all over the world.

I ate in the Karlsbader room.

Portugal, Pgymalion, Sunday Cook ~ Ç

2006-02-13T16:02:00.000+02:00

MADEIRA

I heard Madeira first in a cake recipe as Madeira pond cake:

A traditional English favorite that's like a simple pound cake, the top of which is sprinkled with candied lemon peel halfway through baking. The name comes from the fact that it is usually served with a glass of Madeira. Some cooks also sprinkle the baked cake with Madeira before it cools.

Then Madeira is in the Finnish Hot Wine recipe. What I know about hot wine, you can make it from cheap wine, but in Finnish Christmas Glögg it is recommended to use Madeira!

When you G o o g l e Madeira, you immediately learn that it is an Portuguese island famous with its special quality of wine. I visited Spain 3 years ago. As a fond of everything Mediterrenean Portugal is one of the dream countries to visit. This beautiful island wih beaches and wine maked Portugal as a must destination together with Andalusia. Till now we already planned to visit Kyrete and Kavala together, so we added Andalusia and Madeira to the route.

PGYMALION

Second is Pgymalion. I was one of the facilitators of a training program last week. Training for management development and its name is Odyssee, from Homeros’ İliada. Odysseeus the hero in the legend has been in a sea travel for a very long time, more than 20 years full of wars, storms etc. Then his long journey has became a metaphor for challenging and long-term processess, as it is used in this training program.

But I want to tell more about Pygmalion instead of Odyseeus. Pygmalion is a sculpture, even it is told that he is a king from Cyprus, yes he is your citizen J. Pygmalion had felt in love the woman he created which is a ivory statue, however Aphrodite, the goddess of love, gives her life. Galetea and Pygmalion have together in a very happy way...

Bernard Shaw is the person who brought them today, or 20th Century. He has written a play – Pygmalion, and in the play the Pygmalion is a Professeur and Galatea is a flower-seller in Covent Garden. After many shows in London, the first movie done in Holywood in 1938. But, the most famous one is My Fair Lady of Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Dolittle.

The relation with the management development lays in the researches in 1960s about school children. This research repeated in the management area and the results are quite similar. Now the behaviour is known as Self – Fulfilling prophecy or Pygmalion Effect. I will write more about the concept, however it is easy to google it.

Here also I would like to mention my own version of My Fair Lady: Three years ago, a very close friend and I visited Barcelona and Madrid. After a beautiful concert in Palau du Musica Catalana, and a flamenko – ballet if Gabriel Garcia Lorca, we had a ticket for Spanish My Fair Lady.

I admired the visuals, the colors, the images and of course the music. Thanks to God i know the theme so, all I understand from the play is a rhyme: “İl pan di Spagna bagna la campagna”

SUNDAY COOK

On last Sunday there was our annual apartment administration meeting at 11:00. Since we talked to have breakfast together i planned to prepare something for breakfast – Olive bread!

I do believe you have very delicious recipes too, but my basic recipe is here...

Olive Bread

2 eggs
2 cups of flour-all wheat
1.5 cups of olive – without the seeds inside
½ cup of milk
1 table spoon of sugar
1 coffee spoon of baking powder
Rosemary

Mix eggs, sugar and olives together, olives dyes all to black! Add flour, baking powder and resemary and mix again with a spoon. Place in a baking tray and cook in 1800 for 30 minutes or until you get a knife clean!

My neighbours loved it! I also, recognized once again oil brings a unique taste – because i put the olive oil to the bread quite generously.

In the afternoon, my aunt and cousins came for the tea-talk.... Then they stayed for dinner. I have cooked the liver from last Fest “Kurban Bayramı”. I love liver, and if i cook it at home i love to prepare it with caramelized onions. I merge my own recipe with Emine Beder’s recipe with minor changes....

Arnavut Ciğeri- “Albanian Liver”

It becomes three layers:
1) Liver => after prepare the liver (clening the outer membrance etc) cut into mini-dices. Mix the flour with salt and sweet powder red pepper and coat the liver dices with this flour-mix. Fried in hot vegetable oil.
2) Onion (+ parsley) => Cut the onions in “yarım ay / piyaz” which means like very thin apple slices, add some salt and mix very well the onions with your hands until eliminate the bitter taste, wash the onions and leave to dry. Put some olive oil, add onions and some brown sugar and caramelize the onions. In the last minutes add the small pieces of parslay and “sote” all together.
3) Potatoes ( + carrot): Cut the potatoes to small dices and rende the carrots. Instead of frying, stir them with olive oil, salt and thyme and bake in oven for 30 + 10 mn.

