Christmas in Turkey

Most of our snow melted for Christmas this year, but we enjoyed a wonderful weekend with friends.  The kiddo had great fun playing with friends from our neighborhood and going to another friend's home for Christmas dinner.  Thanks to buddies, we had a fun Christmas open house gathering in our neighborhood.  Hubby and I munched more holiday treats than is probably good for a reindeer, but it was darn tasty! Kido enjoyed playing with her buddies-and learning about the joys of climbing up and down bunk beds...they make great caves and adventure locations.

Another reason I love my husband...he doesn't ask why when I volunteer him to be Santa at the holiday party...he just does it.

For Christmas Eve, we decided to have one more Istanbul adventure.  We visited Kanlica in Istanbul.  It is a small village that sits on the Bosphorus and is famous for their yogurts.  The kido and hubby had yogurt with powered sugar while I munched yogurt with honey-it was amazing.  The yogurt was not super thick, but had a great tangy flavor and was great at soaking up all the sugar!

After our adventures, we put out an apple for the reindeer and some cookies for Santa.  The kido made sure to write down a list of what all the children wanted for Christmas (including her furry puppy friends who couldn't use a pencil): a baby doll for her; a duck for Pumpkin; a squirrel for Jackson.  Christmas morning, we woke up to kido discovering that Santa had indeed arrived in Turkey.  St. Nicolas originally is from a small village located in Turkey (modern day Demre), so I think he didn't have too far to travel this year.  

The kido's favorite toy of the year was the horse (Angus) from Brave and Merdia the princess.  It helps that they both came with a small plastic bow and arrow.  The kido enjoyed using the bow and arrow to chase her father and I around the house attempting to catch us with a rough bow.  Thus far, bows have been located in the Christmas cake, under the table, on top of the dogs, and in my shoe.  Lovely.

Pumpkin and Jackson recieved a stuffed squirrel and duck.  They busily squeaked through the house for the rest of the day. 

Hubby and I made Christmas day cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs to keep up our energy through all the present unwrapping.  Hubby was very sweet and successfully made a 16 hour (usually about an 8 hour trip but got a little crazy because of a change in road regulations) treck back from Ankara to stock us with all kinds of Christmas goodies.  

After presents and breakfast,  I attempted a little taste of home with a red velvet cake recipe from Gabriel's (a favorite bakery in Marietta).  I didn't have any veggie oil to create the cake with, so I sent the hubby out for olive oil-it worked perfectly! I was a little worried it might make the cake taste too olivey, but it ended up fruity, light, and delicious...and probably better for us...until I smeared the whole thing with pecan-vanilla-cream cheese frosting.  Yum!! Kido who usually ignores all cake and just eats the frosting, loved the cake.  

We enjoyed sharing the Christmas cake with buddies and hung out eating lots and drinking amazing cranberry/orange/cinnamon tea.  Kido enjoyed chasing her buddies around the house and playing with all their new Christmas toys.


Our yummy cake.  It was amazing!

Looking forward to a few last adventures before the hubby leaves next week...and looking forward to all the adventures of the upcoming year!  

Snow, in Istanbul

As I mentioned, we got hit with our first snow of the season last week. On Thursday morning, we woke up to a light snow that I assumed would stop by the time lunch rolled around.  The funny thing about Istanbul is that it does not have to be at freezing to actually snow.  The amount of moisture in the air because we are surrounded by two large bodies of water (the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea) means the air is often cooler than the actual temperature-hence, lots of unpredicable snow.
By lunch, the snow was still coming down and looked like it was starting to stick.  Fast forward a few hours, and the roads looked like this:

Lovely right?  Work decided to allow us to head home early.  Our usually quick commute turned into a 4x's as long adventure.  We were thrilled to be home.  Friends normal 45 min. drive home turned into a 5 hour driveathon.  Yuck.  Snow is fun to play in, but not awesome to drive in when roads have not been plowed and folks are getting stuck all over.  Bummer!

We finally made it home for snowball fun with the kido.  I've spent our extra snow days cooking plenty of treats for the holidays-including the newest brownie creation, peanut butter and chocolate.  Kido managed to get a haircut-and in Turkey, haircuts are always great entertainment on a snowy day.  She had 2 different guys working to cut, curl, and shampoo her fluff.  She emerged quite the snow pampered princess and we celebrated new fluff day with yummy Turkish breakfast (yep, told you it was our favorite).

Diplo-hubby has braved the cold and some snow to bring us back a stockpile of American goodies from Ankara (closest Commissary).  He insisted his girls have a stockpile before he returns to the States-love him!
Best Holiday wishes to all!
Enjoy a snowball from here...

Put on your dancing shoes, snowballs are here, and Christmas is coming!

