Tuesday Night Dinner

Wednesday night was Idil's boyfriend's last night in Sweden, so since I couldn't NOT make him (and the other new members of the enchilada fan club) enchiladas one more time Tuesday night I invited some friends over for a repeat. These are the results...

Enchiladaaaaaas with homemade (super spicy) enchilada sauce

Meryem and Gokhan

Dinner is served

Very romantic

The beginning of their practical joke on me

Plotting...

After dinner we started talking about Gokhan's fortune telling ability and some Turkish superstitions and Idil mentions that there is this one website she knows that somehow just knows everything about you. Obviously skeptical, I ask them to show me. The website works by submitting a question and then  receiving an answer. So they start asking questions on the site and everything is coming up correct. I start freaking out but say, "No, it must somehow be going through my search history or using my Facebook account--something--this cannot be real!" Then really strange things start to happen.

When I get an answer basically telling me that a Jinn, a sort of Islamic spirit, is now intervening, I start to get super nervous. I'm having this existential crisis where I begin to doubt my belief in science and consider the possibility of a spiritual world. Then Mehreen takes the computer, and as I'm yelling over her shoulder that this is a horrible idea, she writes that the spirit should prove it's existence. The response is that a cup will fall in the kitchen. And not five seconds later a cup falls. I am losing it at this point, yelling at them for bringing a Jinn into my house. Everyone else is acting very scared and nervous too.

After almost two hours of this, Mehreen finally tells me that is was all a joke! Idil walks in the room and I tackle her on the bed screaming, "I hate you guys!" over and over again. So apparently everyone was in on this whole joke and terrified me into believing in these Islamic spirits. While I don't know if I have ever felt so much anxiety in my whole life, I have to admit they did a pretty good job.

The cup falling is really what got me...sneaky Idil.

Most important lesson learned:

• My friends are really good liars

Cultural Exchange

Friday night was my introduction to Turkish culture. I thought it was actually sort of poignant that on the day that the US embassy was bombed in Ankara, I was joining a bunch of Turks for dinner.

This was the calmest point in the evening

I was the only American in the company of the Turks so I think they liked explaining some of their traditions to me, especially when it came to food and drinking.

A main focus of the night was raki, a Turkish alcohol that is still super strong even when it is watered down to become "lion's milk." Raki is supposed to be a drink you enjoy slowly while conversing--it's not like taking shots of vodka to get super drunk as fast as you can. That being said, raki is pretty powerful. 

We also had a table filled with Turkish food, which looks a lot like Greek food, but don't tell them that. Anyway, it was delicious. Murat told me a story about how to enjoy raki with the salmon we had. He said the story goes that when you eat fish (and he made me take a bite) you swallow it down and it looks up waiting, and what is it waiting for? The raki. So then you help the fish out by taking another sip of raki.

One thing I learned that night is that every Turkish person has rhythm. Every single person can dance at least a little. And Turkish dancing is very joyful and proud. You cannot be around Turkish dancing and be in a bad mood. Of course they all made me join in as I was the special American guest. I had a lot of fun but it was pretty embarrassing. Especially compared to Nildag, the belly dancer.

The night before Turkish night I hosted a few friends over at my place so they could finally try enchiladas. And these were extra delicious enchiladas since Carla brought sauce her grandma made back with her from Mexico. It was too spicy even for my Pakistani friend, so some dilution was required, but it was still incredible. Introducing my friends to Mexican food was pretty hilarious. After experiencing guacamole and homemade chicken enchiladas with enchilada sauce made by a Mexican grandmother I think they are hooked. In fact, the next night, Idil's boyfriend who is visiting from Turkey shyly asked me if we could do another enchilada night before he goes. 

I don't have a picture to post of enchilada night because we ate them so fast...