Viktoras on Radio!

Viktoras and Katherine Clark on Tribeca Radio. I am so lucky to live
in same town with both of them.
http://tribecaradio.net/wpradioblog/2008/06/11/

Life Transitions

From Daily Om and I think it is so true for me...I am copying the
whole article here to read...Sorry, mom I could not translate it to
spanish for you:)))

Life Transitions
The Death And Rebirth Of Self

Sometimes a part of us must die before another part can come to life.
Even though this is a natural and necessary part of our growth, it is
often painful or, if we don't realize what's happening, confusing and
disorienting. In fact, confusion and disorientation are often the
messengers that tell us a shift is taking place within us. These
shifts happen throughout the lives of all humans, as we move from
infancy to childhood to adolescence and beyond. With each transition
from one phase to another, we find ourselves saying good-bye to an old
friend, the identity that we formed in order to move through that
particular time.

Sometimes we form these identities in relationships or jobs, and when
we shift those areas of our life become unsettled. Usually, if we take
the time to look into the changing surface of things, we will find
that a shift is taking place within us. For example, we may go through
one whole chapter of our lives creating a protective shell around
ourselves because we need it in order to heal from some early trauma.
One day, though, we may find ourselves feeling confined and restless,
wanting to move outside the shelter we needed for so long; the new
part of ourselves cannot be born within the confines of the shell our
old self needed to survive.

We may feel a strange mixture of exhilaration and sadness as we say
good-bye to a part of ourselves that is dying and make way for a whole
new identity to emerge in its place. We may find inspiration in
working with the image of an animal who molts or sheds in order to
make way for new skin, fur, or feathers to emerge. For example,
keeping a duck feather, or some other symbol of transformation, can
remind us that death and rebirth are simply nature's way of evolving.
We can surrender to this process, letting go of our past self with
great love and gratitude, and welcoming the new with an open mind and
heart, ready for our next phase of life.

Cenk is on San Francisco Chronicle!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/10/FDAE110LDE.DTL&hw

I am so proud of my Zozi!!! He is amazing! Gush, it is hard to be
friends with celebrities but I manage it ok:)

I got a trampoline...

it is amazing how the universe works and of course without Maria, it
would have been impossible. Right after I posted my request to the
universe, after being convinced that there are no more trampolines in
San Jose, Maria picks up yellow pages and calls a sports equipment ad,
"a tiny winy" ad...The guy says they have one and apparently schools
even buy from him, so we trust his word and go for another trampoline
hunt. It is raining crazy, we are already tired and it is almost 6
pm...but nothing can stop us! I am so lucky to have Maria in my life,
she is like a shining star, almost like the Ganesha, removes obstacles
so easily, makes anything, magical, she really has a fairy wand or an
angelic touch.

Anyway, we make it to the little store. I am skeptical of course,
because I have been on the hunt for the last 3 days with no luck,
dealing with slow sales people trying to sell me a baby trampoline or
telling me to come back in two months...For some reason, everything
takes two months! But I was wrong. They had it at the store, I got
one, Maria got one and we made good friends with the owner. Once
again, I am grateful to the universe. Om namah shivaya...

http://mantrasdelmundo.blogspot.com/2006/06/om-namah-shivaya.html

Request for a trampolin...

I need a trampoline, soooo bad.....Well, not so sure about the need,
it is more of a want, but still I would love to have a trampoline.
Maria and I looked all over San Jose to locate one but they are all
out. I guess everybody wants to jump high. Please universe send me a
trampoline so I can jump and jump and jump!

According to Sarma, (from Pure Food and Wine), bouncing on this is
actually one of the best ways you can detoxify since it very
effectively increases lymph flow (carrying nutrients to your cells and
waste product away). This has to do with the vertical up and down
movement as well as the gravitational effect of bouncing. It improves
your balance, strengthens all your core muscles (think toned abs!),
and keeps things moving and flowing. If you're injured, feeling a bit
old, otherwise fragile, or just out of shape, standing on it and
gently bouncing up and down for even a few minutes without your feet
leaving the mat is enough to wake up your immune and cardiovascular
systems.

http://www.oneluckyduck.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=393

Ayurveda Kitchen

I am a proud Kapha, but it comes with a long list of foods to avoid,
like my beloved avocado, papaya, nuts, coconut, oats...ay ay ay...but
I am always snoozing, tired and longing for energy, so I will listen
to my dosha and give this list a try.

