my absolute new favorite song and video, hope you enjoy if you haven't heard it yet...
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Martha Stewart in Istanbul
the martha stewart show in Istanbul
check it out! I think this episode was from earlier this fall.
enjoy
check it out! I think this episode was from earlier this fall.
enjoy
Thursday, November 4, 2010
a sunny thursday afternoon...
So, the rain has been gone for about a week now and consequently my initiative and energy levels have increased since last week. Inspired by our potluck for American culture/tv night planned for this evening I actually planned my cooking schedule ahead of time and soaked beans overnight and am currently simmering them on the stove. Last week for our potluck I made mashed potatoes, a dish that I love and have been meaning to cook since I came here a year ago but for whatever reason, whether it was the lack of a potato masher or the lack of a desire to carry a bag of potatoes from the grocery store to my apartment on the top floor, I never got around to making them until last week and were well received by my friends. This week, when attempting to come up with an easy enough dish which I had faith in my abilities to make successfully and which other people would eat and enjoy I decided on a bean/pasta salad. Tomatoes, beans, onions, olives, garlic, a little lemon, salt, pepper, and olive oil - sounds delicious and healthy, right? Oh, and plus some white cheese, similar to feta. I recall making a version of this salad a year and a half ago in NYC, except with orzo instead of beans, and I remember being very impressed with myself and my cooking skills. So hopefully I will be able to recreate the deliciousness...it is the type of salad where as long as the ingredients are good then the whole dish will be good, right? It can't go wrong with such yummy, Mediterranean fresh foods....we will see.
Another part of my increasing energy levels, at least where food and cooking is concerned, was my use of the leftover mashed potatoes. All weekend I had been thinking about it, researching the different recipes online and finally I got around to making some potato pancakes. It wasn't hard at all and a delicious way to reuse lots of leftover mashed potatoes. I actually had left them on the counter to cool down a bit before I put them away since I had already eaten dinner. But a little while later I heard a knock on my door...it was a couple of my roommates, they then asked if I had made that delicious food that was just sitting on the counter when they came home tired and hungry.
potato pancakes with yogurt!
Every time I do get around to cooking I realize how much I like it, especially the part where you have great food to eat afterward. But it is the making time to cook and the planning ahead to have the right ingredients. As a grad student with little money and little energy when I get home in the evenings this is a difficult lifestyle to achieve since I never mastered it before I came. In a way it even reminds me of doing math homework in high school, when I actually sat down and did the homework I did rather enjoy it...but actually getting around to sitting down and doing the work is the most difficult part. There is a farmers market in our neighborhood every Wednesday, which I had never had the opportunity to go to since I either had class or errands to run for my professor. But finally, yesterday morning I tagged along with one of my friends who has been going every week. Of course, forgetting I am still a tourist, I did not bring a camera to take pictures of the fresh veggies and fruit and nuts and cheese and olives and fresh filo dough sheets. Maybe next time I can share pictures of the bazaar, complete with the sock and fake bag sellers next to the pomegranate and lemon sellers. I wasn't completely ready to stock up on vegetables so I only bought some garlic, tomatoes and bananas but after vacation in a couple weeks I'll be ready to fill our kitchen with fresh, local, turkish products...and then I'll be forced to cook even more food...
there is more that i could say on the topic but i will save it for another post...now it is time to go to class...
lots of love.em
Another part of my increasing energy levels, at least where food and cooking is concerned, was my use of the leftover mashed potatoes. All weekend I had been thinking about it, researching the different recipes online and finally I got around to making some potato pancakes. It wasn't hard at all and a delicious way to reuse lots of leftover mashed potatoes. I actually had left them on the counter to cool down a bit before I put them away since I had already eaten dinner. But a little while later I heard a knock on my door...it was a couple of my roommates, they then asked if I had made that delicious food that was just sitting on the counter when they came home tired and hungry.
Every time I do get around to cooking I realize how much I like it, especially the part where you have great food to eat afterward. But it is the making time to cook and the planning ahead to have the right ingredients. As a grad student with little money and little energy when I get home in the evenings this is a difficult lifestyle to achieve since I never mastered it before I came. In a way it even reminds me of doing math homework in high school, when I actually sat down and did the homework I did rather enjoy it...but actually getting around to sitting down and doing the work is the most difficult part. There is a farmers market in our neighborhood every Wednesday, which I had never had the opportunity to go to since I either had class or errands to run for my professor. But finally, yesterday morning I tagged along with one of my friends who has been going every week. Of course, forgetting I am still a tourist, I did not bring a camera to take pictures of the fresh veggies and fruit and nuts and cheese and olives and fresh filo dough sheets. Maybe next time I can share pictures of the bazaar, complete with the sock and fake bag sellers next to the pomegranate and lemon sellers. I wasn't completely ready to stock up on vegetables so I only bought some garlic, tomatoes and bananas but after vacation in a couple weeks I'll be ready to fill our kitchen with fresh, local, turkish products...and then I'll be forced to cook even more food...
there is more that i could say on the topic but i will save it for another post...now it is time to go to class...
lots of love.em
Monday, October 18, 2010
Rainy monday morning...
