Friday, June 12

Brian's Last Day of School!

Here he is, not-so-unhappy to be sporting his coat and tie for the last time in the foreseeable future:

Aeden went to the zoo today with his class. No pictures to share though, since I didn't go along :-(

We met Mustafa, Belma (his wife), and Zerin (his daughter) for dinner tonight at Kebabistan, which happens to be just a bit down the road from my school. It was a picture-perfect night: not too hot, outdoor seating on bright green grass under a cherry tree full of ripe cherries for the kids to munch on, and a play area to keep Aeden busy, too. The food was amazing, especially thanks to Mustafa ordering us all kinds of appetizers to make sure we got a chance to taste them:

• Stuffed zucchini blossoms
• Honeycomb and kaymak (clotted cream)
• Some kind of veal preparation
• Melon and cheese (very tasty white cheese from the Aegean region)
• Wonderful flatbread with spreads: butter, spiced butter with mint, hummus-like spread, mmm-mmm

The only trouble is that I don't know the Turkish names for them! The restaurant gave us English menus, and I found myself having to look at the Turkish one at the same time to see if the items were really what I was thinking they were...since I know them by Turkish names, not by English ones.

It was a night to celebrate the end of the year and to say goodbye. We will miss Mustafa and his kindness in showing us Ankara and treating us to some very special meals and moments.