The Electricity Bill

Recently, there has been tons of complaints about the increase in electricity prices and people were sharing horribly expensive bills online. They were claiming that their electricity bills were 2-3 times what they were prior to the New Year. I receive my bill on the last day of the month, so I was very curious about it.

Thankfully, my bill was not so bad. About 20% more. (The "official" inflation rate is 20something% but, it really is well over 40% ). There is an incremental pricing scheme. Luckily, it looks like I am not exceeding the first increment.

Today, I read that the first increment was increased due to the high number of complaints. I guess they will find something else to rob people. Sigh... Have I ever told you how I hate the current government? They have totally screwed the economy. We are back to double digit inflation rates. I just hate the incompetent b....ds.

Today was a busy day and I am feeling a bit under the weather. So, I think I will go to bed early for once.

Wishing everyone a good week!

Not a First World Problem I Bet and Some Chores

I have been taking three different pills to control my blood pressure. The other day I asked the Pharmacy and they told me one of them cannot be found and that there is a supply shortage. WTH?  Does this happen in Europe, USA or Canada or any other Developed Country?

These pills are keeping my BP under control and I do not want to switch to another medicine.

Today, I decided to call Pharmacies that are on duty. The third Pharmacy told me they had a lot of that particular medicine so, I jumped in the car and went there. I bought 10 boxes which will last me 200 days. I paid out of pocket because, this particular med was never put on my medical record and therefore Social Security does not pay for it. I would have fixed the issue but then COVID hit and I have always been buying this one out of pocket. When I go to Ankara end of March, I will go see this doctor and ask him to put this on my medical record. It's about time, I stop paying the full amount. Normally, I should be paying just 10 or 20 %, I am not sure.

I know these types of pills are not sold OTC in the US. Luckily, here they are.  I am glad I fixed the issue for the time being and I am sure by the time I need more, the shortage will be over.

As the Queen of Procrastination, I had been ignoring some house chores.I finally told myself "Enough is enough woman!" so, as some of my blogosphere friends suggested, I decided to get as much as I can get done in an hour. I actually passed the hour mark by 20 minutes and the apartment is not looking as bad as it was. However, I think, I need another hour and a half go at this before starting to deep clean each room. 

I promised myself that, by the end of the week,  I will have cleaned the apartment thoroughly. One can hope, right?

I did two loads of laundry and hung them. Fixed myself a chicken salad sandwich for lunch. After I type this, I need to go marinade my swordfish.

Then I will work till dinner time. 

I do not know if you are familiar with an old show called Whitechapel? Since I have a big crush on Rupert Penry-Jones, I decided to try that show. The first season was about a Jack the Ripper copycat. RPJ is the only adorable man in the show so, it is pure joy.

My BFF and I keep watching the MI-5 (or Spooks) online and RPJ will leave this show in the next season. I first saw him on the BBC miniseries Persuasion as Captain Wentworth. Total eyecandy. 

I know,  I know, I am almost 55 and I should not act like a crazy teenage fan of some actor. I adore him but, I do not think I will scream if I see him in person though...

Fish and Fermenting Root Veggies

 Today I had my heart set on going to the open produce market and then to the fish market.

I got up too late and almost decided against it but, then I convinced myself to go. Lol!

We, as a nation enjoy some salty drinks; the most popular being "Ayran" and the other "Salgam Suyu". Ayran is easy to make. Plain yogurt, salt and water. You add salt first and gradually add water making it a homogeneous thickish mixture. It should not be lumpy. I prefer this over any other drink. 

The other is trickier to make. You need the right kind of turnips, red beets and purple carrots. You clean and cut up the root veggies, put them in a jar, add a handful of chickpeas and bulgur wheat and pour over salty water. Salt should not have iodine in it. I used rock salt sold for pickling. Every day you need to "burp" it, till it's done. Usually it takes three weeks.

I had never made this before, so, I decided to give it a go. We'll see, how it will turn out. I was out of bulgur. I am going to buy some tomorrow and add to my jar.

Whenever I am in the US, I buy Classic V8 and that is another salty drink I love.

I will also make sauerkraut with red cabbage. This is also another first for me. 

After the open produce market, I went to the fish market and picked up two slices of salmon, a slice of swordfish and half a kilo of mackerel. Swordfish will be dinner tomorrow. The rest will go into the freezer. I was so hungry, I had a fish sandwich and a Salgam Suyu at the fish market so, I decided against having fish for today's dinner.

Do you like pickles and fermented veggies?  How about fish? 

I forgot to take pictures so, here are some sample pictures I found online. Mind you, it was extremely crowded today. I acted fast and got out of the produce market at once although, it is open. Just covered on top.

Snowed In!

