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    Friendsgiving

    We had the day off of school on Thursday for Thanksgiving. It is difficult being so far away from family during holidays, but we are so thankful for the family of friends we have here.

    Two of our friends hosted Friendsgiving at their apartment. Brittany is super talented and crafty and put together the prettiest place settings and tablescape:

     

    Place setting

     

    Tablescape

     

    We divvied up different dishes and brought everything together for an incredible feast. Our menu was different from what David and I typically have for Thanksgiving, but was filled with some of the best food. We had a cheese plate and veggies for appetizers:

     

    Appetizers

     

    Brittany also made a frame where we could write what we were thankful for. Can you tell which ones the boys wrote?

     

    Thankful for frame

     

    Yes, there is turkey in Turkey. Whole turkeys aren’t super popular or easily available where we’re at, but we were able to snag one last minute. Our friend Bo was in charge of the turkey. His wife got him an awesome hat. Here’s the turkey man with turkey in Turkey:

     

    Turkey man

     

    We had so much food! We’re still eating the leftovers. David and I were in charge of green bean casserole (made from scratch – thanks Alton Brown!), roasted veggies, and Nanny noodles. (We called my paternal grandmother Nanny. She was German and we always have her noodles during the holidays. They’re supposed to be tiny egg noodles. I couldn’t find egg noodles thin enough, but it worked out!)

     

    Thanksgiving spread

     

    We hope you had a great Thanksgiving, too!

     

    Friends at Friendsgiving

     

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    The Black Sea: Çakraz & Amasra

    Friday, August 30 was Victory Day in Turkey, and we had the day off of school. We decided to take advantage of the long weekend and planned a trip north to the Black Sea.

     

    Ankara to Çakraz

     

    Five of us rented a car and David braved driving in Turkey. We left around 6 am to avoid as much traffic as possible, and it worked really well. Once we got out of the city it was smooth sailing. The drive was absolutely beautiful with mountains and trees. It took us about four and a half hours to get there.

     

    David driving

     

    Our friend helped us make hostel reservations. We called several places, but hardly anyone spoke English and if they did, it was super limited. (Surprisingly, we were asked several times if we spoke German.) We ended up staying at Deniz Motel, which was right on the beach!

     

    View from our hostel

     

    Çakraz is a tiny town nestled in a cove between two bluffs. Most of the action is on the “brickwalk” area by the sea. There are several hotels and restaurants and a few bakkals. I don’t think we ran into any English-speaking tourists, though there were a lot of Turks on vacation. It was much more a vacation spot than a tourist spot. We loved relaxing in such a chill atmosphere! Our hostel even had lounge chairs for us to use on the beach.

    There were several gözleme stands by the restaurants. Gözleme is kind of a cross between a crepe and a calzone. There’s different fillings you can order. We love the potato kind. The beef ones are also good – they have finely ground meat with spices and onion. Our favorite is the honey and walnut gözleme. The gözleme only cost 2,50TL and we ordered about 12 between the five of us the first afternoon.

     

    Gözleme stand

     

    After some beach time on Friday, we drove twenty minutes over to Amasra to meet up with some friends who had also traveled to the Black Sea for the weekend. We stopped just outside of Amasra for some pictures:

     

    Outside Amasra

     

    How’s this for the view next to the parking lot?

     

    Amasra, Turkey

     

    Our friend who made our hostel reservations recommended that we eat at Canlı Balık, a popular fish restaurant in Amasra.

     

    Canli Balik restaurant

     

    There were 12 of us. We had a super long table right next to the sea.

     

    Seaside table

     

    The Black Sea region gets a lot of rain and is well known for its produce. This salad was as tasty as it was beautiful!

     

    Amasra Salad

     

    Our table ordered several plates of fish. It was all fried and included hamsi and at least one other type of fish I didn’t get the name of. Hamsi is apparently known as the European anchovy. I avoided the bones and heads, but a several people ate the little fish whole!

     

    Hamsi fish

     

    We walked around Amasra for a bit aftewards. Amasra was a hopping little town with plenty of shops, restaurants, and touristy things. They had some really yummy street food – we got mussels, ice cream, and fried spiraled potatoes on a stick. We’re glad we got to check it out and say hello to our friends:

     

    Group shot

     

    Back in Çakraz the next morning, we went on a little hike.

     

    Seaside old dock

     

    We started on the left of our hostel and climbed around on the rocky bluff.

