peanut butter & limes

so, it's been a while, again. i have been busy since returning from london (great trip, by the way, and will try to post some pics later on). last week kind of flew by. work was hectic after both ben & i being out of the country for a week, and dealing with varying degrees of jet lag. but the more exciting update from the week is that i started private tutoring sessions to learn turkish. a friend recommended a turkish tutor who works with embassy employees, and i've already had 2 lessons. so far it's going well- i am learning key phrases & can count to 30! it's a little frustrating that i can't just learn it overnight, but i'm trying to be patient.

the weekend was both busy and relaxing. busy in that i did a lot of shopping for holiday decor & groceries for christmas cookie baking. relaxing in that ben & i spent sunday entirely at home (and i mostly baked). my trip to 2 grocery stores on saturday proved extremely successful... i found everything i needed, and a few surprises. strolling the aisles of kippa (i think this is a british run grocery since they've started selling tesco products), i was perusing the 100 different brands of hazelnut spread (BIG in this county), when i noticed on the bottom shelf two stacks of peter pan peanut butter, both crunchy and smooth. peanut butter doesn't exist in turkey, so i put a jar in my cart and gladly paid the 9 lire (about $7) for it. my next stop was real (reh-all) market. i love the produce section at real because it's larger than any other market, and tends to have some unusual finds. well this trip did not disappoint, as i found a fruit so exotic to turkey i had given up hope of ever finding it: limes. LIMES! two huge baskets filled with limes. i bought 16, and paid about 16 lire... a bit much, but worth it in my mind. yesterday ben and i made a batch of margeritas to celebrate... i'll bet they drink them during christmas in mexico... feliz navidad?!

this week i'll celebrate christmas far from home, for the first time. we'll definitely make the most of it. on christmas eve we're having a cocktail party at the house, then will have dinner with friends on christmas. i will be sure to post pics from the festivities... merry christmas!