Turkish Delight.

Sophie and I had planned a trip to Olney today, and lunch in a Turkish restaurant called Capadocia. We drove over at about 11am under leaden, lumpy skies, so warm coats were definitely needed. We managed to park on the busy main road running through the town and visited a couple of shops before we ate.

I was on the lookout for presents for my Mum's birthday next week, but I hadn't a clue as to what to buy her. When I'd bought her clothes in the past, they'd either been too big or too small, so I wandered around looking for inspiration! Sophie bought four beautiful glasses in one of the vintage shops, which added to her gorgeous collection. We popped into both charity shops and expensive boutiques but I didn't see anything I liked for Mum. I'd bought her a scarf and a necklace in Spain, which ruled those choices out! 

At 1pm we walked to the restaurant, tucked away along a narrow alley. Another couple was already seated, and we were given a table next to a beautiful picture of the Cappadocia region itself, showing hot air balloons hovering over a gorgeous landscape. I've never really fancied visiting Turkey (I can't really count a day trip there with Keith when we were staying on the Greek island of Lesbos) but I have always wanted to go to this particular region.

We were given menus and we chose two glasses of Turkish wine to drink while we looked at all the choices. Sophie had been to a Turkish restaurant before so she chose the starters and we both opted for the same main course. Our choices were falafel on a bed of hummus and halloumi and sucuk combo - grilled cheese and beef sausages served with a side salad. For mains, we enjoyed "Yogurtlu Tavak Sis" - diced breast of chicken charcoal grilled on skewers and croutons topped with yoghurt, fresh tomato & butter sauce, served with rice. Accompanying the meal was delicious bread with two dips and we certainly got stuck into this as we were both hungry!

The food was delicious and it was wonderful to try something new for a change. The Turkish wine was also very good so that's two new wines we've tried in the past few months - Algerian and Turkish!

The restaurant gradually filled up and it was lovely and cosy inside as outside it was grey and rainy. We finished our meal with baklava and Turkish tea, and were suitably stuffed! The bill came to a rather high £92 and we left a tip, rounding the meal up to £100, more than we had expected to pay, but the food was excellent.

We had planned on doing some more shopping after lunch, and we did pop into one small shop selling vintage items, but the allure of home was too much! We waddled back to the car and drove home through Castle Ashby and Cogenhoe.

Back home we relaxed and digested our lunch! Tonight, we didn't play Scrabble but we watched a film called Toscana instead, and treated this evening as Wine Night! The film was lovely and set in Tuscany, with sumptuous shots of the beautiful landscape and the meals prepared by the main characters. After the film, I nibbled on some cheese and biscuits but neither of us was very hungry after our lunch!

Outside we heard the occasional bang of a firework - it was Bonfire Night after all!