Doluyum! Lezzetli!

A couple of nights ago we had dinner in the home of another Turkish family in Ankara.When we first arrived we met the two sisters who were hosting the dinner. They were extremely warm and welcoming from the second we stepped in the door. They greeted all of the women in our group with three kisses on the cheek and the older of the two sisters offered her hand to be kissed by Brice and then touched his hand to her forehead, the one man in our party. We were shown into the living room where we all introduced ourselves and got to know our hosts in a mix of our limited Turkish and translating. Soon other guests started to arrive and the place began to fill up with family and friends of our hosts. The daughter of one of the two sisters was there with her two boys. She is a teacher and her sons are both learning English. She spent a better part of the night trying to goad her shy 11-year-old son practice his English with us. There were also several other women there with small children. There was one little adorable little boy who loved to hide in his mother's lap, then run to me laughing, and then run back to hide in his mother's lap again.

We were fed what I am sure is the largest meal I have ever had. In Turkish culture it is considered rude to not finish a meal that you are given as a guest, so I tried to finish as much of the meal as I could. However, I found this to be impossible as the courses kept coming. I explained in Turkish that I was very full and that the food was delicious, so I hope that I did not offend my hosts. After dinner was over and the food was given a chance to settle in our stomachs a bit, we were all served beautiful dessert plates and tea. The older of the two sisters also passed out these little white cubes to everyone that were almost like super dense cotton candy. I wish I could remember what they were called. She said that you were supposed to put the whole thing in your mouth at once, but I'm really glad I didn't. It tasted good but it stuck to the roof of mouth so much even with smaller bites. 

As the night winded down, the two sisters brought out these gift bags for all of us. Inside of each bag was a porcelain plate clock. They explained that it is an Ottoman tradition to give gifts of porcelain to guests. I couldn't believe the generosity that these people had displayed when they didn't know us at all before that night. The more that I meet people in Turkey, the more I fall in love with this country.