Hafiz Mustafa Restaurant Review

Playing: Something Sometime-General Fiasco
Reading: Marie Antoinette Wikipedia Page

On one of our last nights in Istanbul, my family stopped by a popular bakery called Hafiz Mustafa, which was close to the water. My mum ordered a baked rice pudding, which was a tasty rice pudding with an interesting twist. The baked top added some texture and a burnt-in-a-good-way flavor much like roasted marshmallows.

Out of all the puddings, this white one was recommended to me by the worker. He also recommended the strawberry one, but I opted for the more foreign one, whose name I can't remember at the moment. It would've been better in a smaller portion, since the flavor was rather strong.

My dad ordered a type of kanafeh once again recommended by the servers to us. It was definitely a good choice due to the familiar baklava taste, but different in its noodle-like texture. It was foreign without being too unfamiliar for our limited knowledge of Turkish desserts.

My brother's dish was by far the best, being a baklava sampler plate. They had honey based baklava and milk baklava. I had never had milk baklava before my trip to Istanbul and I now prefer it over the honey version. Pretty much all of the dishes we had ordered were recommended to us by the waiters other than the rice pudding. All of the servers were extremely friendly and helpful, so in terms of service, this place was probably one of the best places. Also, this restaurant didn't have employees standing outside, trying to force you into their store unlike most stores, which is a major plus.

 My whole family also got a small cup of Turkish coffee, which in my opinion, tastes like extremely concentrated coffee. It's supposed to help with digestion, if I remember correctly. So, if you like your coffee on the bitter side, I recommend this. 

Lastly, this is a wonderful place to just sit and watch the world go by. I recommend the second level, so that you can get a view of the waterfront and of all the people passing by in front of you. It was interesting for me to see all of the different people walk by and to just see life happening. Really a beautiful way to end such a wonderful trip!

Clothing Haul

Playing: If You Leave-OMD
Reading: Alexander Wang Gang by Diane Von Fustenberg

Part of cleaning out my closet is building on to the areas I'm lacking such as non-t-shirt tops, so I went on a shopping spree recently to replace everything I've cleaned out. While at Barney's New York, my favorite department store, I tried on all this wonderful clothing and left with two pieces I'm really happy with. The Carven sweater is so cozy and warm. I like the shoulder details and how there are these red/maroon elbow pads. Also, the Timo Weiland polo is really cool because of the mullet hem and the pleats in the front and the back. However, it does behave like a mid-drift, so I guess I'll be partnering these with my high wasted jeans.

I also got a belt at Barney's, which is my first belt that I have not stolen from my mum or dad's closets. Yay, for advancing past stealing clothes from my parents? This is actually edgier than what I usually wear, so I'll have to find a use for it. I also need to punch a few more holes in to adjust for the fact I'm smaller than the average American.

At Urban Outfitters, I grabbed two tops from the "2 Tops for $24" section because my mum told me I needed shirts for bumming around in. The striped one will be great for my future circus outfit and for a Keroppi costume should I ever need either one. Then the mint one I got strictly because mint looks good on my skin tone and that's about it.

 I decided to jump on the band wagon for the wannabe indie trend of what I call, the mullet skirt. I've been drawing mullet skirts, since I was five, so I decided it was time to take advantage of these being everywhere and got one.

Finally at another store, I bought two black jackets to add to my jacket collection. Jackets are some of my favorite items to buy and I like to use them to dress up my look. The Jil Sander on the left is a rather thin parachute fabric jacket that adds polished edge to any outfit. I think I can wear it as a blouse too, if I want to. The Marc by Marc Jacobs on the right is a tad manly, but I still like it because it makes me feel tough, even though I'm rather weak. Overall, I just feel like jackets are great things to own, since I prefer cold weather and all...I really should try to resell my clothing that I'm cleaning out of my closet instead of giving it away.

Where do you like to shop and where do you resell your clothing?

Loves of My Life

Playing: Mr. Brightside-The Killers
Reading: The Chess Machine by Robert Lohr
Sometimes we all are down on our luck and sometimes life messes with our mind, leaving us feeling frustrated and even depressed. I'm sure most of us are occupied with jobs and/or school, which dominate our time and leave us feeling tired, but I think it's important to take a look at the things you love once in awhile to brighten your day. So here's my list of things I love and these can almost always brighten my day.

