A proper English 5 o'clock tea

…. is actually, in my opinion, quite satisfying, which may probably leave no room for dinner.  The last menu I saw of this 5 o’clock tea consisted of a glass of sweet wine, some sandwiches (salmon& rocket), some sweets (scones, roulade) and tea, of course. Enough?!  At the end, it is a 5 o’clock tea!  And obviously, it is a ritual. Everything about it is a ritual: the china,  the food, napkins, cutlery…. Good to see that people stick to such traditions.

Serving

Now, some different points of views:

My Turkish-self’s 5 o’clock tea: Simit (yummyyyy!!!) and Turkish tea. I would not say no to some cheese and tomato accompanying my simit! I would just have a bite and probably two “bardak”s- but Ajda bardak- tea and would go on with my life.  Then comes the dinner, when we are all together with the family.

My Spanish-self’s 5 o’clock tea:  Pardon me, 5 o’clock tea? I thought we would go for coffee, wouldn’t we? Yes, I consumed little tea when I was my “Spanish self”. It is not a complaint, you know, sometimes you just adapti or feel like adapting, to the general flow of the life wherever you are. I loved the coffee breaks when I was in Madrid- especially the ones with Alba. Or the ones  you would go for breakfast to get the updates from all or the afternoon coffees, which tended to be mini inter-departmental meetings, or a welcome coffees or farewell coffees… Tea? Yes, usually at the end of a nice lunch, especially mint tea…. Sip, I miss it all…

My English-self’s 5 o’clock tea: Absolutely would not be able to eat that much in! Unless I had lunch, maybe…. They are obviously delicious and which is better, it is the “tradition”: fancy and feel-good one.  A social occasion, going there, chit-chatting with mum, friends, sister… girly! Not dinner, not lunch, sweets involved…. Even better, when you have company- no, I would probably not do it alone, but you never know. Maybe one day to pamper myself? A break in the day, something different and uplifting. I like this tradition! I have now a list of some places where I am planning to take either mum or some dear friends when they are in London.

Last time I had a 5 o’clock tea ritual was 2 days ago :)  and here are the traces! 

Just a fraction of it, we didn't have a "regular" 5 o'clock tea but these scones are what and how you eat in a 5 o'clock tea

P.S. Reference for places available 

Rekabet- her yerde!

Bildiğiniz üzere şu aralar oldukça fazla boş vaktim var ve zamanı boşa harcamaktan nefret eden biri olduğumdan “hııımmmm… ne yapsam, ne etsem?” diye sürekli kafa yoruyorum. (ha, yapip yapmadığım ayrı bir yazı konusu ama kafa yoruyorum, yani istek var!) Son maceralarımdan biri “crochet” kursu.  Turkce cevirisi “kroşe” ya da “tığ işi” – ama öyle ultra super ince tığ işi değil tecrübe ettiğim kadarıyla. Neyse, asıl hedefim, bu işle yapılan bir oyuncak var, onu yapmayı öğrenmek; ileride arkadaşların çoluğu çocuğu olur, favori teyze ben olmalıyımmmm!!!! İşte o oyuncağı yapmak için bu ilk kursa gitmek lazımmış. Sonuçta gittim.
Gittim, sanatı öğrendim vb. ama tüm bunlardan çok benim dikkatimi , ben ve saz arkadaşlarımın (!) yakından tanıdığı “hırs ablalar” çekti. Burada da onlardan var. “Hııııımmmm!! Ben yapmalıyım en iyisini”, “en iyi tığ işini ben yapmalıyımmmm!!”, “hem kariyer ablasıyım, hem de tığ örerimmmmm!!”, “du’ bakim, şu Esin n’apmış?! I-ıh, olmamış, becerememiş!!”, “Örtmenim, bakın bakın ben en iyisini yapıyorum di mi?! Ama şurda sanırsam bir ilmek atladım, 1 milim kaydı galiba işim…heeeiiii n’apcem ben şimdi??”

Sonuç: Bunlara dikkat etmekten benim işim hafiften “beginner” oldu ama azimliyim! O oyuncak sınıfında kırmızı kurdeleyi ben takacağım!!! 

San'atım! 

Aslında örgü tarihim başarılıdır, elimin alışması lazım birazcık! 

Reading is good!

As the essence of this blog is my observations “here and there”, here is another thing that comes to my mind to share:  Reading- free reading, actually.

There are 2 newspapers that I have seen until now (Evening Standard and Metro) that are free (yes, the concept “free” is something new to me!) and they can be said to contain almost all the news that are “worthy of” being news (says my past as a journalist). They are distributed in metro stations, at least in all that I have been to. Usually someone hands them to you, sometimes you just go and pick up one. It makes me happy to see that such a service exists, so people are encouraged to read. Instead of just sitting in the metro for, maybe, an hour to get to your work/home, you do something else that also enriches you in various ways. Even if you read all the celebrity news, you’ll have at least practiced your reading skills! 

I have always believed in the power of educating oneself, to put differently, the difference between people/nations/countries who read and who do not. And I know, the difference is striking!