Serve in a big-flat plate, potatoes at th bottom, onions in the middle and liver on top.
For the ones who like “sakatat” this is a fantastic meal! In Türkiye now, we are enjoying all these kind of food as much as possible until we got accepted to EU sometime in future :P

Vacation Plans & Κρητικό Κοπανέλλι

2006-02-09T10:22:00.000+02:00

Καλημέρα!

It is winter here, cloudy, raining and mild during the day but cold at night. I am very busy with work but also with other things that I need to do and never have time. The big project was finding barrels for transplanting my boukamvilias. It took me two weeks of research but I found them! Now I need to arrange to get soil. I will transplant them next Sunday morning!

I am leaving tomorrow for the next trip: Athens for the weekend, Paris on Monday and Tuesday, Vienna on Wednesday and back on Thursday or Friday. Then two days here in Nicosia and away again, this time to England, Maybe France or Germany and then Russia!!!

I feel tired and need to think about vacation. Would you like to make one of the trips we have been talking about? How about Crete or Portugal?

Well, speaking of Crete, here are two pictures of the famous Κρητικό κοπανέλλι (kritiko' kopane'li), the Cretan bobbin lace. This is the next technique I plan to learn. It resembles very much Brussels lace. The mother of a friend knows it very well and I can go to take lessons. The only problem is that she is in Athens!

Orange Marmalades

2006-02-03T10:21:00.000+02:00

Hot Wines and Aromatic Orange Drinks

2006-02-03T10:14:00.000+02:00

Αλκυονίδες Μέρες (Halkyon Days)

2006-02-01T11:18:00.000+02:00

During these days - usually at the end of January - the weather is mild, sunny with no winds. Hεre is why!

The noun “halcyon” comes from the Greek word “alkyon” (or “halkyon”) meaning the bird called kingfisher. The word and the bird are both connected to a tragic, but romantic Greek myth.

Alcyone (or Halcyone) was the daughter of Aeolus, the ruler of the winds. Alcyone’s beloved husband, Ceyx, the king of Thessaly, drowned in a storm at sea. When she saw his floating body, Ovid tells us in “Book XI” of his METAMORPHOSES, the grief-stricken Alcyone threw herself into the sea “…and then, while beating the light air with wings that instant formed upon her, she flew on, a mourning bird, and skimmed above the waves.” She reached the corpse and tried to embrace it with her wings and kiss it “with her hardened bill.”

The gods, taking pity, turned them both into flying birds. “Their love lived on, nor in these birds were marriage bonds dissolved, and they soon coupled and were parent birds. Each winter during seven full days of calm Halcyone broods on her floating nest — her nest that sails upon a halcyon sea: the passage of the deep is free from storms, throughout those seven full days; and Aeolus restraining harmful winds, within their cave, for his descendants’ sake gives halcyon seas.” The sea and winds were calmed for those seven days as well as the seven after.

Halkyon is also the name of the brightest of the Pleiades, a group of seven stars in the constellation Taurus.

Share files???

2006-01-31T20:09:00.000+02:00

I verified that we can't share files through our blog.

Do you want to open a joint yahoo email account, where we can send emails with file attachments?

I'll let you choose the name - you are so talented in this!

How do you like the baby kimono I made some time ago?

2006-01-31T19:19:00.000+02:00

Merhaba!

It is 7:20 pm - I just finished the stressful day after a sleepless night! I was looking forward to doing something nice - such as writing this.

I went to the concert last evening. Although the stadium was not very nice and the spectators were not respectful to the artists, I ENJOYED the concert. It was the first time I heard an only men concert: four of our best singers, fantastic strong voices! The composer (Thanos Mikroutsikos) is also one of our best and his songs based on Kavvadias poetry are unique. They presented the songs in an unusual way last night, with a jazz twist. There were 6 instruments in the orchestra, plus the composer on the piano, and in many of the songs each instrument was playing a solo part, one after the other. Fantastic!

