If I cook...

For the recipe; we picked peppers, some of greens, courgettes and tomatoes in the farm by ourselves. So the taste of meal was a different than the usual ones.

Dolma (Stuffed pepper)

Ingredients; onion, rice, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, ground pepper, dried mint, fresh mint, parsley, dill and peppers.

First chop the onion smallish and put them in a saucepan with 3-4 tsp olive oil. Fry until it becomes pink and add rice. (1 normal pepper needs 2 fully tsp rice) Roast them about 5 min by dry heat over a fire.
Then add 1 or 0.5 lemon's juice (depends on the amount of rice and your capacity for sour) and hot water (a glass of rice needs a half glass of hot water), salt, ground pepper and dried mint. Turn the fire to a low heat and leave them until water is absorbed.
Meanwhile, chop the fresh mint, parsley and dill. Cut the head of peppers and take out the seeds carefully. Don't damage the peppers.
After water is absorbed, turn the heat off and add greens: mint, parsley, dill and mix them. Wait until the mixture becomes warm, next fill the peppers with mixed rice and put them to a new saucepan. Add some water and olive oil to prevent burning, put a lid on the pan and cook about 30 min. Check the rice if they aren't soft enough to eat you should cook a bit more. Wait for it to cool down and try to eat with yogurt.

Bon appetite! (Afiyet olsun)

* You can try dolma with tomatoes, eggplants/aubergines or courgettes instead of peppers.
** tsp : table spoon

Pick Your Own!

I hadn't heard before the name of Hewitt's Farm, the place where we picked our own vegetables to buy and ate deliciously fresh fruit.

One Sunday morning we took a deliberate decision to indulge in a little nostalgia, like the times when we were children. Once upon a time my grandmother used to raise her vegetables and fruit in her garden. Although she still is, now it's not as well-kept as it was some years ago. We used to climb up the fruit trees such as plum, fig, almond, cherry and especially mulberry. The fruit on the lower branches were consumed first, the children of neighbours and I had a competition about picking up fruit, and a minute later we had really colourful face and sticky hands.Two months ago we had a craving for inartificial red tomatoes, so we made some investigations which gave us an idea where we to find those. In a relatively short time we got on our pink car towards Orpington, to Hewitt's Farm!

At first sight, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was a really huge farm, and it was a really hot sunny day in London. We entered covetously in the farm area and picked lots of kinds of beans, spring onions, cauliflowers, cabbages and then we saw blackberries and raspberries. They were delicious, and soon we were really got tired of eating them. After that we sat under the apple trees, and tasted immature apples and plums. They needed some time to be picked.

It's not possible to forget the enormous corn field, but they're also still babies to have a go. There is an area for the picnic and barbecue as well. Lots of people were enjoying fresh products of the farm, sun, and nice Sunday.

In the exit area we found our red and fresh smelling tomatoes. There was a long queue at the cashier and fruit stalls along the way, so I had some time to choose any other greens which I forgot to pick.
At home I cooked my fresh vegetables, and prepared green salad with my red tomatoes. After dinner we ate the best tasting fruit in the UK. All of them delicious. Now I am waiting for the mature corns impatiently, and also next year's strawberries, too.

Is It Easy To Make A Bread?

I am always delighted to smell freshly baked bread. In my last holiday, I insisted my grandmother & my mother to make a bread all together. They both love me and fresh bread a lot. Which one do they like the most, me or bread ? I don't know, but I ate and smelled a lot.















First of all, my grandmother prepared dough using water, flour, yeast and salt. She knead all of them, and then let dough for rest and rise about an hour.

In the mean time the men of the house were collecting some wood for the fire. There is an old fireplace in my grandmother's house to cook bread, meat or pastry, such as börek, sura.

After they started the fire we waited until the oven cooled down to a temperature suitable for baking. The heat of hot bricks and base does all the work.

While waiting my mother started to give shape to dough as a round bread. She placed them in a big tray to put into the fireplace. My sister and I worked as helpers, and sprinkled some sesame and rose balls on the top of breads.














