Should I break the big silence? I feel YES!
I'm so sorry for being such a lazy food blogger. I confess it's pure lazyness! I do cook, bake, travel, and write nothing on here about such an active life of mine. If you, my readers, have left me I will understand you. But please come back! I promise to write regularly from now on!
So what made me blog today?
The arrival of the great stuff!
Do you remember the contest held by Miranda a few months ago? As most of you know I was the winner of the contest. However Steve of the Boston Vanilla Bean Company was not able to send the package over-seas to me that time. I sometimes love the fast global system of te world. I simply arranged a Turkish friend of mine who lives in NYC to get the vanilla package and bring it to me when he visits Istanbul next time.
Last weekend, I and my husband, Feridun, held a weekend-trip to a Western Blacksea village, Safranbolu. Feridun's friends from his high school were attending to this trip, including Mehmet, the guy in NYC. So I finally reached my lovely vanillas!
A tube of five Mexican vanilla beans, a little box of ground bourbon vanilla beans, a bottle of pure Tahitian vanilla extract, and a bottle of pure vanilla paste!
Oh my! There are just a few scents that may seduce you to kitchen and vanilla is on the top list to me! As well as cinnamon, chocolate, and citrus zests!
Mehmet had another gift to me which I had also been waiting from him. A book of tea! Guys who read me regularly know my addiction of gourmet teas. So this book with tips of house blending, and recipes that contains tea is now another piece of my treasure among all tea books.
One last thing... Our second stop of the weekend trip was Amasra. A beautiful seaside town of Bartin. The tray with the handcrafted cloth attached on it is a local sample of handworks of Amasra. I bought two different design of it for my mom, and mom-in-law. There are so many handcraft goods to buy as a gift all around Turkey that may dazzle you! Now I need to go to kitchen before wrapping them.
Do you think that I could wait any longer to try my beautiful vanillas?!
A a 30-cm-of vanilla dough log is waiting in the fridge to be sliced and baked! Can't wait to inhale the scent which will soon fill my home! Don't worry... I'll share the recipe tomorrow.