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Ozlem’s Turkish Table Cookery Book

Ozlem’s Turkish Table upcoming events, Signed copies until 16th April!

Merhaba dear All;

 

Signing Ozlem’s Turkish Table copies at Aromas Cafe

It’s been a very busy and special few weeks; my cookery book Ozlem’s Turkish Table, Recipes from My Homeland arrived last month and I have been very busy signing over 600 copies – and counting – I have been incredibly touched by your kindness and very warm messages upon receiving your copies, my sincere thanks to you all. This special book has been my dream in the making over 10 years and it is so special to have the hard copy being delivered to you all. Deadline to pre-order a signed copy of Ozlem’s Turkish Table with 10 % discount  is 16th April (please enter promo code Pre-Order Special or Subscriber Voucher at the check out to get the 10 % discount). If you’d like to have a signed copy, please kindly order at this link, my sincere  thanks to you all. Pre-ordered copies are all on the way; most of them already reached and some more on the way, I do hope you all enjoy your copies.

Ozlem’s Turkish Table cookery class at Divertimenti Cookery School

So far, we hosted a wonderful Turkish food event at the Riverhouse Barn Art Center in Walton – Surrey, a very special book signing at the lovely Aromas Artisan Cafe and a delicious Vegetarian Feast Turkish cookery class at the Divertimenti Cookery School in London, with recipes from my cookery book, Ozlem’s Turkish Table. I have more cookery classes coming up at Divertimenti, on June 23rd a hands on Turkish Meze class and on July 22nd, I will be teaching a  Parent & Teen – Eastern Mediterrannean Baking class at Divertimenti. Please see my Cookery Classes page for the details and I hope to see you there. My sincere thanks goes to Pinar, for their support to spread the word on Turkish cuisine and my cookery book, Ozlem’s Turkish Table.

Milk Street Radio – Boston, USA podcast

Milk Street Radio Station podcast interview

We had a delightful hour long recorded podcast interview with Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio in Boston, USA. I talked about my homeland, my roots Antakya, the southern Turkish cuisine, my book Ozlem’s Turkish Table and many more. The podcast will be aired in mid May, I will keep you posted with the link and I hope you enjoy it.

Anglo- Turkish Society Review and Ozlem’s Turkish Table book talk- Royal Anthropological Institute – London, May 17th, 6pm

I was honored to be invited by the Anglo-Turkish Society to give a talk on Turkish cuisine and introduce my cookery book Ozlem’s Turkish Table at the Royal Anthropological Institute on May 17th. Please book your spot at this link, if you’d like to join us.

Anglo-Turkish Society also did a wonderful interview with me and reviewed my book Ozlem’s Turkish Table, you can read at this link if you’d like.

Ozlem’s Turkish Table is coming to Turkey!

Ozlem’s Turkish Table Cookery Book – available to order here

I am so excited to be coming home, Turkey end April to introduce my book to all Turkish food lovers. This is land that inspires and long to come back. I will be meeting Turkish food lovers and signing the copies of Ozlem’s Turkish Table between 30th April through 6th May. I am still working on the schedule and will confirm the final details but so far the schedule is as below, please save the dates and I do hope to meet you in one of the venues:

Istanbul:

I will be signing copies of  Ozlem’s Turkish Table on 30th April, May 5th and May 6th in Istanbul. I am still working on the venues and will announce here as soon as possible, please kindly save the dates.  On 3oth April, between 4pm – 8pm, I will be signing at the lovely Zen Seramics Atelier in Galata – Istanbul. Adress: Hoca Ali Sokak No:17 A Galata / Beyoğlu / İSTANBUL. Zen Seramics very kindly let me use some of their lovely plates and bowls at my book so you may have a chance to view their lovely collection too.

I will confirm the other venues as soon as possible, I would be grateful in the mean time you can save these dates – I greatly look forward to meeting you all in person!

May 2nd; Izmir – Yasar University, Bornova – Izmir

I will be giving at talk on Turkish cuisine to the Yasar University, Gastronomy Club on May 2nd in Bornova – Izmir and I will be signing copies of Ozlem’s Turkish Table cookery book there as of 2pm; the book signing is open to public, please do come and join us. My sincere thanks to Yasar University, Gastronomy Department and Pinar for their support.

Ozlem’s Turkish Table talk at Yasar University, Gastronomy Dept, Izmir – 2nd May

May 3rd – Ozlem’s Turkish Table coming to Fethiye!

