Istanbul - on food

One of the things I most love about Turkey is the food. There are places we go for the culture, the views, the art, the nature, the beaches, etc. The food is almost always a bonus, if it's good then so much the better. In Turkey there's all of that together, but so it happens that I also find their food delicious. On our first time there we had our best meals outside of Istanbul, but we also found some nice places in the city. This time we went by local recommendations and whatever looked good from the street.
I was disappointed when we passed by Hamdi, one of my favorites the last time, and it now looked like a smart version of a fast food restaurant (also not as cheap). But Baran (yummy yummy in the tummy) was still the same great place for a quick meal, and the famous Sultanahmet koftecisi were was great as ever.

:: eating Gozleme - not as nice as the ones I had in Ephesus, but they were not bad

:: dumpling and yoghurt dish - can't really remember the name of this one.

:: humm, their desserts always looked so good ....

:: the famous koftecisi.They were tender and just enough spicy.

:: having tea at Hafiz Mustafa 1864. Delicious looking cakes ...

... really nice decoration (and a very nice view too) ...

... they also had one of the most impressive desset and cake menus I've ever seen ...

... and finally this rice milk dessert which was to die for.

:: the stuffed jacket potatoes and waffles in Ortakoy. Apparently the trick is to order as many fillings as you can

:: traditional turkish breakfast - just my kind of thing

:: having çay on the Asian side

:: all this food just looked so delicious, how could we resist ?

:: saved one of the best for last - freshly squeezed pomegranate juice

:: and yoghurt, just lots of it

Berlin essen

:: we couldn't go to Berlin and not try a currywurst, right ?
Can't say I became a fan, but A. loved it.







:: having a break at Schloss Charlottenburg (with some hot chocolate and sacher tort)



:: having lunch at Piaggio, a really good Italian restaurant we found in Dahlem-Dorf (just across the U-Bahn station)



:: dinner at Monsieur Vuong. Hands down one of the best meals we had during this trip !





:: and ice cream, of course :)

lazy sunday ...

Well, not exactly lazy. We actually went bike riding in the morning and managed but 20 km (the things we do for a a bagel down at Deli Delux) but this is how the rest of the day went by ....

:: banana and chocolate muffins


:: reading a very good book cuddled on the couch. I started it before breakfast and the bike ride, and finished it after lunch. It's unputdownable.


:: another type of reading. Alice Starmore's book on Fair Isle knitting was out of print for several years so when a new edition came out recently I had to get a copy. Plus one of my favorite magazines to browse every every month and a knitting magazine I bought because I actually liked 3 patterns on it.


:: hanging some new prints in the living room


:: a new wip


:: and an old one, recently restarted

~quiet weekend~

watched the cat take a nap ...



tried out a new (for us) Thai restaurant in town. We liked it, and definitely recommend the red curry with duck.




went downtown on purpose to get a new pan for making pancakes. Then A. made these for breakfast yesterday ...



watched movies. Loved Slumdog millionaire and Vicky Christina Barcelona a little less. Also, finished one knitting project and started another one right away ... what can I say ? I fell in love with some o w l s



Oh, and Happy Chinese New Year ! It's the year of the Ox (my year) so I'm hoping it's going to be a good one :)