     

    Climbing rocks

     

    The Black Sea

     

    Then we walked through the town to get to the top of the bluff on the right.

     

    Overlooking Çakraz

     

    That night we ate at the restaurant connected to Özmenler Otel. The food and service was even better than at Canlı Balık. Plus, the waiter spoke some English. We ate family style and ordered some delicious meze – calamari, eggplant with a garlic yogurt sauce, a vegetable dish, and a cheese plate. We ordered hamsi again and another fish they recommended. This time, the fish was not fried and it was so good. They also gave us free fish eggrolls and a beautiful fruit plate. The entire meal was less than 35TL (around $17 USD) a person!

     

    Fruit plate

     

    Also that evening, we bought some paper lanterns from a street vendor and set them off over the water.

     

    Lighting a paper lantern

     

    After the Turkish breakfast provided by our hostel, we drove back to Ankara on Sunday. We loved the Black Sea!

    Picking Michigan Blueberries

    While we were camping in South Haven, we stopped at DeGrandchamp Farms to pick blueberries! DeGrandchamp had a great you-pick area. They charged $1.75 a pound. After we got our buckets, we headed to the blueberry bushes. I think this was my first time picking blueberries – at least that I can remember!

     

    Degrandchamp blueberry you-pick

     

    Blueberry Farm

     

    Aren’t these berries just beautiful?

     

    Michigan blueberries

     

    Ben picking blueberries

     

    Fallen blueberries

     

    Blueberries on the bush

     

    Holding blueberries{shirt}

     

    Ripening blueberries

     

    Sam and David picking blueberries

     

    Our buckets of picked blueberries

     

    Bucket of blueberries

     

    DeGrandchamp also has a cute country store with lots of blueberry and cranberry products.

    We picked about 20 pounds of blueberries! We enjoyed snacking on them and made blueberry pancakes the next morning. Yum!

     

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    Eating in Gladwin, Michigan: The Corner House

    Another up north tradition is visiting The Corner House Ice Cream Parlor. Mom, David, and I stayed an extra day at the cottage and the moms sent us on an ice cream run. Corner House serves Hudsonville Ice Cream, a creamery in Michigan. They carry a ton of flavors – their Facebook says 75! Corner House is only open during the summer months and is a must-stop if you’re up north.

     

    Corner House

     

    Corner House Ice Cream Parlor

     

    One of the first things you notice when you walk in are the Pigs Platter signs. The Corner House has an eating competition to get your name on the wall. You have to eat 5 flavors of ice cream, 2 bananas, 5 toppings, with  optional whipped cream and nuts.

     

    Current season pig platter winners

     

    Their Hall of Fame lists winners all the way back from 1996. There’s a handful of winners that ate 3 Pig Platters in one day! It was cool to look through the winners and where they were from.

     

    Pigs Platter wall

     

    Their ice cream and waffle cones are delicious!

     

    David eating ice cream

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    Eating in Ankara: Certioğlu Konağı

    We went to Ulus today to pick up a few things before we travel home for the summer. We’ve heard about a great manti restaurant from several of the other teachers. We ran into some friends while we were there and they told us where to find it.

    Certioğlu Konağı Kafeterya was down a side street (on the left side) when you walk towards the Ankara castle.

     

    Certioğlu Konağı

     

    The restaurant had a warm, comfortable atmosphere. The man told us it was a “family” restaurant and we could either take off our shoes or put plastic footies over our shoes. We ate upstairs where they had floor seating and Anatolian-style copper tables.

     

    Lunch date in Ulus

     

    David ordered beef manti and I ordered potato manti. It was some of the best we’ve had! They made everything fresh in the restaurant. Manti is kind of like a ravioli. It is typically served with yogurt, oil, tomato, and herbs on top.

     

    Turkish manti

     

    For dessert, we had a honey and wanut gözleme with çay.

    After we paid our bill, we got to see  the cooks roll out gözleme dough and cook it on the hot, round stove.

     

    Making gözleme

     

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    An Indulgence

    We consider ourselves very blessed to live in a country that has delicious food. And while bacon, vanilla extract, and other selections are not readily available, we do alright.

    All that to say… I found out there are Girl Scouts in Turkey.

     

    Samoas and Thin Mint cookies

     

    Here’s to indulgence. (And rationing…)

     

    Girl Scout cookies

     

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