Bad Romance

22Sep11

It’s time to admit it…my Magic Bullet is no longer. My smoothie-making started to stink up the apartment with the scent of burnt plastic so it is time to say goodbye.

That right there is a mass of partly pureed fruit, lots of frozen chunks and muesli. I’m not complaining though; I love when smoothies have chunks in them, but the smoking appliances have got to go.

Though it was scheduled to storm, when I broke out one of my last remaining of these

and made a lunch consisting of a wrap, jam and chocolate oat milk,

I braved the weather in search of groceries.

It was highly successful. And I got a hand blender set. Woo-hoo!

But the exciting part of the day came later after this

and that

The bag is almost done!

Last night, I had  posted to the exchange students Facebook group to see if anyone wanted to explore vegan restaurants with me. For the record, this isn’t as creepy as it sounds to everyone still in the real world. In study abroad land, people are constantly posting asking random people to join them on random excursions, usually via Stalkerbook. And everyone wants in. It’s like freshman orientation times a million. It’s lovely. Anyways, I got quite a bit of positive responses from people from all ranges of the vegan-vegetarian-meat-eating spectrum and 4 of us were free tonight! We originally wanted to find The Loving Hut, but in light of the weather, decided to head to Max Green Co. which happens to be in a swanky mall about 15 minutes from campus. I know you’re thinking – A food court? Yes, ’twas a food court. But it was the best mall food experience of my life.

First, we stepped off the elevator onto the food floor and, like a beacon of hope among Burger King and KFC, it stood surrounded by little tables with flowers in the center of each. Adorable. A beaming waiter handed us menus and told us to have a seat. Also adorable. That’s right, we had our orders taken and had food brought to us. IN A FOOD COURT. Man, do I love this country.

I settled on Orangelic, their carrot/orange/pear juice

and their veggy roll with eggplant, zucchini, red pepper, cashew cheese and a side of greens.

Ummmm YES.

The fun didn’t stop there though.

Because then, our flirty little waiter sent us some lemon teas.

And like the mature ladies we are, we couldn’t stop giggling.

We finished them, at decided we needed to mobilize and pay,

but he had other plans.

Enter shots of their Heart Beet juice which he handled to us clutching a menu to his heart and grinning from ear to ear.

And there our little group sat, a Danish girl, a German girl and two American West Coasters, laughing our heads off at being sent, not shots of vodka at a sketchy bar from a lurk across the room, but shots of juice in a mall food court by our server.

Finally, we managed to pay and though tipping isn’t the norm in Turkey, we left him some extra liras for the entertainment. I can already tell I’m going to become a regular there.

*CREEPER CORNER*

Those of you who know me personally know that I am a creeper magnet. Every girl has her share of experiences, but I always win any story-telling contest hands down. Tonight, I had my first aggressive creeper moment in Istanbul. Yes, there have been the standard honks and hoots on my runs – welcome to life as a female runner, but this guy was a true gem.

3 of us had started walking in the direction of our respective apartments from the mall and a man carrying a bunch of flowers walked up to me. Thinking he was trying to sell me one as does happen around here, I shook my head an kept walking.

He changed directions and got inches from me.

“Something-in-Turkish”

Me: “No, really. I’m good.”

“No, no. I’m Emre.”

Me: “Awesome. Bye.”

At this point he was giving me all of an inch of breathing room.

“I just want to kiss you!”

Well, then I was sold. Because all I really want in life is a middle-aged Turkish delight.

Not.

Cue my companions swooping in and blocking him off.

Thanks, ladies.

And on our merry way we went.

And how has your Thursday been?

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