It is the first week of Spring in Istanbul and I have never quite felt the season like I do this time around. I’ve always said that Spring has never evoked any type of emotions or brought me any sense of ambiance. It has always been an extremely neutral season for me, the barely alive time when you’re just waiting for summer to roll around.
This year everything has changed and I believe it all started with a strawberry lemon loaf. There was something so magical about cutting up fresh strawberries and getting my first whiff, literally, of the end of winter. The sweet and citrusy smells made me feel like opening the windows and drinking tea in the sunlight, so that’s exactly what I did.
While I think that the strawberry lemon cake got me started, it’s definitely not where it ended. That little whiff, that little piece of heaven inspired me to begin using seasonal fruits and vegetables so it was full of strawberries galore. I crocheted a strawberry cow, I made strawberry lemonade and strawberry shortcake. I even taught myself to make strawberry jam which my husband and I ate for breakfast with hot bread from the bakery. Just the thought of it makes me feel all warm inside.
The arrival of Spring has brought me so much peace and contentment that I just had to share the joy with you. Each day has been filled with sunny blue skies and chilly air with a crispness that makes you want to take a long, deep breath. You get that sensation of cool air traveling down your throat, filling your lungs and you feel a sense of rejuvenation.
Typically, I romanticize autumn to death. It’s a time of snuggling up and closing in, almost like a cozy huddle. Spring, as I’ve realized for the first time, has that romantic feeling but in an outwards direction. You want to open up, let the light in, feel the breeze, and go out to smell the flowers.
Today started off like any typical morning. I had my coffee with my book and my journal. Then I started in on my blog until Mustafa woke up for breakfast. I made fresh strawberry jam for the fourth day in a row and we are still dying over it. Strawberry aromas waft through every corner of the house. It feels like home and warmth to me. Nurturing, if I can describe it that way.
After Mustafa went to work I taught my routine Saturday English lesson and followed it up with a bit of light reading in the Turkish version of Harry Potter. The sun shone in on the couch and I took as many deep breaths as I could while diving into the Turkish world of wizards. Not very Spring-like, but it’s my language habit I try to keep up with.
Nothing says Spring like spring cleaning. I didn’t quite do that, but I did a lighter version of it. I opened the windows and did some vacuuming because I was craving freshness. The freshness you get from cool running water. So, I decided to wash the balcony before hanging out my freshly washed laundry. There is something about the smell of fresh laundry in crisp, bright air that I can’t get enough of. The sunlight was incredibly warm and the little gusts of cold wind made it even more refreshing and light.
After washing the balcony and hanging out the laundry, I made myself a cup of rooibos tea and helped myself to the last piece of Orange cake I made for Mustafa’s birthday. I can only attempt to describe how lovely this was. I had my hot tea and my cake while I read a few chapters of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. Nothing romanticizes the day like a romance book and a cup of tea. Cake, tea, Jane Austen, you get the picture. I’m aware of how ridiculous this may sound. I have never been a romance novel girl, but don’t knock it till you try it.
Unsurprisingly, this moment of bliss inspired me to try my hand at making sourdough bread, which starts by making a sourdough starter. All it is is water and flour, which I added to an old pickle jar. Ever since my success at strawberry jam, I’ve been dreaming of making a variety of fresh jams and eating them with fresh sourdough until our bellies are full and we just lounge around in bliss. So, this is my attempt at making that a reality. We will see what happens.
This is also when I decided to check on the grocery store-bought mint I propagated a few days ago. Something gave me the idea to grow an indoor herb and I had read that mint was super easy. To my surprise, you CAN propagate store-bought mint, as long as it has stems of course. It has been roughly 4 days and you can see how much the roots have grown. I absolutely love having this in my kitchen. I love being able to touch it anytime I want and getting a blast of fresh mint to the nose. Again, so refreshing.
With this next one, I might turn into that annoying productive person, but I didn’t have to cook today because I had leftovers. So, after facetiming the family, I decided to bake traditional South African buttermilk rusks and I made half of them muesli. If you don’t know what rusks are, they are similar to biscotti. Essentially a dried sweet biscuit that you dip in tea or coffee and it is divine. I haven’t made rusks in quite some time and one thing that worries me is the fact that you have to leave them in the oven overnight at a low temperature to dry them out after baking. A younger, less worried me didn’t mind this and wasn’t the least bit concerned. These days, I think I’ll just wait until they are done instead of going to sleep with the oven running.
They were in the oven while I was writing this, so I may have burned them on the bottom just a tad. But not to worry - rusks are so good you won’t notice.
The whole house smells like sweet biscuits and now I get to decide how I want to end my day. Of course crochet will be involved. I have a very exciting piece I’ve been working on for a few weeks that is coming together beautifully. I love times like these when you get to choose what happens next. Since I am feeling so whimsical, I think I may put on a movie for once and get lost in the story - have a glass of wine and wait for my rusks to be ready.
Here’s to a Spring full of days like this.
Update: We woke up the next morning jumping out of bed to eat the rusks and they didn't disappoint. It took me right back to my childhood, sitting on my parent's bed on Sunday mornings. I'm so glad I decided to make these and I couldn't be happier with the results.
Took me back to my parents house too! Mum always made her own jams.