You May Now Rub Your Happy Buddha Belly

This tree downtown where I live is adorned with colorful lanterns to attract tourists to dine at the restaurant to the left side of this photo. Now this will hopefully help me articulate the release and ease I've come to feel at this small touristic seaside & port town over 6 months I have been living here.

Where I left posting, I was packing our flat into boxes with mom in a frenzy. I looked forward to have some time to simply contemplate my next move; meanwhile trying to make the best of this time apart. I needed the change. Granted it came to me fully, appealing to all of my buds. Sweet, sour, bitter, savory times. Not necessarily in that order, my feast did not have to follow any man-made formality. I indulged with my bare hands.

So, this thinking reflected itself in ways I pleased my tummy over spring and summer.

Living at this town blessed me with amazing variety of fresh produce at farmers market with the prices so cheap for their great quality. Hand picked organic fruits and vegetables sold by farmers who actually did the farming themselves.

On an ordinary trip to the market, I even saw the lady who I would buy whole wheat rustic bread from at the market I would go before moving out to here. Since there is an hour long distance in between two places; apparently she and the yummy loaves of breads were traveling to this town as well! Seeing her made this place more homely. Plus, we would always briefly chat. Even if I didn't know much about her life, I felt like I've seen a long time friend. She hugged me confirming the feeling. No words necessary, that lifting within. All in small precious moments like those.

Hot weather and over-cooked food just don't combine well for my family. This meant going raw over spring and summer at large with moderate cooking and baking to compliment.



Salads...

Red bell pepper & dill lightly sauteed sprinkled with sesame, zucchini steamed and served over some spaghetti to keep tummies in check!


Appetizers...

Mushrooms rested in lemon & water, then dried up gently and coated in whisked egg & spices bowl first; then in bread crumbs bowl. Either fried or baked. These were fried.

Then served over yoghurt in the one above, plain on stick below.



My kind of S'mores. Except this one would be S'mush. No campfires alright. No overkill either!


Refreshing drinks...



Summer's favorite, ice tea. I am yet to perfect my own, so this one above was by a store brand. Oh the brutal honesty, next.


Baking; how I cheer for thee with an over-excited anime face!



My first time baking bread. Multi grain. I bought the dry dough mix from store alright. But adding walnuts was my idea! Ah. I just get very sentimental with being able to bake bread. So, score.

More baking...



Great with tea.

... Speaking of tea;



Brewing tea in a jar...pure visual satisfaction. Something new to photograph for the I" wanna be home today!" photographer.

Preparation For Fall and Winter...



Sour cherry jam in the making. Mmm. Jar is already half empty. Even my Psychology degree can't make me perceive it half full. :/




Sun-drying tomatoes.

...

Most importantly;

Dinners enjoyed with my small family...



One time I craved for pizza and tried my best. Asked them to decorate toppings as they wished. Limited toppings, pizza dough that needs practice. Discouraged? Nah.

Another great advantage that came with moving home was/is that my mom and I would be as close as ten minutes apart with my sister and her partner. This meant a lot of time strengthening our bond (since especially growing up; I didn't get to spend quality time much with my sister).

Now we are just conditioned to having good food whenever all four of us come together. As if; our get together-s serve to that one hedonistic pleasure only.

Well, none of us complains.

Village bread, cheese and olives

I am sitting in a room full of boxes, reflecting on things that happened recently. Boxes, because I am moving. Remember the village I mentioned in my other post... the town I am moving to is actually pretty close to that village. I don't remember myself looking forward to a move this much before!

It was July 2009 I stepped into a full time job at private sector adventure right after the graduation - and quit about two weeks ago. Somewhere, someone in this world has used that exact period of timing to birth her baby. And I, like a pregnant mother - not to underestimate the greatness of it - learned a lot at the job. I didn't get to see the baby walk her first steps though! I couldn't, given that I had to move due to family relocation.

I'd ideally like to work related to / for / with LGBTQ community. I've thought about the pathways. It could be as in get experience as an intern, then proceed from there. Or I could get a Master's degree in Gender Studies. Each option has its own differing probability at the time of writing them down. So I figured myself a way that'd probably make me very happy IF I could accomplish getting there. However, I am just going to be open to any opportunities that arise along the way. If one insists on only accomplishing a certain goal, it might not always work out as expected.

