I started my cooking journey at a very early age in my family’s restaurant.
I come from a family of fantastic cooks and I was very lucky to get a chance to spend lots of time and learn new skills with great chefs from different countries later on in my career.
I was born and raised in Turkey and moved to England at the end of my teen years.
I had a great life in the UK. Eventually, it was time for me to move on to new adventures.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
2008 I start a new chapter in my life. Two weeks holiday in the Dominican Republic made everything clear that I needed to be near to the seaside. With our savings we bought a small building with nine small apartments. Sun, sea and blue sky every day. My dreams had come true…
Like everything in life, every place has its ups and downs. Start a new life, make new friends learn a new language makes everything more exciting. Being in a country feels like a haven and is not always real life. Real-life is hard and earning money is very limited.
So I had to come up with an idea to suit my skills which I could still fit into daily life, with my very little Spanish.
Cooking always felt like the right answer for me, so while we were working on the apartment block, I started a wholesale business around the town. Restaurants and supermarkets needed a supply of cakes and I had a good set of recipes from my time cooking with my family. In a short time, people start to talk about my cakes. 140 different styles of cakes! In no time at all, I was known far and wide for my cakes!
The best part of my life in the Dominican Republic was meeting my baby puppy Alex and welcoming him to our life.
My life had meaning!!!!
MOVE TO TURKEY
Five whole successful years living in the Dominican Republic and it was time to go back home to spend some time with my granny.
After so many years, to go back home was a great idea, but to start a new life experience was scary.
What to do? Where to live?
And again food was the solution to my new life. I moved to Bodrum to my new unknown journey!
I start my own catering business from my home kitchen. This grew and allowed me to open my restaurant at the marina of Bodrum . Being a woman trying to create life was so much harder than I remembered.
Life was hard but great. I had all I needed, my pup Alex, a business, and I was so much closer to my sister in the UK. My Grandmum lived with me, my mum stayed for the whole winter, and my partner and I worked together We were truly happy.
My restaurant – Sugar and Salt: When you have many ideas to start a business in a famous tourist destination but with no support and limited money, you learn to do everything yourself. From restaurant design to organising, while cooking early in the morning till late night every day. Meeting new people, and creating a great atmosphere for your customers is a wonderful feeling, even when you are so tired that every inch of your body aches from working such long hours. I was my own chef, hosts, kitchen porter, cleaner, and every other role needed.
It was a long journey to success. It was the hardest time of my life. Everything I did was different from the way it had been done in the town, everything I did was questionable to the locals. After a year of hard work we became very successful, creating a second home for locals, and one of the best places to eat for tourists. We were on the must-do list for people when they visited Bodrum.
I ‘m so lucky to meet great people in Bodrum who helped us with our journey and made us feel we are special. I had the hardest but best life experience and made lifetime friends.
NEW CHAPTER ENGLAND
My Grand mum passed away, then I lost my baby Alex to bone cancer. It was time to move on!!!!
Home from home to England!
When we made our mind to leave Turkey we were lucky to have many people who were interested in buying our business.
Now I’m back home to England!
Not long after settling back into the UK, the Coronavirus pandemic happened, and like everyone else, I had to stay home and spend time dreaming about my next chapter.
We might not be able to travel very far at the moment, yet I believe nothing should stop us from living incredibly.
I’m grateful to be at this chapter!
I am creating Cup of Cigdem to be a resource for your daily life, to share the joy of cooking with my recipes, and to add love into every bowl with a cup of happiness!
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If you have any questions for me please email me cigdem@cupofcigdem.com
If you like to find out products i’m using to record my videos
My best found product is my anker earbuds
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Thank you