Hakkımızda/About Us

Liseli iki yakin arkadas Lara ve Revna uc senedir kesintisiz olarak Istanbul kesiflerine devam eder iken Lara AFS Degisim Programini kazanir, bir seneligine Amerika'nin Charleston sehrinde yasayacaktir.Ancak bu ayrilik maceralarinin ve dostluklarinin bir sonu degil, aksine bir baslangicidir. Revna İstanbul sokaklarinda tirim tirim dolanmayi surdururken, Lara yepyeni bir hayata adim attigi Charleston'daki kesifleriyle Revna'ya meydan okur. Boylece bu iki kafadarin blog uzerinden surdurecekleri kitalar arasi gulunc bir mucadele baslar. Simdi ise aradan iki sene daha gecmis ve bu sefer Lara Fransa'nin Toulose sehrine okumaya gitmistir. Bu yolculuk yeni bir maceranin kapisini daha aralar ve simdi de bu iki arkadasin gerek İstanbul gerek Fransa'daki kesiflerine tanik olup, dostluklarinin renkli anilarini onlarla paylasacaksiniz.

Two high school teens, who are best friends, Lara and Revna were continually exploring the beautiful city Istanbul for three years, until Lara had the opportunity to experience a whole one year in Charleston in the USA by AFS Exchange program. But this separation was not the end of their friendship and explorations, unlike it was a beginning. While Revna was continuing to get around in Istanbul's elegant streets, Lara was challenging her with her discoveries in Charleston. And now, after about two years Lara is going to study in the beautiful city Toulouse in France. This is again another beginning of an adventure for these friends after their funny 'intercontinental' competition. Now their page is dedicated to share the colorful memories of their friendship and their new discoveries both in Turkey and France, especially in İstanbul and Toulouse!
Showing posts with label Kitchen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kitchen. Show all posts

Friday, October 24, 2014

Kitchen Discovery: PASTA with CARAMELIZED ONIONS































It is time to share some kitchen discoveries again!
Here comes an easy pasta recipe which I actually took from a film called 'Chef' . By the way I definitely recommend this film which is totally amusing BUT BE CAREFUL: YOU WILL GET CRAZY HUNGRY while you watch the film as you constantly see crazy delicious looking dishes!
And this recipe I am gonna share is a dish I saw in one of the scenes , where the man cooked a yummy pasta dish: Actually the only thing I saw was that he caramelized onions! And then he added these on the pasta and added some fresh parsley on top. That was it! But this totally took my mind , cause I adore CARAMELIZED ONIONS. And I just said to myself : Caramelized onions with pasta?? Why haven't I never thought of it?! I should try to do this as soon as possible!
So yesterday I gave it a try and as I did not have any recipe I just followed what I saw in the film and added a little bit my own creativity.
So here is the Pasta Dish I created by getting inspired from the scene:
PASTA WITH CARAMELIZED ONIONS AND FRESH PARSLEY


Actually all you need to do is to slice TWO LARGE ONIONS and start to cook them on high heat with some OLIVE OIL. After a few minutes , as they become soft , (just before they start to get burned) take the pan and put it on the lowest heat and let the onions get slowly cooked on low heat. This should take at least 20-25 minutes. The more the onions rest on low heat , the more delicious they get: They get perfectly caramelized!
BUT at this point I prefered to add some seasonings: I put some pepper, salt, just a little bit sugar, garlic powder and finally two tablespoons of BALSAMIC VINEGAR which gives a perfect taste to the onions. And then I put the onions on low heat.
While your onions get caramelized all you have to do is to chop the fresh parsley and cook the pasta, drain, set aside. Besides, save a half cup of the water in which you cooked the pasta.
When both the pasta and onions seem ready just combine them, BUT DO NOT FORGET TO ADD SOME BUTTER AND PARMESAN CHEESE. (If you want you can also add some cream and turn it into a cream-sauce but I just wanted that the onions become the star of the dish- so did not add extra cream) Finally add a little bit of the the pasta water ( I did this so that the pasta does not taste too dry) and the fresh parsley. Stir the pasta for a last time until everthing gets combined well.
BON APPETIT!