I am really excited to be coming to Fethiye with my book, Ozlem’s Turkish Table on 3rd  May – it’s a well overdue visit and I am so looking forward to it. My sincere thanks to Fethiye Times to help me organise this trip, I am greatly looking forward to it. I will be signing Ozlem’s Turkish Table over a delicious Turkish breakfast from 10am-11.30 at the lovely Yakamoz Hotel. Please kindly get in touch with Yakamoz Hotel to book your spot.

On the evening of 3rd May, I will be co-hosting a southern Turkish themed dinner at the lovely Mozaik Bahce in Fethiye. The owner of Mozaik Bahce is from Antakya and they are passionate about their local cuisine, I am so looking forward to recreating specialties from Antakya, from my cookery book Ozlem’s Turkish Table at Mozaik Bahce. There will be a ticketed set menu and places will be limited, so please kindly get in touch with Mozaik Bahce to book your spot for our  May 3rd southern Turkish dinner. I will also be signing my book Ozlem’s Turkish Table there. Do hope you can join us!

 

Upcoming Ozlem’s Turkish Table events:

Below are some more upcoming events, I do hope I may be able to see you at one of the events:

April 10th; I will be at the London Book Fair, signing my book  Ozlem’s Turkish Table and giving a talk on Turkish cuisine, at the Turkish Tourism Board UK‘s stand.

April 16th; end of signed copies for pre-ordered Ozlem’s Turkish Table; please order at this link, if you’d like to grab your signed copy with 10 % discount! (please enter promo code Pre-Order Special or Subscriber Voucher at the check out, to get the discount)

May 17th, 6pm – Ozlem’s Turkish Table talk and book signing with the Anglo-Turkish Society at the Royal Anthropological Institute

May 23rd, 6.30pm – I am excited to be signing Ozlem’s Turkish table at the  One Tree Bookstore bookstore with a supper club with Madeleine’s Kitchen  with recipes from  Ozlem’s Turkish Table, on May 23rd, 6.30pm (details to be confirmed, please save the date)

May 24th, 7.30pmPowers Weybridge  I am also super excited hosting a southern Turkish style Supper Club at the lovely Power’s Weybridge on May 24th; 7.30pm. Please check out their website and book your spot as the places are limited and the event likely to sell out soon.

June 23rd, 11 am-2.30pm – Turkish Meze feast Hands On cookery class at Divertimenti cookery school Please join us to recreate a delicious Turkish meze feast with signed copies of Ozlem’s Turkish Table, please book your spot at Divertimenti website, more details are at the Cookery Classes page

July 22nd, 12pm-3.30pmParent & Teen – Eastern Mediterrannean Baking class at Divertimenti Cookery School : Please join us as you cook alongside your teen to have a go and make ‘Antakya’s Kaytaz Borek Pastry’, ‘Filo Rolls with Feta and Parsley’, ‘Baklava with Walnuts’ and more. A fun class class for the family to share and enjoy! Booking at Divertimenti cookery school website. more details at Cookery Class page.

So looking forward to seeing my parents, Turkish food lovers and sharing my cookery book, Ozlem’s Turkish Table, Recipes from my Homeland

I so look forward to seeing you in one of the events and enjoying Turkish cuisine together. And I must say, I am so looking forward to returning home, and sharing Ozlem’s Turkish Table cookery book with everyone, especially with my parents. They have been my inspiration, my role models and this special book is their legacy to pass on.

Sevgilerimle, Afiyet Olsun!

Ozlem

 

 

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Ozlem’s Turkish Table Cookery Book on its way! Hope it inspires

Ozlem’s Turkish Table Cookery Book – on its way! Here’s my sample copy 🙂

Merhaba dear All;

I wanted to share my excitement with you, as I just had a delivery of my sample hard back copy of my cookery book, Ozlem’s Turkish Table, Recipes from My Homeland! It has been a hugely special and quite a surreal moment to hold the physical book in my hands; over 10 years in the making, a dream becoming true. And it really looks beautiful – as expressed by family and friends nearby, who had a chance to see it. Absolutely stunning colours and photography, warmth and sincerity with my family photos, personal stories, delicious, wholesome recipes and more. I am very proud of it and can not wait to share with you all!

Ozlem’s Turkish Table cookery books packed ready to go!

