The Art of Making:::

Baklava!!!

 Yes, my dear readers! You read correctly. Baklava is Turkish. Although everyone associates baklava with Greek and Greece (because the Greeks have taken many many things from Turkey, and stamped an "I am Greek" stamp on it, the history of Baklava making, as far as most people know, dates before the 1600's and even as early as the Byzantine Days. But, It is Turk. The actual Baklava is believed to come from the Central Asian Turks), brought on the silk road to the Byzantine people in Istanbul (although not called Istanbul), but remained in the Ottoman Kitchen and there has been recorded that the name baklava has never changed. The Balkan Turks in the Ottoman days, would make baklava only during very special occasions, and now, there are variations of baklava in Iran, Syria, All over the Middle East, Afghanistan, India, Mongolia, Greece, and even parts of Europe where the Ottoman Empire Ruled. (Yes, Mongolia was ruled by the Great and Illustrious Ottoman Empire, or they had to pay the Ottoman Empire taxes or something... Because they are called Mogolistan in Turkish...)  The History of exact dates and where is comes from before the Ottoman Kitchen is rather hazy, some say it comes from Assyria, but there are many historians that insists it comes from Central Asian Turks (and the Turkic Turks... ) which makes it all things Turkish.

 Why am I writing about this? Because my dear readers, my Turkish mom and grandma made it the other day, and I got to watch and help a little to see how it was made. My Turkish Grandma is 89 ish years old and this tradition has been passed from mother to child for centuries and centuries. It is about 900 years old or more, and so if you can imagine, being it Turk, and as I am marrying a Turk, I wanted to learn this wonderful and delicious tradition from the very person that is knowing how to make it better than anyone I have ever known. She learned from her mother, until her mother passed away when she was 12, and then her Grandmother taught her.  But, she is amazing. She makes the best baklava ever. This is not an exaggeration and I wanted to learn before she passed away, to keep this tradition in mine and Long Rocks family.

This woman is so amazing she did not even use measuring cups, etc... She just KNOWS how to do it...

Now, I have had to do a lot of research on the dough. All the internet recipes I have read says to buy the dough. OK. You can. But you will not get the dough thinner than paper thin, and I know the difference. Homemade is better. Homemade is HOMEMADE!!!  So...

My Turkish grandma uses yogurt in her recipe with butter somehow. and I will have to get that recipe from her, but I did not see how she made the dough... Sadly... I was interested in how she rolled out the dough... I will have to go back and get her recipe... And make hers. BUT  before you make it, please do yourself a favor and get a rolling pin and a wooden dowel! Make the dowel about 1/4 an inch around, and it can be about 24+ inches in length. Long Rocks grandma has one, they are sold all over Turkey for rolling out dough. Theirs is old old old but, just get yourself one for 3-4 dollars and use it only for the kitchen. The rolling pins are fine, however, not wide enough and it is easier to get a dowel. 

Before you start, have your nuts ready. You can use:

Walnuts, Pistachios, Almonds, Hazelnuts. You are not limited to those but, traditional Turkish use Pistachios, Walnuts or Hazelnuts. you will have to chop them up really fine, if you have a blender or Food Processor to help lucky you! But chop them up and lots. I mean a good pound or if you are making more ... two pounds. I mean, we had a pan 8x8 and we filled it with Hazelnuts. Hazelnuts grow like crazy in Turkey so we used Hazelnuts this time... But you get the picture.

Remove all Jewelry on your hands and wrists first! You do not want the dough to rip.

Now, phyllo dough ingredients. (Turkish yufka hamur)

Ingredients: I want to thank Making Life Delicious for this recipe. It is not Long Rock Family's recipe, but it is very very close. I did not do the steps as she did because, We used different things, and I did not want to steal I am trying to tell you how our Turk family does it, not Eastern Europe of Balkan Countries... So, I am telling you how to make real Turk Baklava.

• 2 2/3 cups (270 g/13 oz) unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon (1 1/2 g) table salt
• 1 cup less 2 tablespoons water (210 ml), plus more if needed
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil (60 ml), plus additional for coating the dough
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) cider vinegar

In the bowl of your stand mixer combine flour and salt. Mix with paddle attachment. Combine water, oil and vinegar in a pyrex measuring cup. Add water & oil mixture with mixer on low speed, mix until you get a soft dough, if it appears dry add a little more water 

 You want it sticky, but not too soft, When it sticks together in one piece, 

Knead with the dough hook, because we do not have a Kitchen Aide we do it all by hand, baby.  Dough will be soft and smooth. 

Now, make 22 balls the size of fifty cent pieces. Or, if you do not remember those, a little bigger than quarters. If you do not have enough for 22, 20 are fine. You want 10 layers for the bottom and 10 layers for the top. (At Least!)

The balls need to be placed on a plastic tray then covered. lightly cover with oil to keep soft, and cover with plastic strip. Because Long Rocks mom and G-ma are fast, because they have been doing this all their lives, they just use a clean kitchen cloth. I am not so experienced. Let dough sit for about 30 minutes. Do not make the syrup yet!!!

