Turkish Coffee

November 2010 - Istanbul Turkey

Saturday
I am not sure what Mother Nature and Old Man Winter are up to these days but it sure isn't making anyone happy.

We had an ice storm for three days which led to cabin fever. This was Saturday and we didn't see the brunt of what hit the city.

By Monday school was cancelled and trees were down, Many people had lost power over the weekend as well.


For breakfast I made lined a muffin tin with a slice of ham, some kale and onion, added an egg and a tablespoon of milk, topped with grated cheddar cheese and a slice of mushroom and baked for 20 minutes. I would use less time if I made them again.

We started watching season one of Peaky Blinders and we are both totally addicted.

What does Peaky Blinders mean?
Members of this gang wore a signature outfit: tailored jackets, a lapel overcoat, button waistcoats, silk scarves, bell-bottom trousers, leather boots, and peaked flat caps.

The name Peaky Blinders is popularly said to be derived from a practice of stitching razor blades into the peak of their flat caps, which could then be used as weapons. Historian and criminal profiler John Douglas asserted that these hats were used as a weapon of choice for members. It is believed that members sewed razor blades into their caps so they could headbutt enemies, essentially blinding them.

We were intrigued by the theme song as well, it is by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds from Australia. Read the interesting story behind the song here.

By the end of the week we had watched three seasons and found that we have to wait for season four!

And that Leonard Cohen had a song in season three.

Along with some ice cream.

For dinner we had pizza.

Sunday
Lots more rain and ice. And lots more Peaky Blinders!!

Oh the women's clothes are fabulous!

Dinner was roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, mashed turnip and rainbow carrots with homemade gravy.

Monday
RAIN again.

More Peaky Blinders and leftovers for dinner.

Monday

My BFF and I went on a shopping spree, well, I did, she didn't buy anything!

Crazy shoes on display.

Then it was snowing at lunch hour (yes snow on April 17) so we decided to check out the new Assembly Chef's Hall.  This is not your average food court by any means. Upscale restaurants around the city have opened up stands serving up unique and tasty menus from around the world.

We wandered but then both settled on the lobster roll from Bluenose Lobster. It was incredible!

We had cheese and crackers for dinner. I had bought a duck pate at Longo's but we both spit out the first mouthful and it immediately went into the garbage, which is very unusual for us.

We had wanted to see Downsizing based on the previews. It turns out it was a flop at the box office but we liked it. Starring Matt Damon, it is tagged as science fiction. Based on the previews I had expected a comedy but it definitely wasn't.
Hong Chau, first as a house cleaner and then his girlfriend is delightful.

Wednesday

I headed out early to return one of the tops, it was a designer label top on sale for $42 but once I looked at it, it was such shoddy sewing I took it back.

So I then got a pair of black capri leggings on sale for $20 and then a matching lime pair of jean leggings and a top.

I had wanted to make falafels for a long time, we had tried them out once a long time ago and neither of us liked them. I used this recipe along with some items from other recipes. I added lemon juice and some olive oil to the blender and then some chickpea flour to bind them. They were good but I would greatly increase the cilantro, cumin, coriander and chili along with more garlic and onions. I served them with tzatiziki, cucumber slices, red onion on a gluten free foccacia.

My ice cream maker arrived! It is something I have hemmed and hawed about for some time.

I settled on the Kitchenaid attachment model, more expensive than a standalone maker but it was a good price at Costco.

For dinner, I couldn't find my trusty recipe for chicken Parmesan so I went with this one. It was not as good as my favourite, which I found on Thursday, it is called chicken mozzarella, which is why I couldn't find it!

Thursday

We headed to Aroma on King St. for Indian food.

We got into the restaurant before the office crowds arrived at noon.
Within five minutes of this photo this place was packed with a lineup out the door.
It is an all you can eat buffet.

My plate, starting from the top, naan bread, vegetable pakora, rice, goat curry, beef rogan josh, chicken tawa.

John had the goat, beef, tandor chicken and butter chicken without the naan.
However, we learned later that there was likely gluten in some of the dishes to John's distress. Most Indian food is gluten free as they usually use chickpea flour.
I have since found another Indian restaurant that does state it is gluten free that we will try.

How to make chicken tawa.

We then went to Bulk Barn as I needed to stock up on baking supplies.

When we turned the corner to our place there were several Toronto Hydro trucks which didn't bode well.

The power was out! We survived the ice storm on the weekend without any outages, unlike our friends who were cold and without power on Sunday for fourteen hours.
Seems it went out at noon.

At least we have auxiliary power and had an elevator working. Once we were settled in it was very warm as the sun was pouring in. We settled with our readers until mine needed charging. Note to self - do something else in the daylight and save e-reader for dark!

We had already decided that after that big lunch we only wanted cheese and crackers for dinner, so power was no issue. We then watched a couple of DVDs on John's laptop.

Power was restored at 3:30 AM Friday morning.

Friday

Everyone had stories of what they did while the power was out and I learned a few tips while waiting for the bus.

I snapped this from the bus. If you were a tourist in Toronto this week and you had plans to visit the CN Tower and Aquarium this would have been your only view. You can see the yellow police tape.

Since the ice storm on the weekend the area has been closed off as ice has been blowing off the Tower. On Monday the first pieces went into the roof of the Rogers Centre causing cancellation of the Blue Jays game.

Here are the industrial roofers who scaled the stadium’s dome this week to patch it up.

Photo from the Toronto Star.

I had half the chickpea mixture from the other day so I put it into the food processor and added siracha, lemon juice, and lots of cumin, hot curry power and more garlic. They tasted so much better and got John's blessing.

John coerced me to watch a series he found called The Leftovers.

The Leftovers starts three years after a global event called the "Sudden Departure", the inexplicable, simultaneous disappearance of 140 million people, 2% of the world's population, on October 14, 2011. Following that event, mainstream religions declined, and a number of cults emerged, most notably the Guilty Remnant.For dinner I made a clean out the fridge beef stew which turned out to be excellent, it's all about the sauce!! We had it with the cheese biscuits I had made and frozen last week.


BOOKS

We both finished The Cartel and were amazed at the complexity and details Winslow required to develop this work.
It was one of those books that left you wondering what you could read next that would be as satisfying.

I opted for Smile by Roddy Doyle which was as different to The Cartel as possible!
It is a short read that will leave you totally gobsmacked!!

I started The Night The Lights Went Out which started as a cosy Southern story with lots of  Southern hospitality. Well, that soon changes when there is an anonymous blog being written about the small town and its inhabitants. Things are turning nasty.


SHARING WITH:

Beth hosts Weekend Cooking where you can post anything food related.
Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy.
Sundays in my City

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Monday Morning Blog Club
Through My Lens Monday
Our World Tuesday
Wanderful Wednesday #wanderfulwednesday

Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global
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