On the 3rd day... she ate CORN.

"On the third day of termbreak my mama gave to me - three turkish delights, 2 summery dresses, and a choc-caterpillar from Marks&Sparks!"

Alright, so I'm cheating a little here. The 'turkish delights' are actually our friends Zubeyde and her 2 lovely daughters, Yasmin, and baby Suheyla. But hey, the 3 of them are Turkish and they are delightful, so technically I'm not wrong. Right? Anyway this is my song so nobody gets to complain about the choice of lyrics!

...

I have been filling Cheeks' termbreak with playdates.

Today, we met up with Zubeyde and kids. We'd arranged to go over to hers for a playdate, and Zubs suggested lunch - maybe try a little home-cooked Turkish cuisine?

Needless to say, I leapt at the offer! (Who wouldn't?)

I've never had real Turkish food before. Other than kebabs. They are a type of Turkish food, are they not? Zubs introduced me to bulgur - a cross between rice and couscous. It was scrummilicious! And apparently, really easy to prepare. According to Zubs, all you need is to:

• fry chopped onions together with tomato paste,
  
• add the bulgur,
  
• add water, (as much as needed to cook the bulgur, similar to cooking rice actually)
  
• salt/pepper to taste,
  
• some dried mint/basil,
  
• let it all simmer till the grains get fluffy
  
• serve!
  

Sedap!

She also let me try Tarhana soup which was hmmm... interesting. It wasn't bad. I just wasn't used to it. Definitely an acquired taste.

Tarhana soup

The kids had the soup for starters, and rice with corn.

Now this I have to document - Cheeks ate corn!!! The yellow kernals were in her mouth! She chewed! (More importantly) She SWALLOWED!!!

Girl who picks on veggies chews on corn

*faint in disbelief*

I really wanted to let out a celebratory yelp. My mind was screaming 'OH.MY.GAWD' in the same irritating, nasal tone as Janice from 'Friends' (don't even ask how, or why. The brain has a mind of its own?). I could've done an impression of a real 'Injun' wardance if I knew the steps.

But no. I had to play it cool. You had corn, eh? Sure. No biggie. Cool. Groovy. Peace out, sista!

It was a 'Thank You God! Hallelujah!' moment. Truly it was.

Now, snaps!

Zubs and me, in GREEN!

With 7MO Suheyla

Yasmin & Cheeks having fun at the playground