The following is how you should roll the Baklava dough. 

With corn starch and flour take one ball and the rolling pin (normal rolling pin) And roll out the ball flat, until you have about a thin 8 inch circle or try to get it as circle-y as you can... Or If you are using a rectangle pan try to get it into a rectangle shape as possible. add flour to the ball and your pin as needed. Make sure you rotate the dough and add a little flour as dust.

Then, with your dowel (see above) Roll out your now thin dough to even more thin and use lots of flour for this. How you do it is while rolling it, you will roll up the dough with the dowel, so that the dowel is rolled inside the dough. , turn the dowel and unroll the dough, and re-roll it with lots more flour. this is how you get it really really thin and this is how you get it the right shape and thin-ness all around. Do this several times. The last time you do it, when your dough is thinner than paper, unroll your dough onto your pan and adjust as necessary.  At times, the dough will get so thin that when you try to re-roll it , it will try to come up around the edges. That is ok. Gently push it down and roll onto your dwoel from the area closet to you to farthest away from you. When you roll it onto the pan and it drops in the pan roll it farther away from you to closest to you. This way, it will fall off the dowel and into the pan. Sometimes it will fold. Just use your hands to unfold it. 

If it breaks a little, this means your dough is getting dry. You do not want dry dough, it will fall apart and is not good. If it is soft, but falls apart, try to use those layers for the middle so no one can see it. Hehehe. 

Repeat until you have 10 layers of baklava. 

People use butter in the layers, this is not "real Turkish Baklava." that is  probably Greek or Persian variation. 

This one, you do not even butter your pan you do not need to, unless you are working with a pan you know needs to butter, but typically you do not butter your pan. 

OK Next step.

 Pat down your dough just a bit and then add your nuts. cover the dough with them, and get a good layer of nuts on the dough so that every inch is completely covered. If you have left over nuts, not to worry! 

Now, you will repeat the rolling process with the next 10 layers of dough... Rolling to really thin and covering the nuts layers with at least 10 layers of the dough. 

Pat down your dough. Congratulations. You have just completed the first half of making Turkish Baklava. 

NOW... 

(unlike other recipes, you do it this way for Turkish Baklava)

Cutting the baklava. Take your sharpest knife you have and cut into slices. You can make diamonds, squares or triangles. WE do squares in our home. Do your best to make the squares or shapes as evenly as possible. Cutting them is just as important as everything else. you need to cut through all the layers and you can not cut it after it is cooked. You must do it before. 

Now, before you stick it in the oven, set your sliced baklava square in your pan aside and melt butter. Real Butter. About 3/4 a stick or even a whole stick... 180 grams. I do not know the metric system, but my turkish mom used about 250 grams, but she was making double the recipe. Completely melt it and pour it over your baklava. Completely cover your baklava in the butter. try your best to pour it evenly. Then, in a heated over at 100 C (wihich is about 210-215 F) cook your baklava until golden brown. if it is thinner around the edges, to not fear, your baklava will be darker around the edges, but make sure that your baklava is a golden brown color. While in the oven... BTW it is better to cook it slower and lower temp, my Turk Grandma said... While it is cooking, now it is time to make the Syrup. 

My Turk family uses 1/2 cup of water, 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar, and boil until it is REALLY a syrupy syrup. If you want to dress this up a bit, you can add rum flavoring, almond flavoring, honey (if you add honey, reduse the other water and sugar... If you want), rose water (With is ore of a Persian Variant and even they do that in Syria and Lebanon) you can add to your syrup a number of different ways to make it a slightly different flavor. I am Long Rock and like how my Turk Grandma does it... plain. But, I might be in the mood to add a little something to make it my own recipe. I love Rose Water... But I am not sure Long Rock would like it. Anyway... 

 When you add the syrup, many people say a different timing to put the syrup. Turks do it like this. The Baklava is out of the oven, completely cooked, and cooled. The syrup is warm, not boiling hot and not cold, do not add it the least bit cold. That is how you should add it. and cover the baklava with it.

They put it back in the oven for a couple of minutes. Literally two or three minutes. 

We like eating baklava warm and fresh but many instructions say to eat it room temp.  You can sprinkle teh remaining nuts on top of the baklava for a garnish, if you want.

 To keep it, we just keep it on the table under a clean cloth or in the oven covered with another pan, because it dos not last very long in the house anyway. 

There are various ways to store it. The best way is just eating it and sharing it with your friends and family!!!

Happy Eating!

This is Turkish Baklava with Pistachios, and Sprinkled with Pistachios. Yummy

If you want, please add your variant to the wonderful dessert in your comments below! I would love to hear your feed back! Tell me what you did differently or ask me about anything Turkish, or Baklava. I will be more than happy to comment and reply to your comments!

Playing Play Station 3

The Long Rock and I have a Play Station 3 and a Wii. 

