I had two visits to the flat today, once in the morning to have the kitchen measured for cabinets, and once for the contractor to make payments for our windows. It snowed a great deal in the morning, so on the morning visit it was very slippery and hard to walk straight, and there were […]
Virtues of broccoli
Overnight the weather changed, as forecast. Seemingly in the course of an hour, the temperature fell from 17 degrees to below zero, and when we woke up it was sleeting lightly. We woke up early, as we had to go to Tarabya as a friend had kindly volunteered to take us to a man who […]
Coming together
After a good bit of work this morning, I went off to run a couple of Friday errands, or rather one errand, to top up my phone. This done, I walked down Istiklal towards Taksim. It’s much, much warmer now, with barely any need for a coat, and very sunny. It was fairly crowded, though […]
Liverish
I was feeling a little short of iron today, so ordered in a plate of liver with pomegranate molasses. It came with a selection of mezze and some naan, so I made a rather delicious little wrap with tabbouleh and baba ghanoush and a drizzle of tahini. A delicious lunch, but it has made it […]
Peran Christmas
We had our first Christmas in Galata, Pera as was. In the morning I dashed to finish some work, and managed just as the GF arose. We went off to bring a Turkish breakfast from a nearby cafe, along with a couple of glasses of freshly squeezed pomegranate juice. Since our dining room is dark […]
Brief excursion
There was only enough food in the flat for one so I left it for the GF and went out for a short stroll and to bring myself back some lunch. I found a new street in Galata, one running parallel to Papadopoulous where the GF and I once viewed a very crumbling flat in […]
Day the first
This lockdown business is not suiting me at all. That said, it doesn’t seem to be suiting anyone else either. This morning I woke and saw a ghostly moving figure outside on one of the picturesque streets leading towards the Galata Tower. There I saw a young woman in a flowing white dress posing for […]
See you on the other side
Metaphorically speaking, of course. The weekend lockdown starts tonight so the GF and I decided to take Friday as our weekend (well, I did anyway; the GF just moved his working day to the evening). It was a lovely sunny afternoon and we went to get supplies for the next couple of days, having decided […]
Despairing attempt
I made a despairing attempt at desi food last night. Without suitable spices etc it was quite poor. Generally my desi food game is not strong – it’s a lot of effort and when there is no one else to enjoy it it rarely feels worth the hassle. The GF quite likes it but would […]
Assassins we have known
A curious dinner party last night, replete with tales of assassins we have known told by one of the other guests, advice on where to buy ‘illegal meat’ (i.e. not slaughtered in an abattoir), and the best duck in Turkey which, it appears, is available at Ikea. All this over a rather spectacular dinner of […]