Granola

This is too good not to share.  I have now made this homemade granola a few times and it is so delicious.  I thought it would be a fun Christmas gift for neighbors or even better, just keep it to enjoy all by yourself.  I literally ate granola and yogurt for two days straight while Ryan was out of town. I love to eat this with natural yogurt, bananas, kiwi, apples, pomegranate, pineapple or anything I have in my fridge at the moment.  They have delicious granola in the stores here but it is so expensive and is so sweet! This is the right amount of honey flavor but the best part is the roasted flavor it gets after baking in the oven. 

Here are a few tips:  

1:  I googled how to make your granola chunky.  If you like chunky granola also, here is how.  Take an egg white and whisk it until frothy.  Make your granola recipe as follows but before you bake it you mix in the egg white THEN bake.  Let it completely cool on the pan over night and in the morning you have huge chunks of granola.  Perfect.

2:  When I baked mine the first time I was worried that it was burning so be sure to stir it every 15 minutes.  My oven cooks very unevenly so I know that is a major part of the problem.  After I ate the whole batch by myself the first time I realized that the roasted/burnt flavor is actually something I really enjoyed! So, let it get a little toasty looking!  The best part is the almonds with the roasted flavor.

3: I only chop up dried figs and dried apricots for mine. I think it's the perfect combination. My mouth is watering. 

Hope you enjoy!

Christmas Prep/Birthday

It never feels like Christmas season until I have my Christmas tree up and ready.  I've been waiting and waiting for the day to come that we put up our tree. We got so lucky this year because my friend Laura that is here had an extra tree! She is letting us borrow her tree so all we had to buy was the decorations.  So nice of her since we have now left behind two Christmas trees at the end of each season.  Thursday night was what I like to call the perfect holiday night.  We started off the night at Ikea to buy some decorations.  Ikea always pulls through for me.  In a country that doesn't celebrate Christmas it is so fun to show up and see an entire Christmas section at Ikea.  We loaded up on ornaments and then of course had to indulge in some swedish meatballs. I'm never too big of a fan but Ryan loves them!  I like the french fries dipped in the gravy! Healthy, I know.  After Ikea we went to Kipa to find ANOTHER Christmas section! WOO HOO! Next we indulged in what I would consider one of the best parts of the night....Starbucks! A peppermint hot chocolate and a salted caramel hot chocolate. Both were delicious and we can never decide what we like better so we get both and share!  After an evening out in the crisp, cool air we headed home to decorate our tree.    

 We got home, put Asher to bed and turned on Home Alone. Let the decorating begin...

 Yes, that's a paper snowflake as our tree topper. I had to get crafty! I actually like it!

 Asher woke up the next morning and was so excited when he saw the tree. He loves the lights and is constantly trying to stand up and pull the tree down.

I had a Birthday! Unfortunately Ryan was out of town for my Birthday.  It actually wasn't a big deal because I was able to go enjoy some Christmas festivities with Asher.  We had our own little date night. We got all dressed up to go to the International Women's group Dinner at the Swiss Hotel. We rode over to Alsincak on the ferry with my friend, Devon.  The Swiss Hotel was decorated so beautifully! I didn't stay for the dinner because it would have been hard with Asher.  I just went and shopped around at the booths they had set up before the dinner. I bought Asher some fun wooden toys and met some other American, Australian and German women! After the dinner I met up with some NATO families and went to the Anglican church for their Christmas tree lighting.  This was the perfect ending to our holiday night. Asher loved the huge, beautiful tree and made gasping sounds when they turned on the lights.  I'll admit, I got a little teary eyed singing Christmas carols with other people who celebrate the birth of our Savior around a beautiful tree. The chapel was beautiful, I felt the spirit as we sang and what's more fun then enjoying these things for the first time with Asher! The only thing that could have made it more fun is if Ryan were there.

 The gingerbread house at the Swiss Hotel.  Made out of REAL gingerbread, frosting and candy! It was amazing!

