That really hurt!

Who throws a shoe? Honestly? You fight like a woman.




Finally some brave Iraqi did what we have all wanted to do for some time.
I guess we did that this in November but who's counting?

A Turkey in Turkey

Yeah you guessed it.
I know it's a bit late but this is the first of my holiday posts from outside the US :( so it took a while. It has been quite a while since I have been out of the US for Thanksgiving, in fact I may never have missed one with the family. This year the comical situation was not wasted on me. A Turkey in Turkey was I.

Rana's friend Brian arrived on Thanksgiving proper and we showed him around the city. It was a kick to have another American around. We decided to have a bit o ye olde feast at our house the next day so that working folk could come. On Friday I got up at around 9 and started cooking. I made stuffing and and prepared dough for my mother's famous parkerhouse rolls. Butter was my friend.

Rana showed Brian around the city while I slaved away. We had really hard time actually locating a turkey, the IRONY! The night before Özgür, Rana Cousin, saved the day by finding one. It was about 12 lbs and when I asked my mom about cooking instructions for such a beast she replied, "Well I've never made one that small before." Ha! I was lucky to get one at all.

So undaunted I went it alone. Funny thing is in Turkey they don't mess around. You know when you get a frozen turkey in the US all the bits are nicely packaged in side in a plastic bag. Not here. All they did was snip off the head. I had to wrestle with that bad boy for 10 minutes to cut off the neck. Thing was 8 inches long. When Rana got home she couldn't bear the site of the disembodied neck so Brian and I took care of it. I know the video is kinda dark but enjoy.

Finally we stuffed it and popped it in the oven. Then Kim and Ali arrived and the potato making commenced. There are few people funnier or more fun to cook with than my lovely girlfriend and Mrs. Kimberly Öztürk (That's the first time I called her that. You may remember a certain post at her wedding.)

Kim making the best mashed potatoes!!!

Anyway mashed potatoes flavored with Parmesan and garlic graced the tabled along with stuffing, the bird, we even made our own gravy. It was great. Much was drunk and we all seemed to have a wee of a time. Check out the happy faces below.

Me carving my first Bird!!!

The Whole Crew!

London!

Hello all,
The Turkish authorities were after me so we had to leave the country and let the heat cool down. What better place to blend in with the crowd than Jolly olde England. I'm sure they're not still sore about the revolution or the tea party.

One of Rana's friends, Camille is living there so we were quite lucky to stay with her. We arrived there hungry and a little lost but full of hope! We took the Piccadilly line, which is funny by itself, from Heathrow towards Cockfosters!

We arrived and Camille and her lovely boyfriend Dafty greeted us at the door. The rest of the day was spent catching up and drinking coffee. The four of us took a nice walk around their local park. Funny how the sun went down at 4pm. I forgot how far north London was from Istanbul.

Then we headed to the Horniman at Hay's so we could say we'd been there. You just don't get bars named like this is Istanbul. Pictured here are Rana and Camille basking in its glory. After a long hiatus from good beer it was wonderful to have a pint again! Wee. Anyhoo the night digressed until Dafty and I were drinking cider...





This is what happens...
On the way home we saw some Christmas cheer. The next night we decided to walk around Covent Garden. It was spectacular and we ate yummy pasties which are England's on the go, buttery snack. Here are the lovely red lights at CG. Then we walked by St. Paul's Catherdal and popped inside for a look. Outside we ran into a bunch of animals. They looked like Mascots so Camille was excited to go pose with one. Pictured here. We found out later that they were a fetish club called London Furs that likes to dress up like this and do god knows what. I was thinking at that point that it had been a few hours since I last had drunk something. Luckily there was one of these. Which way is that shop again?










Finally we found our way home but not before we found the Muffin man, the muffin man, the one who lives on ... Well you probably can't tell but this is a picture of Drury Lane!
Anyway we enjoyed the final day there relaxing and watching british TV. We then hopped a flight back to Istanbul saddened to leave the land of yummy beer and comically named pubs. Thanks for the fun London and thanks Camille and Dafty.