The Agony of Keeping Up with Homesickness

The agony of keeping up with the homesickness is indescribable.

It's beyond words;
and everything that runs in your bloodstreams.
It's like madness that loses its fulfillment.
It's suffocating to the extent of breathing is suicidal.
It's wrapping you up and getting you nowhere until it doesn't feel sick anymore.

Or you just simply surrender and fade away.

Autumn in My Heart

When your heart cries in silence for everything that goes wrong and everyone that goes away but somehow you don't feel like keeping each one of them anyway because disappointment has engulfed you and letting go is the only thing left to do, life suddenly changes from spring to autumn, from the hopeful bright morning to a cold dark night. You can always return but you prefer to keep it like that for only God knows how long.

Sad? No.
It is called reality.

And some things are better left unsaid.

posted from Bloggeroid

The End of Summer

The heat gradually cools off. I remember sleeping in our hot bedroom one day as the temperature allows. Our bedrooms are unbelievably hot during the day in the summer due to afternoon sun while our living room remains cool.

But there is this constant heat that seems to resist. I wonder how one could manage being told and blindly believe without even putting an effort to verify. I guess one needs the complete episodes of Pinocchio. The Kdrama version that is.

Anyway. See you later, alligator.

posted from Bloggeroid

Tulips of The Spring, Gaziantep

Assalamualaikum.

Spring in Antep is identical with tulips and all sort of flowers. And all over Turkey, it has become an annual event to see this beautiful flower. In Gaziantep, if you want to enjoy the indescribable beauty, you should go the city center where Botanik Bahçesi is located. Around that area, you will see a lot of tulips in and out the so-called botanical garden.

So this year, as I visited the place, again, I also managed to look around and snapped photos of tulips of the spring in Gaziantep. The weather was still a bit chilly, so make sure you got your warm jacket on.

Tulips of The Spring
Botanik Bahçesi
Ayyus Hanım Konağı
Engelliler Parkı

The view in Engelliler Parkı

Easy Homemade Chocolate Sauce

Last night I was imagining pancakes and chocolate sauce for breakfast. But so far, I haven't got good result with the so-called chocolate sauce. All the more reason to have another go. So, this time only chocolate chips, milk, sugar, and me. And it worked!

Homemade Chocolate Sauce. It's all gone!

I really like it this time. The mixture is just right and tastes like chocolate. When I used olive oil, I can taste the strong olive flavor in the sauce. And the twins like it, too. They just finished off the sauce without bothering to munch on the pancake. Argh!

Easy Homemade Chocolate Sauce

Repost: Milkless Pancakes

Today we ran out of bread. The easiest way to have bread was to make this pancakes. Serve them with white cheese or your favorite jams. Yummm. A perfect breakfast!

Milkless Pancakes (Versi Indonesia)

Repost: Yorkshire Pudding

We had this easy yummy Yorkshire Pudding for breakfast on Monday. İ had no idea that it was actually very easy to make and it tasted great, too. İ mean the liquid looks exactly like pancake but the end result is so much better than pancake. So İ decided to have it for another morning. This time İ added some cheese but was not softened enough and also İ needed to add a bit of salt. Now İ wonder if İ can make it sweet...  Neyse, afiyet olsun ^^!

The Yorkshire Pudding didn't pop too much.
Probably because of the cheese or the oil. It should be hot to make it pop.
But still nom nom nom!

Yorkshire Pudding (versi Indonesia)

Garlic-Flavored Black-Eyed Peas

When we went shopping the other day, I found a package of tofu, organic tofu, expensive but small package organic tofu. I really wanted to grab one and go home as I haven't tasted any tofu for ages. But, I didn't get it. We ended up buying half kilo of black-eyed peas. D'uh?

Ok, my plan was to make my own tofu. I thought this beans (black-eyed

Spaghetti with Chicken Meatballs

Spaghetti is my family, especially my twins', all-time favorite pasta. I can add about any sauce and still they eat it well. One of their favorites is spaghetti with Chicken Meatballs. I think they like the spicy soup that comes with it.

This dish is called Bakso in my home country. Originally we use beef for

My First Ever Thin Crust Pizza Margherita

I don't have pizza pan so I used the base of spring form pan (26 cm)

I love pizza. We love pizza. But I like pizza with thin crust better. In my hometown, we have this pizza restaurant that serves thick pizza. I used to eat there but now not anymore. We have another pizza restaurant but strangely, here, people put cumin in the pizza. Eh?