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Here is the most EASY but also the MOST DELICIOUS DESSERT:

THE CLASSIC ITALIAN TIRAMISU with original italian MASCARPONE CHEESE





If you check some tiramisu recipes you will see that there are recipes which include not just mascarpone cheese,also some more ingredients such as heavy cream or some other cream cheese or milk. They probably taste nice too. BUT to make the very ORIGINAL TIRAMISU you should use ONLY BUT ONLY the mascarpone cheese! And here comes my tiramisu recipe which ı made with 500 gr of Italian Mascarpone:

To make this delicious dessert the ingredients are just a few things:

500 gr Mascarpone cheese
6 eggs
150 gr sugar
300 gr italian ladyfingers(savoiardi)
2-3 cups of black coffee (I used filter coffee-way better then these ready nescafes!)
cocoa powder


It is actually really surprising that you can create a fascinating dessert with just a few ingredients. And PLUS WHAT TO DO is soooo SIMPLE:JUST SIX STEPS AND ITS READY:



1.Whisk the egg yolks with sugarin a large bowl
2.Add the Mascarpone cheese and whisk until smooth(You'd better use an electric mixer)
3.Beat the egg whites(a lot!-be patient!-until they look like a kind of foam) Add this into the other egg-sugar mixture
4.Make the coffee: Wait until its not too hot! Soak the lady fingers and line them on the bottom of a baking dish
5. Spread the half of the mascarpone mixture on the lady fingers
6.Begin with the second layer! Do the same: Dip ladyfinders in coffee,line and spread with other half of mascarpone

Cover the tiramisu with plastic wrap and refrigrate for at least 2 hours to 12 hours
BEFORE SERVING: SPRINKLE WITH COCOA POWDER



Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Kitchen Discovery: Baked Eggplant Sticks!

Here is a super quick and tasty appetizer recipe:

BAKED EGGPLANT STICKS served with a quick MARINARA SAUCE




All you need is:

1-2 eggplants
a little bit olive oil
salt and pepper for seasoning
2-3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 large egg white

For the marinara sauce:
2 cups crushed tomatoes (you can use 2-3 fresh tomatoes and blend them in a food processor)
2-3 cloves garlic (smashed)
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt,pepper to season
1 tablespoon tomato paste (gives a great taste and color)
chopped fresh basil or dried basil
It is not necessary but you can also add one onion

All you need to do:

Preheat the oven. Line baking sheets on a baking tray-so that the eggplants don't stick on the tray!
Cut ends off the eggplant. Slice eggplant in half, then into 1/4 inch thick slices. Cut each slice into 1/4 inch strips. Now you have your finger shaped eggplants. Don't forget to put the eggplant sticks into a bowl full with cold water and some salt and let them wait about 7-8 minutes. Drain them with paper towel and put them this time in another bowl, season with olive oil, salt and pepper. Set aside.
In another bowl combine breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese.
Dip the eggplant sticks into egg whites, then into the breadcrumbs. Place the sticks on the baking sheets. Sprinkle a little bit more olive oil on the sticks and bake for about 10 minutes. Turn over and bake an additional 10 minutes.



That is how easy it is ! A great appetizer which is delicious and totally healthy as you don't fry them but bake.

BUT you definitely need your marinara sauce to dip these yummy sticks. And this is how you make your marinara sauce:
In a medium pot heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and saute until golden, being careful not to burn. I also added one cup of chopped onions. Add crushed tomatoes, salt and pepper,tomato paste. Stir and reduce heat to low. Cover and let simmer about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add fresh basil. I did not have fresh basil so I added 3 tablespoons of dried basil in the very last minute and then removed from heat.



Monday, November 4, 2013

THE 3-Ingredients PASTA SAUCE: GARLIC-PARSLEY-OLIVE OIL/ Üc Malzemeli Nefis Makarna Sosu













































































