Window shopping adventures

Yesterday Noah and I spent some time at a nearby mall while hubby was out car shopping. My goal was to get an idea of what's available for home furnishings to decorate our home with. Took some pictures of items that gave me some ideas/inspiration. Thought I would share what I've found so far.

PS photos were taken with my phone's camera so quality may not be the best. Also, I'm never sure if I'm allowed to take pictures in stores (most likely not) so these were taken in a rush, I apologize for poor styling/composition. Here they are:


Stepped into Zara Home. Until I came to Turkey I had no idea Zara had a Home store, did you? I love the texture on this bleach white bathroom set.



We are in desperate need of curtains at home. At the present time we have borrowed curtains installed. I've been debating on whether to purchase neutral colored curtains or add a pop of color. Saw the tan striped curtain in the middle (top photo), and the light mocha on the very left (bottom photo) which both work with a neutral color scheme, however prices are not cooperating - I think they were selling at $100 each! I thought the concept behind Zara was trendy yet affordable?!


Also need to replace our light fixtures for all our rooms. The trend in Turkey seems to be crystal chandeliers which is too formal for my taste, and prob wouldn't mesh well with my not so high-end furnishings. I'm looking for a simple, oversized pendant lamp shade. Saw these lanterns in Pasabahce (our version of Crate and Barel) and thought it would be fun to convert the tall, round lantern into a pendant light fixture. It's not a lampshade but it's oversized which is what I'm looking for. Wouldnt that bring character to a room?


This picture makes me wish I had taken a proper camera with me because it doesn't do the colors on the mugs any justice. Color and pattern would make a great jumping off point to decorate a room.


This display was at the entrance of the mall. Good thing Noah was napping when we passed this because he would have been terrified for life at the sight of these maneqins or whatever on earth they are. My guess is this is a display on the history of fashion, but for heavens sake, are those monster-like mannequins necessary? Check out the arm on the left dummy and the Egyptian cat face on the "lady".


Here's a pic of my local GAP store. The display is a bland black and white, a far cry from the colorful window display I'm used to at Copley Mall. Hey at least we have GAP right!


Last but not lease, a pic of mama + baby taking a coffee break. The barristo made my day - when asked how old I was I asked him to guess and he said 24! Hey at least he didn't say 15 which is what the guy at my (former) local CVS said.

Healthy and delish!

My body finally reached its red meat consumption limit. Today it was desperately crying to be fed some greens so this evening I prepared a spinach soup recipe I've been been meaning to try for a while. The result was so tasty I just had to share it with you.

Spinach & Yoghurt Soup

350-400 Grams Spinach, cut 1" apart
1 small Onion, chopped
2 tbsp Oil/Butter
1 tbsp Flour (I ended up putting 2 tbsp for 4 cups of stock)
4 cups Chicken stock (Didn't have chicken stock so I used beef, 2 cubes)
1 cup Yogurt
1 Egg, beaten
Salt to taste

1) In a pot, soften onions in oil/butter.

2) Saute for 2-3 minutes, then add spinach. Saute over medium heat until spinach juice evaporates.

3) Add water/stock and salt. Boil, then slowly add flour. Once it boils, simmer for about 10-15 minutes over low-medium heat.

4) Remove from heat and cool for 10-15 minutes. It's very important to wait 10-15 mins because the yogurt (added in next step) will spoil if the soup is too hot.

5) Beat egg, add yogurt and whisk together. Stir slowly into spinach mixture and serve.

I tried to take a picture of the prep process but I didn't have the luxury of time because the whole time my darling angel was pulling on my pants for me to hurry. One of these days I'll get around to posting a professional cooking blog with beautiful before and after pictures. Until then here's a decent photo of what the soup should look like in the end. Bon apetit!

Ankara Updates

It's been a while since my last post and it's for good reason. We've been apartment hunting and within a week of looking we found our home. Yay!

There are so many things to love about it, first off its brand new so we would be the first tennants to live there. Such a relief after living in Boston's 100 year old Back Bay apartments. It's a bright, sunny, happy unit facing West, it has a well-landscaped view, generous kitchen cabinets, plenty of storage overall, I could go on forever. I was telling a friend that in Boston the city was my haven, in Ankara, our home is my haven. Says a lot about how much I love the new casa.

Here are a few pictures taken my phone's camera. Can't wait to make it feel homey! This probably means my postings will slow down a little. I plan on doing some DIY projects instead of purchasing items, if the results are good I will be blogging about it soon enough.

The entry

Having the apt cleaned

Corner I plan on using as a dining room

View from our future dining room