Leo
By Rick Levine
You may feel as if you're in a dream where everything is just as it should be today. Unfortunately, your actual life can be far from ideal once you open your eyes. Naturally, you're tempted to indulge your pleasant fantasies, but avoiding reality isn't a luxury you can afford now. Instead of mind-tripping to a faraway place, concentrate on your home base where you can actually make a positive difference
By Rick Levine
You may feel as if you're in a dream where everything is just as it should be today. Unfortunately, your actual life can be far from ideal once you open your eyes. Naturally, you're tempted to indulge your pleasant fantasies, but avoiding reality isn't a luxury you can afford now. Instead of mind-tripping to a faraway place, concentrate on your home base where you can actually make a positive difference
Monday, October 4, 2010
fall2010 schedule...
Graduate Research seminar: learning time management and getting our thesis projects kicked into gear
Greek III: Audit since I've already taken it once
Turk203: review of 2nd semester Turkish and focusing on speaking skills and more grammar
Late Antique and Byzantine History Writing: Looking at primary sources to see how the Byzantines viewed and wrote about their own history
French: Managed to fuss enough that they are creating a brand new, graduate level, beginners' french class...seeing as it is very pertinent to our research and future internship and career goals:) Just glad I won't have to sit through the alphabet one more time with the undergrad kids
ohh yes, and my thesis!
wish me luck!!
Greek III: Audit since I've already taken it once
Turk203: review of 2nd semester Turkish and focusing on speaking skills and more grammar
Late Antique and Byzantine History Writing: Looking at primary sources to see how the Byzantines viewed and wrote about their own history
French: Managed to fuss enough that they are creating a brand new, graduate level, beginners' french class...seeing as it is very pertinent to our research and future internship and career goals:) Just glad I won't have to sit through the alphabet one more time with the undergrad kids
ohh yes, and my thesis!
wish me luck!!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
daily schedule...
what you have to conform to to make it in this business...i.e. Bronze Age (c. 2000 B.C.) archaeology in the deep south of Turkey:
daily work schedule for Sundays through Friday:
4.45am hit the snooze alarm on your alarm clock...it is still dark outside, why should you be awake?
5.00am scramble out of bed, into clothes and to the bathroom...and notice that the sun is barely up yet
5.10am scarf down some "first breakfast" which may be bread, tomatoes, jam, chocolate and tea
5.15 say goodbye and 'kolay gelsin' to the excavators headed off to the field in the truck or hop a ride if you want to spend the morning digging in dirt and sweat!
5.40 If you have stay at the compound then you better get to work asap...no time to waste sooo...off to study ceramics, bones, metals, to conserve big pots, to register all the little figurines or to illustrate all the tiny ceramic sherds and make them look like a big, full piece of pottery.
8.30 time for "second breakfast" prepared by the couple of women from the village so there is at least fresh bread now and sometimes eggs in addition to the tomatoes, cheese, jam, chocolate and tea.
9.00 back to work!
11.00 break time....relax, take a catnap in the hammock chair in the sherd yard or pet the dogs or drink more coffee or tea or walk to the bakkal and buy some soda and candy
11.20 back to work!
1.30pm lunch time...finally...
2.00 nap time for most...computering, showering and gossiping time for others
4.00 tea time in order to recaffinate after the exhausting nap in the heat
4.30 back to work...again!
7.00pm dinner time and the end of the work day finallllly...
rest of the night --> backgammon, movie nights, chatting, facebooking, sunset watching from the roof, beer drinking, sleeping....life here is pretty slow so even on our nights off not too much excitement occurs. Fridays at least end after lunch time and the afternoon is partly spent by going on a mound tour in order to catch up on the excavations and also by cooking and bbqing for friday night dinner.
Then Saturday is the day off so sometimes a fieldtrip is planned or just a trip into town or else we are lazy and just lay around the compound all day and do nothing. I'll work on adding pictures here or on facebook soon but just wanted to let everyone know how the past 5 weeks of my summer have been going.
It's 4.30 now so end of tea time and back to work I go!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Finals!!!
writing writing writing...
1. Archaeology: Macro and Microscopic Analysis of a Pot Shard from a Bronze Age Excavation site in Turkey
* I have learned that I am not a scientist but am glad I took 'Rocks for Jocks' as my one lab science class in college
2. Constantinople: The Depiction of Space in Byzantine Art and Literature
* we will see if this actually works out...
3. Ottoman: The Creation and Destruction of Public Space during the foundation of Ottoman Istanbul in the 16th Century
* the 'negative space' of an urban landscape! we will see if this also works out the way I picture...
4. Museum Studies: A Museum Management Plan for Orhan Pamuk's (actual) Museum of Innocence in Istanbul
* this museum is not actually open yet nor is there any practical information available beyond what is stated in the novel and in a few interviews over the past year. I am still waiting to hear back from "Mr. Pamuk who is currently in New York." But his publisher did thank me for my interest, Hah!
but all must be finished soon....Jess is coming to visit Saturday night and then Liz, Jordan and friends are coming next Wednesday! I must finish so I can play proper hostess and relax with my guests!!
back to work....
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