A bit of catching up to do here, been distracted by a few things recently including power cuts and storms that dampen the enthusiasm a bit. One of the things I like about the weather here is that it will rain like hell for a few days then clear up and be sunny and warm(ish). Today started well but it looks as though some rain is going to arrive before long.
A while ago I got a little Sony Vaio computer, a bit like a net book but not, if you see what I mean. Well now I have my Samsung smart phone I can get emails and access the internet anywhere there is a mobile phone signal so I was wondering what to do with the Vaio. Then I had an idea and hooked it up to my guitar amplifier and accessed BBC Radio 2, now I am sitting here having the delight of listening to Terry Wogan. Some may not be as delighted as me.
Three weeks ago I harvested the olives, I have two trees but only one had olives in it, the other one is too small yet. I got 1.6kg off it and asked Suleyman’s wife Hatice how to prepare them to be edible. I tried one once straight off the tree and nearly made myself sick. So they are now marinading in salt and with another couple of changes of salt to come they should be ready in another six weeks or so. That’ll save me buying any this year.
My New Year’s resolution this year is to take more photographs so I had a drive down to Buyuk Çakıl (Big Pebble) beach to take a few. It looks quite inviting but the water was pretty cold, a couple of the bars/restaurants were open though. Afterwards I went over to the other side of the town to the theatre.
I’ve been told that I shouldn’t call it an amphitheatre because they are completely round and the semi-circular type are correctly called theatres, I didn’t know that. Well ours has had some restoration work done on it since I last saw it, a few people were very upset and disappointed to see concrete in the restoration and let the world know about it too. Personally I don’t think it looks that bad, at least they used white concrete which fits in with the rest of the colour and at least it’s safe from falling down and hurting someone. Actually I doubt many people would even realise it was concrete.
Yesterday I made a couple of cakes, banana and yoghurt. The flour looked a bit unusual and upon inspection it turns out that I should pay more attention when I pick up things in shops because it wasn’t ordinary flour but wholemeal. Both cakes turned out well although with a bit more of a texture than they would normally have. Actually I think I like it more but I need an independent tester to check them out for me before I rewrite the recipe, any volunteers?
Jan. 20th, 2013 San Jose, California
Hi Chris, thanks for the update. The photos look very good. You have an excellent camera. The close-up of the cake looks like a photo in a food magazine, the detail and the color is that good. For the olives, use sea-salt and more of it; you need to leach the bitterness out of them.
I’ve been hard at work on my fiction. An editor friend suggested I polish up my Raj romance that had been languishing. So I got going on that. Then we decided to put together a collection of my short stories and put it up on the web. So I got going on that. The short story collection is ready and we finally have a title and a cover-picture (after many false starts and missteps). It will be called “The Jeweled Web” Stories of delusions and desires by Javaid Qazi. You should see it on Amazon and other web sites in a a couple of weeks. Watch for it.
Fine weather here in San Jose. Blues skies and intensely warm sunshine. The silver birches and crepe myrtles are all bare now. But already I can see tiny new leaves beginning to emerge. The miracle of spring.
Take care. Hope to see you this summer. Cordially, Javaid Qazi.
Chris,
You take great photos, do you have a more extensive online photo album? That would be nice to see. Next time you bake a cake, heat the kettle for coffee and give me a call, I will be pleased to test it for you.
Thanks Javaid, be sure to call me when you come to Turkey, I’ll email my phone numbers.
Thanks John, no I don’t have an album publicly available online.
Hello, Chris here is the URl to my new collection of short stories:
My new short story collection: http://www.amazon.com/Jeweled-Web-Stories-Delusions-ebook/dp/B00B4LCC5A/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359401983&sr=1-4#reader_B00B4LCC5A
My Profile on Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jqazi
My Blog: http://javaidqaziblaguer.wordpress.com/
My Facebook URL:http://www.facebook.com/javaid.qazi#!/
Javaid Qazi
1131 Telfer Avenue
San Jose, CA 95125 USA
Mobile Phone: (408)833-8481
Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2013 13:02:01 +0000
To: alumclara@hotmail.com
Thanks Javaid, I’ll go and have a look.