Humaine Society Int'l or The Animal Rescue Site

My dear sweet friend Helka came back from Finland and brought me goodies :) Home-made and hand coloured by her nephew Jenni :)

And a picture of my Xmas shopping from the local charities :)

It's been raining since last night ... And I had a wonderful walk for an hour, with the rain :)

Our territory's exit is through a water course which runs with heavy rain and today it is one of those days that if we have not moved the car across, we are stuck :) However, well equipped ... We both have the fishing waders that we use if we need to cross the running stream. The highest depth gets up to max 1 m (about 39 inches). And even I, with my very short size, manage to reach the next territory with success :) Somehow they only sell the men size and the waders start at foot size 41. I am 36 ... So before waring them, I put real thick wool socks on to cover the gap :) Next step is to wear something over to keep me warm and on top, nylon poncho to keep me dry. Then here I am like a rambo caricature :)

Today was not as bad but pictures below are from the rain two weeks ago! This only happens two or three times a year, so we usually are OK driving in and out :) Below is the stream neighbouring our territory.

Our dogs all puzzled with the surrounding water! This is a first since the over six years that we've been living here.

We do not have much choices here other than DMC and Anchor. These two companies are the dominant distributors in Turkey and the national embroiderers do not get to learn of the other brands and their products. Among those that are not available in this country, the Caron Collection is my favourate. I was able to get some during my visit to Holland last year and about a week ago, got some from UK and USA. Looking forward to receiving them from the US, below are the eleven wonders I recently received :)

I took my camera to repairs this morning and was very happy to learn that it is a minor problem. So I did not even have to wait. The gentleman there, just sprayed something on the switch and miracle ... It started working :)

I also went to a beadshop not far from where I parked and got some big wooden beads to make my beaded beads and mother-of-pearl buttons to use with my Grün ist die Hoffnung. Did not get much of a chance to work with it though.

Samplers

Today went to the post office and happily received my two new samplers :) First one dated 1889, arrived all the way from the US. The second one is a 1852 sampler, came from Holland but is French.

Though quite cold, wonderful day today ... A snapshot from our patio ... My flu is losing its strength but is now trying to seduce my dear husband who is still trying to recover from his surgery after breaking his leg from four points (early November last year). Still on crutches and needs another full month to be back to normal.

I am determined to madly work on my Grün ist die Hoffnung and complete it soon. It really is not pleasant to have WIPs lying around :) If I exclude the one on needles now, there are four more squares to knit and then will have to find a nice edging for the final touch.

My dear digital camera is not working any more :( The recent pictures are taken with hubby's camera and I am not as happy with the results as mine. I believe it is something that could be fixed by someone who knows what he's doing. Shall need to take it to the repairs sometime very soon ...

I love hot hot peppers ... Red or green, I love them! I use them with almost all my meals (accept breakfast). That is why I always keep buying even if I have enough stock at home. Here is a group of my dried and crushed red peppers :)

The very far left jar is from Urfa, a town in South-eastern Turkey and is called "isot". These are considered to be the best. The colour is almost black made from a special regional pepper but not enough hot to my taste. The second left is commercial and is not hot either. The third is from a local farmer who raised and dried them himself. Once they process the dried peppers, I hear they add oil to extend durability. The forth one, believe it or not, is from Sweden and is called "chili explosion" and does not deserve the name. And finally, the very far right is crushed in blender by myself and chiliest and yummiest of all. I have been drying the peppers since early September and was hoping to crumble them but they still are not enough dry to be able to do that. So comes to help; the technology :)

Then I have this Cajun Seasoning from Louisiana ... Nice paprika hot taste but too salty!

I also pickle the peppers and not many brave men can possibly eat them.

Last autumn I also pickled unripe melons. And they turned out yummy :)

And some nice pictures from a pickle stand in a local market in Istanbul, Tuzla.

I am wondering if you are drooling while looking at these pictures :)

Saint-Valentine

Got the flu last Thursday ... Two of the ladies had it so I had to have it :) Am having a moderate one though it's like little creatures are jumping up and down in my nose and am constantly sneezing. Could not have possibly postponed it another day so worked almost all day trying to figure out what I could give my dear members for their St Valentine stitching. I am quite pleased with the outcome and do hope they'll like it too :)

The PDF can be downloadad at

http://www.pelintezer.com/

Nothing much to report today ... Am slowly losing the battle against the flu ... Am determined to finish my "Grün ist die Hoffnung" and have been knitting across tv almost all day while enjoying the sound of the continuous rain outside. I love it :)

Pasture

Wonderful day today and I tied the dogs for a while and let the cats out to pasture :)

I was also looking for a ginger biscuit recipe and decided to try the first among zillions available on the web. Substituted shortening with butter ... Hubby loved them :)

 

• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger 
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 3/4 cup shortening 
• 1 cup white sugar 
• 1 egg 
• 1/4 cup dark molasses 
• 1/3 cup cinnamon sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Sift the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir the mixture to blend evenly, and sift a second time into another bowl.
3. Place the shortening into a mixing bowl and beat until creamy. Gradually beat in the white sugar. Beat in the egg, and dark molasses. Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture into the shortening mixture; stir to thoroughly blend. Sift in the remaining flour mixture, and mix together until a soft dough forms. Pinch off small amounts of dough and roll into 1 inch diameter balls between your hands. Roll each ball in cinnamon sugar, and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
4. Bake in preheated oven until the tops are rounded and slightly cracked, about 10 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack. Store in an air tight container.

IKEA

It was constantly raining while driving to IKEA ... Many would think it too much to drive three hours each way but we left early in the morning and managed to arrive back a little after real dark and had a very nice day with delicious lunch. I ended up buying a lovely little wooden chiffoniere and even managed to mount it myself this morning. Just need to decide if I want it polished or painted. This time managed to maintain a civilized level of shopping.

Please CLICK ...

... it is free and noble. Just a few seconds of 86,400 seconds of the day for a good cause.

Animal Rescue Site

Big Cat Rescue

Rainforest

Care

Speculaas

Prepared four sets of speculaas (pumpkin pie spice) for the ladies of the Thursday workshop. I prepared my speculaas mix with eight different spices :

Anise

Cardamom

Cinnamon

Cloves

Coriander

Ginger

Nutmeg

White Pepper

I also printed out a recipe each of the speculaas cookies which are also known as "windmill cookies" and attached them to the mixes.

Tomorrow is IKEA day ... My very first one ... We shall be driving three hours to get there. Look around, buy loads of stuff that we may need and we will probably not need at all, have lunch, do a bit of more shoping and head back. We shall be four and indeed an interesting quad. I only know the German lady (Helga) who organized it, then there is a Turkish gentleman and an Austrian lady, all Helga's friend but none knows me and each other. I shall be driving :)

And here is the progress of my recent hand-weaving!