Istanbul MUST EATS

Okay, so a couple of my friends have already been to Istanbul and I heard so many good things about it, but the sentence I heard the most definitely was: "The food is SO GOOD!!"

Which, I found out, is very very true. If you are like me, and not very interested in historical sights then you can just sit at a local restaurant or café and just have a snack, my mum really loved a café called Simit Sarayi so I think you should definitely check that out.
So here goes...

My Top 5 Istanbul MUST EATS!

1. Baklava - This dessert is simply delicious. Thin phyllo pastry pieces layered carefully with soft syrup and classic walnuts. This is my all time favourite turkish dessert. It's just so delicious, but you have to be careful, as it gets very addictive! 
2. Apple Tea (Elma Çay) - Apple Tea is basically like warm apple juice. I know I probably let you down after the Baklava, but really, it's amazing. I liked the sugar cubes (or lumps whatever you want to call them) that came with the tea, as I just watched Catching Fire 2 months ago and always reminds me of Finnick (thumbs up to all the HG fans :D). 

Apple Tea

3. Andana Kebab
I only ate one kebab on the trip, but when I did, it was REALLY good. I am usually opposed to eating lamb as I don't believe in slaughtering baby animals, or any animals (yet I still eat meat....) really. But when I tried the kebab my mum ordered it was really really good.  Highly recommended. The best place we found with kebabs was the Buhara '93 just off the Hippodrome.

4. Turkish Thin-Crusted Pizza
In Buhara '93 the nice waiter forgot to bring dad's soup, so he brought over a dish that looked sort of like a pizza, but it wasn't baked and it had such a thin crust it was unbelievable. Nevertheless, it was delicious, so we decided to share it with you :)

5. Simit
As I mentioned above, my mum absolutely loved Simits while we were in Istanbul, we were constantly stopping at Simit Sarayi to buy more. Just go over to the café and order a                                                                    simit with yellow cheese. We recommend it :)

So that's it! Hope you enjoyed it! Opening up a new beauty section on the blog soon for people who aren't into travelling and food (but how could you not be ??) so stay posted for that!

DIY Red Velvet Cupcakes

Hi everyone :)

Before we left to Istanbul I actually made a batch of red velvet cupcakes, and I really wanted to post something about them but I didn't have time. So now that I've got a spare moment or two, I decided to show you them :)
The recipe I used was Martha Stewart's and I think it's really quite good, though I didn't put in as much red food colouring as she said to, because it's bad for you, so my cupcakes aren't super red.
For the frosting recipe click here.

So yeah, just wanted to share those with you. I am a huge fan of R5, and I actually made a cupcake for them, except I don't seem to have a photo. Great. Oh well.

Istanbul (Pre-Post)

Hello :)
So it's Christmas break now in international schools, and so our family is going to Istanbul, Turkey for 6 days, and then we're off to the UK to visit family for Christmas.
Apparently this is a unusually cold Christmas in Istanbul, which is just great for me, but Mum doesn't like it so much. Currently, it is 3°C in Istanbul, and there is SNOW. Living in a tropical country it's amazing to be able to get away once in a while to the cold. It makes you so grateful that you live in such a hot country!
In Istanbul we will be visiting the Grand Bazaar and will be sampling many foods for all of you guys to try... Our friends recommended the kebabs and baklava. The baklava we have here in Singapore, you can buy them from Turkish restaurants on Arab streets, where we go sometimes to have delicious Lavash and dips.
We will try to update every couple of days, and maybe we will have a couple of vlogs (exciting!) if Mum lets me. Ha ha.

Merry Christmas!

Natalie xx