Karen Phillips

Author – Photographer – Traveller
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Paying the Bills – a rite of passage

I remember the first time I paid an electricity bill for a home abroad. It was in a little office on a street corner on Isla Mujeres, a spit of an island in the Caribbean. We had just finished building our villa there and I…
  • Paying the Bills – a rite of passage

This week in Kirazli, 1st November 2010 – Cat Flaps and Chrysanthemums

The last days of October were sunny and clear and Ahmet our weather wise farmer friend promises us that we should have two weeks of uninterrupted sunshine. The ten days of on again off again rain and thunderstorms we had in mid October have washed…
  • This week in Kirazli, 1st November 2010 – Cat Flaps and Chrysanthemums

How to Be Koy – buying in the villages in Turkey

This article has recently been updated – the July 2013 version can be found HERE I tend not to write about buying real estate in Turkey on this site, it’s a massive and complex subject and when I write about it I do tend to…
  • How to Be Koy – buying in the villages in Turkey
Easy Chutney

Getting over my beetroot prejudice

Beetroot was, to me, one of those things old people ate in the 1970’s. Like brawn, or tongue, or cockles in a small bumpy jar. Also, to be honest, I found it rather intimidating, it was going to turn me purple, it was going to…
  • Getting over my beetroot prejudice
October 2010

Autumn Fresh – October 17th 2010

It’s been a busy week. We had a lovely couple staying in the studio who endured really quite crap weather, which had me over compensating like mad by going overboard on breakfast and stuffing food into them to try to make up for days of…
  • Autumn Fresh – October 17th 2010

Quest Turkey – Life of an Expat

Quest Turkey is an online Lifestyle and Property Magazine about Turkey, full of useful information about relocating to Turkey, the different areas of the country, the food, the climate and ways to integrate into life here. Unlike most magazines it’s not totally packed with developer…
  • Quest Turkey – Life of an Expat

October – long walks and new discoveries

When you wake to a view like this on an October morning you can’t stay inside. The air is fresh and clear and the sunshine bright but no longer likely to kill you with heatstroke, so you are encouraged to explore, and even after five…
  • October – long walks and new discoveries
Serve

Ever so easy Sun Dried Apple and Cheese Strudel

I was really impressed with the sun dried apples I bought at the farmer’s market in the village last Sunday, they smelt amazing. Opening the packet was like releasing every scent memory of apples you ever had. They had the intense smell of old cider…
  • Ever so easy Sun Dried Apple and Cheese Strudel
samossunset

Sofrasi Sunsets and Samphire Superfood

Well Bayram is done, Ramazan is over, the tourist numbers have dropped and the true travellers are back for their explorations. September brought hot days, great glowing sunsets and cool nights awash with blazing stars and bright planets. Now that the heat haze and dust…
  • Sofrasi Sunsets and Samphire Superfood

The Only Organic Farmer’s Market in Turkey

There are no designer rip offs, no flirtatious market boys (“Got some luverly plums for you Lady!”), no cries of “Cheap as chips”, no prices in Euros – there are just a few simple stalls, the sound of the wind in the pines and the…
  • The Only Organic Farmer’s Market in Turkey

Italian Grape Cake – using up fresh grapes

If you want the history this is a Tuscan cake, traditionally made during the grape harvest to use up the small grapes not going for pressing, and god knows I have so many grapes lately that any recipes that use them up are welcome. It’s…
  • Italian Grape Cake – using up fresh grapes

Touching the past – Turkey can give you a personal encounter with history.

“It was amazing, we could go where we liked, we actually touch stuff!” said one guest to me the other week after a day at Ephesus. As they had recently come from Paris where touching the treasures is forbidden and people snake in strictly marshalled…
  • Touching the past – Turkey can give you a personal encounter with history.

Remembering to open my eyes to what is around me

Every day I notice the beautiful things about life here, the sunflower sunrises, the pomegranate sunsets, the quick changing light on the pine trees in the morning and I forget to notice the people things because they are now so familiar. The stuff that the…
  • Remembering to open my eyes to what is around me

Getting your art out there!

I am, frankly, a shopaholic and like all addicts my addiction is specific, I don’t get off on a quick trip to Kipa, I need specific buying activities to feed the craving, and in my case I spend money on pointless but pretty things for…
  • Getting your art out there!

Getting the Day off to a Good Start – Breakfasts in Kirazli

I do try hard when people come here to stay. Apart from making the studio as nice as possible if people are eating with us I want to showcase what produce we have here and how we live and eat. It’s all part of the…
  • Getting the Day off to a Good Start – Breakfasts in Kirazli
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