Now it was time for the trays to be put into the fireplace. One by one we placed them. It was really hot near the fire, so we let brawny men to do it.















Now we had to wait patiently. Three generation were together and we dressed our traditional scarfs to prevent our hair from falling down into dough. It would not be a good thing to eat hair in my meal.




















At the end we reached our goal. There were some fresh and deliciously smelling breads on the table. Some of them were burnt a bit, but it was men's fault. They couldn't manage the fire well. Despite of some burns, of course we were ready to eat like a wolf.

Have I learned to make a bread? I don't think so. Next time I am going to insist them again to make more bread.

Holiday and I

I am going to holiday this Saturday; to Turkey, to Bodrum, to Kusadasi, to Istanbul, to Antalya, to Izmir, to Burhaniye (Ayvalik)...

I have 3 weeks to spend my holiday in Turkey, so the more I get around the more I will be happy. I will have sunbathe, swim, see the people who I really miss, eat Turkish food; dolma, sarma, baklava, zeytinyagli fasulye, cacik, kizartma, borek, manti, fish...

I am doing some shopping for my family and friends nowadays. I am sure that they are waiting for some presents from me. I know, because when I was a child, I used to take presents from my relatives if they turned back from abroad or another city. Also, I am still keeping some of their presents as a remembrance.

I must have rest and relax enough on holiday because as soon as I turn back to London, I am going to start my new job. So, I am a bit excited and I am happy, too.

I must go now. I will make my luggage :)

English English...

I decided to write in English from now on.

I read a report in Hurriyet today, about "Why Turks don't learn a foreign language?" The reporter says that teachers don't let the students communicate each other in English. They just teach grammar, so students don't practice and speak.

I think, the reporter is right. When I was a student, our teacher always speak to us in English, but she didn't allow to talk. We used to listen to her and write down. I can remember just numbers, days and colours from those days. On the other hand I studied at a local secondary school. I'm sure this education system is different at private schools and colleges.

But if we don't pass the private school's exams, or our parents don't have enough money to send us to the colleges can't we learn proper English or have a dream of being an English teacher? At last we'll hate English language like me.

I studied vastly different grammar when I was in Turkey, and I felt that I know nothing about speaking English when I came to England. It was really hard for me to understand people and speak to them. As quickly as I could I found a college to learn English again. My friends in the class were from various countries and some of them were able to speak very well, but they couldn't write or read. Other Turkish students and I could write and read pretty well, but I could't understand and speak to anybody. Also I was shy and I didn't want to say something wrongly because I felt so ashamed of myself for making mistakes. I bet the other Turks were the same situaton with me.

It didn't change so much from those days. I still avoid to speak to other people unless I have to do.

This writing has not finished. It will continue...

Tarih Tekerrürden Mi İbaret?

Adnan Menderes Hükümetlerini bilirsiniz. Üstüste birkaç kez tek başına iktidarda kalmış olan Demokrat Parti başkanı ve başbakan, bakanlık ve kabinesine kendi akrabalarını yerleştirmesi yetmiyormuş gibi genelkurmay ve askeri birimlerde de istediği kişileri öne çıkartmış, istemediklerini görevden almıştı. Dini siyasi amaç için kullanmaya başlayan da yine DP Hükümeti idi. Hatta 1955'te kendisine güvenoyu veren milletvekillerine teşekkür konuşmasında "Siz isterseniz hilafeti bile geri getirirsiniz"diyecek kadar dini meclise sokmuştu. Kendisini dev aynasında gördü; ama sonu hazin bitti.

Şimdi aynı dev ayna durumları Ak Parti için geçerli. Türbanı sorun olarak alet edip iktidar koltuğuna oldu bitti ile oturan parti ve lideri astığım astık kestiğim kestik demeçleri ile her defasında biraz daha ileriye gitti. Belediye kadrolarını sakallı ve sıkmabaşlı sözleşmeli çalışanlarla doldurdu. Biz başı açıklar da başvurduk; ama partiden tanıdığımız olmadığı için kapı dışında kaldık. Başımızı örtmediğimiz için de adımızın üzeri karalandı. Belediye'nin tecrübeli ve bilgili çalışanları birer birer emekli edildiler. Çünkü görüşleri aynı değildi yeni başkanla.