Istanbul is covered with snow. During the last two days about 2 feet of snow fell down and this metropol came to a stand still. However, major roads have been successfully cleaned and public transportation and emergency vehicles are operating. The public have been asked to not use private vehicles during the snow alert.

The airports are a mess where many flights got canceled. People on some roads got stuck for hours. It doesn't snow this much every year.

I have cleaned my car twice. Most of my neighbors did not even bother. I use the opportunity to play in the snow. Lol!

I am so glad it snowed because this means the water supply will be fine for the summer. Last couple of years we had a big draught scare. 

Almost all of the country is covered with snow with the exception of the Med Coast. This cold front came from the Balkans. It is always the Balkans or Siberia where these cold fronts originate.

It has now stopped snowing but, the alert is on till January 28th. They are expecting more.

I am keeping busy with the part-time work and boy does it keep me busy! 

Stay safe, warm and healthy!

Sunday Activities

I decided to cook today. I cooked fresh fava beans, stuffed grape leaves and made soup. I will never be buying pre-packaged grape leaves again. There were a mixture of big ones and tiny ones and some of them were soft and nice, the others not so much. I ended up stuffing the small ones with a meat, onion, rice mixture and the larger ones with rice, onion, currants and pine nuts. 

Need parsley and dill weed but it has been snowing on and off and there is snow on the ground. There is a medium sized grocery store very close by but, I am not sure if I will go out to just get them tomorrow.

I also emptied my hamper and did all the laundry. 

Yesterday, I washed the living room windows and now I can sit back and enjoy the snow coming down without noticing the dirt. I did a pretty decent job.

I had started knitting myself a sleeveless house sweater but, I decided I needed smaller sized knitting needles. I had brought all of mom's needles so, it was easy to find the size I needed. I am not a great knitter but, having inherited tons of yarns from mom, I feel compelled to do something with them. I found a simple pattern and I am knitting the sweater with that.

Lately, I have not been weighing myself because of having eaten way too much while I was with my SIS, BIL and uncle but today, I decided that enough is enough. Yes, sadly, I have gained close to three pounds but, that is much better than I suspected. I need to go back to exercising. The treadmill is calling my name.

Other than the above, my BFF, her husband and I watched another episode of Spooks. It is an old show but, we enjoy it.

It is now bedtime and I gotta go and call it a day. Looking forward to a productive week filled with healthy activities. 

Something Cheerful!

It is cold out there. We are expecing snow and I intend to stay home. Just need something cheerful. 

I enjoy Celtic Music and I found about these ladies in 2019.

No Cleaning Lady for the Foreseeable Future

I gave this a lot of thought and based upon my dear blogosphere friends' advice, I have decided hiring someone is not a wise choice given the Omicron spread.

I will do as much as I am able to do and that should be sufficient.

A friend of mine just lost her mom. She was old but not sick. She had just recently started feeling off and it took couple of weeks for everything to go downhill, 5 days at the ICU and she passed peacefully. 

Another friend's mom is in the ICU, entubated due to a severe bacterial pneumonia and her picture is just like mom's. I hope, she will survive.

These hardships bring back the bad memories of mom's 77 day ICU ordeal and her death. 

I am trying to keep busy and thankfully my BFF who lives in the US and I call each other every day and watch Spooks (or MI-5 in some countries). She has seen most of it but she wanted to watch with me so, we are doing it. Today, we shall begin season 5. We also talk about how we feel and support each other. She is having some trouble at home with her bi-polar daughter. Her plate is quite full but her husband is a lot older than she is so, he is not much help. He is rather a concern due to many health issues. I am glad we have met 32 years ago and have kept being close friends despite the distance and time difference.

Uncle is leaving tomorrow. I am baking some cookies for us to have with tea today. I am planning to give him most of the remaining cookies to take home. I know he will object to it but, I will tell him, if he takes most of it, I will not end up eating all. He has been helping me lose weight so,  I guess he will take them. 

He enjoyed Istanbul very much and both his friends and I keep telling him, he should come back in better weather in the Spring. I will probably go down to Antalya late April. He should come back mid-April and we can drive down together. 

Tonight, I am making him hot wings for dinner. He liked them just like he liked my pasta a la vodka. He is a good cook so, he is hard to please. He made a lot of stuff while here because, I had been busy.

Gotta go and take the second batch of cookies out of the oven.

Hope, everyone is having a good day.

Should I Pull the Trigger or not?

My apartment is in desperate need of a deep cleaning. I was planning to get a new cleaning lady recommended by my old one but, with Omicron spreading so much faster and easier than the former variants, I am very hesitant.

Can I tackle this huge task? I can. However it will be painful, extremely tiring and there is no way I can do this in a day. Who knows how long it has been since my windows were washed, and when everything was pulled and cleaned underneath (beds, washer, dishwasher, refrigerator)? 