Maybe I have already told you, but an open air concert is my favourite form of entertainment. I feel that I really participate by singing.

Smart that you changed the name to Arachnes... I like it...

Here is how you fooled me yesterday: it is not true that in Greek the plural is formed by simply adding an s at the end of the singular. The last syllable is usually - if not always - changed in the plural. Example (one of your favourite words, not Greek in origin I think, but shows the point): dantella (lace) - dantelles (laces). In the case of ΑΡΑΧΝΗ (pronounced arachne, but the last e is i as in Izmir), the plural is ΑΡΑΧΝΕΣ (arachnes, the es is like in Estonia). In english it seems to need only an s. When I saw it, I read in with the Greek pronounciation and remained STUNNED!!!

Cooking news: I made a large pot of lahanodolmades (no need to translate) on Sunday night. They became delicious. Tonight we (my siste and I) will eat them with egg and lemon sauce. I told you that my youngest sister is in Cyprus since September, working here and living with me.

Decorating news: on Sunday my sister and I made plans to paint the appartment: living room and hall way in two tones of yellow, kitchen in three tones of peach and terracota, kitchen veranda door terracota, verandas colour not decided yet. I will also do stencils, which I love! We are expecting friends for the baptism, I told you. I wanted to change the colours but was not brave enough. She is the bold one regarding this - she is 26!!!

Till this weekend I must find a way to send you the lace file!

Let me stop here for tonight.

Love!
Κατερίνα, η Ελληνίδα Αράχνη (you can read this, I will not translate)

A little twist in the hot wine recipe...

2006-01-30T15:34:00.000+02:00

Pierce the lemon or orange with the cloves and bake it in the oven before putting it to boil in the wine... from a recipe called "Bishop's Wine". I'll send it to you

Two Terrible Twos & Hot Wine ~ Ç

2006-01-30T14:55:00.000+02:00

Was very nice weekend...:
Friday-Saturday at the best friend’s lovely home...dinner, fireplace, wine,hot wine, knitting...girl-talk...two boys...the younger one is almost two which means terrible two...
He is very cute... Curly light brown hair, a very happy face and he is outgoing...His down fall (w/out injuries) frequency is very high: three per 2 hours.
My Hot Wine recipe:
1 bottle of a medium quality red wine
2-3 Cinnamon sticks ( if you have only the powdered one, then you should filter it later on) 2-3 cloves
2-3 table spoon of sugar
Orange / Lemon peel
Very small pieces of apple / pear (like mini-dices as we say in Turkish)
You boil everything in a saucepan... serve in anything glass...
From Finland Christmas glögg

1 Bottle red wine * 2-3 tablespoons Madeira (optional) * 1/2 cup raw sugar, or to taste1/3 cup raisins * 1-2 sticks cinnamon * 5-6 whole cloves peelings of I orange * 1/4 cup blanched, slivered almonds * 1/4 cup vodka to spike it up (optional) ( in another recipe it was brandy-Ç)
In a large kettle, combine all the ingredients except the vodka. Heat slowly, until the drink is steaming hot. Stir every now and then, and taste with a spoon whenever you feel like it. Do not let the drink get even close to boiling. Just keep it warm. Before serving, add vodka if you wish. Servings: 1 to 6

I continued to knit my scarf, even started a beret...It has almost every tone of blue from white-blue to turquoise...
Sunday started with a breakfast in a friend’s house... Again a lot of girl-talk, in this case i must say women-talk... We bought a very elegant vase from Paşabahçe... The wrapping was almost more elegant than the inside... Lily paper and a fabric- flower, Lavender...Beautiful....
Sunday evening continued BBQ in the apartment (building)’s garden with the neighbours..Again meat “sucuk” with hot wine... Then tea&talk in one of the neighbour’s house...They have a son, two years boy = terrible two: In a second,, he scratched my face!

My last weekend

2006-01-30T14:48:00.000+02:00

Kalispera!

I am drinking my afternoon coffee (a tradition since I came to Hyperion, not nescafe', the real coffee - turkish/greek) and will take a break to write highlights of my weekend related to Arakhne. I would really like a lokum with the coffee.....

I am making samples for my new knit, the one in green/mauve mohair. I still haven't decided upon the correct needle size and I get upset when I have to undo what I knitted!