Today, I decided to make my first ever pizza, thin crust and no yeast! How lovely does that sound? :) And I was so happy I could finish the whole pan.

Thin Crust Pizza Margherita

Cheesy Rigatoni

The roundup for Presto Pasta Nights #269 is out. You can check it out at briciole. And this week Presto Pasta Nights #270 hosted by girlichef is on. I have two dishes in mind but I think, this Cheesy Rigatoni should come out first.

Everyday, I have this headache of thinking what to cook for my

We Should Cocoa: Choco Coffee Cookies

Another food blog event I decided to try out: We Should Cocoa hosted by Chocolate Teapot and Chocolate Log Blog. This month's host, The Kitchen Maid, added one more ingredient to the recipe: coffee. I got this simple recipe from here and I used half of the recipe with a "twist". Adding coffee made it a bit coffey-ish, so I sprinkled some powdered

Spaghetti with Shrimp Sauce

Spaghetti is my 15-month-old twins' favorite menu which is good because recently I had no idea what to cook as they start to be picky eaters. This menu is very easy to make and I dedicate this menu for Presto Pasta Nights #269 hosted by briciole. Bon appetite.

Spaghetti with Shrimp Sauce

Frugal Food Friday: Fried Sandwich

My husband is a great fans of homemade food, meaning that he prefers packed lunch to bought lunch. So, everyday, he brings his lunchbox to work.

One of my favorite menus for lunch (and also breakfast) as it is easy to prepare is fried sandwich and I can make good use of old loaves of bread as they are usually a bit dry. So, the bread is saved from bin, hubby is happy and I am done!

Fried Sandwich
Ingredients:
7-8 pieces of bread, cut into four
1 beaten egg
Cheese, sliced*
Salami, cut into four*
Breadcrumbs
Oil
*Look inside your fridge for better substitution :)

Directions:
1. Make sandwich out of bread, cheese, and salami.
2. Dip it into beaten egg and breadcrumbs.
3. Fry it until golden brown.
4. Let it cool and it's ready to serve.

Fried Sandwich for Breakfast

Hubby's Lunch Box

I send this menu for Frugal Food Friday this month which is hosted by Caroline Makes.

Islak Kek: Turkish Style Brownies

You may still remember my post about ıslak kek (wet cake) Turkish style brownies. Back then, I didn't do it Turkish style. I made it just like usual brownies. Last Friday, I decided to try it Turkish style. I was curious to know how it would be like.

When the liquid mix was ready, I took about half cup of coffee and pour it on the cake when it came out baked from the oven. The result was amazing. The wet

Cherry Jam

Despite the scorching heat, summer is filled with lovely fruits. June and July are special as cherry is everywhere in town. We decided to get some and made ourselves some nice jam for our breakfast. After some research, I chose this sweet cherry jam recipe. It has clear instructions and great pictures, too. As usual, I modified the recipe. I used about a

Menengiç Coffee

I have never been a coffee lover myself. I am more into tea. But, as family and friends are coffee drinkers and coffee lovers, I can't say no when they asked me to try this special cup of coffee called Menengiç Coffee.

Here in Gaziantep, and also many places in Turkey, people drink Turkish coffee which is dark and bitter, according to my taste. With a cup of Turkish coffee, they also have a glass of water to drink afterwards. Everytime they offered me a cup of Turkish coffee, I would say I have problem with my heart and I don't drink coffee. After I tried it, I guess the problem is not my heart but my tongue. I added about 2 or 3 cubes of sugar and the taste didn't even move from bitter from a bit sweet.

Turkish Coffee

My sister in law, then, decided to get me a different cup of coffee: Menengiç Coffee. Actually it is not really coffee as it's mainly wild pisctachios ground together. And after you brew it, you can feel the fine aroma of pistachio. It tastes a lot better, too: sweet and warm.

They said, Menengiç Coffee is coffee for women. Why? I think it would probably because of the sweet taste and aroma of pistachio. You can also drink it with milk.

Menengiç Coffee

Menengiç and Sugar at Tahmis Kahvesi

İn Gaziantep, you can visit Tahmis Kahvesi, a classic coffee shop in town, to get yourself a nice cup of Menengiç Coffee or you can browse the Old Grand Bazaar (Zincirli Bedesten) and buy a jar of Menengiç Coffee for 10 YTL. Usually, the Menengiç Coffee in a jar comes with instruction how to make it at home. And don't worry, it's written in English.

Tahmis Kahvesi