I want to invite some friends to home and prepare them a nice cozzy meal?But you dont want to spend hours in the kitchen? Then you should make this Spaghetti which will only take about ten minutes and is even easier than a basic tomato sauce.you will be surprised that a 10 minutes pasta sauce tastes soo delicious !
Ingredients:3 cups parsley-finely chopped Olive oil 5-6 garlic cloves-finely chopped 1 package of pasta (Spaghetti)For seasoning: Salt,pepper All you need to do is: Saute your garlic cloves in some olive oil over medium-low heat (so that they dont burn)  Add the chopped parsley-stir a little bit After 2-3 minutes add some olive oil more= THATS WHAT GIVES THE TASTE,so dont hesitate to add olive oil The sauce should be a little liquid(oily): dont let it simmer Add your pasta which you cooked and drained And your Pasta with Parsley and Garlic is ready!! Thats how easy it is.Serve it in nice big plates and open a red wine, enjoy your dinner with your friends:)Bikac arkadası eve davet edip ufak ve mütevazi ama aynı zamanda lezzetli bir aksam yemegi mi yapmak istiyosunuz? Ama bir yandan da mutfakta büyük işlere kalkışmak istemiyo musunuz?Bu makarna sosu sizi mutfakta saatler gecirmekten kurtarıcak! Cunku hazırlaması sadece 10 dakika sürüyor! Klasik bir domates sosundan bile daha kolay.Zaten muhtemelen domates sosundan bıkmışınızdır!On dakikalık bir sosun bu kadar lezzetli olmasına sasırıcaksınız!
Gereken Malzemeler sadece: Zeytinyagı1 paket makarna (Spaghetti)3-4 avuc ince kıyılmıs maydanoz4-5 dis ince kıyılmıs sarımsakYapmanız gereken tek şey: geniş bir tavada veya tencerede zeytinyagında sarımsakları soteleyin ama dikkat edin yanmasınlar! Sarımsaklar sadece aromalarını yaga vermeli ancak yanmamalılar. Sonra dogradıgınız bolca maydanozu ekleyip karıstırın, tuz biber ve isterseniz kırmızı pul biber ekleyin. Sosun biraz sıvımsı olması lazım, mutlaka tekrar zeytinyagı ekleyin.zeytinyagı eklemekten cekinmeyin cünkü bu sosu güzel yapan bu! Zaten baska hicbir malzeme eklemeye gerek yok, sosunuz hazır. Haslayıp süzdügünüz makarnanızı ekleyip bir güzel karıştırın ve büyük makarna tabaklarında parmesan peyniri rendesi ile servis edin! Yanına da bir kırmızı sarap actınız mı inanılmaz basit ama orijinal ve leziz bu makarnanın tadını cıkarmaya hazırsınız!
















Saturday, October 26, 2013

Yummy 5 Ingredients Appetizer: Garlic Bread ! / Sadece 5 Malzeme: Sarımsaklı Ekmek !








                                                                                                                                         




















































                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                





 Here is my favorite appetizer which ı prefer before a nice italian dish:     
Garlic Bread
It only takes a few minutes to prepare them and it takes another 10 minutes for them to get nicely crispy in the oven! 

Sadece 5 Malzeme kullanarak hazırlayabileceginiz Leziz bir Atıştırmalık: Sarımsaklı Ekmek!
Üstelik hazırlaması da sadece bir kac dakika sürüyor.Ardından fırında bi 10-15 dk bekletmeniz yeterli!


Ingredients:
3-4 tablespoons butter
Olive oil
Parsley-finely chopped
4-5 cloves Garlic-minced
Bread(you can use every kind of bread but prefer thin slices so that they become verry crispyy)
For seasoning: salt and pepper

You can decide on the amount of your ingredients depending on how many bread slices you want.

İhtiyacınız olan 5 Malzeme:
3-4 yemek kasıgı tereyagı
Zeytinyagı
Maydanoz-ince kıyılmıs
4-5 dis sarımsak-ezilmiş
Ekmek dilimleri(istediginiz tip ekmegi kullanabilirsiniz ama ince dilimler daha cıtır cıtır olur!)
Baharatlandırmak icin: tuz ve karabiber
Malzemelerin ölcülerinde oynama yapabilirsiniz- Ne kadar ekmek dilimi istediginize baglı!

All you need to do is:
Mix the butter,parsley,garlic and olive oil.Season with salt and pepper. I use a fork to mix them so that ı can crush the butter nicely.Slice your bread and spread the butter mixture on the slices.Lay the slices on an oven tray.Dont forget to use an oven paper too! And put the tray into the oven and just wait until the butter melts nicely and your garlic breads seem crispy! You will also understand that your bread slices are ready with the great smell that comes out of the oven!

Tek yapmanız gereken:
Kücük bir kapta tereyagı,zeytinyagı,kıyılmıs maydanız ve ezdiginiz sarımsakları iyice karıstırmak.Ben karıstırırken catal da kullanıyorum ki tereyagı iyice ezilip yumusasın. Sonra bu karısımı ekmek dilimlerinin ustune guzelce sürün.Ve fırına verin! 15 dakika kadar bir süre fırında tutun: Tereyagı iyice eriyip ekmekler cıtırlasana kadar.Zaten etrafa yayılan nefis kokudan sarımsaklı ekmeklerinizin hazır oldugunu anlicaksınız!