Unfortunately, Montezuma is filled with mangoes, all over the place,
tons of mangoes and I have been eating at least one a day. Yesterday,
Dr. Chien, told me that I am allergic to mangoes, at least I know
where those itches and red spots are coming from:)))) Apples are the
only fruit I will be able to enjoy in the tropics for a while...

I found this blog,
http://franlife.blogspot.com/2006/03/kapha-foods.html with tons of
information and great recipes. So definitely check it out.

Missing home....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cafefernando/2479352000/?addedcomment=1#comment72157605027835067

Favorite Salad

House Cafe is one of my favorite places in Istanbul and I go there
pretty much everyday and most of my friends are sick of it already,
including my sister. They have a great breakfast menu, not so great
granola but tons of vegetarian options and Turkish dishes. My
favorite out of all is the spinach-lentil salad and I started to make
it at home for my dad and he also likes it a lot.

Here is the recipe, totally my version, inspired from House Cafe.

1 cup of lentils, cooked and cooled. I cook lentils with bay leaves
and a pinch of salt, be careful not to over cook, they are done very
fast. Once they are cooled, I pre-dress the lentils with a tablespoon
of balsamic vinegar, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

2 cups of baby spinach, cut rough

1/2 cup of sun dried tomato in olive oil, cut fine strips

1/2 cup of goat cheese, crumbled

1/2 cup of toasted pinenuts

Zest of one lemon, cut into fine strips

Dressing, this is not an exact measurement, I made it impromt but it
is close enough.
1/3 cup Balsamic Vinegar
1 tablespoon Honey
1/3 cup extra virgin Olive Oil
1 tsp Sea salt
1tsp black pepper
1 tablespoon Mustard
Optional: 1 tablespoon pomegranate Syrup

Just before serving, mix all the ingredients except pinenuts. Sprinkle
the nuts on top and enjoy...I wish I could have made some for Popeye:)

Hidirellez is coming! Make your wishes come true!

http://www.kultur.gov.tr/EN/BelgeGoster.aspx?17A16AE30572D313A781CAA92714FCE06A5A2497543C96C6

I discovered a new blog...

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_/

She is fantastic!

Baking Fairy at work...

This is an amazing crumble recipe....I could not find cornmeal in
Istanbul so I used farina (irmik) and it turned out really amazing. We
used strawberries and next time I will try with a combination, sour
cherry, raspberry and strawberry.

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007/05/the_department.html

Hazelnuts are so popular in Turkey and we have tons of it here. I
can't find them as much in Costa Rica. I have this cake in the oven
right now. Thanks Cenk for the hint.

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/03/hazelnut-brown-butter-cake/

Cenk's Korovo cookies are next:)
http://cafefernando.com/korova-cookies

a love note to you

I just bumped on this love note and wanted to share it with you. Life
in Istanbul is beautiful, sweet and loving. I must admit, I am a
little spoiled...

http://www.superherodesigns.com/journal/archives/001289.html

You are exactly where you need to be.

You are not missing out, falling behind, doing it wrong,
not trying hard enough.

You are doing more than enough.

Whatever opinions you have about it,
however imperfect
This is yours.

Where you are right now.
Sitting here surfing the internet even.
Is perfect.

Amazing opportunity...

Help Needed for Tassajara's Summer Guest Season! The zen center in
Tassajara is a beautiful and peaceful. Check out their
website...http://www.sfzc.org/tassajara/display.asp?catid=4,19&pageid=

and here also some more information on the work schedule.
http://www.sfzc.org/tassajara/display.asp?catid=4,29&pageid=181

The kitchen experience is also amazing, I have their cookbook and I
wish I was still in Bay Area to go up there...

my mom's birthday....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/guliz83/sets/72157604709542388/

it was so much fun!

Breakfast!

Just finished breakfast with family...One of our biggest tradition is
to have family breakfast on Sundays...Today we had probably everything
one can possibly eat in a week over one meal...We even had pastirma
from Kayseri, a meat dish that is very popular...

http://wowturkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28006

9 different cheeses, breads, pancakes, peanutbutter with five
different jams, spreads, olives, sausages, Sooo grateful to have all
the family at the table, my mom, dad, sister, cousinbrother,
grandmother, my sister's boyfriend! With lots of laughter, great
conversation and my lovely sister's fresh strawberry smoothie:)))

I made eggs from Organico's menu, number 4:))) Scrambled with feta
cheese, tomato and avocado and poppy seed pancakes from 101 Cookbooks.
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/poppy-seed-pancakes-recipe.html
with slight changes. I added 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tablespoon orange zest,
1 tsp lemon zest, toasted walnuts instead of sunflower seeds and
yogurt instead of buttermilk...Great recipe.