 I would like to give you my opinions on them and why I think you should buy them... Or not. 

Let me review the Play Station 3 first. 

We got this brand new on sale for the equivalent of 300 $ (600 TL) This is a really good deal here in turkey. as about three days later, the price went up to 950 TL on sale and normally I have seen them not on sale for around 1,200 TL. The reason these games and electronics here in Turkey are so expensive is because they are imported from Japan, or USA and anything that is imported here raises the price by double. The Government puts a taxes on anything bought that is not Turkish.

Why did we chose Play Station 3 over Xbox 360? Well, honestly it was because PlayStation 3 was on sale and we needed a new game consul. I have an Xbox in USA and I do not know how to play it. So, I am not going to be sold on one or the other. Now that I have a PS3, I will tell all my family to get it because ı want to be able to play with them online and talk to them and I can do it that way. There are advantages and disadvantages to an Xbox and PlayStation 3. I hear the games are cheaper for an Xbox. But, we have been able to find used games and new games online for cheaper than 50 TL (about 30 USD) and so I think that that is not bad. 

I do not know if I have mentioned before, I am not good at playing said games. I have been known to eat while playing games. (a habit that annoys Long Rock terribly) I kind of see it like watching a movie... Pop Corn, Cola and playing games. He sees it as trying to kill our guys. Note to anyone like me: You can not play NBA 2K11 with one hand. Sorry, It does not work. Note to anyone like The Long Rock:: We are not trying to sabotage your game. We really are trying to eat and play to enjoy the time with you. Do not take our action as bad, just laugh and tell us we are a dork (Thanks Long Rock for not being annoyed with me too long) Also... Be engaging the game because your guy likes that. (just a pointer to all the ladies like me)

  We have 5 games now. 

Killzone3:   cool game. The enemy is really scary and I get freaked out. BTW: Ladies, when you play, you start off training as an enemy. Then as the story progresses, you become a human, and in the Military. So, When you train you can not shoot the "bad guys" you shoot the humans. But when you are fighting for real, you kill the bad guys, and I was shooting the guys: Green light coming on... That does not mean... Green, yes for shooting. you will kill your friends.

We are right now stuck in the Jungle, so, I am trying to find out how to get out of the Jungle. 

NBA 2K11: This is a cool game. It is hard for me. Killzone I am used to battling out scary guys, not playing basketball with a computer, but it is great graphics, and really awesome voices. It is also funny to hear the sports commentators. They are really from the ESPN channel, and the players look great. I like that they have a Basketball Classics, so you can play John Stockton and Karl Malone, too. That grabbed me. There are just tons and tons of options, and you can play just with your team, or you can do specific practices, I mean, it really is cool. 

Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 I know nothing about Soccer, but the Long Rock loves this game. It even has his favorite, Fenerbahce, playing which makes him like it better. I have played with him several times and I only know that I need to get the ball into his goal and I can not let him get the ball into mine. tee hee hee. I have noticed that the Long Rock has been improving with each time he plays, sadly, I have not. He plays online sometimes with other guys. I have found that most of them are other Turkish Guys. Turkey is huge for Soccer in a crazy way. So, this game is the number one Video Game in Turkey as far as for Sports. 

Call of Juarez: So, this game is really cool however, buyer beware. It is only one player, and for you to play with others, you have to go online. The Long Rock did not notice that before he got the game, and so he is a little bummed because he wants to play with me, but that will not happen, unless I am in another home or playing on a different consul and happen to have Call of Juarez with me. The graphics are Good. The accents are Funny. (can Funny be a rating?) This game was created in Australia. Imagine Americans in the Civil War from the Southern States speaking with a slight Australian accent saying "Mate" and "G'Day". That is just funny to me. The other aspects of the game are really cool though. There is a story line about three brothers that I would very much like to follow. It is fun and rather interesting as you go from character to character. This is why The Long Rock was rather puzzled that is was not two player but has multi-player capabilities. We really wish this one were multi-player. It sure would be ore fun for us. 

Gran Turismo 5 (The one with the Red Car on the Cover, not the White Car) This game is really cool. We can play and race together or we can race ourselves or we can race online. The possibilities are endless. The cars are cool. You have to start off with a smaller lowly car and work your way to a the top. I like that. I can play play worth beans but, I am learning. You have to get your license for driving before you can play some of the tracks, and in order to get your license you have to do some practice things, like learning to turn corners, stopping correctly, turning, etc. It is really fun and slightly simulates driving. I do not have the control that is a car steering wheel ,I think that would be ore fun for me, but I still quite like this game. The music is great and you can chose from literally hundreds of different type music. That is cool for me too. I washed my car and got an oil change... All in the game. I like that too. You can play many different ways and you can play online, which, ,s good for those like me who live far from family.

The Wii. 

This is the greatest invention known in the Game industry right now known to man. I say this because there are not a lot of things that an entire family can play together and have a total blast, using Game Consul, however, the Wii is the exception to that rule. It is easy to learn, can get you moving, can include tiny kids and great grandparents... It is literally for all ages. ALL ages. 

