‘By the way—I am an actor!’

The story of my week; how I managed to clear customs in Rome with Michael Madsen as his spouse and shared Gezi protest memories.

Arrived in Fumicino airport in Rome, the new terminal, majesticly large, but yet exactly three passport control officers. I am prepared for this everytime I come here, so quietly attended the very well organized que. Until when around 300 Russian speaking people swarmed around me, bypassed the entire que and lined up in a mass hysterical manner in front the by now invisible control points. I tried to hang in there for some ten minutes till I thought I was about to faint from lack of oxygen, smell of sweat and children bumping to my laptop bag. Then I decided to skip the whole thing and go back to find a chair alone and started stressing about how to make it the press meetings and rehearsal for my speech I need to deliver at the opening of Maker Faire tomorrow.

A very tall man came and sat close to me. We were the only two people who refused to stand up in the line or even take the chance, and as I was huffing and puffing and making frantic phone calls, he was doing the same. After a while we started chatting on solutions. We tried various options, appropriate and inappropriate which all proved to be not working. By this time stranger was looking all very familiar, he was wearing very peculiar snakeskin boots, many rings and certainly was fresh out of Los Angeles Melrose Avenue. I gathered he is some sort of actor that I have seen in my previous life but just could not gather who it was.

I was chatting with half of the Alitalia officers by then at the airport anyway to find a way out. We plotted on how we get assistance.. If he just could not walk… I said they wont buy it. He said ‘I am an actor’. He said just tell them you are my wife and I will say my knee popped out. I asked him his name, he said Michael Madsen. Then it all came to me… He was the man in my favourite ever movie Reservoir Dogs. He was the guy at Kill Bill. So there I went for some half hour, running around, convinced Alitalia that my husband who was coming from LA via London popped his knee out and could not walk and we needed assistance badly; and by the way he was a very famous American actor who came in for George Clooney wedding (not sure where that came from).

Nolita/soho digs, New York City.

Places to eat: The General’s Jazz room Asian food. The Mercer Hotel bistro appetizers. Phebe’s IPAs. Chobani, prince street,  breakfast a la Turk! DBGB’s (old punkrock establishment CBGB’s replaced via giant city block and a restaurant), burgers, on Bowery. New York classic pizza at Lombardi’s. Isola café/bar at the Mondrian, spritz. No time left: Cuban at Habana café, and Nolita Taco café. Places to stay: The Standard, east village, on cooper square. Coolest: Bond street. Elizabeth street park. The New Museum.

Nicole Restaurant

Nicole, Paris'te eğitim görmüş ve Michelin yıldızlı restoranlarda çalışmış şefler Kaan Sakarya ve Aylin Yazıcıoğlu Sakarya'nın İstanbul'daki yeni adresi. Yerli ve taze malzemelerden oluşan mevsimsel menüleri, şato tarzı şaraplara ağırlık veren kavı ve deneyimli servis ekibi ile rafine damaklara hitap eden bir butik restoran. Tomtom Suites'in İtalyan Konsolosluğu bahçesi ve ardında Adalar'a kadar uzanan eski İstanbul manzarasına sahip terasında yer alan restoran, adını Fransisken rahibelerinin hastalara şifa dağıttığı  tarihi binanın yöneticisi Agnès Marthe Nicole'den alıyor. Daha fazla bilgi icin buraya tıklayınız.

Small Things In Life. Food !

Second Sunday morning in Palo Alto. Desperate to eat, I hit university avenue. Come across Taxim, Istanbul street food. Oh gosh—do I really want bad falafel and wrongly named doner kebap (really gyro meat) this morning? I enter the store; greeted with this lovely lady. I start reading the menu—pogaca. Lahmacun, pide… I am panicked.. Until I see Turkish breakfast as a line item; and I lose myself and start ordering sucuklu pide, pogaca, menemen, Turkish breakfast w proper tomatoes, olives, feta cheese, cay, orange juice (ok not so Turkish). And they have SIMIT!!!! Bliss!!!!!

My gurbet sepeti at home is helpful and the best thing is my co-workers bought me a Turkish coffee maker from Amazon to greet me, oh with the full coffee from kahveci mehmet efendi and all..

I am afraid I have been struck with immigrant disease—I miss home!

Night At The NY Stock Exchange

I was at new york stock exchange where Turkish American society celebrated a gala dinner. it was a fantastic night with live jazz music, and a number of society leaders from turkey and from US dedicated to enhancing the relationships between two countries. We got together as the young society leaders group, and it was so energizing to be with young and  bright folks who made a difference in their own fields. I have never been to stock exchange before; firstly I was amazed how small it was, and also amazed to think most of the world’s financials are run out of there. Such a small building, and I can see how cramped during daytime it can get with thousands of people inside. We did go up and gave the stock exchange pose, which was pretty funky to doJ I love being among hundreds of well dressed people, people gazing was fun, turks and americans alike!