I absolutely do not want to be a harsh critic, this is jusy my humble opinion, yet I know the difference, one just realizes.... From the micro-cosmos (someone who reads) to the macro one (what I have just mentioned about the ones who read and who do not) and I am sure you do, too.

I am sure there are many dimensions of such a service: financial aspects (a free newspaper, widely circulated, salaries of the employees working on these newspapers....), distribution (available to all) or even simply, the content (journalists writing the news and comments). We see that it is possible, although I am not sure about the costs associated with this. My Turkish friends would understand me better: Do you think we could have such a service in Turkey? I wish we could….  I have faith! 

What goes around comes around..I guess it is right!

Today, just as I was  returning from the gym, a group of kids, not more than age 6, asked me so very kindly whether I wanted to have some jam and rasperry juice. Of course I would!

There they were, on a small stand there were some crackers with some jam and a jar and plastic cups. The jam was free but the rasperry juice was 10p- of course I would, I instantly recalled my childhood: I also used to go to the park to “sell” my things, like books, bracelets, hair clips etc. Helping the young & local trade is a task for all of us!

What was even more hilarious is that they could give me a very very small amount of rasperry juice as they didn’t have much- ooppppss, a supply problem!

I was their first customer- so how could I ever refuse them?! I know how good it feels when you manage to sell something!

It has been a long time since I saw such a behaviour, i.e. children behaving like children. Unfortunately we have grown more accustomed to children behaving like grown-ups (and grown-ups, especially the female ones, behaving like children). Maybe it is because I live in a residential area, where kids can go to school on foot or just enjoy their afternoon in the park, therefore they keep their “childhood” relatively in a better way or here live people who still stick to some certain values of child-raising that I also believe are right... Of course I am not an authority or who am I to criticise what people do, yet I have my own terms with life ;) 

BACK- FINALLY! and HELLO!

Finally, I am back- after a (relatively) messy and an exhaustive month, happy to say that I am back!

And I am back with a change in my blog: I have decided to make it bilingual. I believe I will be able to share my life/experience more this way.

Dear friends,

Here is my little project that I have been mingling with for a while. Most of you are very familiar with the latest changes in my life, which is basically why I started this blog.

Coral shoes, seen on the picture, are the ones I wore for my wedding in London. A very dear friend told me “May these coral shoes be your luck” when I started this blog, so I will stick to them! (for the rules of legality, these shoes are Kurt Geiger’s Spring 2010 collection)

Below you can find the translation of what is written above:

Istanbul- Madrid- London

In between:

Schools, life, trips, work, growing up, maturing,

Family, friends, things I have won, things I have lost, experience, joy, sorrow..

More than 50 countries and airports, hundreds of people met and my curious eyes...

The grandoise of life and how tiny we are, yet again getting lost in daily worries...

Basically, what we all live...

I mentioned my blog primarily to family & friends that know me closely, the ones that I wanted to share my experience with. Please do not be shy, I will be happy to read your comments. 

ne kadar fazlasina sahip olsak da asla yetmeyecek urunler

Evet, yine ben ve listelerim. Gecen gun de “ne kadar fazla sahip olsaniz da hicbir zaman cok fazla olmayacak esyalar” listesini kafamda devsiriyordum. Ayakkabilar saniyorum ilk sirada, su guzellige bir bakin:

Sonrasinda, lip balm/gloss turu urunler. Gomlek dugmesinin rengine gore bile zaman zaman degistirmediginizi soylemeyin bana!

Ince corap (ozellikle 15 denye olanlar): Biri giymek icin, digeri kacarsa diye malum toplanti var, is cikisi aktiviteler var, digeri de ofiste bulunsun... Hatta ofiste 2 tane olsun, birinin kacarsa verirsiniz.

Benim durumumda: Kitap! Elimde olsa tummmmm dunyayi okuyacagim! Aclik gibi benimkisi, merak.

Baska.... dusunuyorum....

P.S. Bu arada resim, Londra’daki son kesiflerimden birinden: Paperchase. Kart, ajanda, defter.... gibi kirtasiye urunleri satan bir dukkan. Yuzlerce cesit komik, anlamli tebrik kartlari, rengarenk kalemler, laptop kiliflari, iphone kiliflari... gir icine kaybet kendini. Resimdeki karti da gorur gormez kaptim! Jelibona benzeyen ayakkabilar, tipki Barbie ayakkabilari gibi. Hem gelecek icin motivasyon: koleksiyona eklenecek ayakkabilar ve bunlar icin yapilmasi gerekenleri hatirlatsin hem de gecmise bir gidis, Barbie, Ken ve sinirsiz hayalgucumuz.. 

e bir de icimizi ferahlatsin su sicak yaz gunlerinde, degil mi!

sosyal icerikli yazima ek

Ben bu yaziyi yazdiktan birkac gun sonra gazetede bundan bahsediyordu. Medyaya yon mu veriyorum sizce, ne dersiniz?! :P

Ilgilenenler icin:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/jun/20/miley-cyrus-gambles-1bn-switch

Zaten bu Miley Cyrus denilen kizcagizi gorup kanayan yaraya parmak basma ihtiyaci dogmustu!