I am also very much taken by a book I am reading these days. Actaully, it is a trilogy called "Les Enfants de Salonique" and written by Bernard Lenteric, a French. The story begins in Thessaloniki, around 1880 and gives a very vivid description of people's lives and relationships between Greeks and Turks mainly, but also Jews and Slavs in the background. Fascinating! A friend of mine recommended the books to me when we were in Paris many years ago. Then I had found volumes 2 and 3. Last time I was in Paris 10 days ago, I had only a few hours and went only for dinner and to look at books and I found volume 1!!!! So I started reading it immediately!

Lace related news: my sister will baptize the daughter of a close friend in the end of April here in Nicosia. She and mama are making all the clothes for the baby and she asked me to do bibila on the underware and cap and maybe the dress also. Of course, I will post the pictures here.

Yesterday I watched an old boradcast dedicated to one of our singers, Glykeria, who sings "anatolitika" - eastern - songs mainly. One of the guests was Omar Farouk Tekbilek. It was the first time I listened to him and liked very much his songs. He has sung with Glykeria Greek songs in duet - fantastic...

Tonight I am going to a concert: composer Thanos Mikroutsikos presents his two masterpieces 'Southern Cross" ("Σταυρός του Νότου") and "Horizon Lines" ("Γραμμές τών Οριζόντων") based on the poetry of Nikos Kavvadias, a sailor who wrote poems on the ships during his life time. 4 singers and the composer himself on the piano! The CD may be in the next Pandora's envelop, but I am not sure whether you will like the songs, as it is a little peculiar and the important part are the poems.

I am going back to work now!
I always write too much!

Love,
Κατερίνα

Arakhne's Story...

2006-01-30T09:20:00.000+02:00

Arachne was a young woman from Lydia, who offended Athena, and suffered the consequences.

Arachne was gifted in the art of weaving. Not only were her finished products beautiful to look at, but the very act of her weaving was a sight to behold. Nymphs were said to abandon their frolicking to come observe Arachne practice her magic. So remarkable were her works that observers often commented that she must have been trained by the very patron goddess of weaving, Athena herself. Arachne scoffed at this. She was disgusted at being placed in an inferior place to the goddess and proclaimed that Athena herself could not do better than her.

Athena was quite perturbed at Arachne's bold claim, but she decided to give the young woman a chance to redeem herself. She came to Arachne disguised as an old woman and warned her to be careful not to offend the gods, lest she incur their wrath. But Arachne told the old woman to save her breath. She welcomed a contest with Athena, and, if she lost, would suffer whatever punishment the goddess deemed necessary.

The goddess accepted the challenge and revealed her true form. The nymphs who had come to watch Arachne's weaving shrunk back in fear, but Arachne stood her shaky ground. She had made a claim, and she was sticking to it. So the contest began, the mortal at her loom, the goddess at hers. Athena began to weave the scene of her contest with Poseidon for the city of Athens. A beautiful scene developed from the threads, showing Poseidon and the salt water spring, and Athena with an olive tree, gifts to the people who would name Athena as their patron, and their city after her. The bystanders marveled at the goddess' work.

Arachne, for her part, created a tapestry showcasing scenes of Zeus' various infidelities: Leda with the Swan, Europa with the bull, Danaë and the golden rain shower. So exquisite was the mortal's work that the bull seemed lifelike, swimming across the tapestry with a real girl on his shoulders. Even Athena herself was forced to admit that Arachne's work was flawless.
Angered at Arachne's challenge, as well as the presumptuousness of her choice of subjects, Athena tore the tapestry to pieces and destroyed the loom. Then she touched Arachne's forehead, making sure that she felt full guilt for her actions. Arachne was ashamed, but the guilt was far too deep for her poor, mortal mind. Depressed, she hanged herself.
Athena took pity on Arachne. She most likely did not expect that Arachne would commit suicide. She brought her back to life, but not as a human. By sprinkling her with the juices of aconite, Athena transformed the woman into a spider, her and her descendants to forever hang from threads and to be great weavers.

(by Melissa Lee)

2006-01-26T17:33:00.000+02:00

Inaugurating our Arakhne, I contribute α picture of my οwn bibila lace, dedicated to my dear friend Çiğdem!

Κατερίνα

2006-01-26T15:55:00.000+02:00

Merhaba - Hello - Kalimera