 We bought ours used, but it is practically new. This Wii came with a whole bunch of games, and we really like the ones it came with.We have since played Residence Evil, ABBA Dance, There is Wii Classic and Wii Resort, and we both like the games. My favorite game is the Cabela's Hunt, and I am pretty good at it. I have won all kinds of Trophies on it. The Long Rock kills me on every game, and so I am happy there is one I am pretty decent at. Our favorite to play together is the sword fighting game. It is really fun and we laugh a lot on that one. Long Rock's mom is really good on the Bowling Game, and I have made several Mi's so that all our family can play with us. needless to say we have a lot of fun on the Wii together. If you do not want to play with other people, then the Wii is not the game consul for you. Like wise If you are not into movement, then you need not get this game consul. If you are totally into graphics, then this game is not for you and you need to know that you can play games with great graphics on this, but some games are just more fun on the PS3 and some games are more fun on the Wii. 

 If you want action and 3D quality, the PS3 is the way to go. If you want movement, do not think of getting PS3 with move. It is just not as good and honestly, The Wii is not a lot of money if you are buying in the USA. I would consider PS3 for 3D games, high graphics and action games, games that do not require dancing, jumping, moving, if you want to play online with friends, this is great and there are many options to chose from that will allow you to have hand-free sets, and you can talk to your friends or family while you play. I like that feature and I have been trying to get one, but I have other things to pay for right now and will most likely pay for those later. 

 Well, that is it. Which ever you chose, hit me up a line on here and if you have questions, I will always answer them. For you moms out there that want to know what your kid is doing, I suggest you learn to play and spend time learning a little about the PS3. (or Xbox 360 which ever you have in your home) These companies do everything they can to try to prevent perverts from coming online and playing games with your kids, but you should be very aware of what is happening. Also, I have been online on youtube and there are horror stories of teenager boys playing with their head set and their mom coming in the room and hitting their kids. This is not only illegal, but your kid does not deserve to be sacked around just because he is not cleaning his room. I have seen this a lot on youtube, and those parents that hurt their kids should be thrown in jail. Not cool at all. 

  Anyway.. Happy Gaming! 

My week? Or, Rather, how I learned to have a Week From Hell

Well, this week seemed to start off... You know... OK.

 I had gone to Silivri the day before to see the Long Rock and I thought, there is no way that the week can fail after seeing him.

   But, seriously? I have been really having a hard time trying to come to terms with him living in Silivri and me living in Çorlu. Strange? It is a year and 11 months that I have been living in Turkey and I thought that I would get used to not having him here in Çorlu, but that is further from the truth. I mean, ,stead of coming to terms with it, I am feeling more and more... Just... Done already. I feel like my life, his life, we are on hold with that really annoying music and someone keeps saying "Your call is really important to us. Please stay on the line and the next available Customer Agent will be with you shortly" and I am thinking.. If I hang up then I have to go to the back of the queue of calls but, When is it my turn?

I feel like that. I also have been having some Winter Blues, and I thought that I would handle it this winter but it is worse than any winter... Wait. there was one winter that it was worse... My arthritis was horrible that winter. Anyway... I have just been really down and bored and just... I want to get on with Long Rock and me in our life.

 So, I have been feeling strange. I can not explain it. And over the last few days, it feels like everything came exploding at me at once.

  Sometimes, dear reader, bad news may not just come in threes, sometimes, there is a surplus of bad news because, three just seems like a random number.

That is what feels like happened to me this past week.

 Just everything happened at once.

I hope for a better week tomorrow... (Hear that, Luck Gods?)

You can be assured, I will blog about it

More News From Turkey

So, over the past couple of weeks, the Turkish Government in all their Wisdom, had decided to obtain more money in the Economic Crisis. Their answer?

  Charge a forced and mandated Government Insurance to all foreigners who will be staying longer than one consecutive year in Turkey, whether working, going to school, not working... Whatever the reason for staying longer than one year, you must pay the government for Mandatory Government Health Care. If you do not pay you will be fined an out rageous amount of money, and the rates of said insurance a month goes wayyyy up.

If you think about it, this is brilliant. I say to Reciyyip Erdoğan ... KUDOS! I will tell you why. We in USA need this. We in America love LOVE people visiting, but, this will get rid of everyone that wants to stay illegally in the USA.

 The downside?

The laws right now are ambiguous and no one knows where to pay and who to pay and the price of said insurance is a rumor. Three webpages I have been to said the cost is £2,000 a year, meaning  £166.66 a month and  that if you do not pay it will have a fine of £2000 plus an additional £200 a month for a year. However, the Turkish webpage that The Long Rock was on said that it was 50 TL a month and if you do not pay it was 200TL a month and a fine of 2,000TL. There were two webpages that said that all those from the UK or UK Territories, Netherlands and France, Ukraine and Russia were responible and one webpage said it was only UK Passport holders while The Long Rock said that it was ALL foreigners or anyone with out a Turkish Citizenship, or not married to a Turkish Citizen.

