Sound Track Of My Life (part 9)
"Olio Restaurant" opposite the Apollo Temple in Didim
"Umbrella" - Rihanna
You know how every summer, usually when you go on holiday, there's one song that seems to get played everywhere you go?
uh huh! Well,Umbrella was it, in 2007
It was in May, 2007 that Rob and I and our Labrador, Sam moved to our new home in Turkey. We lived in a small Turkish community called Uslu.
Uslu (pronounced "ew slew") is situated half way between the Large cosmopolitan holiday resort of Altinkum and Akbuk, a town which, although spread over quite a large area, has a very small town centre and is almost deserted outside of July and August, which is when Turkish families take their holidays .
Turkish families are sensible, in that they sleep for most of the day when it is unbearably hot and come out in the late afternoon to take a dip in the sea (which, by the way, is so warm, it's barely refreshing!)
At night, the Turkish holiday makers set off to the bars and restaurants and sea front amusements at about 11.pm and then return to their villas to sit on their terraces until daybreak, playing a game called Okey.
Okey is a game similar to the card game Rummy but is has numbered and coloured tiles like in the game of scrabble.
All around, through the night in the summer you can hear the click click click of the Okey tiles being shuffled along their small plastic shelves. Not much talking or laughing - just click click click from all the neighbours' terraces!
However, come September, it all goes quiet. You wake up one morning and everyone has gone! Well all the Turkish holiday makers anyway. Obviously some people live there all year round.
And then the British tourists arrive. September is probably the most popular time of year with the visiting Brits. The climate is perfect and the sea is lovely and warm from having several months of hot sun beating down on it.
October is a very pleasant month too, although there's the chance of rain then.
November too is nice and warm during the day but the nights can be cold. However get Christmas out of the way and the Turkish weather can be quite nasty!
Man - when it rains, it rains! We don't get rain like that in Britain. A thunder storm can go on for days. Spectacular but annoying. The road surfaces are guaranteed to get washed away and long power cuts are the norm when it rains. In fact, power cuts are the norm when it's very hot too!
Ah well, in the words of Mrs Anna, " Just Whistle A Happy Tune!"
Once winter arrives, by about 9pm, there is actually nothing but tumbleweed to be seen, rolling across the deserted roads. It can be quite eerie.
Most of the restaurants and bars will have closed. Maybe one or two will stay open for the British expats and there will be the odd couple of cay rooms where the Turkish men gather to watch football or talk and argue about politics. (Cay is Turkish tea.)
During the summers, we had lots of visits from our family and friends so there was plenty of fun to be had, taking our guests out to see the local places of interest and enjoying the sunshine but once the summer had gone it got quite boring unless we made our own entertainment.
My chum Nancy rang me one day and told me that a restaurant in Altinkum was starting a weekly cookery class. We thought it would be fun and fill a dull afternoon once a week and who knows, we might even learn something!
Olio restaurant was, and as far as I know, still is, owned by a Dutch lady called Carolla. Her style of cuisine is Mediterranean and the restaurant has a very good reputation.
On the first lesson, we learnt what we could expect from the rest of the cookery course. There were about eight of us in the class and we were guided through the cooking of three courses, by Carolla and her chef friend who's name I'm ashamed to say I forget just now. Having cooked the first course we would sit and eat it together in the lovely cosy dining room, before moving back into the kitchen to cook the next part of the lunch.
With each plate of food, we sampled different wines that Carolla recommended and as Turkish wine can be a bit iffy and not very cheap, it was a great way to try before you buy!
Naturally we were a bit tipsy by the time we were ready to go home and definitely not feeling inclined to cook for our loved ones when we arrived home!
It was about a twenty minutes drive to home and luckily we persuaded Rob to come and pick us up.
Every time I got in the car that year, all through the summer and winter too, whichever radio station I tuned into, they would always play Rihanna's "Umbrella".
I liked the song in the beginning but eventually I got sick and tired of hearing it everywhere I went.
I will always think of Carolla and Nancy and those cookery lessons when I hear "Umbrella".
