Morning Veggie Pastry, Lunch Strawberry Arugula Salad, Dinner With Fellow Blogging Foodies

Sunny morning. My mom and cat are still asleep. I am in the mood for a comforting breakfast. I don't need to think much, I'm going to bake. Checking for ingredients: flour, eggs, yogurt, oil. There. I want stuffed pastry... Veggies! I have zucchini, red bell pepper, some corn. Quickly beginning.

Breakfast pastry with zucchini, red bell pepper and corn

As usual I lose track of how I knead the dough for it, fellow foodies raise eyebrows at me. Luckily, the dough itself is nothing special, doesn't drive the hungry folk mad. It's the combination with veggies and baking that matters.

It's the mesmerizing smell that fills the house, makes it home. I even want to go overboard and associate it with "giving birth at home" kind of comfort - but I'm yet to try it myself.

I love to sprinkle black cumin seeds (nigella sativa!) on savory pastries. Flavor enhancing. They're good for us too. Although, I hear that consuming them raw has more use.

Say, if the hungry folk also feels impatient - I give tips on easy dough making here.

Oh the sheer joy of linking to self. =giggle= Nah, just short in time.

***

Strawberry, arugula and cheese salad with olive oil, thyme and lemon

Then comes the noon. It feels hotter now. Trying to concentrate on last bit of studies, for final exams. My mind feels anything but concentrated. Okay, I get it. Nutrition refill time.

Wandering around, discovering new food blogs; recently I tend to notice strawberries in salads a lot. I am intrigued, experiment time.

Foodies mostly bring strawberry & spinach together. Well, I have arugula! How do they taste together?

I'm delighted to discover. Also, feeling enlightened. If it weren't for being in food blogging, it'd hardly dawn on me to use strawberry in a salad. Taboo!

I am feeling euphoric as new discoveries bend my borders. Lifetime resolution : extend beyond borders.

I love cheese. So I include some and my salad brings these ingredients together: Strawberry, arugula, cheese, thyme, olive oil and drops of fresh lemon. Cheese just completed the missing link.

By the way, I am munching on a new (to me) variation of salad at the time of typing my post: Arugula, fresh apricot, corn, cherry tomatos, olive oil, drops from freshly squeezed lemon.

Talk about sour, sweet, zesty and tangy! It's a sense stimulating salad.

My mind is blown away ...

***

Last Saturday I've been to a latin dance show by myself. One of the dancers - also dance teachers (male in photo) is my former classmate from university. I've seen him dance before, he's great. It felt so nice to see him on stage again, after a long while.

I asked a dancer guy to let my friend know I came. I couldn't speak to him, cause I arrived later than we planned to meet, so he was in backstage by then. It was pretty weird that a piece of velvet curtain and some social rule prevented me from going to see my friend in the back. Oh the good manners and home sweet homes.

Even from a distance though, I felt his soothing energy making me feel welcomed. Appreciated. Very few people can do that, unconditionally.

Sometimes, I like to believe that people like him have a purpose to brighten up others' lives without expecting anything in return. Nothing... Except for not being taken for granted. This is not to be taken lightly, in miu book.

On that note, I want to thank Ann of Happy and Healthy Cooking for appreciating me. I've seen awards going around, and the idea behind them is nice. Anything to appreciate the effort someone shows. It's my first, in that sense. I haven't been around for long in food blogging (since March 1st to be exact) , and some people have been there for me more consistently than other fellow foodies, making this experience a fruitful one for me with their company and support. In fact, I can count more names in my mind. I am thankful for everyone nevertheless, but here my special thank you's go to:

The Duo Dishes
"Frand" of Cooking For Zo
Tangled Noodle
LouAnn of Oyster Food & Culture
Kim of Ordinary Recipes Made Gourmet
Curious Domestic
Reeni of Cinnamon, Spice & Everything Nice
Jenn of Bread + Butter
Leela of She Simmers
Pass The Pocky
Chez What?
Pooja at My Experience With Cooking
Gita
Justin
Poornima
Vrinda
Deeba
The World Tastes Good
.
.
.
(Aww sorry some of your blog names I'll edit later)


I am inspired by this "awarding" idea. Expect some dedication posts for fellow foodies and good causes in near future, Spirited Miu Flavor way 8-)

Happy Hump Day.