Also, delighted to inform you that as I write this blogpost, the books are being packed at the printers in Hong Kong to be delivered!! We expect the Ozlem’s Turkish Table cookery books to arrive by end February and as soon they make it to me by early March, I will be signing each and every pre-ordered copy and they will be delivered as the first priority, so very exciting 🙂 I can not thank each one of you who very kindly pre-ordered as it helped us hugely to determine the initial print run and helped finance some of our costs, my sincere thanks. Also, my very sincere thanks to Pinar for their support for my book and their help to spread the word on Turkish cuisine abroad.

My sincere thanks to Pinar for their support to Ozlem’s Turkish Table and Turkish cuisine

Contents Page, Ozlem’s Turkish Table cookery book

You can still pre-order your copy of my cookery book, Ozlem’s Turkish Table, at this link, with 10 % pre-order discount (please enter promo code Pre-Order Special at the check out for the discount). I will gladly sign each pre-order copy and they will be mailed in March, ahead of the release date in end April. Not long know!

Turkish Breakfast Chapter – one of my favorite chapters!

As I share a few images from my sample cookery book, I also hope that this special book would inspire folks not only to try delicious, wholesome Turkish cuisine but may encourage to have a go and pursue their dreams.. This book has been my dream over 10 years and finally becoming true. I had that burning desire of not only sharing my homeland’s delicious cuisine but also wanted to leave a legacy behind for the next generations, my children and wanted to make a tribute to my southern Turkish roots and to thank to my parents, who instilled in us the love of good food, importance of sharing and hospitality. I am ever grateful to them. So I truly hope that as you hold this special book to my heart, you will feel the warmth, sincerity, hard work of over 10 years and I sincerely hope that it may inspire you to have a go at whatever in your heart. Life is too short to delay dreams and even if it is a baby step you take each and every day, it will grow and make your dream become a reality before you know it. Nothing to loose and it will provide you special rewards along the way, no doubt – a very special journey.

Back cover of Ozlem’s Turkish Table cookery book

Ozlem’s Turkish Table book events:

We are planning many book events as of mid March and would love to see you in one of these events. March will be devoted for pre-orders and all pre-oders will be given signed copies.

On March 15th, 6.30pm, we will have Ozlem’s Turkish Table book signing and food event at Riverhouse Barn Art Centre. I will serve delicious vegetarian courses from my book and will demo the smoked aubergine salad, Patlicanli Eksileme, from my cookery book. You can also pick up your signed copy of Ozlem’s Turkish Table with 10 % pre-order discount at this event. Please kindly book at this link for this event, it is likely to sell out soon.

On 20th March, I will be teaching A Vegetarian Turkish Feast cookery class at Divertimenti Cookery School in London. I will demonstrate ‘Sebzeli Pide’ (Turkish oval flatbreads with spinach, feta, peppers), ‘Imam Bayildi’ (Stuffed aubergines with tomatoes, onions, garlic in olive oil), ‘Kisir’ (Spicy bulgur wheat salad with pomegranate molasses and pomegranate seeds), ‘Kayisi Tatlisi’ (Baked dried apricots with walnuts) and Turkish Coffee. I will also have signed copies of my cookery book, Ozlem’s Turkish Table. Please kindly book at this link, if you like to join us at this special class.

There will be more to come including more book signing and demontrations, appearance at the Edinburgh Book Festival – with huge thanks to dear Ghillie Basan-, cookery workshops in Amman – Jordan, book launch events in Turkey and fingers crossed cookery classes and book tour in the USA – Texas and hopefully more – all in the process of arranging, I will update the events here and do hope to see you in one of the events.

What I have been cooking lately..

We have been making at lot of Lentil soup with vegetables, Mercimek Corbasi, lately. My children, whole family love it; the warming, pungent cumin and squeeze of lemon juice adds a delicious kick. My daughter has been taking the soup in her flusk as her school lunch – so it can be a wholesome lunch alternative for school or work too. Here’s my recipe link for the lentil soup; needless to say it is included at my cookery book, Ozlem’s Turkish Table too.

My sincere thanks for your company at my blog, always a pleasure to share my recipes and Turkish food news with you all.

Afiyet Olsun,

Ozlem

 

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A special visit to Istanbul and Turkish Festive Meal Ideas

Merhaba dear All,

Showing my mother, Gulcin, the final proofs of my cookery book, Ozlem’s Turkish Table, Recipes from my Homeland

I had a flying but a very special visit back home, to Istanbul last week; mainly to spend some quality time with my parents and family, every minute of it was precious. The trip coincided with finalising my cookery book coming up, Ozlem’s Turkish Table, Recipes from My Homeland. I had a chance to show the final print outs to my parents, it was a special and emotional moment for us all.