Friday, October 25, 2013

Kitchen Discoveries: Chickpea Salad










  



















We made this yummy chickpea salad as a side dish for our baked salmon.
Its FRESH, HEALTHY AND DELICIOUS! Oh, and very EASY

Somonumuzun yanına yaptığımız nohut salatamızı paylaşalım simdi de:)
TAZE, SAGLIKLI VE NEFİS! He bir de COK KOLAY






CHICKPEA SALAD with some extra red kidney beans:

All you need:
1 can chickpea
1 can red kidney beans
1 or 2 tomatoes: chopped
1 or 2 bell pepper ( red-green-yellow-doesnt matter!)
1 or 2 cucumber: chopped
1 big onion ( red or white-your choice) - finely chopped
a little bit parsley
if you like it, a little bit dill
olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, fresh lemon juice= for the dressing!









Meksika fasulyesi de ekleyiverdigimiz NOHUT SALATASI:
İhtiyacınız olan malzemeler:
1 konserve meksika fasulyesi
1 konserve haslanmıs nohut
1 veya iki domates- küp küp dogranmıs
1 buyuk sogan ( beyaz ya da kırmızı size kalmış)
1 veya 2 salatalık
1 veya 2 dolmalık biber (sarı-yeşil-kırmızı hic farketmez! istediginiz rengi katın:))
iki avuc maydanoz - ince kıyılmıs
severseniz eger, dereotu da yakısır!
sos icin temel malzemelerimiz: limon,zeytinyagı,nar eksisi veya balsamic sirke, tuz ve karabiber










After you chop all these ingredients in to very tiny pieces(you dont have to chop chickpeas and beans of course!), all you need to do is just mix them in a large salad bowl! And add the dressing!

Bütün malzemeleri incecik dogradıktan sonra (nohut ve fasulyeyi dogramaya gerek yok tabiki) yapmanız gereken tek sey hepsini büyük bir salata canagında bir güzel karıstırmak ve sosunu eklemek!

You can add some ingredients depending on your taste: Maybe some feta cheese? Or some olives? Finely chopped garlic? If you wanna have a colourful salad you should add all colours of bell peppers like we did! So that how it looks is as good as how it tastes :)

Damak zevkinize göre salatanızı renklendirebilirsiniz: Örnegin biraz ufalanmıs peynir hic fena olmaz: feta,beyaz peynir veya keci mesela... Sonra siyah veya yeşil zeytin de eklenebilir! Cok ince kıyılmıs sarımsak da deneyebilirsiniz, malum sarımsak nereye girse yakısıyo. Ha bir de biberlerin her tür renginden eklemek salataya harika bir görüntü vermenizi saglayabilir :) Böylece salatanızın görüntüsüne de tadı gibi bayılıcaksınız!


Friday, October 18, 2013

UPDATE FROM REVNA!

Kocaman bir seneyi ardımızda bıraktık....
Lara Amerika'nın Charleston adlı kasabasında kocaman bir AFS deneyimini tamamladı.
Ve şimdi biz iki arkadaş, tekrar güzel şehrimiz İstanbul'da bir araya geldik !
Ve tam gaz keşiflerimize devam ediyoruz!
Ancak Charleston ve İstanbul arasındaki yarışa bir son verdiğimize göre o zaman bir zamanlar
İSTANBUL VS CHARLESTON adı altındaki blogumuza yeni bir ad verelim dedik: Ve bizim blog oldu bir CHARLISTANBUL !

Ve bundan böyle CHARLISTANBUL'da  BERABER yaptığımız kesiflerimizi ve de mutfak maceralaramızı paylasicaz :)



We have just left a huge year behind us...
Lara has experienced an amazing AFS experience in this city called Charleston in the USA.
And these two best friends met each other again after one whole year in their great city ISTANBUL!
And we are just keeping discovering !
But as this funny competition between the two cities has come to an end, we decided to change the name of our blog ( which used to be CHARLESTON VS ISTANBUL ) to CHARLISTANBUL !

From now on  in CHARLISTANBUL we are gonna share our new discoveries and kitchen adventures which we do finally TOGETHER in İstanbul ! 

Sunday, October 13, 2013

UPDATE FROM LARA

Let's make a little update !

Hey guys ! How are you all doing ? It's literally been for ever that I haven't done anything !
I am sorry for not keeping track on our blog ... Anyways it's always good to start from somewhere..
I returned back to Turkey this July, It's been almost 4 months (OMG) when did it pass this quickly ?
So during my summer I was in Bodrum with my family and friends. It was fun times.

