MH moment in Istanbul
I have a hard time believing that I actually survived my Istanbul flight with Hearrey Salleh!Who is this Hearrey Salleh.Here's a quick introduction.
Hearrey is an Inflight Supervisor / opposite door neighbour of mine.A fearless,knowledgable,intimidating,F&B guru I might add.Well,I've heard of his capabilities of being a ferocious supervisor,as well as a walking F&B dictionary.From wines,to pastries and gourmet,he's the master.Not forgetting that he's my neighbour at Bukit Jelutong whom I've never bumped into or waving Hello to.
That night when my company's official pick-up transport came to pick me up to the airport for my Istanbul's flight departure,to my surprise,Hearrey was already in the cab.As usual,I put on my best charm to deliver the most impeccable long lasting first impression.It was crucial that we got along well as I'd be under his wings of command til the end of the Istanbul trip.
Like a Malay saying that goes something like 'Tak kenal,maka tak cinta',truly it's believable.
Throughout our long 11hour flight towards Istanbul and back,I've learnt so much bout embracing perfection as a front liner and also bout food,most importantly products that we have on board from Hearrey.He shared his mountain high of knowledge bout gourmets,pastries,and methods of cooking which I have zero interest on,but he made them easy to understand and interesting to learn about.Most importantly,we connected well coz he loved my demure ways of reaching towards passengers needs including my well-groomed appearance while I looked up upon him as my main source of guide and motivation.
It wasn't just Hearrey that spiced up my Istanbul trip this time,in fact the whole set of my crew members.On the 1st day off in Istanbul,we organized a trip to the old town of Sultanahmet where all the great places to visit such as the Blue Mosque,Aya Sofya,and Grand Bazaar situated at.The picture above portrayed our happy faces on the shuttle,on the way to town.
Certainly,most of them were not much of explorers so I just hafta suck in all my desires of visiting the historical places I've never been to before,and save them for my next trip to Istanbul.All we did that day was walking around the old town,had our meals,and shopping at the Grand Bazaar.Most importantly I enjoyed their company and I had a blast myself.
Great backgrounds of the iconic Blue Mosque.
Tomb of Sultan Ahmet 1
The other 3 ladies in our group.
At the entrance of Grand Bazaar with Mizi and Hearrey.
This Turkish guy was so in love with me that he insisted to take a picture with me.He kept calling me 'Ayu' and said 'Aku cinta padamu' to my face =P
Muka-muka boring tunggu shuttle bus.
The next off day in Istanbul,nobody went out and stayed in their respective rooms.But later that evening,we gathered in the crew room for our 2nd masak-masak session preparing dinner.Since I was the only one who wasn't used to kitchen chores and cooking,all of them bullied me by assigning me to chop most of the ingredients,stirring the dishes and preparing the table.I didn't feel tortured at all,coz it was fun having the experience of chopping,mixing and boiling things in the kitchen.Most of you might wonder why haven't I done all those things in my own kitchen at home?The answer would be my mom never cooked at home all my life.I repeat....all my life =) There were times Ayah and Ibu prepared fried rice with eggs during Ramadhan for Sahur but it was a long time ago.You'd be surprise that even our kitchen floors were carpeted,and still are.
To most of my crew members,I was the clown in the kitchen as I was absolutely clueless on even simple cooking methods.I ruined all the shapes of the ingredients that I cut and I spilled everything everywhere around the kitchen.But at least I was good on setting the table and serving food.
The dishes served that evening were beef rendang,sardine in tomato gravy,chicken sausage soup and spicy squids,along with steamed rice.
It was a great moment hanging out together while enjoying our home cooked dinner.At least we didn't have to swallow any of those nasty Turkish dishes that evening.Turkish dishes weren't nasty,but they didn't just fit in our Asian appetites.
One thing I learnt from this trip was that only 'The sky is the limit'.There are so many things out there that need to be explored and learned bout.Sometimes we just don't know what we don't know,and it is all up to our initiatives to find out in order to improve ourselves as a knowledgable and great human being.Spiritually,mentally and physically.
Anyway,I hope you folks have enjoyed your weekend and ready to lift that gear to go through the last weekdays in July.If I didn't get to post any new entries before July ended,I would like to wish all my fellow Muslims Selamat Berpuasa and Selamat Menyambut Ramadhan! =D
