Istanbul - Not Constantinople

Pin It A few weeks ago we took a long weekend trip to Istanbul.  It's been on our list for a while, and we were in the mood for a different kind of travel experience.  We arrived to some rainy conditions but made the most of it and because of the rain, took in a lot of the sites (much more than usual, which was actually great because Istanbul is like no other place we have ever been before).  We started with the Blue Mosque.  I think it was the first time I have ever actually been in a mosque and this one was beautiful.  I was surprised at its beauty, maybe because I didn't do a whole lot of research and wasn't sure what to expect.

The detail was incredible and like usual, pictures don't do it justice.  The Blue Mosque is not just a tourist attraction, there were many people praying while we were there.

The only negative was visiting on a very wet day with soaking wet socks, as you must take your shoes off out of respect.  It smelled a little like wet feet, but its beauty made up for it.  I had some trouble getting my shoes back on in the rush of leaving the mosque - the big belly kind of gets in the way.....

Afterwards we enjoyed some amazing Turkish Moussaka.  And that tortilla thing... I don't know how they do it.  Light, fluffy, delicious.  Turkish cuisine is nommm nommmmmm.

The next day, we hoped for better weather, but had no such luck.  We started the day off by checking out the Basilica Cistern, which was also quite impressive.  The Cistern was built in the 6th century and was used to supply and store fresh water.  Walking through the Cistern, you realize what a marvel it was for its time (and still is!).

Here is where I made Paul dress up like a sultan so we could get a photo as sultan and sultana... normally I don't fall for this kind of stuff, but I couldn't resist!

It was still raining so we went to the Hagia Sophia.  This was also very interesting because at one point in time it was an Orthodox Church, then later converted into a Mosque and is now a museum.  You can see the influences of Christianity and Islam as you walk through the museum.  Many of the old frescoes from when it was an Orthodox Church were actually preserved when they were covered by plaster when it was turned into a Mosque.  You can see influences from both periods in the photo below.

See what I mean?  We did a lot of sight seeing.

Next stop was the Spice Market.  I had planned on buying some spices and tea......

 but only bought Turkish Delight (the special Turkish Candy).  Oops!

We headed over the Galata Bridge to the New part of town for some St. Patty's Celebrations.  Lots of fisherman were out on the bridge, waiting for their catch of the day.

Then we found on of the only Irish pubs in Istanbul that had a pretty awesome 12 piece band on a tiny stage.

The next day, the sun was shining and we took a boat cruise on the Bosphorus Strait, that connects European Istanbul to Asian Istanbul.

A view of the New Mosque (I think), the Galata Bridge and the European side:

A view of the bridge to Asia:

Finally, we made a stop at the Grand Bazaar.....

and bought nothing!  What kind of girl am I?

The next day before our flight we spent some time walking around some parks near our hotel and I got my boots shined!  First time they have been shined in a year and a half!

I think you can see the difference:

In front of the Hagia Sophia

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A Short Weekend in Berlin!

Pin It A couple weeks ago we took a little road trip to spend a short weekend in Berlin.  Let me just tell you straight out, a short weekend trip to Berlin will not cut it.  A long weekend trip to Berlin won't cut it either.  There is so much history, so much to do, so much to see, we needed more time.  But, we definitely enjoyed the time we spent while there.  It's not a beautiful historic old city as you typically see in Europe, due to the fact that most of it was destroyed in the War, which was then followed by an era of communism in half the city.  You definitely see the lasting effect.  However, the city is now booming with awesome places to go, a bounty of interesting museums, a cool culture and loads of history right in front of you.

When we got there we headed to the Museum of Topography of Terror.  Located at the actual Gestapo and SS headquarters site, which have since been destroyed mostly by Allied bombings in 1945.  The museum focuses on the timeline of the reign of the Nazi and SS through pictures and documented facts.  It shows you the effects of the Nazi reign all through out Europe.  The museum was so well set up and you could easily spend a few hours there (as we did).

The next day we had the best breakfast I have ever had in Europe.  So it is an American Style breakfast, but sometimes cold cuts and bread just won't cut it.  This hungry momma wanted some pancakes!  Enter Berlin's California Breakfast Slam.