Speaking of which... if I could just go to Spain and blog the culinary wonders from there... Mmm. Don't get me excited just yet.

I got carried on...

Back to topic!

Since most of our stuff is packed - that includes everything in kitchen - and I can't cook... I am just enjoying simplicity in my diet for now.

Back to village bread, cheese and olives.

Some typical must have components of Turkish breakfast - except for I am consuming them at 00:08 am at the moment! Such an early-bird eh.

Catch up with you soon!

Daylight

How I miss thee. My metabolic depression is soon to be over with. Well, a kind of forced - kind of intentional hibernation it's been. Because I've avoided creating new tummy pleasures, my tummy in turn gave me the lesson in form of a duodenal ulcer. Furious a bit, he gurgled ; "You will, promise me, to keep you happier - to make me happier. Feed me no caviar, no flipping white truffles or name of which you can't even pronounce let alone digest. You're gonna have to feed me light, expose me to more light, let yourself feel light."

Promise.

Trip to an old wine village, intense: just in time.

Tonight I got all cosy, winter tea and baked chestnuts. I call this living in the moment.

Looking back... I've been working for four and half months now. Summer schedule part weekdays full-time and Saturdays part-time. Having switched to winter schedule, weekdays full-time and work every other Saturday. That makes a lot of working if you're on your first steady full-time like me, fresh out of university with no similar work experience beforehand. Keeping active is fun, but I miss being in more control. So, I've been trying to adjust to my new timing - it's okay for now. What's the big deal! Oh hello adulthood.

So when it was time for this religious holiday, I was very stoked - days of doing nothing? I'm in!

.. But I actually did something nice, hopping on a bus to visit my sister and her boyfriend. They live an hour and half away - but this would be my first time seeing them since I started working. Stuff gets in the way and this circumstance that salad whatever. You know.



It was a great idea though. Well, why the past tense... I'm still at their place. Whenever us three come together, you count on delicious food and having cosy leisure time together.



Those and we even took a half day trip to this cute little village I'll talk about, and share the photos of. First a glimpse of how it looks...



And while you're at it, you might want to click here for a brief history snippet of the village.

Beautiful little village on the hills, home for approximately six hundred inhabitants. Famous for its wine and olive oil. Women make "gozleme" traditional pastry made of phyllo and filling, and in little streets of the village, there's a lot of handmade stuff. Olive oil soap, clothes, souvenirs. But when you mention " Sirince Village"; you'll recall wine first.



Juicy wild strawberries...

Aside from the usual red wine, this village expertises on fruit wine. Black mulberry being my favorite. Well... many others would call it a favorite out of all kinds. Speaking of which, they make peach, strawberry, kiwi, blueberry, sour cherry, quince, apple, melon and blackberry wine. Mmm.

I wanted to take some home, and we were offered a wine tasting at this wine house. There we go...



The guy defined them all but I was so into my photography, I put glasses in order for my photo and I forgot which cup was what flavor. Recognized most of them - only having trouble with the berry flavors. Err.



I didn't want to leave the wine house. The moment I stepped in, I looked around and had this feeling, I must've been here before. So familiar I felt like I've known the place for years. This welcoming feeling... it blew my senses away. My eyes examined the room, and found happy.



A kind of place I would love to heal myself in, contemplate and ponder. Birth my child and spend a difficult winter. Write letters to whomever on the table made of rock, and burn them while playing with the glowing coal pieces.



I had a lot of thoughts. Wine bottles on each wall. Distant, soothing music in the background. I let myself free in each breath. Acknowledging insanity while achieving a balance, indesribable.

I was different when we left that wine house. Different yet still same. Maybe re-integrated to a side of me I've been neglecting. I rename the place to introspection room. Do you have one?



We walked in narrow streets. One of them has led us to a beautiful little shop with good wine, olive oil and sour pomegranate sauce - of which we bought plenty.



Sister and her boyfriend were chatting up with the shop owner who turned to be a Cretan guy and I was looking around in the meantime.



The olive oil loving Mediterranean in me screamed in high glee.



Finally made our way up to this restaurant, craving for some organic and pure village made food.



Stuffed grape leaves, and garlic yogurt with purslane.



Crowned the hearty rustic bread...



Refreshing healthy drink, "ayran"... served in traditional cups.



Tomorrow looking out of my window, I'll see this. Fewer leaves on the tree, more on the ground. But somehow, it'll be okay.