Health to Your Hand

On Monday night, I was invited over to have dinner at my landlords home. I was happy to get the invitation and accepted right away. I went over there straight after work, which precluded me from picking up a gift to bring; a big Turkish no-no. I did have a package I was bringing over from their daughter, so I hoped that would let me off the hook. Their daughter, Nedine, lives in Eugene and I saw here a couple weeks ago while at an Ultimate tournament.

Upon arriving at their apartment, I quick figured out something was wrong. Well, maybe not wrong, but at least something was up. Gulin and Errol looked very happy. On drugs happy. It was odd. Finally I found out that Nadine had secretly flown to Izmir and surprised them, only arriving a couple hours earlier. Daughter home = very happy mother.

The dinner was exceptional. Lamb (obviously not chicken), rice in olive leaves, artichokes, a "Russian salad", and desert. All very tasty and a great first home cooked Turkish meal. The entire family has a very witty sense of humor and I found myself fitting in pretty fast.

At they end of the meal, I let Gulin know how wonderful I thought her cooking was. I then learned that the Turkish expression for "compliments to the chef" literally translates to "Health to your hand". Of course, I can't remember the actual Turkish... Keep that hand cooking, Gulin!