well, that's next year's holiday sorted, then...

...but not this year's - actually, I have bugger all cash to afford one....unless there's some kindly soul out there with a couple of grand going spare..?
 We had a few Turkish friends over last night. They've come over here for five weeks to learn English and soak up (probably quite literally) the atmosphere. Impressed them with the food: Potato salad, a really good bit of melon, fresh off the vine tomatoes in a salad dressed with lime, olive oil and a dash of dijon mustard, kebabs and lumps of meat, plus one of my all time favourite foods, mercimek koftesi (lentil balls), for which, here's the recipe:
Mercimek Koftesi
You need:
1 cup (about 250 gr) red split lentils
1 cup (about 250 gr) fine bulgur wheat
water
salt
1 medium/large onion
2-3 spring onions
handful of flat leaf parsley
chilli paste
tomato puree
here we go...
wash lentils. place in pan with 3 - 4 cups water. boil until just cooked (the lentils fall to bits) - about 7 - 10 minutes. Add bulgur, boil briefly, then drop heat to lowest setting. Cook for 15 mins. Remove from heat, and give a stir with a wooden spoon after about 5 minutes - you should have a thick kind of paste mixture. n.b. keep the lid on the pan, otherwise the whole lot will dry out quickly. While leaving mixture to cool a bit, very finely dice the onion and the spring onion. separate the greens of the latter. Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a frying pan, then very gently cook the onion, taking care not to burn it. add spring onion, then the green parts about a minute before removing from heat. add onions to the mix, along with tomato puree and chili paste - you want enough of these two to make the whole take on a red colour: best to add the chili gradually. Also add chopped parsley. Mix thoroughly, then, using your hands, take the mix and make little sausage shaped patties and place on a plate to cool down. Once cool, stuff your face with as many as possible, because they won't last long once other people get their hands on them!
Afiyet Olsun!
edit
I forgot to say why next year's holiday was sorted. Our friends have a villa on Kinaliadasi, a small and v. exclusive island in the Marmara Sea - the ideal place to lounge on a hammock amidst the sea breezes, writing and sipping on raki.....