A Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers!
This is my first Thanksgiving in Turkey since 2002 and, unfortunately, it passed like any other day. I applied for permission to use the Ottoman archives in Sultanahmet and then spent a few hours over at the offices of the Istanbul mufti observing a sermon selection meeting and chatting with one of the employees. It was a fine day in terms of work…just not in terms of food.
Thanksgiving ‘02 is famous in our household because my wife surprised me by cooking turkey and making a homemade, cooked-on-the-stovetop-because-I-didn’t-have-an-oven pumpkin pie (even though she had never tasted one in her life). That was the first and only time I’ve ever eaten turkey in Turkey…and I’m still wondering how she made the pie because I’ve yet to see a bona fide pumpkin in any market in Istanbul.
For a variety of reasons, however, there was no Thanksgiving feast today - far from it. The closest I got was stopping on my way home to eat some boiled corn on the cob sold by a street vendor. Somehow that wasn’t the same as sitting down with family to a full meal…
5 comments ↓
happy turkey day! i’m really not a turkey (food) fan, but i agree that there’s something special about sitting down with family to a full meal. i do envy your productivity though. holidays tend to throw me off balance on productivity (which was already not so great to begin with). happy thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving, Jim! Sorry to hear that you didn’t get to have a sit-down Thanksgiving meal. The memories of the ‘02 dinner sound great though.:)
Thanks, yli, and thanks, eszter! Hope you both had a great holiday.
hey uncle Jim! Happy belated Thanksgiving! Long time no see. I’ll email you a more personal letter soon. Glad to finallly be in touch with you and the rest of the family. Love, Melinda
Wonderful to hear from you, Melinda! Made my day.
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