There are nooks and crannies which require kneeling down which is something I am no longer able to do. My oven definitely needs to be cleaned thoroughly. 

What if I do one room a day? Sounds logical but, my mood changes daily so, may be not a great idea.

Before I call anyone in, I need to de-clutter many areas. 

Uncle is leaving on Tuesday so may be I should just start with the guest room. I actually do need to take everything in the closets out, wash inside the closets and purge as needed.

I don't know. I hate housework. If my old cleaning lady was available, I would call her and just spend the day out while she did her thing but, with a new person, I feel I need to be home at least on her first day to show how I would like things done.

Today I ran my small vacuum around the apartment. I need to simplify things. I must put away some picture frames, knick-knacks and some other stuff. Why I am attached to so much stuff, I have no idea.

Hope everyone is enjoying a relaxed Sunday and wishing all a very good week ahead of us.

3rd time is the charm! Or is it?

I got my 3rd jab yesterday. A lot of people said they had bad reactions to the third shot so, I was a bit stressed. However, so far I have not experienced any adverse effects.

The government approved the Turkish vaccine over here but, since I have zero confidence in them, if that vaccine becomes the only available option in the future, I will never have it. 

Omicron is spreading here like crazy just like the rest of the world. I am doing my best to stay away from everyone but, Uncle is getting together with his friends and keeps postponing his return. Although he is no burden on me, I miss my solitude. Also, I am a bit scared that he might get the virus during his outings.

I hate this pandemic! 

Still busy with work so, I gotta go. Hope, everyone is having a good time.

Home Sweet Home!

Today, uncle and I are back from Izmir. Good to be back home! I love my SIS to the moon and back but, it is kind of stressful to be there for more than a few days. I love to cook for them but BIL has the most sensitive nose as if he had been a dog in a previous life. They have a very traditional palate and that means one needs to sautee onions for almost everything we cook. He can't stand the smell of onions so, I was mostly doing the cooking earlier in the day and then airing the whole apartment all day while working. They like a limited number of things and my SIS makes it extra difficult by asking for Mom's Pizza and BIL's Mom's chocolate cake. I make very decent pizza but, it is so much different than Mom's. She used to make a thick though and used sauteed minced meat or white cheese (think feta without the smell) as main toppings. 

Well, thankfully, I have survived both challenges. 

Uncle is going to be here till next week but, after he leaves, I do not think, I will be cooking anything for a while. Salads and sandwiches only, thank you very much!

The Aegean coast is known for the Mediterrenean cuisine and they use tons of greens we do not even get to see in other cities. Some of those greens are picked from the valleys and mountains. As we were touring around Izmir, I quickly ran into a farmers market and  bought a mixture of greens to sautee, of course with onions, and the guy told me there were 10 different things in it. I have had that in restaurants but, I was happy to buy it and make it myself. I brought that back home with me. I also bought a couple of other things like artichoke hearts, green, fresh fava beans. I cooked the hearts and left some for SIS and BIL. This week will be a pleasant change for my tummy heavy on the veggies and leafy greens.

Another quite busy week ahead of me! I can't even catch up with my favorite blogs. 

Will report after my booster shot on Wednesday.

Wishing everybody a wonderful, productive, healthy and happy week! 

Busy...

I am so busy with the part-time work these days that, I am unable to post or read and comment on my favorite blogs. However, this is just temporary. In about two more weeks, it will get better.

Uncle and I are still in Izmir leaving for Istanbul on Sunday. Wednesday is booster shot day and then uncle will probably leave by the weekend. 

I just took a coffee break to look at my finances and write this short post. Hope, everyone is doing fine.

Gotta get back to work!

2022

The first day of the New Year is here. 

When I was very young, I used to think that by year 2000, I would be 33 and how exciting it was. Well, I no longer find it exciting to think that I am getting older. 55 in June... Buh humbug!

I cooked up a storm on Thursday and Friday and we had our New Year dinner on Friday after SIS and BIL came home from work. 

I tried a recipe of a chocolate cake with a pastry creme filling that my BIL's mom used to make for the New Year's. SIS gave me the recipe. I had to modify it a bit but, it came out pretty good. My BIL hugged me and shed some tears. Poor guy... 

We all ate way too much and went to bed way too late and got up by noon today.

We stayed home and just hung around. I watched another episode of Spooks with my BFF in the US. We are so thankful for technology. Hopefully, tomorrow we will go out and do something fun together.

This coming week is a rather busy one. Uncle and I are going back to Istanbul next Sunday. We will have our booster shots while we are still together and then, uncle will leave for Ankara for some time before returning back to Antalya. He misses his home and his bike. 

Hope, everyone enjoyed the holidays and now, it is time to fall back in our routines.