Invest in Kalkan, Turkey

About Turkey:

Turkey straddles two continents with Europe on one side and Asia on the other; a beautiful country, it is surrounded by the Aegean, Black, Mediterranean and Marmara Seas and is famous for its wonderful bays and golden beaches.
A country that is three times larger than Britain, Turkey has something to offer everyone: with charming fishing villages, bustling holiday resorts with frenetic nightlife, cultural tours and challenging outdoor pursuits. Life in Turkey is laidback and inexpensive with a wonderful climate and people that are engaging, warm and hospitable.

Bearing the influences of the oldest civilizations and religions, the Greeks and Romans built gorgeous cities here and evidence of Turkey’s rich heritage is visible on every corner.Yet despite its rich historical background, a buzzing up to date atmosphere prevails.

Turkey is most definitely looking to the future and currently undergoing huge changes to allow for full membership of the European Union, expected in 2015. With one of the world's fastest growing economies, it is also becoming increasingly popular for people looking for a sound property investment.With property prices equivalent to that of Spain in the mid- 80's, Turkey is the next property hotspot, so now's the time to buy!

An artical about Kalkan from Telegraph.uk.co

"Turkey may not be known for luxury, but Ginetta Verdrickas discovers a Turquoise Coast scheme that is changing perceptions
At times, Turkey's property market has looked well and truly stuffed. Bird flu, terrorism and a general suspicion of this predominantly Muslim country's proposed EU entry has limited sales, which have been mostly low-end apartments lining parts of the coast."

"Compared with many resorts, Kalkan is relatively sophisticated. Tour buses stop at nearby Fethiye, leaving Kalkan to the more upmarket traveller. It's the perfect base to explore the coastline and rural villages which make up much of the area. Set in a secluded bay, Kalkan's cobbled streets give a hint of the old unspoilt Turkey, with traditional chai tea houses sitting next to smart restaurants." by Telegraph.uk.co

One of the most spectacular landscapes in the world !

"Cappadocia region is the general area between Hasan Volcano, Erciyes Volcano, Aladaglar Mountain range and river Kizilirmak. It is an ancient name given to this geographical region. Cappadocia has been declared World's Cultural and Natural Heritage by UNESCO on 24th November 1986. Its canyons and valleys are both a natural wonder and a home for nearly two thousand years old churches with beautiful wall paintings as the first Christian communities as early as only 60 A.D started living in these fantastically shaped valleys as canyons.
The story of these unique landscape goes back to 25 million years when many volcanoes spewed out layers and layers of volcanic material including lava, basalt, ignimbrite and ash. The incredible amounts of volcanic materials has made the area like a fairy tale land. And the yellow rocks in are all part of fantastic display of the wonders of nature in its surreal landscape.
The history of the region is also very rich. The soft rock structure has made the area ideal for settlements starting from the very early times in history. There are settlements from the prehistoric age in the area but the most interesting part of Cappadocia history is the Roman era and the Christian era. Shortly after St. Paul's visit to the area the first Christian communities started to form and some of the most important figures in Christian history, such as St. Basil who set the rules of monastic life and monasteries. St. Gregory and the other saints also lived in the area. The Christians had to hide from Romans until 313 AD when Christianity was allowed within the borders of East Roman Empire. They used the underground caves left from earlier ages and and successfully turned them into large underground cities." http://www.anatolianhouses.com/

Anatolian Houses is THE PLACE to stay. Check their website, guest testimonies and the gallery. I know, you will agree with me.

Pink Icing

Ingredients
5 egg whites
1/2 cup of water
2 cups of granulated sugar
1 tsp clear vanilla
Food coloring in pink
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How to do:
In a saucepan bring the water and the sugar to boil by stirring occasionally. Let the sugar dissolve and syrup forms to soft ball.
Meanwhile beat the egg whites and the pinch of salt in a grease-free bowl of a standing mixer - you do need both hands :) - to soft peak.
While your mixer is running, slowly pour the hot syrup into egg whites in a stream. Make sure you don't pour on the whisk, it is very hot take a precaution! Keep beating 5 min. and add vanilla and a drop of food coloring. ( I used Wilton coloring gel in pink). Keep going another 2 min. or more till frosting becomes glossy and cool.
You should use this frosting on a cool cake. I use this frosting if I am going serve the cake right away, it doesn't look good day after , even though taste still stays delicious.
You can use icing bag or a spatula to decorate.

