May 13, 2009

My Secret About May 13th, Picnic By The Sea & Fresh Basil From Flower Festival

I've got two birthdays. I've never died and come back to life, not that I know of. But I've got my original birth date as May 1st, and May 13th on every official paper there is. Back when mom was pregnant to me, it was difficult obtaining maternity leave. Agreeing to her doctor's suggestion, I was registered 12 days later. That's my story which makes me feel funny every year. I don't intend to change it at all. It's my secret...
Picnic By The Sea
Yesterday I enjoyed such a nice day out with mom. I actually forced her to go out which she thanked me for later. I was envisioning having a small picnic by the seaside. So I made pasta with sausages and indulged them in yogurt & spice sauce. Just enough for two plastic containers. Pack. In another, some washed arugula and cherry tomatos. Pack. Ready to leave? Nope. Pocket size radio, some water and mint candy, all set.
Since we don't have as much as green I'd like here in city... I go to the sea then. Nature bits, the blocks of apartments couldn't eat up yet! Ha! :D

Fuzzy green tea mochi looking rocks during walk

A couple minutes later we're on our way to the seaside. Basically, walking to the coastline which is arranged as green areas to enjoy, walk, come with pets and exercise outdoors with installed equipments.

We walked up to a shady area and sat on the grass. There were few men trying to catch fish. One of them had this fishing rod with a jingle hooked on it. It kept distracting me. When they left, I captured a photo of my view from where I sat:


De-clutter your mind...

Feeling very hungry by now, we quickly finished eating our pasta. Since it was chilled, garlic let its pungent aroma merge well by then. Yummy!
Flower Festival

After contemplating the blue sea, green grass and sunny weather our flesh and bones enjoyed, it was time we'd start walking back home. Following the coastline, we came across a crowd of people and flowers in all colors. Right, it's time for flower festival in my province again!

Mom as she's examining flowers

Such vibrant colors... such liveliness... Reminding me there is beauty to appreciate. A lot of visual feeding!

Close up on floral feast


If you wanted to get them, they were dirt cheap too. For comparison, one of those flower pots above come for 0.50 to 1 in mine - which makes like 30 to 65 cents in US money. CENTS.

Basil smell is calming to me...


As much as I enjoyed the flowers though, I just laid my eyes on cactus and basil pots. Cactus dudes I love for being self sufficient which I associate with myself. Basil I appreciate for the mesmerizing smell - and I wanna eat it! Actually we mostly keep this herb for a little green and great odor in the house. All my childhood we did. But now, I'm so motivated to pick few leaves for pesto sauce :blush:

Plus, mom told me that it'd encourage my plant to grow better.

When I look it up online, I come across somewhat different basil plants with bigger leaves... From memories I know this plant I have will never grow that big leaves, only grow in volume with same leaf size.

Question here; does this look like the usual basil you use for cooking? Also, all basil use ideas welcome. If you cooked food with basil, would you link to me below to get familiar also? Next post I'll have a meal that uses my new metal steamer I previously mentioned and use some basil too! Though, steaming and basil don't have to come together.

P.S: Lastly... talk about lucky! As I was typing down this post, amazing pastry smell slowly surrounded me. To my surprise, mom secretly baked my favorite - I mentioned before... It's a twist to the Turkish pogaca by laying out the dough flat on the baking tray. You could see the original version by clicking this sentence for -> Midnight Craving For Pastry: "Turkish Pogaca" by me.

So comforting... This one has cheese, all melted inside

Oh by the way, if you're not yet familiar with the little black seeds sprinkled over the pastry... I suggest you visit this informative post by clicking this sentence for -> "Special Ingredients: Nigella" by LouAnn at Oyster Food & Culture

I'm off to enjoy this all time favorite pastry with some green tea now, and possibly go for a walk on the coastline again because all this talk made me miss it. Flower festival's still going on, and I planned to buy another pot of basil to gift.

How are you doing?

13 comments:

  1. I've been meaniing to make Turkish Pogasa for such a long time. Maybe I should start very soon.

    I love basil as well, I never get over the fragrant from this herb.

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  2. AnonymousMay 13, 2009

    What a great story! Two bdays for you...that's much better than just one. :) That's two celebrations a year!

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  3. Elra: It's not much effort, go for it.

    Chrystal: Haha indeed!

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  4. Happy birthday again!! =)I wish I had two birthday. LOL. Twice the fun.

    Those flowers look so beautiful. I love flowers.

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  5. AnonymousMay 13, 2009

    Such a nice beach! I will have to walk to my beach today, even though it's cloudy it will still be gorgeous.

    The other day, I combined fresh chopped basil with a bit of chopped mint in a fresh tomato/butter sauce over pasta. The two plants are related, and it was really delish!

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  6. curious domestic: I love fresh mint in salads, and dried in pastas, soups... Mixing the two together sound good! Tomato, mint, basil and all.. Very Mediterranean, familiar to my taste - thank you for this!

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  7. Happy Birthday to you!!

    One of my favorite basil recipes would be Pesto Hummus:

    chickpeas
    basil
    lemon juice
    olive oil
    fresh garlic
    non diary yogurt - or regular
    garnish with olives and a dusting of paprika

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  8. AnonymousMay 14, 2009

    Hi Ozge, I like your little secret! Lucky you to have two birthdays. Your trip to the sea looked wonderful as did all the flowers. I have to say I am jealous of your wonderful and healthy looking basil. I am convinced that it does not like me. I can cook with it just fine, but trying to grow this incredible plant is another matter. I love it and add it to everything. Its great in a fruit smoothy. I must try pogaca and the recipe Iraw posted for pesto hummus looks stupendous. Your decription of the pogaca has me craving it, even though I have no idea what I am craving =O)

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  9. Jenn, thank you! Why don't we assign you a second birthday? I mean... make-believe still works right?

    iRaw, hummus sounds amazing! I just mind-checked, got the ingredients except for chickpeas. I'm doing this soon - thank you!

    LouAnn, thank you - pss I enjoy your detailed comments so much. Tell you another secret, I've never grown a herb from seed. I got it as it looks in picture. Basil is most commonly grown herb in houses here, you always get it that size and then take care of it. I plan to pick leaves so it can grow better. I read some tips online. Pogaca has me craving all the time haha. Oh, such a coincidence I just made smoothie with fresh basil on it :D Posting soon!

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  10. AnonymousMay 15, 2009

    you could try making pasta, pizza, or pesto with the basil!
    How cool it is that you've got TWO b-days!

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  11. Fun story about your birthday(s)! I hope you take full advantage of both of them :)

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  12. Happy birthday again! 8-)

    Your photos are, as always, lovely and your basil plant looks so robust and full! I plant mine outdoors and it grows well during the summer. However, during the winter, I can't seem to keep it alive indoors which means I don't cook with fresh basil as much (too expensive so I use dried). I look forward to seeing what you make with it in you steamer!

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  13. Merhaba! Look at those gorgeous flowers!

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You could feedmeback! I still appreciate it even if it's too spicy. Spice is good.

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