 Apparently there are many Foreigners that come to Turkey, illegally work, get sick or injured, and rely on the Social Government to care for their health care problems. Many people retire and come to live in Turkey.

Turkey is saying Welcome, but we are not paying for your insurance if you are not a Citizen! Way to go, Turkey! I like that a lot. I am not being sarcastic. I like that when you live in a country you are not allowed the same Rights as though you are a Citizen of that country! (Sound Familiar!) I like the idea a lot. Now... Just how to pay...

  We will see as it unfolds. I have a Legal Residence Card, from here. So we will see what happens and I will be sure to update...

Men and Women are different

We have different emotions, different needs and think completely different. 

  I understand this as a Truth. It is not good nor bad. Just a Fact. 

 I am completely sorry for irritating my Long Rock nd making him so annoyed that he wants to hit his head against the wall. 

  And I also accept his apology too, even when he does not think he is wrong. 

 Like I said. We are different. There is nothing wrong in what he thinks and there is nothing wrong with how I think. 

 It is like He describing the leg of an elephant when I am describing the ear of one. It is the exact same elephant, just a different part of that elephant. 

  I love the Long Rock. Even when we are annoyed at the description of our same elephant.

Look at this adorable wonderful man. I love him with all my heart. He is so good to me. I just got annoyed with him but looked at this picture and fall in love with him every time I see his face. I am lucky I have him. His smile is just melting me Ok. I am calling him right now

I had an accident

A few days ago, I was getting over a stomach flu when I was playing the Wii with Long Rock. I was playing a "Dance With ABBA" and there is a part on the dance you put your arms way up over your head when I did, I  hit the light fixture above me and it broke a piece off the glass fixture and it came falling down. 

 I, of course looked up when this happened and my eyes were filled with glass particles. I mean, loads of glass. 

You know, It was not a death experience but, I must say that I did see my life flash before because I immediately thought of two things... I will never see again, and that I had broken the light bulb and because it (the light bulb) is not the incandescent, because people are stupid and will not use them even though those do not give me head aches and incandescent light bulbs help people with Scoptic Sensitivity Syndrome and Dyslexia, but people keep on using the new kinds however... They are filled with Mercury!!! (Yeah!!! I was thinking of Mercury going in my eyes on top of being blind, Mercury poison in my eyes!!!) Thoughts like that were filling and swimming my head... 

 I kept thinking why the hell does this planet not use incandescent light bulbs!! (really) I was scared to death and thinking I am not ever going to see again and I am not going to see pretty colors, the sun, my tan lines, I mean I was thinking of all the things I will never be able to see again when, I ran into the bathroom and flushed out my eyes. I went to not being able to see to being able to gradually see and then I was able to see. My eyes feel really dry. I have been  using eye drops to give me tears to flush out my eyes, and wow. I prayed. 

 I asked God to please save my eye sight and to help me not freak out. 

  Well, I freaked out in my mind because freaking out in front of Long Rock will be horrible. Long Rock is a worry-er and I just knew if I freaked out he would freak out more. So, I had to stay calm for him. I did. 

 He kept saying let's go to the hospital. I thought of going but, the Hospital here in this city... ı thought, how long will it be before they can wash my eyes with water? I would have to wait and wait a lot when I can wash out myself. I also thought, They would tell me the same thing... come back in a couple of days if you do not get out all the glass. 

  And another thing. 

How long will I have to sit and be ignored before someone will even bother seeing me? 

 Well, I thought, I will wash them out really good and if they are not better then I will go. But my eyes have gotten better. If they did not or if they were slightly worse,I would have run into the hospital, but I would have gone to the eye hospital. Everything is fine. I did get one tiny glass particle in my morning eye stuff yesterday... And I just feel like my eyes are dry. 

Can you believe that is all that happened? Wow! 

 I thanked God for that one! 

 Pictures to follow

Go here for Eye Injury Information

The light fixture that busted

little pieces

Looking up this is what broke. one of the curly part of the fixture

Amazing that I did not get more injured. Long Rock was an expert Nurse.

My Day With Long Rock

Today I went to Silivri. This city is really fascinating to me. I really like it there and I had a wonderful day with Long Rock. We have been feeling blue lately so it was nice to go and spend time together and not think about what is making us down and out. We laughed and talked and laughed some more. 

  Here are some pictures of that day. 

I will have a link of Silivri so anyone can read about it. 

 If you want to go visit, I would suggest Silivri Park Hotel, as it is better than other places and it is a pretty good deal staying there. You can get to the bus station in Silivri and then from the bus station either get a cab or have the hotel come and get you for a small fee. 

 Anyway... I like this city... So here are today's pictures. Read About Silivri Here!!!

Silivri Harbor: These ships will go to other islands.