Fresh Strawberries & Cream Cheese Filling

Ingredients :
200 gr. Full fat cream cheese - room temperature
50 gr. Unsalted batter - chopped & room temperature
3 Tbs. confectionery sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups of fresh strawberries, washed, drained well ,hulled & chopped roughly.

Start mixing cream cheese and vanilla first, when it becomes creamy add butter gradually, it will become really fluffy, and start adding confectionery sugar 1 Tbs. at a time.
Set it at the side. Make sure strawberries drained well and fold in your strawberries gently by using a spoon or spatula. Make sure you don't mash them. Keep it in the fridge at least 10 to 15 min before you use it.

Before you start to bake, it is good to know the difference between all-purpose flour, cake flour, bread flour and self- raising flour. To make it easier you should start this by knowing a little bit about GLUTEN.

Gluten is a special type of protein that is commonly found in wheat, rye and barley. Gluten helps to make bread elastic and provides it with the chewy texture when eaten, but mainly gluten keeps the gases that are realesed during fermentation in the dough so the bread is able to rise before it is baked. Gluten also firms up when it is cooked and with the help of starch, its ensure the bread maintains its proper shape.

In USA :

All-purpose flour comes in two basic forms-bleached and unbleached-that can be used interchangeably. Flour can be bleached either naturally, as it ages, or chemically.

Cake or pastry flour is a fine-textured, soft-wheat flour with a high starch content. It makes particularly tender cakes and pastries.

Self-raising flour is an all-purpose flour to which baking powder and salt have been added.

Cornstarch
This is a refined starch that comes from corn. It is mostly used as a clear thickening agent for puddings, fruit sauces and Asian cooking. It is also used in combination with other flours for baking.

The choice of flours for home cooking and baking in UK

Plain Flour - also known as all-purpose. Use for shortcrust pastry, sauces and gravies where a raising agent is not required.
Self-raising - Flour to which a raising agent has been evenly mixed. Use for cakes, scones and puddings.
Soft Flour - a soft white flour which has been milled very finely to give sponges, cake and scones a higher rise and finer texture.
Strong Flour - a flour with a high protein content providing a high volume and open texture. Ideal for bread and all types of yeast cookery, Yorkshire puddings and puff pastry
Wholemeal - 100% extraction, made from the wholewheat grain with nothing added or taken away.
Brown - usually contains about 85% of the original grain. Some bran and germ have been removed.
White - usually 75% of the wheatgrain. Most of the bran and wheatgerm have been removed before milling.
Wheatgerm - white or brown flour with at least 10% added wheatgerm.
Malted wheatgrain - brown or wholemeal flour with added malted grains.
Stoneground - wholemeal flour ground in traditional way, between 2 stones. (This info is taking from "fab" Flour Advisery Bureau)http://www.fabflour.co.uk/content/1/25/types-of-flour.htm

Do you know your chocolate?

Cocoa beans are the fruit of the topical tree called Theobroma Cacao."The traditional way of manufacturing chocolate is to take the beans [from the cacao pod] and ferment them after harvesting to remove the bitterness. They are then thoroughly dried. Next they are roasted to expose the inside, which is called the nib. Various bean nibs are blended together to obtain the flavor desired and then ground up. The resulting paste, called cocoa mass is the heart and soul of chocolate's flavor. The cocoa mass is enhanced with sugar, butter, flavorings and then blended thoroughly. Today some chocolate is made [of inferior quality] where the cocoa butter is replaced with a synthetic substitute, and "conching" replaced with the addition of soy lecithin [for smoothness]. The good news is that by law, a product that is made without cocoa butter, cannot be labeled as chocolate." tells candycraft.com

Milk Chocolates contains dry milk solids or condense milk, addition to containing cocoa solids. They are much sweeter in taste.

Dark chocolates are often distinguished by the percentage of cocoa solids in the bar. It could be anywhere between the %30 to %90.It has a bitter aftertaste and they are chalky in the texture. Great for baking and melting.

White chocolate does not contain any cocoa solids, they are a confection made of milk, cocoa butter and sugar. Hard to work with when it comes to baking, and pay extra attention to not over heating during melting.
Note on storing chocolate : Chocolates can be store for up to a year if the conditions are favorable. this means a dry place with temperature 20C/68C. Place your chocolate inside an airtight container away from strong smelling foods.If your chocolate has white streaks, it means the fat comes to the surface due to higher temperature, it doesn't spoil the flavor but the appearance wont be suitable for use as a decoration.

