Changing Seasons

It's been getting cooler here in the evenings and with the days getting shorter as well it is a new season:  Fall.  With that comes new seasonal fruits and veggies at the pazaar, the washing and drying of rugs before the weather turns cold, and some good windy days for drying laundry.

The other day I decided to make some applesauce with some apples that no one wanted to eat and had long lost their crisp.  That smell of apples cooking took me back to memories of Fall on the farm growing up.  It smelled like my mom and grandma's kitchen and I could nearly imagine those kitchens and the making of applesauce.  My mom always made a lot of applesauce and we would freeze it in ziplock bags.  It seems I remember my Grandma mostly cooking down a few apples for a meal or two, using whatever had come her way.  Because of her I cooked down those apples instead of letting them slowly rot.

This evening I went for a walk because I could see a good sunset coming.  When you grow up with big horizons you get to studying the sky without even knowing it.  It's just so big.  And it doesn't take long to know that clouds, the right kind in the right places, make light turn into color.  This evening there were clouds.  All day there were clouds.  If there is one thing I continue to randomly comment about this year, it is the clouds.  Ask Aaron.  I'm always asking him if there were clouds like this our first two years in Turkey cause I really don't remember clouds.  I remember either clear blue skies or smoggy gray washed-out skies.  But never these white fluffy clouds.  The kind that sail low in the sky with dramatic shadows.  Maybe they are unique to this northern part of the city.  Maybe they come off the Black Sea.  I don't know but I am accepting them as a personal gift from the Creator who knows how much I like clouds, and skies, and sunsets.  So, I went for my walk and it was indeed a beautiful sunset.  It was a gift and good medicine to my soul.

Sonora's Self Portrait

This is Sonora's self portrait for this year.  She was giggling as she drew it, so happy with how it was turning out.  Like Malachi she was thrilled to see her improvement as an artist.  She drew a big green mountain in the background.

And this is her self portrait from last year at age 4 (preschool).  What a difference!

Malachi's Self Portrait

Last year I had the kids do a self portrait and we did it again this year so that we could compare their portraits and see their improvements as artists.  It's kind-of a fun tradition we are starting.  The above drawing is Malachi's 2nd grade self-portrait.  He just wanted to color the background and leave everything else black and white.  Very nice I think.

This is his portait from last year as a 1st grader.  It's kind-of fun to see the different style.  

And here is Malachi at work. 

Yufka and Gozleme

I've been meaning to post about my love for yufka for quite some time.  I finally remembered to take pictures this time!  Well, this is yufka, fresh from the pazaar seller.  It is basically a very, very thin sort of dough.  It is the main ingredient used to make börek, a very yummy and traditional Turkish food.  I think I'll have to post on that later.  I bought six pieces today and they are all folded and rolled up together.

You can see in this picture with my lovely helper Sonora that the yufka is very large.  It is also very thin, like paper, and it is round (don't know if you can actually see it's shape since it is folded over a bit).  

In my large frying pan I'm cooking up some gozleme.  Basically it is pieces of yufka folded together with some feta-like-cheese or mashed potatos tucked inside and then fried in a pan with a little oil until they are brown.  It's a super fast little treat and the kids love it. 

 This one has cheese with some dill as well. This was taken before it was all folded up.  They use this special inverted sort of frying pan to make these really well.  I am still trying to perfect the consistancy of yufka and filling.  On the streets you can sometimes find vendors selling these fresh off the skillet.  They usually only put cheese or potatos inside.  I made some cheese filled ones for Sonora, some potato filled ones for Malachi and spinach filled ones for Aaron and I.  They all turned out really good.  The spinach was especially tasty.

And since I had such a willing helper with such a cute smile I thought I'd show you my yummy fried red peppers.  They are in season now at the pazaar and one of my neighbors served them like this for breakfast at her house.  They were so delicous I had to make some for my family.  Super simple, just big chunks of red pepper fried in oil until soft.  The flavor is so good.

First Day of School (one and a half weeks late)

I can hardly beleive we have a kindergartener and a second grader!  On September 5th the kids started school at Gateway International Academy.  They were excited and hesitant all at the same time.  Sonora came home saying she was going to be reading by the end of the year.  Malachi came home fairly excited that their class is working for a pizza party.  We are thankful for a good school, a good start to the school year and for the opportunity our kids have to learn.  We are looking forward to a great year!!!

Posting Late

Some of you who read my blog may be noticing that I'm trying to catch up on my blogging from the summer.  As soon as school let out back in June I basically stopped posting.  We had a much busier summer than I thought and blogging just didn't happen.  So, since my blog is as much a journal of the events and happenings of our life as a family as it is a tool to stay in touch with family and friends, I thought I'd take the time to record in words and pictures the events of our summer.  I've been working on it slowly and it might take some time.  I will post them with the date they happened so you might have to scroll back to take a look. 

An Evening in Our Neighhorhood

When the weather is nice our neighborhood teams with life in the evenings.  Sometimes it's just the kids out riding bike or scooters and sometimes it's both kids and moms hanging out.  The kids fill the street with their playing and the moms congregate on the wall to visit.

Tonight was an extra full night.  First it started with just our kids going down.  I brought my knitting but had to abandon it when Malachi ran up to get Monopoly Deal to teach his friend.  So, three boys had a card game going with me helping and during that time when I was distracted Sonora and her little friend set up house on the nice marble steps and were making really dusty food.  They made a mess!!  They had gathered leaves from the plants nearby and dirt from under the trees and were mixing it all around on their little rug on the steps.  The mess I didn't mind, only it was right in front of the door so I had to kick them out of that home and send them to cook on the street.  Meanwhile two ladies with their babies in strollers strolled by.  They stopped and we visited a long while.  Then my downstairs neighbor came up with her little boy and we were four.  Then my across the hall neighbor came home from somewhere and she went up to make tea and brought it down for all of us to drink.  Some people left, others came, the front of our building being the hang out for this evening.  The kids had a good game of "traffic" going, sharing bikes and scooters and more or less getting along really well.  We carried on like that  for 2 1/2 hours.  Tonight for all of us, one at time, the hungry tummies of our children drew us inside to cook an evening meal.  And even though we are inside for the evening, with our windows open, I can still hear all those sounds of the neighborhood outside.  The sound of silverware on plates, a child's cry, a group of young people chatting as they walk by, and crickets in the night.