the perfect weekend

ben and i spent a very low-key first weekend back in ankara. it didn't consist of much, aside from lounging, baking, and hanging with friends. how refreshing it was to not have a million things to do for the first time in well over a month!

on friday nite we hit up a new american-style bistro where the owner, a friend, ordered up samples of the new cuisine for us to critique. i must say, it's nice when your opinion is appreciated, and much nicer when lots of good food is involved! after ben and i had talked all day about looking forward to spending a night on the town, we were home by nine, utterly exhausted. yep! we're old.

saturday started off with a trip to the beauty salon for a long-overdue mani/pedi. i returned home and made a rhubarb cake, recipe courtesy of one of my favorite cooking blogs.

what a treat to have fresh rhubarb (thanks adam for buying it from the commissary!)

and turn it into this! looks like a pie, but the crust is actually made from cake dough... go figure.
later we headed over to adam & julianne's for dinner. we hadn't seen them since getting back from the states and it was great to kick back and catch up with one another. adam showed us his sparring chickens... turns out standing them up on beer cans roasts them to a tender, juicy perfection. delish!
kathryn did the impossible and got even CUTER while we were away
and kept ben and i entertained, as we sipped our kentucky derby-inspired mint juleps and enjoyed some delicious basil and lemon zesty-ricotta-rific bruschetta. dinner is always a treat at the price's!
but seriously, i just loooove that face.
and ben was really happy to find she's gotten over her fear of him-- shaving probably helped
a wonderful evening was had. sunday was spent reorganizing my summer wardrobe and reading through my new cookbooks, all of which i would highly recommend (esp. this, this, and this) and pretty much gearing up for a summer of fabulous fashion with plenty of baking and cooking goin' on... stay tuned!