Awesome people in the tournament 
Then  I worked for an organization near the ending of August . It was an International Sport Tournament in Didim. The game that they were competing with each other is called Korfball. Its the only game in the entire world that both have female and male as player in the teams. It's similar to basketball but the rules are different . I put a link below if you want to read about it more. Anyways I was the team responsible for foreign teams . I made all the translation work :) It was really fun to work with such a great team and wonderful people .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korfball


Ops! I almost forgot !! Guess who came to visit me in Bodrum this summer ?? KALIN CAME ! I still can't believe it ! I was the best week of mylife. We did a lot of things . We went for an boat trip,clubs,concerts and more other things. I can't even describe how happy I was ! I miss him :( I wish everything could be just like in Charleston :(


Then I spend my last weeks of vacation in Bodrum again  and I returned back to Istanbul at the beginning of September. My school started 10th and I think its been a month. I am still struggling with the school work cause it's really hard to adjust myself to this system again. My school is an foreign school. It's a French High school that's why we do everything in French and it's pretty hard after not doing any practice for a year.


But it's getting better.

And the  important part! Revna and I we start  A NEW YOUTUBE CHANNEL!! we are going to put a video every week. I hope it will turn to a nice project :) Now that we are reunited we are ready to explore new things again :)

FOLLOW US ! AND SUBSCRIBE PLS :)
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqEWNUtU_KYM9LlE2oDirMw









Kitchen Explorers in Youtube!


HI GUYS!!!!!
I am back ( LARA)
And check it out our new videos with Revna !

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Mutfak Kesifleri Vol2 / Kitchen Discoveries Vol2


Ve sonunda American Girl Lara, Blog'a güclü bir geri dönüş yapar!
Yazdıkların nerdeyse beni aglatiyordu :( Orda yasadıklarını anlıyorum desem yalan olur, demesem ayrı bir yalan olur. Tek bilmeni istedigim ne olursa olsun, yasadıklarını anlasam da anlamasam da, her zaman yanındayım. ( Daha evvel de dedigim gibi fiziksel olarak bu bir suredir mumkun olmasa da! ) Oradaki deneyimlerinin bir parcası olmak ister miydim? Bu beni mutlu ederdi ama hayır istemiyorum. Cunku Charlestonda gecirdigin bu mukemmel senenin sadece ama sadece sana özel bir deneyim olması beni daha da mutlu ediyor. Ama gel gelelim buraya donmeni iple cekiyorum!
Charleston'da cizdigin hayatı geride bırakmak zor olucak, evet ama unutma ki İstanbul'da da seni harika yeni deneyimler bekliyor olucak Lariş! Ve kesiflerimize tekrar beraber devam edicez.

And finally Lara is back in blog! Well, what you wrote almost made me cry:( If ı said that ı understand what you have been going through , that would not be true but if ı said that ı don't understand , that wouldn't be true either... All ı want to tell you is ı am always with you even if ı understand or not ( and even its not physically not possible during this year, as the ocean sets us apart! ) Do ı want to be a part of your experiences there? It would make me happy but no, ı don't want. Because this perfect year you have in Charleston is special just for you and to know that makes me happier. Even though ı am looking forward to having you back here! I know that leaving the life you have there will be hard but don't forget that there is also a wonderful life waiting for you here in İstanbul with lots and lots of new experiences! And we are gonna start discovering this city together again.


Sen yokken yaptıgım kesiflere gelirsek... Baktım ki sokakların tadı Larasız cıkmıyor, bende yine kendimi mutfaga verdim: Mufak Kesifleri Vol2 gelsin!


Let's talk about my discoveries while you were not here: As ı noticed that the streets of İstanbul are not attractive without Lara, ı just stepped into the kitchen: Here comes the Kitchen Discoveries Vol2:


PENNE A LA SICILIANA 

Gecen yaz Bodrum'da evdeki mutfak maceralarımdan birini paylasıyorum: Penne a la siciliana. Küp küp patlıcan kızartmalarının Penne arrabiata ile mukemmel uyumu diyebiliriz. Evet yaptıgım kısaca bu oldu: Temel bir domates sosuna patlıcanları kızartarak son dakikada eklemek. Dikkatleri buradaki ' Son Dakika' ya cekmek istiyorum cunku patlıcanları sos pişmeden eklerseniz icinde bir guzel eriyor ve o kücük tatlı patlıcanlardan eser kalmıyor! O yuzden eger makarnayı yerken agza gelmesini istiyorsanız makarna sosu piştikten sonra atın.


I want to share one of my kitchen adventures which ı experienced during the last summer in Bodrum: Penne a la siciliana. The beautiful harmony of deep fried aubergine cubes with Penne arrabiata. Yeah that was the basic summary of what ı did: Adding the fried aubergines(eggplants) which ı chopped in cubes to a basic tomato sauce ( Penne arrabiatta ) in the very last minute. I would like to underline ' Last Minute ' because if you add them early they just melt in the sauce and nothing is left from those eggplants! So if you want to feel those little eggplant pieces in your mouth, ı suggest you to add them after the sauce is cooked well.


