Babies, Birthday, Blizzard and Baharat!

Well, I have not been keeping up with the blog as fast as the information has come in. So here it goes...

1. Babies: My good friends Jeff and Andrea Smith just has their first baby and the first in a series of four for my friends in Istanbul! Adeline Marie Smith! She is beautiful and I feel a bond with her because of the middle name! I have enjoyed visiting them and holding her! Did I say she was beautiful?

2. Birthday: I had a great birthday! I got to go skiing, family and friends called, I went to the hamam, ate at a great place, and a great party was thrown by Laura Beth full with wonderful surprises!

It started the day before with a day full of skiing. Most of you know, that I absolutely LOVE to ski. I had a great time going down the slopes in Turkey on the day before my bday, and of course, you know I have a story...I almost made it all day without falling once....but on the very last slope, I was going a bit too fast and I skied right into a big hill of snow. I hit it, lost my skis and did a flip in the air. It reminds me of good skiing memories....skiing into a tree and breaking my leg when I was seven.....getting hit with a t-bar in the head and my ear turning green.....You got to love it! Seems like a great way to enter the last year of my late twenties!

3. Blizzard: Okay, we have not had a blizzard, but it has been snowing AGAIN and A LOT!!! I have been trapped in my house for a couple of days. So, you might ask, "what have you been doing?" That is where the next word comes in...

4. Baharat: Baharat is the Turkish word for spice. My roomate and I have learned a lot of things together since we have moved to Turkey and one of those things has included cooking. (I must add a thank you to Elizabeth and Lisa Blain) for helping me with this. I always joke that the only spice that I had in my cupboard when I lived in America was fajita seasoning. It sounds funny, but it is true! I was always too busy to cook and did not like it much. However, since I have had some extra time this month,we have made fried chicken, mash potatoes, homemade cherry pie, granola, president's chicken, zucchini casserole, taco soup, and homemade cinnamon rolls. Before you get too impressed, know that the granola was kind of burnt, the zucchini had too much butter, and the rolls needed more cinnamon. So, don't start calling me Martha or anything, but it is a start and I am definitely using more than fajita seasoning!!!