BIOGRAPHY

I am my Mother’s Daughter……..

I was born a hot summer day in 1977, the first Sunday of the August at the mystical burning mosaic of Southeast of Anatolia. But I never look after my nature from Sunday. Hence I have an endless energy within me…I have never been a lazy person but I have to admit that I was always parching because of these hot weathers.  Even little bit combative….We moved short while after tasting the water of South east….It is the misery of being a child of a civil servant….travel to the west far west to Bodrum white town of Mugla. I always remember my mother with a rush of being someplace, sometime or preparing things on time, I became like my mother… I was getting tired just watching my mother especially when she was in the kitchen.

To be the elder sister, first born of the family……

To be the elder daughter of the family means to be a grown up….may be because of this I have desire to the kitchen and sewing machine…I never forget, my sister constantly draw pictures while I was watching and helping mom in the kitchen…There is a saying” to keep up the kernel” exactly like this for me.. The olive oils, meals with olive oil of that white town captured me. I always watched my mother with the rush of cooking and cleaning among the boiling pots and pans, raising white flour dough and different kind of vegetable dishes. Also I was the one who is helping….

Kitchen was not the occupation that my mother prefers for me…..

But I spent most important part of my life either cooking or think what to cook…. Cooking was the rush to prepare a dish of some meal to the dinner table for my mother. But it was not an easy thing in our house…It was a very serious matter because of my hardly satisfying gourmet father. For my father a meal has to catch the eye first later to taste and in order of serving soup, appetite, salad and hot meal… Breakfast even harder mostly mom was very impatient but our table always have famous homemade breads….Even mother was preparing the dough from night I used to aggravate her with my thousand questions about how the dough rise, what she was putting in it ?beside all her fatigue ….my dear mom…

We used to have lunch boxes…

When I was going to school, I used to prepare my lunch box with great care and interest beside mine I liked to prepare my sister’s also. We used to go school with our black school uniform, red shoes, school bags bigger than us on the narrow Cobblestone pavements of Bodrum with joy. I spent most of my elementary education at Bodrum Cumhuriyet Elementary School…..And then my father appointed and I had a riot inside me for being ripped from Bodrum the town that I love… This time our destination was north…Again a small, beautiful green city…

Sakarya …..

May be for being a child or the beauty of the city I blended in quickly. We were always very lucky to have kind neighbors as big family. Even though Sakarya is a small city… it had a very cosmopolitan shape. Our land lord was a Bosnac (Yugoslav Immigrant), our other neighbor also an immigrant, another one was Laz. Because of the multi-cultural environment accordingly the Kitchen and palate knowledge progressed. I learned to make KOL BOREGI, BURYANI, MILK PICKLE, STUFFED COLLARD GREEN and many more dishes over there….During the cold winter days of Sakarya I woke up early set fire the stove and go to the bakery to get fresh bread and prepare the breakfast for my little sister. I always like house chores and Kitchen works… After we stayed long period of time in this beautiful green city Sakarya my parents told as it was time to return our hometown…

Mediterranean… My Adana!!!

As hot as it can be Adana, my home town lies through the east of Mediterranean heart of Mediterranean. By telling the truth I hope not to offend anyone but I learn what food and table preparation in Adana.

The boiling caldrons with the smell of spices and baked bread on Tandoor….Hand chop meat…giblets…I really do not know it is either the blood of the city or something else how many kids are there to become being from Adana at the age of 6-7 during a summer holiday visit, ask for Paca soup (calves foot soup) and Spicy Salgam (red turnip drink) only a kid from Adana.

High School…..

During Our empty hours at High Scholl we gather with friends  and cook….Usually all the girls at that age know how to make paste and stir-fry…But my serving usual was  Iskembe Dolmasi (Stuffed Tripe) Bumbar(stuffed chitterlings),Icli kofte( Kibbeh) and Manti (Turkish ravioli )… After I graduated from high school, my college life did not last longer.

University and Bodrum….

After a short while I returned the capital city of my childhood Bodrum. With the school internship I started to work in a hotel, unfortunately not in the kitchen as a food lover but in the front desk. For a long time my working life continued as it is…

Destiny…

I got married with a sudden decision and may be destiny moved to east again Elazig …We couldn’t manage again moved to Antalya….I decided to continue my career as a cook. I have never felt that much peaceful since my childhood. I am feeling that after all those search, I am in the right place, and doing what I believe for. I have a 9 year’s old son who is thinking like me and my father, mother and my little sister Nilgun towards fast food, He loves Anatolian cuisine and always prefers Kebab to Hamburger. He is very successful in the kitchen like I was cooking for my little sister.

Happiness…and Ideals…

Last words, I believe one has to recognize herself first, her abilities, what to do and where to do….You can only realize when turn back…

If you have a chance to put your abilities into work, have the preparation to turn coincidences into luck and have courage to establish your desires, you can be everything.

We are aware of the most important blessing is the bread, and production value preparation of our table and most important that we know how satisfying is sharing that full of love.

I wish all our tables full of blessing and joy…

With All My Respect and Love,

Emine Gulsen Sarican