Last week, the Diplo-hubby had his first going away lunch with most of his co-workers.  They presented him with a plaque and a wonderful Turkish carpet with his name created in the center.  It was a truly wonderful gift and a great way to say goodbye to friends he has made while he has been here.  I know he is happy that he will be able to return to Turkey during breaks from Afghanistan and visit with friends.

And, as his tour here winds down, Diplo-hubby and I had another grand adventure with friends out to a local restaurant and show last week.  We are usually not late-night owls, so we planned on being proud of ourselves if we managed to make it past 10-we made it ‘till 12:30ish...go us!   The location was chosen by one of our wonderful local staff members-and she picked a great spot. The restaurant specialized in Lebanese food and the interior was eclectically decorated with everything from large pink Christmas trees to beautiful pieces of Turkish glass/ceramic ware.

Dinner Date!

The food was amazing and much more than we could put in our tummies.  For appetizers, there were stuffed peppers, hummus, spicy pepper dips, rolled/stuffed grape leaves, cheeses, and plenty of "poufy" yummy bread.  For the main course, there were several different kinds of kebab, peppers, and tasty spiced roasted potatoes.  As if we were not all full after all the amazing food, they brought out dessert bowls overflowing with fruit and platters with several types of dessert. 

In between huge munching sessions, there were several different performance by belly dancers-including male belly dancers! Never thought I’d see that!  The restaurant would also play music between performances and food being delivered, so the place quickly turned into a dance party around all the tables.  One of my awesome Turkish co-workers (who is also an amazing dancing gal!) jumped up right away and pulled Diplo-hubby and I up to dance.  She was awesome and with much laughter, giggling, and I’m sure messing it up royally, I had my first Turkish dance lesson.  She was awesome and great fun to learn from. 

It was a wonderful evening with friends with plenty of laughter, dancing, and more food than I could comprehend.  I know the hubby will miss everyone and all our hilarious adventuring when he leaves in two weeks-it was the perfect night-out send off.

Our current week has gone by in the blink of an eye, but I’m happy to report that we woke up to snow this morning.  I love the first snow of the season and I can’t wait to see the snow whirl around the Bosphorus.  I’m looking forward to settling in for the holiday long weekend and can’t wait to get started with some holiday baking.    

Where are we going next?

I have no idea where I will live in a year.  It is the funny thing about this job.  You have no idea which State, Country, or region you may find yourself in next.  Our bidding season will kick off this winter and we can't wait to see what the possiblities might be.  For now, we know that diplo-kid and I will be staying in Turkey for an extra year.  It allows me to keep my current position and allows the diplo-kid to start school with friends.  For the diplo-hubby it will mean a year in Afghanistan.  Like I said, it will be an interesting year for all the Ragan crew.

Diplo-hubby is wrapping up his time at Post this week.  Friends and co-workers are taking him out to final lunches and evening adventures.  It's hard to believe he has wrapped up his time at Post-two years goes by quick!  But, I know he is also glad he can come visit his second home-Turkey-during his time off from Afghanistan.  In some ways, we hope this year goes by fast.  In others, it will be hard to say goodbye to Turkey when the time comes, so I hope we slow down and enjoy the cups of tea while we still have time.

The Food

The Food.  Usually when I talk to friends back home, the one thing they want to know about is the food in Turkey.  The food is easy to summarize: Amazing.  Our favorite by far is Turkish breakfast.  The snack carts and markets are also awesome and we will miss the weekly selection of fruits and veggies when we leave.


Turkish breakfast usually involves a selection of yummy jams, honey, cheeses, meat, eggs, fruit, veggies, olives, and a huge variety of breads.  Tea is served all over Turkey any time of day and typically comes in the tiny tulip glasses pictured.  Hungry yet?






If breakfast isn't enough for you, there are always snacks-our favorites are Simits (kinda like a sesame

covered bagle) and roasted chestnuts-yum!

 Stacked Simits on Istikal

Roasting Chestnuts in winter

And if all that wasn't enough, there are plenty of markets full of fresh veggies, fruits, and plenty of other treats:

A typical summer haul from our market down the street-yum! 

The Road Less Traveled

There is no typical trip to the grocery store, park, or vacation when you are living overseas.  For example, my local fruit market looks like this:

Not bad right?

Everything is an adventure-there are new languages to navigate, customs, road blocks (occasionally cows), and friends to make along the way.  Favorite Road Block...moo:


The journey is often just as much fun as the destination:


One of my favorite Turkish road signs leading down this road:



Over the last two years of living in Istanbul, Turkey, we have had plenty of adventures.  Our car and our feet have taken us on gravel roads, through tiny villages, and to popular beach resorts on the Mediterranean coast.  Usually, when we return from travel, I create giant photo albums showing all our adventures.  But, the stories of the waiter that brought us glasses of tea because he wanted us to stay a little longer, or the merchant that gave diplo-kid a ring just because, or the countless things that happen along the way have a tendancy to get a little lost.  This is my new attempt to keep up with our tales-enjoy our journey!