We owe our very existence to one great leader and wanted to share this old documentary about him. You may not have the time to watch it but, if you do, I am sure you will aprreciate him as much as I do.
Unfortunately the current idiots are trying to take back my country back 99 years.
I am a planner of most things but, when it comes to meals, it is difficult to make plans and stick to them. So, the chicken pot pie and the bread never got made yet. I was hoping to make the pot pie today but, I have some leftover rice that needs to be eaten. I decided to have a vegetarian meal and soaked some green lentils. Thankfully, they do not need to be soaked overnight.
Tomorrow night, I think, a big salad for dinner will suffice since, the salad greens need to be consumed. May be Thursday is a good day to make the pot pie and the bread.
SIS and BIL's friend is doing better. I don't know when she is going to start the chemo. Must be soon I guess.
Today, the management office sent our monthly bill and I was shocked to see my hot water line. It was seven times more than what I usually get. I immediately called them to have them check my meter again. Of course, they made a mistake. I am glad, I check my bills carefully.
Hope, you are having a good week.
SIS and BIL came past midnight on Friday. Despite the fatigue, they woke up early in the morning and went to see their friend who was going to have surgery. SIS and BIL are friends with this couple since they went to the banking school together. They are really nice people who always showed up to support us when we had health issues and deaths in the family over the past 27 years.
Their friend F (the wife) was so pleased to see them before she was taken to the operating room. SIS and BIL came back and we had brunch at their favorite place right where I live. Then we decided to go in a couple of stores before we checked to see if the surgery was over. As soon as we went in the first store, M (the husband) called to say that the surgery was almost over but, it was worse than the doctor had expected. They even had to take 80% of her intestines and gave her a colostomy which hopefully will be temporary. I realized that they were anxious to go back to the hospital to support M so, I suggested that we should all go.
I got to meet F's older sister who was a nervous wreck. We bonded immediately being older sisters and I tried to comfort her a bit. We spent quiet a while at the hospital so that F's big sister could go in the ICU for a few minutes to see her sister. We had coffee and another couple joined us for a while longer.
It was even past dinner time when we finally came out of the hospital so, I took SIS and BIL to a very nice fish restaurant dating back to my birth year, 1967. I had never taken them there before because, they rarely come to Istanbul and also, it is on the European side far from my home. As always, it was awesome.
This morning, I let them sleep in a little, while I prepared breakfast. We all chilled after breakfast and around 2.p.m. they left for the hospital yet again to see their friend M before they hit the road. As I am typing this, they probably have another hour to drive.
I finally popped my roaster in the oven late in the afternoon and had a nice dinner. The bird yielded enough meat for two nice meals, two sandwiches, a chicken pot pie and some breast meat for chicken salad. The carcass is on the stove for stock. I am having a repeat of today's dinner tomorrow and chicken pot pie on Tuesday and leftover CPP on Wednesday. Too many chicken dinners in a row but it's OK.
I am going to wash the bed sheets and towels my SIS and BIL used, tomorrow. I also need to run the vacuum again.
I have been contemplating about buying a robot vac but, I am not sure. Does anybody have one? If you do, what kind/brand do you have and do you like it?
Yesterday was a very pleasant day with a beautiful blue sky. A friend of mine from Ankara is visiting her son these days and we decided to meet for brunch at 11 a.m. We ended up chatting away till 4 p.m.! Must have missed each other a lot. She is one of the kindest people I know. We used to be co-workers back in the 90's and remained friends all these years. She is an avid knitter and I love her color and design choices.
Today my BFF in the US (I am gonna call her M), is going to have an eyelid surgery. She told me she would be in and out of the hospital today. In a few hours, I will call her to see how she is feeling.
Today is pretty windy but, I have chores to take care of. So, as soon as I type this, I am jumping in my car.
Tonight's dinner will be a big salad with the last of the steak I bought last week. I am planning to go to the farmers market on Friday so, I will be eating out of my freezer till then.
I am planning to make hot wings for tomorrow night with roasted sweet potatoes. I am also planning to make bread tomorrow following a recipe on a website that Bobbie, one of my commenters, recommended. That website has plenty of recipes I may want to try.
I think, I am a bit too sensitive when it comes to family. Having lost my dad when I was only 27 and then having lost mom on my birthday two years ago were the most traumatic events of my life. There is not a single day that I do not think about them. I dote on my SIS, her husband and deeply care about Uncle and my two cousins. Their health and well being are important to me.
I sometimes envy my peers whose parents are still alive. Yes, I know some of them are struggling with their care and their ailments but, I still do envy them.
I have talked about an old couple who were my mom and dad's friends from my childhood neighborhood on this blog before. Whenever I am in Ankara, I always go visit, take the lady out to run errands and when I'm home, I call them regularly to see how they are doing. The gentleman is bed ridden. They had lost their older son and their younger son lives in the UK. He had a heart problem, the doctors put a couple of stents in his arteries and he told his parents that the doctor forbade him to travel. Mom had stents put in and we traveled like crazy so, I did not quite get that. Besides, he is a musician and he plays at bars and clubs. This was almost two years ago and the pandemic also made it hard to travel so, he could never come visit his parents during this time. Or, so we thought. I just recently found out that he and his wife did come to Turkey for a vacation a month or so ago and did not tell his family. Apparently, since his parents live in the suburbs, it is inconvenient for him to go visit them without a car but, he had no problems visiting some vacation spots during his visit.
I hope, his parents never find out about this because they will be so heartbroken.
I do not get this. I have known these people all my life and his parents were as attentive and as dedicated as my parents were. We grew up in the same neighborhood. Went to similar schools if not the same. I know for a fact that, his parents never laid a hand on either of the two brothers and were always loving parents.
