Happy Birthday

little sista! I wish I could be there with you today. Some words of advice from an older, wiser, literally bigger big sister: Don't put all your candy in one basket and always eat the best ones first.

That lovin' feeling

Last night I had a very romantic dinner with my friend allicat. I mean it had all the makings for a romantic evening: Oysters on the half-shell (shucked by moi!), light salad, baguette and herbed goat-cheese, and bud light. Except Allicat is one of my oldest friends, the kind of friend you fart and pick your wedgies in front of, the kind of friend who so kindly does not point out how hippocritical it is that last month you were on a health kick and dragged her to a raw-food restaurant and now you're drinking and smoking and the like, the kind of friend who is not so easily wooed by said aphrodesiac menu. Shucking oysters is no easy task, I tell you and to quote Allicat's fiancee, "It was a brave brave man who first tasted oysters". I'm not sure if he was referring to the fact that only a lunatic would look at an oyster, a seemingly ordinary rocklike formation, and think Hey, maybe I'll just bash this rock open and see if there is anything inside of it to eat. Perhaps even crazier is the wherewithal to taste what was discovered inside which, I suppose, does kinda resemble parts of the female anatomy. Allicat and I had a long discussion about this and other things pertaining to sex and "sexy" foods and we concluded after ingesting all 20 oysters and a couple beers that we were simply full and bloated and felt in no way horny or sexy. Still, the oysters tasted amazing and maybe the real point is that if you need a slimy, grey mollusk to get you going, you got way bigger problems than a friday night with no date.

21 year olds don't lie...

This weekend I attended my baby brother's 21st birthday libations at his amazingly grown-up apartment in Berkeley. There was a hookah, tequila shots and a jug of Carlo Rossi Sangria. The best part of the evening was when several of brother's friends made me show them my ID because they didn't believe that a) I was M's oldest sister and b) that I was so not 17. There was also a scenic drive round east oakland searching for a taco truck. Also, pretty sure I was on drunk dial duty, as usual. apologies to those who received enlightened phone calls at 3 am (or later)

Does this turn you on?

I know I am late to jump on the "food porn" bandwagon but I would like to stand my ground on the fact that I truly believe myself to be a pioneer of the food tv obsessed. Just ask any of my college roomates who thought I was crazy for waking up at 9 am on a Saturday to watch Yan Can Cook on PBS. Sadly, I have abandoned PBS for the flashier, bigger budgets of the Food Network and the exquisite lighting and auditory satisfaction of Giada De Laurentis' chopping block. Now that everyone and their mother is "obsessed" with the food network, I have decided that my work here is done and I might now attempt actually making food instead of watching people do it. I believe the desire to cook and nest is a sign of ageing. This was my first attempt at a real meal pour moi. Everything here was purchased at Trader Joes for less than a Hendricks dirty martini at RegBevWil. Was it as sastifying? I'm not so sure. But at least I can remember what I did that night.

August 25-28 Almila Cruise

The cruise - never had so much fun doing so little, and that's saying a lot coming from me...

My feet were pretty much in this position all day every day

when we stopped to swim...

driving the boat under the watchful eye of capt. stumpy

There was also this little dinghy. Only special people were allowed for a ride with the captain. Special people who bought him beer

South African accountants on our boat. They didn't drink. or smoke. or swear even.

mum's parasailing adventure

Efes Beer. I think this picture is taken at noon.

Camp shot

August 24 Capaddocia - Fethiye (via overnight bus)

This was quite possibly one of the longest days of the trip. We woke up at 4 am for a morning hot air balloon ride, which even these pics do very little justice and had ourselves our very own mini bus and tour guide drive us to ALL the Unesco World Heritage sites (there were many) before boarding and overnight bus to the coast on Army Draft night....





They needed extra weight to pack down the balloon into it's carrying case...


Yunus, our tour guide

A congregation of men dancing in the parking lot of the bus depot. We boarded our bus wondering why there was such a celebration on a thursday evening. After young lad after young lad filed onto our bus, some with red rimmed eyes and other's laughing and eating chips and gossiping loudly in turkish, we began to surmise that perhaps it was draft night for the army. Turkey's army is compulsory and I have no words to explain the kind of celebration, for lack of a better word, that ensued at every bus station we stopped at picking up boys along the way until our bus was packed full of eager patriots. It was touching at first, to see an entire village come to the bus stop to send off the boys but after a couple of them became enamored with my very cute sister it began to seem like a very long night was ahead of us. And so it was.

August 23 Istanbul-Cappadocia

We finally fly Turkish airlines to Kayseri airport. Then it's another 2 hours by car to get to our Cave Hotel in Urgup
Best Hotel Ever - Yunak Evleri Our Cave Room

Miss November?
We spent 2.5 hours in this carpet shop haggling with Orhan, the salesman. But now we all have pretty authentico Turkish Kilims that smell musty like this shop and will always remind us shewannabecools that no matter what will come between us, shopping will always bring us back together.
a romantical dinner