About Me

Hi! I am Oya. Thanks for visiting my website. I am a retired medical English teacher living in İstanbul, Turkey. I have always loved to cook and after my retirement I decided to start a website in which I would share all the recipes I have saved throughout the years - a legacy for my two daughters and grandchildren. It was also intended as my recipe file, to keep track of the recipes that I have created. I wanted a food history for my family.  Not every post here will have family stories or connections but every post is a search for finding new tastes, changing old ones, creating something new and sharing my passion for food.

I have been working as a  blogger for the last 4 years. In 2013  Oya's Cuisine won the first prize for the most stylish and the best food blog in the contest organized by Bumerang, a network project of  Hürriyet Newspaper. Winning  the award changed my whole life. It is more than a hobby now.

Also Oya's Cuisine was cited in one of the 5 blogs under food and drink category by Digital Age magazine,  which  pinpointed 100 blogs that are most popular in their particular field, from among 20 categories of blogs carried by their network. I felt very proud.

I was  invited to share 6 of my recipes in a major food and drink magazine, in May 2014 issue of 'SOFRA' and was announced  "the blogger of the month" .

Being a blogger brought happiness to my life because I have been meeting new people, participating in different activities, taking part in social events and having a lot of fun.

I love to cook and try new things. I find cooking relaxing, I love talking with friends and family about food and sharing recipes. I have always found happiness in cooking and baking for my family. I love all food, so it'd be hard for me to choose a favourite, but I have a soft spot for desserts.

My family taste-test  what I cook  then I take pictures of each step and share the recipe, some tips, opinions and my philosophy in my blog which is eating good, colourful, delicious and balanced food.

I also write about original restaurants I have been to. I love to travel and explore new restaurants both in Turkey and abroad and I am always on the look out for my next adventure.

Iam lucky to have the full support of my husband and two girls and Mr. Ömer Sensus who created the whole interface of this site and is still supporting me in developing it.

I hope you enjoy Oya's Cuisine as much as I enjoy sharing it with you. I would love to hear your comments and questions if any. Feel free to pass on my recipes. Nothing makes me happier than to hear that a recipe of mine has made its way into your home.

Thanks for stopping by, please enjoy!

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Oya Emerk