 One of the booths had cake pops, adorable cakes and sugar cookies! I know who will make Asher's 1st year cake!

 Asher wanting the cake pop. I may have given him a bite...

 The ballroom decorated for the dinner.  Wish I could have stayed! It was lovely.

 The tree lighting

 Asher loved to touch the ornaments and lights.

 Asher made a new friend!  They giggled, poked each other and hugged for about fifteen minutes.

Some of the NATO families kids.  I have met some amazing families and am really enjoying getting to know them.  Their kids are so sweet with Asher and it's refreshing to speak in english and carry on a normal conversation. Such kind people and I'm grateful to have met them!  

It was a great Birthday!

7 months

This little munchkin is now seven months old. I can't say it enough, the time is FLYING! Please slow down! This month brought some milestone with it. Asher is now crawling but still chooses the army crawl more.  He starts out crawling and then after about 10 strides he drops back down to his belly. He gets around faster sliding his belly along the ground.  He pulls himself up on things to a standing position. Yikes! That has brought along some falls and bonking his head with it!  He enjoys cruising around in his walker and pulling everything off of shelves, the couch or knocking things over.  He has tried more foods, he is into everything, he sleeps great minus a couple of teething nights and he is in awe by Christmas lights and decorations. Such a fun time! Now I know why parents get so excited to take their kids to Disneyland!

 I can't tell you how many times I have looked into Asher's stroller to find his eyes completely covered by his hat. He just sits there and doesn't make a sound. Silly boy. 

These are the best pictures I could get of a little man that never wants to sit still!

Thanksgiving x 3

This year we were lucky enough to celebrate Thanksgiving THREE times.  I usually have a rough time around this season and Christmas because it's just not the same as being at home.  This year I wanted to do things different and go to the extreme to make up for distance between us and family.  We had our own Thanksgiving just the 3 of us, a huge Thanksgiving that I hosted with a friend and then celebrated with our branch.  It was definitely enough celebrating and it was a special year! 

 Thanksgiving day! We woke up to a little Turkey in our home!

 A scaled down Thanksgiving feast since we're a little group. Chicken instead of turkey, no rolls (too much work for 2 of us) and roasted carrots instead of sweet potatoes. It was still delicious! 

 Asher was really excited about all of the food placed around him. He was lucky enough to try mashed potatoes and he loved them! I made stuffing from scratch for the first time. I'm still a "Stove Top" fan.

 As we were trying to take a picture Asher was more focused on getting some food then smiling for the picture...

 Success! See the carrot in his little fingers?  I love his face. "What mom?"

 Ryan showing off our very special box of See's chocolates I brought over with me from the States. We have been waiting and waiting for the day to open them.  It was well worth the wait. YUM!

 On Saturday night my friend Laura and I hosted a huge Thanksgiving for all of the American families we know here in Izmir.  It turned into a group of about 40 people!  It was such a great time. We had so much food and I think everyone had a great time getting together, being able to speak English, enjoying delicious food, playing some fun games and the opportunity to meet new people!  The best part of this party was that we were able to eat TURKEY and ham! You would think that turkey would be easy to come by in a country called Turkey.  Well, it isn't! It tasted delicious even though the lady cooking it showed up 2 1/2 hours late due to cooking the turkey on broil for the entire day! I love my friend Dianne. She's hilarious! Luckily the turkey was covered in foil and wasn't burned and when we were able to eat the big bird it was well worth the wait!  Talk about stressing out a hostess though! Also, I learned on this day how much easier it is to cook with your mom and sisters.  I woke up at 7am and cooked until 6pm.  I made pumpkin chocolate chip bread, lemon bars, apple crisp, creamed corn, waldorf salad, mashed potatoes and gravy!  My hands hurt the next day.  Literally.  But it was delicious!  

All of the pictures I took of the entire group are so blurry and dark they aren't even worth posting.  Here are a few pics.

 Some of the men and Misty enjoying a conversation with full tummies.

 Adorable Abby and Asher.  Abby is sweet and loves to carry around Asher for me and babysit him.  I need to hire her!