I must say, when we were full of wine and food, the song was far less annoying, I think we even sang it on our way home!
You know how every summer, usually when you go on holiday, there's one song that seems to get played everywhere you go?
uh huh! Well,Umbrella was it, in 2007
It was in May, 2007 that Rob and I and our Labrador, Sam moved to our new home in Turkey. We lived in a small Turkish community called Uslu.
Uslu (pronounced "ew slew") is situated half way between the Large cosmopolitan holiday resort of Altinkum and Akbuk, a town which, although spread over quite a large area, has a very small town centre and is almost deserted outside of July and August, which is when Turkish families take their holidays .
Turkish families are sensible, in that they sleep for most of the day when it is unbearably hot and come out in the late afternoon to take a dip in the sea (which, by the way, is so warm, it's barely refreshing!)
At night, the Turkish holiday makers set off to the bars and restaurants and sea front amusements at about 11.pm and then return to their villas to sit on their terraces until daybreak, playing a game called Okey.
Okey is a game similar to the card game Rummy but is has numbered and coloured tiles like in the game of scrabble.
All around, through the night in the summer you can hear the click click click of the Okey tiles being shuffled along their small plastic shelves. Not much talking or laughing - just click click click from all the neighbours' terraces!
However, come September, it all goes quiet. You wake up one morning and everyone has gone! Well all the Turkish holiday makers anyway. Obviously some people live there all year round.
And then the British tourists arrive. September is probably the most popular time of year with the visiting Brits. The climate is perfect and the sea is lovely and warm from having several months of hot sun beating down on it.
October is a very pleasant month too, although there's the chance of rain then.
November too is nice and warm during the day but the nights can be cold. However get Christmas out of the way and the Turkish weather can be quite nasty!
Man - when it rains, it rains! We don't get rain like that in Britain. A thunder storm can go on for days. Spectacular but annoying. The road surfaces are guaranteed to get washed away and long power cuts are the norm when it rains. In fact, power cuts are the norm when it's very hot too!
Ah well, in the words of Mrs Anna, " Just Whistle A Happy Tune!"
Once winter arrives, by about 9pm, there is actually nothing but tumbleweed to be seen, rolling across the deserted roads. It can be quite eerie.
Most of the restaurants and bars will have closed. Maybe one or two will stay open for the British expats and there will be the odd couple of cay rooms where the Turkish men gather to watch football or talk and argue about politics. (Cay is Turkish tea.)
During the summers, we had lots of visits from our family and friends so there was plenty of fun to be had, taking our guests out to see the local places of interest and enjoying the sunshine but once the summer had gone it got quite boring unless we made our own entertainment.
My chum Nancy rang me one day and told me that a restaurant in Altinkum was starting a weekly cookery class. We thought it would be fun and fill a dull afternoon once a week and who knows, we might even learn something!
Olio restaurant was, and as far as I know, still is, owned by a Dutch lady called Carolla. Her style of cuisine is Mediterranean and the restaurant has a very good reputation.
On the first lesson, we learnt what we could expect from the rest of the cookery course. There were about eight of us in the class and we were guided through the cooking of three courses, by Carolla and her chef friend who's name I'm ashamed to say I forget just now. Having cooked the first course we would sit and eat it together in the lovely cosy dining room, before moving back into the kitchen to cook the next part of the lunch.
With each plate of food, we sampled different wines that Carolla recommended and as Turkish wine can be a bit iffy and not very cheap, it was a great way to try before you buy!
Naturally we were a bit tipsy by the time we were ready to go home and definitely not feeling inclined to cook for our loved ones when we arrived home!
It was about a twenty minutes drive to home and luckily we persuaded Rob to come and pick us up.
Every time I got in the car that year, all through the summer and winter too, whichever radio station I tuned into, they would always play Rihanna's "Umbrella".
I liked the song in the beginning but eventually I got sick and tired of hearing it everywhere I went.
I will always think of Carolla and Nancy and those cookery lessons when I hear "Umbrella".
I must say, when we were full of wine and food, the song was far less annoying, I think we even sang it on our way home!