Ozlem’s Turkish Table Cookery Book; Contents Page

Ozlem’s Turkish Table cookery book, final proofs!

This special book has been a legacy of my parents, who instilled in us the love of good food, passion for sharing with others and love for our Turkish cuisine. It was a special and proud moment to show them the fruits of our labor; I am over the moon that they loved the book!:) The book pays special tribute to my southern Turkish roots, with my family history, family photos and recipes and really is beautifully made with gorgeous photography by Sian Irvine Food Photography– you will love the vividness of the colors, market photos, beautifully shot photos of each recipes and showcasing thousands of years of culinary heritage of Turkish cuisine. A warm, lovingly made book, also a love letter to my homeland, I can not wait to share with you all.

A still life image from my cookery book, Ozlem’s Turkish Table, by Sian Irvine

My book is on pre-order now and it could make a lovely gift to a food lover. You can pre-order  here with 10% off pre-order discount only for this period; please enter the promo code Pre-Order Special before the check out at this link, to apply for 10% discount. Pre-orders will be shipped worldwide (including Turkey) in March, prior the general release of the book in April 2018. It’s a lovingly made, special book and I truly hope you enjoy it and it brings happy memories of my beautiful homeland, Turkey.

Festive Turkish Meal Ideas:

One of the feedback you readers kindly gave for my book has been to include Menu Suggestions in the book. And I kept my promise and included a variety of menus in the book, to help with meal planning; such as Traditional Menu, Vegetarian Menu, Gluten-Free Menu, Mezze based menu, Southern Turkish themed menu, Kebab based menu etc. Inspired by this, I thought to share some  Turkish meal ideas with recipes and their beautiful images from my upcoming book, Ozlem’s Turkish Table, Recipes from My Homeland,  so you can enjoy with family and friends over the festive season, I hope it inspires to you all.

Ezo Gelin Corba; Spicy lentil and bulgur soup; image from my cookery book, Ozlem’s Turkish Table

We Turks always start our meal with soup, corba, traditionally and I can’t think of a better soup than Ezo Gelin Corbasi, Spicy bulgur and lentil soup to warm us all. So easy to make and dried mint and red pepper flakes flavor this soup so beautifully; you can make a big batch and freeze left overs, one of our firm favourites.

Assortment of boreks, savory pastries with filo, from my book, Ozlem’s Turkish Table

Boreks, savory pastries with fillings are a huge favorite in our home – children love them as well as adults. How about an assortment of boreks for the festive season, like in this image from my cookery book? Traybake Spinach and cheese filo pastry, Ispanakli Borek, Traybake filo pastry with ground/minced meat, Kiymali Borek or filo triangles with cheese and spinach or parsley, Muska boregi, would all be great crowd pleasers.

Potato and bulgur patties with pomegranate molasses, from my cookery book, Ozlem’s Turkish Table

I will definitely be making these scrumptious Potato and Bulgur Patties, served with pomegranate molasses, during the festive season. They are so easy to make and absolutely delicious; pungent cumin and red pepper flakes flavor these patties beautifully – you can serve as a side to your mains; they are absolutely lovely when dipped in to pomegranate molasses, nar eksisi – a delicious southern Turkish specialty.

Stuffed aubergines/eggplants – Karniyarik; a delicious main from Ozlem’s Turkish Table

Aubegine/eggplant is king of vegetables at home and Karniyarik, stuffed aubergine/eggplant with minced meat and vegetables always makes an appearance in our festive tables. You can also make Split aubergines/eggplants with vegetables filling, Imam Bayildi, if you prefer the vegetarian option – love them both.

Baked dried apricots with walnuts, from Ozlem’s Turkish Table

There can be quite rich food and indulgence during the festive period and I opt for fruity desserts most of the time. This baked dried apricots with walnuts fits the bill perfectly; healthy, light, easy to make and great for entertaining – also gluten-free.

Turkish coffee, Turk kahvesi, from Ozlem’s Turkish Table

Turkish coffee, Turk kahvesi is a special drink for us – it really is a more than a drink with all its rituals and it is the perfect end to a special meal. Here’s how to make the perfect Turkish coffee.

I truly hope these would give you some ideas to enjoy with family and friends over the festive season. My very best wishes to you all for the festive season and the New Year. It’s been such a pleasure to share delicious Turkish cuisine with you all and more to come in 2018!

Afiyet Olsun,

Ozlem

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