Üniversitelerde hala türban yasağı var. 5 sene önce üniversite kapılarında bağıranlar şimdi niye bağırmıyor? Başka şekilde mi teselli buluyorlar?

İlk meclis dualarla açılmıştı. Laiklik kabul edilmişti. Hilafet kaldırılmıştı. Medreseler kapatılmıştı. Meclistekiler dinsizdi diyebilir misiniz?

Şimdi "imam hatipli cumhurbaşkanı olacak" diye demeçler verilip, mayo ve bikinili afişlere dünyanın en büyük metropollerinden İstanbul şehrinde izin verilmiyor. Bırakın da afişin rahatsız edip etmediğine halk karar versin. Demokrasi bu değil mi? Laiklikten sonra demokrasiye de mi el attılar? Bu afişi astırmam diyen yarın al bu türbanı tak demez mi?

30-40 sene öncesinde annemin kasabada giydiği mini eteği ben bugün şehirde giyemiyorum. Neden? Din mi ağır basmış, demokrasi mi? Psikolojik baskılarla etrafımız yavaş yavaş sarılmakta. Çocukken bindiğim otobüste 10 kadından 2'si başörtüsü takıyorken, şimdi 8'i türban takmakta. Eskiden daha mı dinsizdi insanlar?

Anneannem gençliğinden beri 5 vakit namazını da kılar, dışarı çıkarken başörtüsünü de takar. Saçlarının üzerini eşarptan biraz çıkarır, boynunda bağlar. Annemin saçı açıktır, namaz da kılmaz. Anneanneme ben de başımı örteyim mi diye takıldığımda, "Olmaz şimdi, bizim yaşımıza gelince anneanne olunca sen de eşarp takarsın" der. Çünkü o Cumhuriyet'in en güzel dönemlerini görmüş, en iyi şekilde anlamış ve içine sindirmiş. İlkokul mezunu olmasına rağmen. İşte asıl dindarlık bu bence. Kendi içinde yaşamak dinini ve başkalarını etkilememek. Dinde zorlama yoktur denmiyor muydu biz çocukken din kültürü ve ahlak bilgisi kitaplarında? Yoksa o da mı değiştirildi bu hükümet zamanında?

Yurtdışından Türkiye İçin Oy Kullanmak İstiyorum

Türkiye'de son bir aydır demokrasi ve laiklik adına çok güzel gelişmeler yaşanıyor. Ben de buradan bize düşen görevi yerine getirerek 22 Temmuz'da oyumuzu kullanmalıyız diyorum.

Şimdiye kadar hep kullandım, çünkü benim en doğal hakkım. Bazıları küskün aydınlar var oy kullanmıyor diyor. Ne diye küsüyor ki bu insanlar? Oy kullanmayıp biz başımıza geleni çekeriz mi diyorlar? Laf!!!

Ben de Londra'da oy kullanabilmek için Konsolosluk başta olmak üzere birçok yere sordum. Aldığım cevap ise;

"Yurtdisinda yasayan vatandaslarimizin Turkiyedeki secimlerde oy kullanabilmeleri icin gereken yasal duzenlemeler su an TBMM’nin gundeminde bulunmaktadir. Ancak, onumuzdeki genel secimlere yetistirilmesi zor gorunmektedir. Kaldi ki, gerekli yasal duzenlemeler yapildiktan sonra, ilgili ulkelerle ikili anlasmalar yapilmasi, ayrica Konsolosluklarin teknik olarak gerekli altyapi ile donatilmasi gerekecektir.

Secimlerden belli bir sure once Turkiye'ye giden vatandaslarimiz, havaalanlarinda oy kullanabilecektir. Bu konuda henuz resmi bir bilgi ulasmamistir."

Şimdi ben yaz tatili için ülkeme gittiğimde havaalanını didik didik arayıp o sandığı bulacak ve oyumu kullanacağım. Umarım herkes bu bilince varır.