It got really cold today.

It's 5 degrees rainy and dark all day long. We have to leave open the light since the morning and heating with gas, which is one of the ways of heating options here in Turkey. There are also the options such as central heating with different gas or coal and the stove heating with coal, wood or dried cow dung (called 'tezek').

Anyway, we're staying at home all day, because we're still recovering and it's so cold that 'even the dog isn’t kicked out in this weather' (this is Hungarian saying by the way).

What can you do in this weather if you can't go out, even though you live an active life and it’s not so easy to sit at home and not get bored easily...and top of all the last night when I went out, even the streerts are already ’Christmas mood’ (which is surprising because there is no Christmas officially here)  it was still spring, I mean it was about 15 degrees...I have some nice photos from my evening walk for you to share from the neighbourhood....

 

 

...so what are we doing on a dark, rainy, cold day like this? We are sorting old postcards,

 knitting, 

watching music videos and listening music 

and eating hot food and drinking a delicious Turkish coffee. And since I wrote earlier that I would like to write about Turkish cuisine in my blog, today I will share photos from my own kitchen (which is a bit Turkish because, since I’m living here and learnt some turkish dishes to prepare) So what I made today? The first course was ’yayla corba’ which is a soup. How is it made?  We ar boyling a little bit of a rice (like 1 spoonful) in small amount of water (like 1 liter) and add a little flour (one spoonful) and yoghurt (3 spoonful) than mix the youghurt and the flour till it’S thicken and tan comes the 'soul' of this soup which is the dried peppermint which you will add to the soup at the very end of the cooking. Please check on youtube for more details.

I like this type of soup,  because it's delicious, simple, cheap and quick to cook.

The second course was pasta in tomato sauce. I make the sauce out of tomato paste which is very often used in almost all dishes here in Turkey. I heat a little oil in a pan, and add a small amount of water to make it more liquid ( as the turkish paste is quite thick) and at the end I throw a little bit of oregano (in turkish ’kekik’ )  in it and I add all this to the cooked pasta. I cover the pot and let it sit for a while for the pasta to absorb the sauce. I serve it with a sprinkle of white cheese ( in turkish ’beyaz peynir’ and it is very similar tot he greek feta. 

And the launch is ready to eat:

 

I also wrote that I would talk about some economical solutions at home, so I'll tell you now that even though we keep the light open all day long, the light is only open in the room where we are and that's usually the living room. Only one light is on in the room because we are watching TV as well  and, so we think it is enough light to all what we are doing. This way we can save some electricity and pay less for the bill. 

We re also keeping the gas at room temperature which is about about 19 - 20 degrees and we are wearing sweaters in the house to keep ourselves warm. However I think a lot of people are probably doing all this in the same way. Basically, I don't think I'm going to say anything new, which is not my goal, rather to share my own experiences. Another little trick in the kitchen is that I’m washing the dishes immediately after cooking. A Spanish friend of mine once told me something like this : ’Juli, if I don't wash the dishes immediately after eating, everything gets stuck in the dishes and latere it's much harder to wash them. And it’s true, I think, because if you are leaving them in the dirt you will have to use much more water and dishwashing liquid to have them clean. This is another way of reducing household costs. Small things but small things are important, especially if you are out of money.

So soon after eating, it is a custom here, to serve Turkish coffee. 

This is good habit, because it is pleasant, relaxing and helps the digestion. It is often served in nice little cups 

and they put a little piece of sweet on the side. It can be a small piece of chocolate (my favourite 😊) or a turkish delight or a tiny little cake (which is called Turkish: 'kurabiye'). I also made a Turkish coffee today for us , so I can share some photos with you.

 

I wrote that we were watching films and listening music. So I was watching one move what I’ve seen many times, I don’t think it’s the best movie but I like watching it to relax my mind, the title is :  ’He is just not that into you’. So if you decide watching it have fun!

And the music…so what shall I say I was listening today many things like, but I have to be honest with you most of the time I’ve listened again Ed Sheeran. Here is another favorite of mine from him. Enjoy it! 😊

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t2CR9qZRj0&list=RD2g9kDtm_t9U&index=5

 

Another song I listened many times yesterday and today is this one, from Christina Perry:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtOvBOTyX00

cheers 💥