You should check your kitchen and see what do you have to start with. I thought this list might help. XOXO

1. Cake pans, muffin pans as 12-hole standard, 12-hole mini or silicone ones.


2. Piping bag and tips.


3. Rolling pins, spatulas, brushes and palette knives.


4. Measuring tools in Cups, Tbsp, tsp and heat proof glass liquid measurer.


5. Paper and foil cupcake cases, doilies, parchment paper and zip lock bags.


6. Colorings, in liquid, gel or powder.


7. Mixing bowl & a whisk.


8. Hand blender.


9. Scale, candy thermometer and timer.


10. Cooling rack.


11. Few different size of food saver containers.


12. Cake tins, I do prefer airtight ones.


13. A good bake book, preferably with lots of pictures and step by step instructions.


14. If you going to do sugar paste work, then you might want to get few thing like cutters, leaf vernier, laces, rubber stamps and templates.


15. And of course your imagination and creativity.

Gluten- free Lemon Curd

Ingredients:

2 Lemons finely grated and squeeze juice
100 gr. unsalted butte
1 cups of granulated sugar
3 egg room temperature
1 Tbsp. spoon corn starch
1 vanilla pod, beans scraped or Vanilla flavor or gluten free vanilla

Beat the eggs, add vanilla lemon rind, lemon juice , butter and whisk another minute or so and take a spoon full to add to the corn starch, make a paste then add the paste into the mix, put them all in a saucepan and cook it on a low heat until it thickens like a pudding.
Don’t stop string during cooking, and then cool it by whisking with a hand blender. Pour it a clean jar and keep it in the fridge.

Gluten-free Lemon Chiffon Cake

Ingredients
125g/-5oz Rice Flour
100g/4oz Caster Sugar
8 Egg Yolks
Finely grated rind of 1 Lemon
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
9 Egg Whites
1 Vanilla pod, seeds scraped
½ tsp bicarbonate soda
2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F Gas Mark 4 and flour a 23cm/9inch angel food cake tin. Do not grease your pan other wise chiffon cake will not rise.
2. Sift the flour, bicarbonate soda and sugar several times into a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
3. In another mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks until light and creamy then add to the flour together with the lemon rind and juice, oil, vanilla and mix well.
4. In a clean mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks until stiff but not dry. Fold the egg whites into the flour mixture, working quickly but gently.
5. Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin and bake for 45 minutes.
6.Cool over a bottle, upside down before serving.

Vanilla Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:

2.5 cups plain flour ( sifted twice)
1 ¼ + ½ cups of granulated sugar
6 large eggs, room temperature & separated
3 large egg whites
½ cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup cold water
1 Tbsp. Baking powder
½ tsp. cream of tartar
¾ tsp. salt
1 tsp. lemon zest ( finely grated)
1 vanilla bean, split in half and seed removed

How to do:
Pre-heat your oven @ 170 °C.
Use a center tube pan. Cut a round of parchment paper to fit the bottom of the pan and cut out a hole in the middle to fit the center tube of the pan. This cake is baked in an ungreased pan because greasing the pan would keep the batter from rising and gripping the sides of the pan as the cake bakes.

Sift the flour twice, then again with baking powder. Add 1 ¼ cups of sugar and ¾ tsp. salt. Whisk them to combine. Put it in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the center. Set it at the side.

In another bowl, mix the water, 6 egg yolks, lemon zest, oil and vanilla seeds. Whisk until well combined.

Place the egg whites in the grease free bowl of an electric mixer or in a large grease free bowl. Using the wire whip attachment or a hand held mixer, whip the egg whites on medium speed until they are frothy. Add the cream of tartar. Slowly sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and continue whipping until the egg whites hold glossy and firm but not stiff, peaks, about 5-6 minutes.

Add the water + oil + egg yolk + lemon zest mixture in to your dry mix. Using a rubber spatula, stir together until thoroughly combined.

Fold the egg whites into the cake batter in 3 to 4 stages, blending thoroughly after each addition. Transfer the batter to the tube pan. Use the rubber spatula to smooth and even the top.


Bake for 45 min-1 hour, or until the cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Remove the pan from the oven and invert it over a thin necked bottle. Let the cake hang to cool completely. Don't set the pan on a cooling rack on its base. This will cause the cake to collapse onto itself.Don't shake the cake out of the pan before it is cool. Once the cake is cool, use a thin blade knife or flexible blade spatula to run across the outer edge and the inside tube to help release the cake from the pan. Turn the cake onto a rack or onto a large plate to decorate.

I cut the cake in half and used fresh strawberries and cream cheese filling in the middle and made egg white frosting colored in pink to decorate.