Monday, January 26, 2009

Ikea Entourage

There's a new player in town - the Consul General's (CG's) new OMS, Judy, arrived Thursday evening. Her arrival means we are now up to a full strength OMS team and we are very happy about that.

Judy's arrival also prompted an invitation to have a welcome lunch with the CG and her husband at their house Saturday. It was a delightful lunch and when the CG invited us on an after-lunch outing to the Asian side, none could refuse. And what an outing it turned out to be! We started at a decorator's strip mall of sorts looking for upholstery fabric then made our way over to Ikea (yes, Ikea. Istanbul boasts not one, but two! I thought Karen was going to pee her pants with excitement - the good Scandinavian that she is - and I will admit to a flutter of excitement at the prospect of following those black floor arrows through the maze of pre-fab). Now, this may seem like a typical errand-running afternoon, but let me add a couple things to the mix - 1) We were in Asia! We went from Europe to Asia to run errands. Asia is right there! Right across the Bosphorus. I can see it out my window! That continues to amaze me. And 2) the CG runs errands, in fact lives her life here, with a 2-Suburban motorcade and a 2-bodyguard security detail (before some of you raise an eyebrow at that, it is all standard operating procedure for anyone her level or higher). So there I was, part of the CG's entourage, making our way through the chaos that is Ikea, putting tealights, suction-cupped kitchen brushes, and dish towels in our yellow bags, flanked by her bodyguards with the motorcade waiting for us at the curb. I am confident it was the safest trip to Ikea ever!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Three Little Words

Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes! We! Can!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Discoveries

The last time I saw my aunt Connie, she gave me a couple mixing bowls I recognized from my grandma's kitchen. For a long time, these bowls have sat in the china cabinet, only be brought out occasionally as salad bowls. But recently I pulled them out and moved them to the kitchen cabinet with the rest of the mixing bowls and casserole dishes. I'm using them frequently now, and every time I do I feel a connection to my grandma and my aunts - the women in whose kitchens we have all gathered as a family time and time again to gossip, play cards, laugh, console, and always, always eat; the women whose ability to make huge, delicious meals appear seemingly out of nowhere created a space for family bonds to be strengthened, renewed, remembered. Through these bowls, the green one and the bigger yellow one, I imagine myself becoming like my father's sisters and mother, turning my kitchen into a place of laughter, love, life, and of course, food.


In order to combat the doldrums of winter, I've made a pact with some friends to get out on the weekends and partake of something, anything, Istanbul has to offer (which is an astonishing amount) - a museum, a mosque, a cay garden, a new restaurant. Today's outing was to the Rahmi M. Koc (pronounced "Koch") Industrial Museum which is basically a place for Mr. Koc to house all his collectibles - cars, boats, train engines and cars, planes, and even a submarine. Since Mr. Koc is the richest man in Turkey, the collection was impressive if not all that surprising. While it was not the things of industry that drew us there this morning, we found ourselves at the very least amused and glad we took the time to go through the museum. What did, however, draw us there was a distinctly non-industrial exhibit of miniature rooms by Henry Kupjack. For my part, I will admit my skepticism of "dollhouses" as art but I was pleasantly surprised. While I'm still not willing to call it art, I am willing to concede its appeal. "Intricate" and "detailed" do not begin to describe Mr. Kupjack's work. Whatever your feelings, there is no denying the time, skill, and dedication that went into each room (a 1950s diner, a 1970s SoHo artist's loft, to name a couple that I can remember the dates on). I found myself intrigued by the rooms (about 19 in all). These are not just dollhouses. They are complete in every detail - windows look out onto appropriate scenes, rooms flow through doors into other rooms just as complete in detail, doors have molded frames, windows have lace curtains, tables have bowls of "berries". The catch is you don't view these rooms as though you were viewing a dollhouse from every angle. Rather you view them as though through a window. You must bob from side to side to catch glimpses of portraits over fireplaces or the skylight at the top of a staircase. You become a voyeur peeping in on a scene you are not a part of.

Why, might you ask, was a miniaturist being showcased at an industrial museum. Simply put, commission. Mr. Koc is a fan and commissioned Mr. Kupjack to do a miniature of an Ottoman coffeehouse. So there the exhibit is - complete with the requested coffeehouse.

After viewing the miniatures and being quite surprised by them, we continued the search for the best museum cafe in Istanbul. This may be difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain. They have all been quite wonderful and the French cafe at the Koc museum was no exception. And, to top off a great outing, I now know where to get some really good French onion soup.

Rahmi M. Koc Museum - http://www.rmk-museum.org.tr/english/index.html
Henry Kupjack - http://www.rmk-museum.org.tr/sergi-2008/index-eng.html

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Long Coming Update

After a long hiatus, I'm back. Why the long silence? I really can't say; the muse just hasn't been with me, I suppose. I'm not sure she is with me again yet either, but sometimes you have to drag her back to you through sheer force of creative will. So here I go, asserting my creative will. . .

It's a cold, rainy Sunday afternoon here in Istanbul. I've just sat down for a mid-afternoon snack and am asking myself, as I always do every time I sit down with this particular snack, "Turkish breakfast, where have you been all my life?" How could I, the cucumber and tomato loving person I am never have thought to combine those with slices of feta cheese? Not all mixed up like a salad, mind you, but each - deliciously strong cheese, tomato, and cucumber - all layed out in beautiful slices on the plate. Toss a few tangy olives on there and I'm in heaven!

So, other than Turkish breakfast, what has been going on in my life? As with every holiday season, the last couple of months have been paradoxically slow and fast. Work is slow this time of year, but it seems like I was in Oslo a couple weeks ago rather than the couple of months its actually been. I was there for the Marine Ball - the annual celebration of the Marine Corps' birthday. In embassy/consulate world, this is usually done with a big, formal ball. I got a fancy dress, new shoes (of course!), packed my bag and headed to Norway to attend the ball with, appropriately, my Marine Jason. For a girl who never went to prom or homecoming, the night was full of nerves, excitement, and the realization that there really is something to the whole man-in-uniform thing.

Thanksgiving rolled around rather quickly after my return from Oslo and, yes, there was turkey in Turkey! Copious amounts of it, in fact, spread over two Thanksgiving celebrations. The first was hosted at the consulate by the American employees for the local employees. We served about 180 people that day and nobody left with less than a full stomach! On Thanksgiving day, I and some of the other Holiday Orphans (those of us without family here) spent the day surrounded by consulate families and marveling at how similar holiday dinners are across the board. Christmas was much the same though with fewer people and ham (such a luxury!) instead of turkey. I am very grateful to the families who opened their home to those of us far away from our own families.

New Year's Eve was a quiet, though drunken, affair here at The Dorm (as those of us who live here affectionately call our building. We routinely shuffle from apartment to apartment in slippers and sweats). I spent the evening with Preeti and Karen gossiping, solving the problems of the world, making resolutions, eating, and drinking. We all made it to midnight and beyond, which I'll admit, is a rare occurrence in my life anymore.

There. I think you're now caught up on my life. I'll put serious effort into actually updating this sucker from time to more-frequent time.