Malzemeler:
Buradaki malzemeler yaklasık dört kisiyi doyurur sanırsam.

-Bir konserve küp domates veya direk domates püresi ( Cok domatesli seviyorsanız bir konserveden de fazla koyun-mesela ben bir iki adet taze domatesi robottan gecirip ekledim-taze domatesin kattıgı tad da ayrı oluyo )
-Birkac diş sarımsak
-Bir adet buyuk patlıcan ( Bol patlıcanlı istiyorsanız onu da iki adet yapın)
-Bir paket rigatoni veya penne makarna ( De Cecco veya Barilla öneririm)
-Bir büyük sogan-kücük küpler halinde dogranmıs
-Bir corba kasıgı domates salcası
-Tabiiki tuz karabiber, bir tutam şeker serperseniz de hafif tatlı bir aroma veriyor, bence cok yakısıyor
-Var sa bir kac taze feslefen yaprakları da fena olmaz
- E bide üstüne Parmesan Peyniri rendeleseniz süper olur





Ingredients:
These ingredients are probably enough to satisfy about four people.

- A can of chopped tomatoes or tomato puree ( You can even add more than one can like ı did - actually ı added two fresh tomatoes which ı pureed in food processor, that even gives a more intensive tomato aroma that ı like )
- a couple of garlic cloves (chopped)
- One big eggplant ( If you like it with lots of eggplants, add one more! )
- One package rigatoni or penne ( I prefer De Cecco or Barilla )
- One big onion ( chopped )
- One tablespoon tomato paste
- Salt and pepper as usual! A pinch of sugar gives a light sweet aroma which ı adore!
- A couple of fresh basil would also be nice!
- And of course grated Parmesan Cheese will be the perfect topping!



Nasıl yapılır?

Makarnayı suda haslamayı hatırlatmama zaten gerek yok, direk sosun yapılışına geçiyorum: Once hemen derin bir tencerede patlıcanı kızartıcagınız yagı kızdırın.Ve patlıcanları kızartıp pecete yaydıgınız bir tabaga aktarın.Bu arada da baska bir tavada sosu yapmaya baslayın.Patlıcanları kızartıp kenara aldıgınızda da hemen sogumasın diye ustunu de peceteyle kapayın, ılık kalsın.
Tavayı zeytinyaglayıp ısıttık, soganları ekledik, bir bes dk soteledik, renklerinin seffaflasmasını bekledik. Sonra sarımsakları atalım ve o güzel kokusunu vermesini bekleyip azcık kavuralım. Ama burada tavanın altını cok acmamanızı tavsiye ederim ki sarımsaklar yanmasın. Sonra domatesleri ister motordan gecirip ister direk tavaya bosalttık.Hemen arkasından bir corba kasıgı domates salcamızı koyduk.Ardından tuz karabiber.Sonra kısık ateste sosu pişmeye bırakıyoruz.
Patlıcanların hepsi kızardıktan sonra, sos da hafif suyunu cekmişse ve leziz kokular etrafına vermeye baslamışsa sos pişmiş demektir. Eger cok fazla katılaşmışsa cok az sıcak su da ekleyebilirsiniz. Taze feslegen yapraklarınız varsa da onları da bu asamada ekleyebilirsiniz.Sos piştikten sonra altını iyice kısıp,once suyunu suzdugunuz makarnayı ekleyin, en son da patlıcanların ücte ikisini ekleyin, hemen karıstırın ve ocagı sondurun.Daha evvel de belirttigim gibi patlıcanları son dakikada ekliyoruz ki erimesinler.Sonra da nefis makarnanızı tabaklara servis edin.Azıcık ayırdıgınız patlıcanları da tabaklardaki makarnanın ustune ekleyin ki bol patlıcanlı makarnanızda kimse patlıcanı goremıyorum diye laf etmesin! Parmesan peynirini de rendeleyip serptiniz mi, hadi afiyet olsun!