I understand some people may have been mistreated or even abused when they were children and if they do not treat their families well when they become adults, I can symphatise with that. In fact, there was this one neighbor who used to beat the crap out of his son in our apartment building and my mom had to intervene and save the boy from his father on several occasions. That guy turned out to be a very decent man and has a wonderful family of his own. And surprisingly, he treated his parents with respect despite his dad's oddities.
The world is a weird place and people are just odd I guess.
Today, I set things straight in my home, baked a bread with this recipe which I found through Acre Homestead on YouTube. I watch the owner of the channel preserve, prepare, bake and garden with awe.
I don't have to worry about meals till Friday so, I will take the opportunity to clean my home, go see my eye doctor and get together with a friend this week.
My SIS and BIL are coming to visit over the weekend. They are best friends with this couple and the young woman will have an important surgery on Tuesday. They have always been there for my SIS and BIL with every hardship they had so, it is important for them to come visit as well.
I hope everyone is having a nice weekend.
Today I decided to do some shopping and cook up a few dishes so that, I will not have to think about cooking during the coming 4-5 days.
I bought two steaks, some chopped meat, tomatoes, peppers, string beans and a quarter of a cabbage. Cabbages were GI-GAN-TIC! I am glad they were also selling quarters and halves. Otherwise, I wouldn't buy it.
As soon as I got home, I attacked the cabbage. Separated enough leaves to stuff and roll for dinner. Chopped some finely for cole slaw and chopped the rest to cook. I also chopped enough onions for all the recipes.
I prepared my meat and rice mixture and stuffed the cabbage rolls and started cooking this for dinner. Then I stuffed the tomatoes and peppers and also put them on the stove. I prepared the green beans , took out some previously cooked chopped meat from the freezer, sauteed some onions, added a spoonful of tomato paste and put them all together in the pressure cooker.
It was time for dinner and by that time the cabbage rolls were done. I sat down and OMG! it was the worst cabbage rolls I have ever eaten! Guess what? I forgot to add salt to the meat mixture and forgot to add oil. I ate them anyway but now I know my tomatoes and peppers will be terrible too. Sigh... I guess I will need to salt them when I am eating them.
When the beans were cooked and the pressure cooker became available I cooked the rest of the cabbage with some rice, sauteed onions and a generous amount of crushed red pepper. At least that turned out to have enough oil and salt.
Anyway, I now have enough food for the next few days. Mission is somewhat accomplished.
I have been devastated by the news about a man who was 10 years my junior from my High School. He was a guitar player and a soloist working at this club/bar for years. Last Saturday night, he had been ambushed by three men bearing broken glasses. Why? Because, he did not know the words to a song requested by these killers. Unfortunately, he died within hours leaving beahind a 5 year old little girl. I am so sorry about this. It is a rare occasion that I shed tears after people I do not personally know but this time, I just cannot hold back the tears. The Alumni of my HS are furious. The Police arrested the three guys and we are skeptical that justice will be served because two of them work for a Government Ministry and one works for a prominent Defence Contractor. These people possibly will be protected by the supporters of this current atrocious government. Laws do not apply to them. We shall see.
So, I guess, we should be thankful for every single day that we are breathing and our loved ones are fine.
Life goes on, so today I went to IKEA for a couple of things I needed. I did not buy anything that was cute and totally unnecessary. For a moment I was tempted to buy some tea lights but, then remembered, I still have a bunch of them somewhere.
I went into the grocery store, got fish for tomorrow night's dinner, went to the Pharmacy because they owed me a couple of meds from last week and got back my jeans which needed hemming from the tailor.
I had been considering to empty out my sideboard to see if there were anything that I could get rid of and yes! I found three nesting bowls which need to washed by hand, a cheeseboard, a picture frame and an old manual blood pressure monitor that no longer works. I got rid of them immediately. I also found a bunch of tablecloths which do not fit my two tables. I asked my SIS and Uncle to send me the measurements of their tables before I give them away. And sure enough, I found the tea lights.
I have quite a stash of kitchen towels and linens I bought from the US during my travels. Needless to say, they are all sunflower themed. The ones being currently used are still in good shape so, these will be put back on the shelves till they will be needed.
I used to display lots of pictures of my family but, lately I decided that I do not want to look at them. There are more deceased people than living. For the moment, they upset me so, I have boxed them up and put them away till I feel differently.
Thankfully, despite the bad vertigo attack, I am recovering faster than I expected.
Today I went to the family clinic right by me and got a prescription for my vertigo med. The Pharmacy is in the same building so, I was able to get my meds. I then walked into the small grocery store and got hamburger patties. I could have just bought the meat and made my own patties but, honestly a little convenience felt right. I actually wish there were more convenience foods or ready made meals like in the US. I am craving pot stickers but, I have to make them from scratch. One of these days I will try it. Asian food is very expensive here in this country.
I made a vegetable soup with some chicken stock. I had some leftover rice and had a bowl of that for lunch. For dinner, I made a cheeseburger with oven fried sweet potatoes. Honestly, just the burger would be enough. I have another bun to make another burger tomorrow.
How many times do you wipe your kitchen counters every day? I swear, I lost count. My mom had warned me about the black countertops but, of course, I did not listen.
I still have about half of the big bag of mixed veggies in the freezer. It is taking up a lot of precious space. I don't think I will buy such a big bag again.
I am still sorting through my clothes. It is taking more time than usual because I still get a bit dizzy.
Hopefully, I will feel 100% by the beginning of next week and will be able to dust, vacuum and mop the floors. Windows need washing too but, they will have to wait.
Wishing everyone a nice and relaxing weekend.