Yes, in the right hand corner that says "Hugs are Free" and "Death to Hoity-Toities."  There is also a section on the menu which explains some unfortunate events if you are not respectful to your wait staff.  So, be nice. Oh and you see above, an Asian Tiger Mom Housewife is on the menu for 90 Euro, seems like a steal to me.

While an Asian Tiger Mom Housewife sounds interesting, I was in pancake mode, and pancakes I had.  Saturday and Sunday at the Breakfast Slam.

Now, this California Breakfast Slam comes highly recommended and even made CNN's list of Best American Restaurants in Europe.   Paul had an amazing Egg white omelette, stuffed with mushrooms, tomatoes and Parmesan and some mystery spices that made it one of the most exciting omelettes ever.  Try that with a side of home fried potatoes topped with fried goat cheese and we are in business.  Nom nom.

Now, the next day (Yes, we went back for round 2, it's not everywhere you can find a breakfast like this!), may have even been better, but I forgot to take photos.  This time our friend Bruce came with us.  I had Banana Walnut pancakes (this pregnancy has me all about anything cake related!), Paul had Huevos Rancheros, and Bruce, who is not so into breakfast had the Chilequiles... mmmmmm.

Just to note if you are planning on heading to the Breakfast Slam while you are in Berlin, it's a good idea to make reservations by email (check out their facebook page, link above).  While Saturday we were able to easily get a seat, Sunday they squeezed us in but you might not be so lucky.

Recommended for: Anyone craving a delicious home-style American breakfast
Not Recommended for: Hoity-Toities (you know who you are)

After we filled our bellies with fluffy pancakes and flavorful omelettes day 1 at the Breakfast Slam, we headed back downtown to jump on the  New Europe Free Tour.  Now, I have been on several of these tours throughout Europe and have never seen so many people.  Unfortunately they didn't have enough staff, and being so relaxed getting there we were a little late and ended up being turned away.  My advice to you, if you are planning on doing the New Europe Free Tour, get there early!  At least 15 minutes, so you ensure you get on the tour.

While I was pretty dissappointed, to not get on the general tour, there were a few other tours starting at the time and we decided to join the Red Berlin Tour with David.  This tour was absolutely fascinating, and if you have some extra time in Berlin, I would highly recommend it.  This tour obviously, focuses on communism in Berlin, the set up of the Berlin Wall, stories of Berliners still alive today who lived through it (after all, the wall only came down in 1989), and many tragic stories of how the wall effected the Berliners lives.  It gives you a glimpse of what Communism life was like in East Berlin.  Shown below is a Memorial to the people who lost their lives trying to escape from East Berlin to West Berlin.

One of the coolest parts of the tour was seeing the East Side Gallery, which turned the former Berlin Wall into a canvas for artists all around the world.

Known as My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love, or Fraternal Kiss, is one of the most famous paintings on the Berlin Wall.  

After we checked out the East Side Gallery it was time to catch a film at the International Film Festival, Side Effects, which pretty much sums up our awesome weekend in Berlin.

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Blood Orange Poppy Seed Muffins

Pin It Here's to my first food post in a while, so I wanted to make it worth it.  The blood oranges around here are fantabulous!  They were especially juicy around the time when I actually made these muffins.  There were a few weekends in a row we were treating ourselves to delicious citrus juices. It's one of the best ways to brighten up the long, cold winter.  Not to mention, it gives that needed boost of vitamin C during the nasty cold and flu season.  Speaking of cold winter, it's snowing again in Brussels!

Best juice ever.  

Unfortunately now, they are now a little out of season, but I am still able to find them and they are still pretty tasty.  My favorite way to consume blood oranges is in the form of a martini.  Blood. Orange. Martinis.  Yes, please.  I could also appreciate consuming them in the form of a mimosa, margarita or sangria.  I don't know why blood oranges make me think of cocktails.  Those all being out of the question now that I am knocked up (I am blaming that on the reason I have been so lazy, btw).... these muffins will have to do.  And they sure did.

I even made a pan of super cute mini muffins.  Finally, the perfect (and most fun) way to use up excess batter.  I used to make one giant muffin in a pyrex, but mini muffins are the way to go.