Wow

I am so excited. 
   My fiancee will be meeting my very good and very sweet friend, Eddie Afualo. Eddie is like a younger brother to me. Eddie is coming to Turkey in September. 
 YAY!!! I can not wait for The Long Rock to meet my very good friend. I am just thrilled. 
 We will be planning a lot of fun things. He will be there two weeks, and kısmet! The Long Rock will be off while he is coming! YAY!

It's been a long time

To be honest with you, I can not recall the last time I went to Silivri to meet Long rock, but I am sure it was before October, and sometime in September. I have not gone there for a number of reasons, and all now really do not matter why. 
 What matters is I am going today, and I hope to take a lot of pictures. 
 I really like this little city, but the long rock hates it but I think he does because I am not there. 
 The city air is cleaner there and it is a sea side city. It need some repairs, and I feel that the Mayor needs to clean it up a bit but I feel like it is a little gem of a city. It was an Ancient Greek City at one point, and there is an Ancient Castle there. I actually quite like the city. But as I said, the long rock does not. Anyway... I am going to see long rock today. I am very excited. 
 I have been depressed for a few months. I am sure it is situational Well, I can not say a few months, it has been about 2-3. I am the most happy when long rock comes home or I talk to my family, especially my kids on skype. 
 I was really down when I sat on skype and no one came on skype to talk to me. My kids were off doing other things, but I had other family members that did come on skype and I messaged them, but not one person talked to me. I really was sad. 
  I miss going to Silivri and visiting long rock because it breaks up the long long times I have to go with out seeing him. 
  I am going today. I will post pictures. 
 I can not wait to see him. 
 

I am sassy, and funny

Recent conversation with me, and I tried to get Long Rock to Participate.

 Me (with a slice of green apple in my mouth and part way out, looking at Long Rock): Kiss my Apple

Long Rock: (looking at me and has this expression, so sweet, and smiles): hehe

Me: (laughing out loud and in between laughs) Hahaha- that sounded so bad... Did you hear? It did not sound like Apple... It sounded like A---- HAHAHA That is soooo funny... Kiss my Apple! Hahahaha

Long Rock: (smiling and watching me) Are you sure you said Kiss that? Besides, I can not be sticky, Jensen. And, You are a lady, you are a sweet girl you don't say bad things

Me: (with another piece of apple half way in and half way out of my mouth) Kiss my apple. HAHAHAHA

Ok... Maybe it is just me... But It was funny and not. He is so cute. He just lets me laugh at myself and he smiled and said "Let's watch Harry Potter"

Now, that's my kind of man! 

He also took care of me. I  have been very sick lately and he watched and did everything I wanted because he said he just wants me better.

I have been doing some drawing

I am a little blue for the last couple of months and I thought I need to do something to expand my mind. 

   So, I have decided to work on my art skills. 

I figure from time to time I will post my art work on here. 

 This is my first in many posts. You have been warned.

I am left handed and have a tenancy to work right to left because I avoid smearing when using soft pencil or charcoal or well, anything that smears. Weird huh?

I laughed so hard after doing this. I remembered Napoleon Dynamite saying "the mouth was the hardest. I worked on it for three hours. This mouth was HARD! well, for me

Jack Nicholson, Baby

So some jerk off freaking Lucifer's monkey, Judas'  hacked into my email account and stole my contact list and wrote to my bank, and told my bank I am fake... Basically high jacked my bank account! 

  I really hate people like that and I hope they die a slow painful death. 

 I hope that some strange flesh eating bacteria starts slowly eating their skin and they have horrible diarrhea.

I hope their man thing falls off too. 

 I hate people that violate other people. 

I have been really sick for the last couple of days. So I have not been on here to  write a lot. I know you readers miss me something terrible. 

 I had a strange dream that Jack Nicholson was working in this factory, before he was an actor, and said, "Jensen, check your email." I woke up and did, wow. Maybe Jack Nicholson is my guardian angel?

  Stranger things are about to happen?

Update on Friends Wedding Flowers

About three months ago I made the Wedding Bouquet for a friend. I was told before hand I would be able to use all the supplies at the Floral Shop. The Florist (a man: he owns the shop) said that they had everything... So, I trusted that they  had everything I needed.

   Well, let's put it this way... When I need flowers for my wedding, I will know that  I will have to plan ahead to get some vital things that are not even heard of here.

  Here are a list of basic things I needed for the Flowers

• Flowers
• Floral Tape
• Wire
• Ribbon
• Corsage Pins for the Groom's and Best Man Boutonniere
• Clippers

 So, Before hand I bought the clippers, which were garden clippers because they did not have floral clippers. That was not a surprise. However, the fact that they had only flowers, and not all the flowers as promised, however, nothing else was on the list. I was really annoyed as they had no idea what I was even talking about. Has anyone ever done a corsage or boutonniere with NO wires, no floral tape and no pins, no starters for the corsages??? 

 Unheard of... BUT... I had to. 

 It was so hard and frustrating. 

I had to wrap her flowers with no tape. They tried to give me regular office tape and I smiled and said no thanks. 