I am also amazed to learn that the father of my grandmother's
grandmother (we figured he lived somewhere around the 18 hundreds...)
was a medical doctor....Probably one of the first Lokman hekim's of
Turkey:))) Lokman Hekim is an herbalist.

Pura Vida in Istanbul!

In Madrid

Shocked to see how expensive things are on the other side of the
world...I just paid $7 for a bottle of water and coffee...I miss
Montezuma already! Plus people are not nice here, very serious,
business attire, i already get strange looks with my flip flops...:)
one thing is amazing, yo hablar muy bien espanol!!!! I am impressed
with myself, almost a year and half ago, I had no clue about Spanish.
Soy muy feliz!!!

Also highly recommend coming to Costa Rica via Madrid. The flight was
only 9:30 hours and now I have to chill for about 6 hours and then
home sweet home. No hassle of the stupid US immigration lines and
Iberia is pretty comfortable with not so good veggie meals, but I am
used to that already. I keep wondering why anyone is not interested in
providing healthy food...at least once, so many people would try how
real food tastes....wholewheat, grains, fresh fruit and some miso
soup, ahhh...Hot oatmeal for breakfast with goji berries....California
dreaming....I am hungry!

Amistad

In the last two days, Maria and I made the world's best eggplant
parmesan, vietnamese spring rolls, bubble tea and tarte tatin. We
discovered an amazing black sesame seed cereal drink from a Taiwanese
underground store and visited the Turkish bakery. As always, we
exchanged many new recipes and she is probably the only person I can
leave my Organico recipe book without a beat skipping in my heart. For
the rest of the world, I do have secret recipes.

It is so special to have her in my life, I want to scream my gratitude
to the universe, write it on sand with huge letters, have waves
inscribe it on the ocean. Letting go, opens new doors, flowing with
the universe has never been more joyful.

I promised Maria's husband Jorge to visit a Sufi center back in
Turkey. Can't wait..
One of my favorite Rumi quotes...

What draws friends together
does not conform to Laws of Nature.
Form doesn't know about spiritual closeness.
If a grain of barley approaches a grain of wheat,
an ant must be carrying it. A black ant on black felt.
You can't see it, but if grains go toward each other,
it's there.

An other Turk in Costa Rica

My dear friend/angel Maria, found this amazing little Turkish bakery
in San Jose and today we went for a field trip. Of course I had to
taste the baklava (yum!) and the traditional turkish bread, pide. We
drove half an hour to get to town and his little shop was nothing
fancy. Zeki, is the owner of the bakery, Istanbul and he has been here
for 5 years. He hasn't been back since and his wife and 2 kids are
back in Turkey. They communicate through email and phone but you can
see from his eyes that he is sad. Lonely. Still searching...I felt
really good talking to him, he was such a nice guy and offered me lots
of help and advice and he understood me so well...The urge to leave
Turkey, the same urge not to go back, not getting adjusted, learning
spanish, he also came here without speaking a word of spanish,...He
misses his family and hopefully they will be united within a year. He
thinks he will have everything he needs once his wife gets here.

http://www.tinjo.com/tj/index.php?id=313

I am leaving for Turkey tomorrow. He asked me to bring Turkish tea for
him. I will do that for sure...Once again, I find myself grateful to
the universe for offering me this wonderful life, sweet and
comfortable, full of fun, with amazing people I meet everyday,
sometimes I wonder what I have done before to deserve this. It must
have baked some sinful chocolate cakes in heaven!

Matters of the heart

Be patient toward all that is unresolved in your heart.

And try to love the questions themselves.

- Rainer Maria Rilke -

Ginga Day!

I got up at 5 in the morning, waited for the sunrise, watched my heart
beat and look over the banana leaves to the ocean. Then went to
meditation group and did yoga...A fantastic class from a great teacher
from New York. It was the first time I heard about Ginga. Ginga
(pronounced jin-ga) is an African word that came to Brazil through
capoeira (the Brazilian dance-fight martial art), and according to
Brazilian author and historian Ruy Castro, it is used to describe "a
way of never taking life too seriously, of fighting hardships with the
proper use of toes, heels and hips, if you have ever met a Brazilian,
you know what this means:))

It was a hard but at the same time super fun class!

She ended the class with a quote from Jeremy Taylor: "Love is
friendship set on fire" So simple and true.