Delicious.  Melt in your mouth.  Mini Morsels of yumminess.  Yes, I really liked these muffins.

Blood Orange Poppy Seed Muffins 
barely adapted from For the Love of Cooking

Makes 12 regular and 12 mini muffins

Ingredients:

2/3 cup of white sugar
Zest of two small blood oranges
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup plain yogurt
Juice of 2 1/2  blood oranges (Mandatory: enjoy the left over half yourself)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup of unsalted butter, softened -( make sure it is soft, I had a little trouble being patient and my batter ended up being slightly lumpy... but the muffins were still delicious)
2 tbsp poppy seeds

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F and grease muffin tin (mini one, too! So you don't forget - like I did initially).

Combine fragrant orange zest and sugar until thoroughly mixed.  Use your fingers if you have to.
Mix dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt) in a separate bowl.

Beat yogurt, juice, eggs, vanilla, butter and sugar zest together until uniform (or just slightly lumpy if you are impatient like me).  Slowly combine dry mixture with wet.  Add poppy seeds, gently folding them in.

Scoop batter evenly into tins.  Bake regular sized muffins for 15-18 minutes and small muffins for 10-12 or toothpick comes out clean.  Cool and serve.

Bon Appetit!

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Anacapri & Capri's Arco Naturale

Pin It Wow!  I should be ashamed of myself... I have been so wrapped up in only God knows what that I missed my Blog-o-versary!  A few months ago I was really looking forward to that day.  I had so many thoughts of what I would make to celebrate my blog-o-versary, and I downright missed it.  Hopefully I am out of this so-called "blog rut," long enough to prepare a fantastic 2 year blog-o-versary celebration.  Keep your fingers crossed.  I was contemplating giving up on the good old blog.  It's just such a time commitment and when you are lazy like me (especially lately), and your mac takes a crap, it can become a burden.  Blogging on a PC?  I don't like.  But enough about that, I'll just blog when I feel like it and in this upcoming year there will be some changes.  Now's not the time to quit.  I would hate to give up on the blog when my life is about to change so radically... and there is still travel and sometimes food to be documented!  So, speaking of travel, I'll pick up where I left off:

Capri.  It had been a dream of mine since I was 17 and I saw a photo of Capri to have my honeymoon there.  While, honeymoon it was not, and the weather didn't quite cooperate (the story of our trip to Italy) we still had a nice evening on the island and it was actually a gorgeous sunny day when we left Amalfi and headed to Capri!  This was on the Amalfi Coast drive somewhere between Minori and Sorrento.  We finally got some much needed Vitamin D!

We took the ferry from Sorrento to the Island.  Then continued on an insane bus ride up to Anacapri, where we were staying (literally translating to "above Capri").  As the bus drove up the hill side, there were some spots that looked straight down to the sea.  I pretty much loved every minute of it, but if you are afraid of heights, grab an inside seat.  Once we got to our really charming hotel with views over Anacapri, we decided to head to Capri and grab a drink.  While I had heard drinking & eating & doing pretty much anything in Capri can clear out your pockets, we weren't quite prepared to pay 10+ euro for a .25 beer in the city center.  So, we walked onward.  Thankfully, because we can across a sign that said "Arco Naturale."  I had read about this footpath and it was one of the things I wanted to see on Capri.  We took a chance and followed the signs through the winding village.  There was definitely some climbing involved (as with anything in the South of Italy).  According to Frommer's there are some "800 odd steps" to get there.  But the view. was. spectacular.

and with our feet. duh.

We made our way back to Capri through little paths like this:

and then hopped on the bus back to Anacapri.  We had dinner reservations at a small, local restaurant that our hotel recommended.  The food was delicious and the prices were reasonable for the island.  If you go to Capri, staying in Anacapri is much more affordable.  We took in the view from our hotel before going to bed.  We were exhausted.  Good night Anacapri.

We woke up to terrible winds and rain with thunderstorms in the future and after a hearty breakfast the hotel recommended we catch a ferry to the mainland as early as possible to avoid being stuck on the island if there were cancellations.  So with that, and a very rocky rough ferry ride back, we headed to Roma. Pin It