Sevgilerle,
Revna

How do we make it?
I think ı don't need to remind you to bring the water to boil,add the pasta and drain, so ı just skip to the sauce: Firstly we put olive oil into the pan, we wait a little bit so that the oil gets the heat well and then we saute the eggplant cubes.Afterwards we set the eggplant cubes aside on a plate, on which we put a paper towel ( It will get the extra oil from the eggplant ). Don't forget to put another paper towel on top of the eggplants so that it keeps them still warm. In another pan we heat a little bit olive oil again and stir in the onions. After we cook them until softened we add the garlic and stir until they give out their wonderful smell. But ı recommend you to cook over medium heat to prevent the garlics from burning! Then we add the tomatoes - If you want you can puree them in the food processor before adding into the pan - After that we directly add one tablespoon tomato paste and of course some salt and pepper. Then we leave the sauce over low heat.If all of the eggplants are sauted, if the sauce starts to thicken a little bit and if it already began to give off great smell, that means your sauce is ready! When your sauce thickens too much, add a little bit warm water in it. When you have, you can add some fresh basil leaves at this moment. After your sauce is done, bring the oven to lowest heat, add the cooked pasta and lastly add 2/3 of the warm eggplant cubes, stir well and turn off the heat. As ı mentioned before we add the eggpalnts in the very last moment so that they don't melt in the sauce. We don't want them to disappear! We can now serve our delicious pasta in large plates and put the rest of the eggplants on top of the pasta on each plate. So no one can complain that she/he cannot see the eggplants in our Penne A la Siciliana! If you also sprinkled the grated Parmesan Cheese on the top, then ı just say to you: Bon Appetit!

Love,
Revna





Wednesday, January 2, 2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR!







Yazmayalı epey oldu ... Yine ve yine bir ekran basına gecip de yayın hazırlicak vakti bulamadım! Ama görüyorum ki sevgili arkadasımız Lara da Amerikalarda bizimle aynı kaderi paylasıyor...

Yeah, it has been a while since ı didn't write. Again... But ı really couldn't find any time to sit in front of the computer and write a post! And ı notice that our friend from USA, Lara shares the same fate with me...

Neyse ki okulumun en çok sevdiğim yanlarından biri olan Noel Tatili hem su sınavlarla dolu robot hayattan sıyrılmama hem de bloga tekrar bir göz atmama imkan sagladı !

Thank God, ı had a Christmas Break for like ten days! ( Thats the most wonderful thing about my school. ) . So ı had plenty of time to get rid of this boring routine robot life ( which is full of hundreds of exams ) and to check our blog again ! 


Gelelim Noel Tatilinde neler yaptıgıma..
Lets see what ı have done in the break...

Aslında tatili bu sefer İstanbul'un sokaklarını tırım tırım dolanıp gecirmedim. Ev keyfi yaptım! Bol bol uyku, diziler filmler öyle gecip durdu. Tabii bu arada evde geleneksel Noel Partimiz verildi! Ardından ise Noel Kurabiyeleri yaparak yanında da Glühwein'ımızı ( Sıcak Şarap oluyor kendisi ) yudumlayarak harika bir gece daha geçirdik.

Actually ı didn't spend my time discovering new places in İstanbul. I stayed home and spent my time resting and watching some films.. Well ı missed that ! But of course we had our great traditional Christmas Party at home! And then we spent another great night baking some delicious Christmas Cookies and drinking our Glühwein   ( Hot Wine ) ! 

Evet, sizlerle henüz paylasabileceğim yeni bir kesfim olmayabilir, ama çok da güzel telafi etmeye hazırım!
Neyle mi? Tabii ki evdeki ' Mutfak kesifleri' mle !

Unfortunately ı don't have any new discoveries in the city to share with you , BUT ı will compensate !
With what? With my ' Kitchen Discoveries ' of course ! 

Öncelikle evdeki Noel atmosferinden bir takım kareler:
Lets begin with the Xmas Athmosphere we had at home:
















Mutfak Kesifleri 1 : Tabii ki NOEL KURABİYELERİ!
Kitchen Discoveries Part 1 : XMAS COOKIIIEEEES ! 

Gelelim nefis Yılbası Kurabiyeleri Tariflerine :
And here is the secret recipe of these yummy cookies :

Annemin Almanya'dan bir arkadası elinde tariflerle geldi bir aralık aksamı.
Biz de ısıttık sarapları, sıvadık kolları, malzemeleri de dizdik bir güzel, basladık kurabiye yapmaya!

A German friend of my mum came the last day with the recipes. So we warmed our wine, prepared the ingredients and started to bake !

İki geleneksel Noel Kurabiyesi yaptık: Biri bool tereyağlı vanilyalı ay seklinde kurabiyeler, biri de unsuz yağsız ama inanılmaz lezzetli almanların ' Lebkuchen ' dediği geleneksel Christmas kurabiyeleri.

So, we have this two traditional Xmas Cookies: One is with a lot of butter and vanilla aroma and shaped like moon. The other one contains no flour and butter but is still very delicious and light, which is the tradional christmas cookie of the German and called ' LEBKUCHEN' .