With that,  sadly I was not able to get pictures of my creation... But I do have a couple her family took. 

 Here they are

The Flowers I made for her

Have been thinking

I think I will take a few days off from blogging and reconnect with my soul. 

  It is nothing personal and there is nothing wrong. I just feel like I need to reconnect with myself right now. 

I wish I knew a good Art Supply Store here in Town. but so far I have not seen one. 

I need some art supplies for my creative side. 

See you guys. 

I forgot to mention

Had forgotten to tell you about my Lottery Ticket. 

  I got one as a gift from Erkan's dad, on the 23rd of December. I found out on the night of December 31st that I did not have the winning ticket. Every year, for New Year people will buy a lottery ticket, it is a Tradition.

  I went online and went to the webpage where, basically words came up saying, "We are Sorry, Your Number Stinks" only those were my interpretation of what it said. 

Here is my first Lottery Ticket I have ever had in my life. 

Well

I think the hardest part about living in Turkey is not being around my family. 

  I love my family a lot and I have to say I miss my family more and more everyday. 

 I get to talk to Connor and Beka about three times a week, but I think that not being able to see them on a regular basis is really getting me and them down. 

 On Christmas day we were able to talk for about three hours. I guess their dad decided that that was too long (say what??? Yeah! I know) and so he put a limit on their Parental Controls so they can only talk to me for so long now.  Sometimes I feel like what am I doing here? 

 I can't explain my feelings on this matter because they are so complex and hard to express. I normally am pretty good as expressing myself matter-of- fact and with out emotion, but something this deeply personal and emotional to me is very difficult to express.

  I think I will write more on the subject, I have to close this post for now.

Letters

Has anyone thought of those? 

  A handwritten letter with your name and adress and stamped and mailed... To you. I am not talking about bills. I am talking about a real letter. 

 I love those. I miss getting those.

 I got one today in the mail from my brother, Bridger. It was a family letter of the year, but he spend the time to make the pictures, find out my address (he asked me for it) and he sent it to me. 

  I love that more than anything. 

Thanks, Bridger. You are seriously the best. 

I have three siblings that I adore with all my heart. Of course I come from a huge family and love ALL my siblings but three siblings I am the closest to. Bridger, Kendal and Summer. Summer helped me with her husband A LOT and I can not ever repay them for how good they are to me

  Kendal is the dearest sweetest brother I have that adds logic and reason to my life. 

Bridger is my closest dearest friend and brother. Bridger and I are so very close and through out the years has always supported me and never ever deserted me when other people have.

They are my heroes and my greatest friends. I love that Bridger sent me the letter. 

 Summer sent me a yearly letter, too... She sent it as an email. I loved hearing from her too. 

My sister Darci sent me one just last week!!! How sweet they are to send me email when they know I do not get the yearly letters that the family exchanges. 

It is like they are thinking of me... I love them... 

MY cute Sweetheart

So, I have not written a while about specifically my fiancee.

  I have to say, I love that guy ... A LOT.

 He always  makes me smile and laugh and he is really so sooooo sweet. Lately I have noticed that women have criticized the "nice guy". I have to say... What is wrong the the truly nice guy? I love it and find it refreshing for once.

 I would not want it any other way.

Long Rock and I do not argue like we have in the past. I love it much better. We have been getting along more and more.
We resolve our differences quick and refreshing and even end up laughing about it. 

 I love spending time with him and would like to send more time with him. I really hope that we will be spending more time together. It is really hard with him working and living in another city.

   I have heard it said that people should not trust other people on the internet, but if anyone met my fiancee face to face, they will see his heart. He really has a heart of gold and I am not just saying that because I love him. He is really a sweet guy.

  My fiancee works so hard and never ever talks to other women, he really is loyal to me and does not look at other women. He also does not use the internet for bad things.

 He is looking at Soccer Scores, News, Music, Movies that are not bad ones, He reads Basketball and knows more players in the USA than I do. He also looks at eBay a lot. This guy has a heart of gold.
We do not get to see each other everyday like other couples. This is hard for many people and his job pulls us physically away from each other as he lives in Silivri and I live with his family in Çorlu. 
 Normally, couples do not have this type of obstacle in their relationship. 
  But, if people knew my fiancee and how loving he is, how caring he is and how good he is to me, they would understand why I am able to wait for him and why I want to be with him. 
 I can not imgaine my life with out him, yet I am safe to say, I have added joy and love in his life in a way that he would say he is lucky too. For this I think we are both good for each other and we are both so lucky, ad blessed to have someone that we love, we want to be with, we want to spend our life with. In the world that we live in today, when so many people are trying to divorce, they are unhappy, and they feel stuck in a relationship, we are able to find love and we enjoy each other, that is a lot, isn't it?

