A full moon...

...like this, was visible from my balcony a few nights ago. I haven't been able to get a good shot of a new moon yet, though.

Blogosphere activist support

This posting is in support of friends and cyberfellows engaged in more activist blogging than I personally choose to do.



For some blogging is an exercise in personal and political courage - all honour to those that keep speaking out in dire circumstances. You contribute bravely to a more diversely informed world!

Luri

This is the opened Luri camel-bag we bought recently that I told you about. I love the reddish-brown colour and the tiny stylized camels images in the kilim-made centre pieces!

Never look a gift horse in the mouth

Or a carpet, in this case...! ;-) I guess it's OK as brightly coloured mass-produced kilims go - but it does brighten up my kitchen very nicely. But I wouldn't have bought it... Nicer pieces, that I have chosen, to come later!

My carpet-gallery

Well, I have introduced carpets as an interest in my profile, so I guess I might start backing that claim...! We are by now the happy owners of 5 so-called Oriental carpets, but I only have photos of 2 so far (you will see them all sooner or later). One is a Bokhara bought in Teheran a few years ago (my first buy actually), one a bokhara-style from an Afghan refugee camp in Peshawar (my parents bought that one) and one a silky pastel-coloured woven piece from Van (to be seen below).



Our latest buys were a Luri (opened) camel-bag and a small Usak cicim - which was a gift for my husband when he immediately fell in love with it a convenient few weeks before his birthday.

Oh, I forgot the very colourful kilim, that was a gift. And a small Kurdish goathair - woven, woolly! (Does this start to qualify as a collection?)

I am beginning to develop a liking for kilims and more tribal-style patterns. I like the knowledge that something was made not for aestetiques or what would sell well, but for real-life usage. I do NOT like pictorials, too fancy pieces or very many colours or patterns all in one piece.

Bokharas and Bachtiaris are by far my favourites so far... and I think I will next be on the lookout for a Bachtiari camel-bag. I have also found I like the smaller pieces like salt bags, that have more decorative purposes today, but were very hands-on originally. But I will only buy a carpet I love!

The pottery master

This is one of the many potters working in Avanos in Kapadokya. We stopped by his workshop for ages, watching him at his wheel. He made very simple and traditional pieces, partly in white clay giving the finished vase a beautiful marbled finish.





This one is modelled on ancient Hittite jugs to be seen in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations here in Ankara. Wwe couldn't imagine how he could possibly shape - but then having seen it it looked absurdly easy. It must have taken much skill though, to find such a minimalist approach.

Edible aestetics

I've always enjoyed the sheer beauty of fruit, vegetable and fish markets, when the fresh produce is displayed in all it's shapes and colours. These pictures are from Kayseri last year.

Europe day!

I would like to direct your attention to Europe day, celebrated today on the 9th of May.

Celebrating

A Sunday about two weeks ago I woke by a sound like a concert on my balcony. It took me some time to locate the source of it, but eventually I realized there was a big party going on in the valley beneath my apartment!

My favourite hummus-recipe

I have to share it with you - I just made some and my tongue is curling from the tasting experience!

Take 2-3 deciliters of dry chickpeas and soak in at least double the amount of water. Let soak for at least 12 hours, but if you have patience to wait longer, anything upwards 30 hours goes. But change the water one or twice.

Boil the chickpeas soft, which also takes 1-2 hours. Add a carrot, an onion, a stock cube and 2-3 bay leaves during the boil (but take them out afterwards, the purpose of these is only to enhance the taste of the chickpeas - they don't belong in your hummus afterwards). Let it cool a bit and remove the vegetables.

If you can't be bothered with the planning this takes, use the preboiled tinned chickpeas, but run them under some water first.

Put the chickpeas in your food processor (the big knife in the bottom of the bowl) and run them until crushed. Add salt (flaky if you have) and pepper, cut 2-3 pices of garlic and add them, and the juice of 1-2 lemons. Go on blending. Taste your way through it until you find the right combination - I don't recommend adding only garlic if you find it bland, adding more lemon juice and pepper will do very nicely too (without the unpleasant odours). Add olive oil while running the food processor off and on until you get the right smooth mixture.

Enjoy...!

Additional headpieces

Well, there is just no stopping some from trying on different headgear!

Reading recommendation

I usually don't comment on current affairs here in this blogg and I don't really intend to start. But I really can't keep this very interesting and relevant BBC-story on women and reform in Saudi Arabia from you. Happy reading!

The Turcoman hat!

Lo and behold! Aren't they handsome? The darlings, they love the hat... ;-)





This posting is for my husband by the way, lots of congratulations and all my love on your birthday!

And for all the other lovely birthday babes I know today!

Overlooking the Bosphorus

The view across the Bosphorus from my hotel window on Thursday this week.





Including a close-up of the Topkapi Saray.



At night.

Moonlight

Galata Mevlevihanesi

I've shown you this before. But witnessing the performance of the sema - the ceremony of the whirling dervisches - is always an awesome experience.

Shopping paradise

I really don't know which market I like best - Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Khan el-Khalili in Cairo and the souq in Aleppo. Each has it's own special charms... Anyway, this is Istanbul - the one I visit most regularly.

Caves in Kapadokya

These caves were formed during thousands of years of interplay between man and nature... Herodotos wrote of the caves of Kapadokya and they were inhabited until quite recently.

Bosphorus views

Blue blue blue!

Istanbul mosques

Here are some other examples of mosques in Istanbul - the first one is the Blue or the Sultanahmet Mosque, the second is from Ortaköy (which I've shown before) on the Bosphorus waterfront.