LEBKUCHEN İçin Gereken Malzemeler:

Ingredients for LEBKUCHEN:

Lebkuchen yapılırken hiç un , tereyağı kullanılmıyor. Dolayısıyla çok hafif ama inanılmaz lezzetli bir tatlı. Un yerine bol bol incecik kıyılmış badem ve ceviz içi kullanılıyor.

As ı said before, we don't use any butter or flour in this cookie. So its quite healthy and tastes really well. Instead of flour we use a lot of ground almonds and walnut.

MALZEMELER:



500 gr kıyılmış ceviz içi
300 gr kıyılmış badem 
125 gr orangenat
125 gr zitronat
(Bunlar hazır olarak satılan küçük küçük doğranmış şekerli kuru limon ve portakal parçaları)
400 gr şeker
1 tatlı kaşığı karanfil
1 tatlı kaşığı tarçın
5 yumurta
Birazcık rom



INGREDIENTS:
500 gr ground Walnut
300 gr ground almonds
125 gr orangenat
125 gr zitronat
(These are tiny chopped orange and lemon pieces, which you can fined them prepared in supermarkets)
400 gr sugar
1 tea spoon carnation
1 tea spoon cinnamon
5 eggs
a little bit rum



Nasıl yapılır?
Çok basit:

Bütün malzemeleri karıştırıyoruz! Tadarak biraz daha tarçın, rom ya da karanfil ekleyebilirsiniz. Sonra da top haline getirip yağlı fırın kağıdına diziyoruz. Ardından da 150 dereceye ayarladığımız önceden de bir güzel ısıttığımız fırına veriyoruz ! Yarım saat pişmeye bırakıyoruz. 

How to make it?
Very easy !

We just mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl and if we want, we can add some more cinnamon or rum. Then we make tiny balls of this mixture and lay them on the oven paper which we put on the baking tray. And we bake them for an half hour in the oven, which we preheated 150 Grad.










Ya sonra?
İsterseniz böyle bile afiyetle yiyebilirsiniz ama bunun esas usülü çikolata eritip bu pismis topların tepelerini de bir güzel çıkolataya batırıp soğumaya bırakmak.İşte o zaman nefis oluyor! 



And then?
Well these cookies taste delicious even after you just bake them. But the best way to eat these cookies is to melt some chocolate, dip the top of these cookies into this melted chocolate and then let them cool.









VE ŞİMDİ VANİLYALI LEZİZ NOEL KURABİYELERİ:

AND NOW YUMMY XMAS COOKIES WITH VANILLA AROMA:


MALZEMELER:

500 gr Un 
160 gr şeker
200 gr kıyılmış badem
2 vanilya özü veya 2 paket şekerli vanilin
4 yumurta sarısı
440 gr tereyağı





Nasıl yapılır?

Yine çok basit! Bütün malzemeleri karıştırıyoruz. Tadına bakarak biraz daha vanilya ya da tereyağı eklemek size kalmış. Ancak bu tarifi güzel yapan şey kesinlikle bol tereyağı ve vanilya aroması! O yüzden tereyağından kaçınmayın derim! Malzemeleri karıştırıp epey yoğurduktan sonra soğuk eller ile ( Hamur yapışmasın diye ) bir parça hamur ele alıp ay şekli veriyoruz ve yine fırın kağıdı koyduğumuz fırın tepsisine diziyoruz. 175 derece ısıttığımız fırında yaklaşık bir on dakika pişiriyoruz. Sonra da soğumaya bırakıyoruz ve üstüne pudra şekeri serpiyoruz.


Tarif çok basit , malzemeler de çok rahat bulunur. Tadı ise enfes ! Buram buram tereyağı ve vanilya kokan bu kurabiyeler resmen ağızda dağılıyor!

Our INGREDIENTS are:


560 gr flour
160 gr sugar
200 gr ground almonds
2 vanilla extract or 2 packets of vanilla powder
4 egg yolks
440 gr butter

How do we make it?
Also very simple !


We mix all the ingredients and if we want we can add a little bit more vanilla or butter. But the thing which makes these cookies so delicious is the butter. So don't hesitate to add butter ! After we mix all the ingredients and knead the dough very well we take to our cold hands ( So that the dough doesn't stick on our hands! ) a little bit of the mixture and make moon shaped cookies. We lay these cookies on to the oven paper and then on to the bake tray. And we bake them for about 10 minutes in the 175 Grad preheated oven. Finally we sprinkle some powdered sugar on the cookies!

Thats all ! Ingredients are very easy to find, how to make it is also very simple. And it tastes amazing ! These cookies with butter and vanilla smells AND tastes wonderful !