   I wish my family would get to know him because I know if they did they would find him so loveable and I know they would like to do things with him. He loves his mom and loves his family and I have never heard him say anything bad about anyone. Ever. He wants to get to know my family better and speaks highly of everyone of my family members. Although he has never met them face to face yet, he really loves my mom and is always looking at things online he would like to buy my mom and family members. He hugs me a lot. When I am homesick and feel really sad because I miss my family, he will hug  me when he is home. He is so good to me. He is fun and funny and has this amazing heart.

 Some people are beautiful inside out and that is my fiancee. Seriously one amazing guy.

 I really hope that my family will get to know him better one day.

Whenever we go places, he always invites his family members. Always. We were able to get tickets to go to this Aquarium for about 70% off and he made sure he bought one extra for his mom. I like that because I know if we were in USA and I want to bring my mom anywhere he would support that and invite my mom. I love that about him because he loves his family as much as I love mine. That was always a quality I wanted in a man... Who loves family. And I have the man I want! Lucky me!

I am doing an Experiment

I would like to try selling some Jewelry and Turkish things that is other wise different and hard to find in USA. 

  I think that eBay is not as aesthetically pleasing site to look at, and I love buying things from eBay but I would like to  try it on my own.  I would like the opinion of my readers. I normally have about 80 people a week visit my webpage, and about 60 of those people are my USA readers. I only have about 4 readers that I know face to face. Anyone think I should sell some Turkish Items that you other wise can not find in USA... I mean not junk stuff... I would set it up like pay pal accounts and have some really nice things to buy... Who is interested in browsing a blog like that? Please... Give me feed back!

Bringing in 2012

This year, I hung out with my Turkish Family for New Year. 
 This is typical in Turkey to hang out with family or friends, just like they do in America. 
 So, I went just the day before yesterday and bought some fresh flowers for the table. We cooked a whole pumpkin, and I made pumpkin bread out of the pumpkin. I froze the rest in two cup packages and put them in the freezer for when I want pumpkin puree. 
 I made some really hot Hot Sauce and sliced Chicken Breast and marinated the chicken in the hot sauce over night. 
 I forgot about the corn in the freezer, but I will use it later. 
 I made caramel corn. I do not have brown sugar here. Turkish women call brown sugar when we call it Raw Sugar. 
So, I have taught myself to make brown sugar. Thank goodness for my love for cooking and being in the 4 H and being in all those cooking classes... I have been able to use that to my advantage here. 
 Anyway
I made the best caramel cream stuff so I will experiment with Caramel Apples later!
 I made Toffee... Which came out more like ... Soft Toffee, and so I have to have a thermometer. I thought there was one at Ikea, and I tried to ask, but Long Rocks dad was saying LET'S GO and I speak Turkish slow. Anyway, I made the Toffee in the late Soft Ball Stage and needed to wait a few more minutes... Sigh... So it is somewhat soft for Toffee.
But, it is my first attempt with a hard candy recipe with no Thermometer, and not all the proper ingredients. I had to recreate it. I say I am doing pretty good. 


 So, I will post pictures tomorrow of my food... Here is what we did. 
 My Turkish mom and I made our food and cooked all day. At about 7:45 my Turkish aunt and her family came over. We played the Wii and socialized, danced, had a lot of fun. 
 I had to make the best of the situation: being homesick, not having Long Rock around me... It has been really hard for me so I think I did well for the circumstances. 


Pictures::

I bought the flowers a day before and made the arrangements right when I brought the flowers home. I made Caramel Corn, Hot Spicy Chicken Breast, we had rice with this pasta in it, beef, sliced carrots, regular sliced bread, stuffed cabbage, Toffee, Nestle Coffee and cola, we had a king's meal. I decorated the table, with the help of my Turkish mom. It was fun

We looked and looked for these glasses that were solid red. they were so pretty but We only found the ones with red and clear. I thought that the glasses were pretty anyway

Long Rocks cousin on the right and his uncle on the left.

My Father in law (to be)

This would have been a perfect picture if I would have noticed the flower in my Turkish mom's face! hahahaha. I am silly sometimes.

This is a great picture. Left: Anneanne, Mert, Anne, Teyze

Right in the gray is my Turkish Father in law, and the striped shirt is my Turkish uncle

Daughters and mother for a photo op

They wanted my mom to see the napkins in teh picture. I don't think they realized I took a pretty pic of the table beforehand.

Learning to lay the Wii

And The Learning teaching to play the wii...

Surprising, they were a great team. I did not remember which hand I play bowling and played right hand... Yeah I am a left handed bowler.

My Turkish Cousin playing but dude, look in the right, the guy in the white shirt... That is Long Rock's Mii!!! Funny

Whaaat? Another Spare???

Mert (Turkish cousins name) Up to lay... Come, Mert! You can do it!

Aunt had to go in the kitchen. Anne took her turn. She is really good at playing bowling

How is it that Mert and I had to teach them every time they went to bowl, but we got our butt's kicked!?!

Turkish Uncle and Cousin playing bowling.

Playing Table Tennis

They were fun to watch!

And what is the New Year with out some music?

And Dancing

And Getting a New Year Spank for Good luck! Hahaha