Too Many In One: Menemen; Popular Turkish Egg Dish, "Oh, You Didn't" Cake, Relief About School, Spring Love

It was such a relief to make it to noon for me, today. In this week I've been busy studying for my exam which was due Friday morning. Since this class I'm taking is my last until university graduation, I focus on it seriously. On Thursday I get a text message from my classmate, letting me know that I might want to go to school because my name is on the "get in touch with us asap" list of student affairs office at my faculty. Just as graduation is approaching, this sudden news make me quite uncomfortable.I go to the office, anxiously, and find it out: I have to take one more class - otherwise I can't graduate. (In fact I have already taken more than minimum amount of credits... but you need to complete exact amount per term and that's where it went wrong before, so they say) What confused me is, prior to every term I did my registration with an officer, it just can't go wrong! She admits her fault. There, in the end I have to take care of this. When's the exam for that class? Today! (Meaning... on Friday) Finding out Thursday, taking the exam on Friday. What class? Adult Psychopathology.

- This is me from a break during studying at night

Ehh... Speechless. Emotions rushed to my brain in fact, "should we make a drama out of this and spend few hours bitterly?" - No, no. Can't afford it. Okay.

- I was distracted thinking, and ended up doing this arrangement. Isn't it ironic that Ganesha is believed to be an obstacle remover... (and placer, too.)

To sum up, while I was studying for one completely unexpected exam and my other exam last night, it was food I found comfort in. Here's what I did: I bought chocolate strawberry cake for base, sweet cream mixture to make it with milk for filling, and banana to decorate! I plan to learn baking sweet stuff, too.

- "Oh, you didn't" cake

Now that I took both exams, it's a great amount of relief I feel. Besides, it was such a beautiful spring day. Staying outdoors felt so good I didn't want to come home. So after getting off the bus, I walked as slowly as possible and felt warmed up. Sunny days with a breeze... Just the perfect weather to me. On the way I got Maji some chicken. I don't know if she likes her special meal or this whole chicken cooked on big rolling skewer more, though. Maybe she doesn't care because both have chicken, and she loves it. Hmm. I wonder if anyone that stops by is a cat lover, as well? If so, let me know I'll post homemade healthy cat food preparation I do, to share with you.

As I turned around the corner and continued walking, there was my favorite homeless cat buddy who I usually feed. Such a weak little voice for that body! I find him so cute for this reason. He got the chicken leg and I talked to him while watching him a little as he ate chicken with pleasure. When I got back home, I also fed my cat too and it was my turn to eat.

Menemen, a popular and easy to prepare Turkish egg dish

I was very lifted to see mom cook for me, thinking that I would be tired for it. Couldn't agree more! She made me a kind of egg dish we call "menemen". Menemen is a Turkish breakfast dish, originally. It has pepper, tomato, onion, eggs and spices. She made me the traditional one which I'll share now that I mentioned it.

- A slice of mozzarella cheese melts on top - not in original version, but why not?

Ingredients would be:

2 eggs
3 tomatos
2 peppers
1 white onion

2 tbs butter/oil of choice

I want to add a note here, amount of veggies could change due to your liking. Just make sure you have them all if you're going for the original taste.

Spices especially:

Grounded black pepper
Cayenne pepper
Mint (dried is okay. mom put fresh mint so herbs are fine as well)
Salt

- Noon meal

Preparation:

First of all I'd dice all of the ingredients for convenience. Melt butter on pan, white onion goes first. Keep stirring, onions become translucent - now's the time for peppers. We had long & thin slightly hot green peppers, but any kind of pepper will do. Get green bell pepper if you want. Just get vitamin A fix! Good for skin and eyes. Back to the cooking, peppers now softened so it's tomatos turn. Tomatos will make it watery as they get cooked, it's okay. It's good idea to add the spices now, so they'll release flavor into it. Lower the heat and let tomatos get ready. As that happens, it's time for eggs. Tap the eggs firmly on the side of non sticky pan in turns and scramble them onto the veggies. Mix the egg white and yolk and cover evenly all over the veggies. If you think this is hard, well try scrambling them into a bowl, mix there and then pour it over veggies same thing. Now, slow cooking 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle a pinch of salt if you like. Ready.

(It's much easier to cook it than instruct it that long!)



Along with it:

Any kind of bread!
Additionally I had purslane with garlic, olive oil and Turkish yogurt.

- Purslane meze, refreshing

I haven't had menemen or purslane meze in a while, so it was a delish meal for me. Feeling more energetic afterwards, I noticed how beautiful it is still outside. Days are longer... it means more sunshine. Definitely love it.

As I was looking out the window enjoying the sun, my cat joined me soon after. I thought I'd capture my relief and her adorable face in the same frame. She wasn't much interested, so much stimuli from the street, I understand. But, I care for memories.

- Maji baby is distracted...

... and I am done, for today.

I already have the draft saved for next post, marinated beef. Though this post was like a therapy I had to attend in my mind with a priority, in order to put things in order and feel comfort again.