Food

"Ezo gelin" soup...

Pickles....

Lahmacun...

Bread and "tulum" cheese...

"iskender" kebab...

No room left for desert, just tea...Real Turkish tea...

Away

Last couple of weeks I was busy with getting ready for our trip. Our trip to Turkey, to visit our families and friends....We left home on December 24 and arrived in Istanbul on December 25, after a looooooooooong journey... Now we are spending time with my mom and in-laws, eating good food, meeting friends, visiting uncles, aunts, cousins and nephews... Unfortunately I haven't had time to transfer the new photos to my laptop yet... I'm hoping to post them in a couple of days but if I don't, please forgive me. You know how busy it gets when you visit your family after a long time...In the meantime I'm leaving you with a photo of the beautiful Bosphorus (a friend of mine took this a couple of summers ago).


I hope everybody is having a happy holiday season with families and friends... take care...

Winter

We are having lots of snow this winter in Ottawa. This Sunday was the worst. According to CBC, we have got 37 centimetres of snow on Sunday. We were at home of course and had to shovel ourselves out from all that snow.

Here are some pictures. The first one was posted before. I'm just re-posting it to show the amount of snow accumulated on our deck.

Chairs on the deck on December 3

Chairs on the deck December 16, in the afternoon

Chairs on the deck, buried under the snow, December 17 morning

And oh, I had my hair cut and coloured on Saturday. Now it is purple-ish... red-ish...brown-ish colour which I liked a lot. The colour shows better under the direct light :-)

A quick fix for the soul

Last couple of days, I was quite tired and unhappy. I was busy at work and overwhelmed with amount of work that I need to do at home, preparations for our trip to Turkey during Christmas break, shopping for gifts, etc. Last night I just needed to do something to feel better, which doesn't involve any sewing or complicated work. This was just what I need.

I was inspired by the wreaths created by talented ladies of the various blogs. I used some scrap gingham and sheer fabric. I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

Tea towels

These vintage linen tea towels are waiting to be framed and hanged to my kitchen. I think the third one wants to have a darker frame and go to the family room :-)

Colors

ok, instead of doing these, I should get ready for our trip or tidy up my desk or do some ironing or go to gym. But somehow playing with the color pencils seems more fun...

Light

Snow Day

Today is dark, cold and snowy... I'm feeling cold, sick and depressed... I'm working from home, but I don't want to work... I want to curl up with my warmest blanket and read Heather Mallick's "Cake or Death"... I want a cup of hot tea with milk... I want to listen Susie Arioli...

I want a real Snow Day at home...

our deck, under the snow...

Sometimes

You know, sometimes one thing leads to another...It just started with a home-made walnut-cinnamon bread. When the dough rising, I thought "well, I have time to make a soup". There, lentil soup, which is perfect for a dark, cold fall evening. When the soup simmering, I remembered the leeks in the fridge, and thought "well, I can whip up a quick leek quiche". Leeks were sauteed in slow heat, combined with eggs, millk, cornmeal and old cheddar cheese. By this time, the bread was ready and out of the oven with a heavenly smell. Then the quiche went in. When it was baking, I thought "well, I have time to make a salad". The usual things, mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, thinly sliced white onion, black olives and feta cheese, with a light vinaigrette. Then I set the table, called my husband to buy some smoked salmon on the way home. Then the quiche was ready, my hubby came, we had a nice supper.. well, a little nicer than a usual weekday supper...

Tiny quilt-in progress

Just started to make a tiny little quilt with tiny little embroidery flowers...

Birds

I like birds. I like the blue and red cardinals living in our hedge... I like the robin which walks around the backyard like he owns it... I like the mourning doves which come to our backyard and sit on the deck railings... I like the ones which come to the roof above the study room in the morning just when I start to work... I like the birds which wake us up around 4am during spring and summer... No, I'm not obsessed with birds but since we moved to this house, they become a part of our daily life and somehow there are quite a few drawings and decorations inside the house too...

birds, on the wall in the study room.

birds, in the bedroom.

birds, on the fireplace mental.

From my sketchbook

Back from New York

37 hours and 1464 kilometers later, we are back ! I think this was more like a "Road Trip" than a "New York Trip" considering we only spent 18 hours in New York.

keeping a close eye on the map.

roads...

the lights of the Times Square...

a blurry picture of me, in front of Majestic Theater -showing The Phantom of the Opera.

more roads...

shopping at one of the outlets...

us :-)

beautiful fall colors ...

no road trip is complete without fast food.

driving on highway 81.

Trip Planning

Planning to go to New York City for a couple of days.... spent hours yesterday evening to find a hotel room and frustrated about the prices and lack of availability...Then searched the events on this weekend. There it is: New York City Marathon is on Nov 4. How would someone miss something like that :-(

Back again

It is so embarrassing to stop right at the beginning....but it was not intentional....and due to health problems...here are some random pictures during my absence...

A nice afternoon in Brockville.

Geraniums at our deck.

Knitting bag that I made.

Some embroidery...

Roses that my husband got for me.

A special dinner, just for two of us.

Working at home...

Rainbow over our street...

Afternoon tea with a couple of homemade cookies.

A gloomy rainy day, from our study window.

And some more cookies, with coconut, lemon and almonds...