 

Handsome Men-Being a single girl, I do enjoy the faces of the opposite gender and talk about guys a lot with my friends. For me, I like musicians, models, a designer, (a limited amount of) actors, and princes. I suppose musicians and actors are common interest for girls, but how many girls actually like a model or a designer? In fact, my interest in models, designers, and princes has helped me receive much teasing from my friends. The other thing that gets me teased is the fact that I never go, "OMG, THEY'RE SO HOT!" I always describe men as handsome, gorgeous, cute, beautiful, and/or have wonderful facial features.

Prabal Gurung S/S 2012

Fashion-You've probably figured this out already, but I love fashion. I know that all girls like fashion to a certain extent, but most of their fashion knowledge extends to Forever 21 and H&M only, while I like to watch fashion shows online and go to style.com all the time. I currently subscribe to Vogue, Elle, W, People:Style Watch, and Harper's Bazaar for my fashion fix. Not to mention, I also receive Gucci look books in the mail and whenever I receive a look book or a magazine in the mail, I always get super excited for them. Also, I like to dress up for school because one must always dress nicely, even if it's just out of courtesy to others.

Foie Gras at Marche Moderne

Food-I enjoy foods from all over the world and it really doesn't matter to me whether it's French, Japanese, Peruvian, or anything else because I'm willing to give it a shot at least once. Not only do I enjoy eating, but I also cook with my family every weekend and for my friends occasionally. Most of my favorite TV shows are either fashion shows or on the Food Network. At lunch, everyone at my table will be talking about the new Pretty Little Liars episode and I'll be wondering if anyone saw the new Chopped.

Venice 2009

Traveling-Tying in with my love for foreign foods is my love for traveling. I have been to Mexico, China, Japan, Ireland, Costa Rica, England, Italy, Turkey, all over the USA, and will be going to Spain this summer, I believe. I absolutely can't get enough of Europe and I plan on visiting many more European countries within the future.

Magic-Growing up with Tim Burton, Disney, and many novels, I have always been a fan of magic and whimsy. It might not be the kind that Harry Potter can do, but it's certainly something we can all find in our lives. Whether it's going on an adventure, the circus, the city, or just lights, there is magic and sometimes magic comes in the form of beauty. I think the best part of this is that it can be found in the small things we do and I just like to find whimsy in my life whenever I can.  I would like to know what you love and what can make you smile whenever and wherever you are. It can be something silly or something deep, I just want to know. Life is a gift and in the wise words of Andrew McMahon, "This is to the world and how God damn beautiful it is."

What do you love?

Fast Times with Chelcee

Playing: Godless Girl-The Crookes
Reading: The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

Chelcee and I do a lot of stupid stuff together. Last Friday, we hung out with each other for pretty much the whole day. During lunch, she allowed me to draw a top hat wearing, mustached whale on her arm, since top hats on whales with mustaches are very in vogue right now. This sparked the idea that drawing all over Chelcee's arms was acceptable at our lunch table, so she left the table with multiple whales on her arms.

After school, I went over to Chelcee's house to cook with her before we sat down to watch the Adjustment Bureau, which was actually very interesting. I now want to travel strictly by doors. Anyways, you can see me here cutting up pancetta like a pro chef with my now stripey hair. This is what all the cool kids are doing. All of them.

Part of being friends with me or any of my friends is having the ability to parody those "artsy people" online. "Look how deep this photo of the eggs is! So artsy and cool, right?" we'll all chime in, when looking at this photo. But seriously, there's nothing artsy about the eggs we're about to stick in our instant ramen.

Once we were done cooking our chicken instant noodle with green onions and eggs plus our mi goreng with pancetta and green onions, we moved all our food and juice into her room and balanced everything on a mini table. Such fine dining for us, huh? We each got our own bowl of instant noodles, but shared the mi goreng. I have decided that we are the definition of healthy eating. We have our starches, our veggies, our fruits in the form of juice, and our protein. All we need it some dairy and we're good.

Once we were done feasting upon our delicious meal of instant noodles, we snacked on shrimp crackers while watching the movie. We were actually watching the movie as a makeup class for confirmation. Even though at the end, I had to answer question on how this movie compared to Catholic beliefs, I really enjoyed the movie. It sparked some new ideas in my head and I shall try to get my hand on one of the Adjustment Bureau's hats. (Watch the movie and then I'm sure you'll understand!) Now that I think about it, Chelcee and I have a lot of movie nights together and we both love pretending to be artsy together. Then again, isn't that what friends are for?

PS The title is a play on Fast Times at Barrington High, an album by The Academy Is...