Our dessert table.  I easily gained two pounds just from the desserts.  The picture of all the food didn't turn out but we had A TON! 

 Brian (one of Ryan's team mates) and Misty his fiance.  

 One of the signs I made for the party.  I was actually impressed with my pilgrim turkey!

On Sunday we went to church and then enjoyed another Thanksgiving dinner with the branch.  

 Asher is always more then happy to take pictures with Ryan...

 then when it comes to me he does faces like this.  Silly boy.

 Our amazing spread of food just for the seven of us!  We had enough food for 20.

 Joel (far right) cooked the best turkey I have EVER had in my entire life.  In the bag, under 300 degrees for EIGHT hours.  It literally fell off the bone.  I've never eaten so much turkey in my life. No offense mom, your turkey is great too!

 We hope that you enjoyed your Thanksgiving! We enjoyed ours! 

Now onto the Christmas season! 

Aliaga vs. Besiktas

First things first.  Ryan was picked again this week to be "Top Performing Player #6" in Turkey. He played last weekend and ended with 28 points and a WIN! He's working so hard and doing so well. Proud of him!

ALSO...

As many of you may know (or have no clue/don't care) there is an NBA lockout going on right now.  Because of the lockout a TON of NBA players have made the jump to overseas Basketball.  Before the lockout a lot of NBA players would come to Europe if they got cut, weren't signed, retired from the NBA etc.  Well, this season has been different.  A lot of BIG named players have made their way over to still make money while the issues in the States are resolved.  Players such as Deron Williams, Sasha Vujacic, Tony Parker, Mehmet Okur, Omri Casspi and many more are currently playing overseas.  There are plenty more still talking about coming overseas if an agreement isn't worked out some time soon such as Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant.  It's fun for Ryan to play against a lot of high profile names giving him the chance to prove he can compete with these guys.  Last night for example his team played Besiktas.  Deron Williams is currently playing for Besiktas.  Ryan was guarded the entire game by Deron Williams himself.  Ryan had 15 points and played really well against him!  It was such an amazing game with an awesome atmosphere. Crazy, screaming and whistling fans were jammed into the arena. More people were standing then sitting. Unfortunately, we lost but Aliaga didn't go down without a fight and it was a really great game! This is definitely something we'll remember forever.  Ryan playing against the best point guard in the NBA.  

Way to go Ryan!!

Monday morning

Monday morning Asher decided to wake up and stay up at 7.  By 8am Ryan was also awake.  Usually our mornings are pretty low key until Asher takes his nap and Ryan heads out the door for his first practice.  Monday was different.  Ryan woke up with the genius idea of heading to McDonald's for breakfast. YUM!  There are a ton of McDonald's in our area but only one location serves breakfast. AND it's the only location that has sausage.  The reason for that is because here in Turkey any sort of pig is almost impossible to come by.  In the muslim religion they don't eat any pork.  That's why we ran so quickly at the idea of going! We got on our sweats, threw on coats, we didn't brush our hair but we did brush our teeth! We looked pretty sketchy to say the least.  Actually, I looked pretty sketchy.

 Asher ready for his first trip to McDonald's!

 Loading into the car

 Asher with the one happy face he gave me the whole drive.  He hates his car seat.

 (this is for Kim to get an idea of what our streets look like)

 Then we were there 10 minutes later.  The crazy streets of Karsiyaka at 8:30am

 We were the first customers of the morning. We arrived just as the doors open.  

 Our delicious Sausage and Egg McMuffins. YUM YUM!

 Trust me, I know I look horrible but I'm not ashamed.  It was well worth looking awful for. I'm also not afraid to admit I look like this more often then not! I'm loving the fluffy hair on the side.  That's taken me years of practice to perfect.

 This is a very ordinary sight to see in Turkey.  Incredibly fresh produce just driving down the street.  The merchant will pick a random street corner to sell his fruits/veggies right out of his truck. I love it!

 The damage was done. It tasted even better then we hoped.

Heading back home...tummies full!