Making My Own Merry In Turkey

Look! It is a new post within a month of the last one! I am getting better. With it being Thanksgiving today, I thought it would only be proper to send out a little holiday cheer from this country that I am pretty sure is named after the centerpiece of almost every home in America today. (Yes I am very informed on this county’s history!) Actually ironically enough, it is incredibly hard to find whole turkeys here. Chicken and beef are the popular proteins, but if you find the right butcher, you can get a turkey. Unfortunately we found the wrong butcher who said he would deliver the bird on time, and then at the last minute said he couldn’t. In the end it all worked out though; we had an amazing Thanksgiving feast of all sorts of “American” Thanksgiving food with chicken and ham! The very best part was that I was surrounded by the  wonderful friends I have made here in Turkey, so the holiday was as it should be, full of wonderful fellowship with wonderful people. I am truly blessed!

            I will say though, holidays here are very different. It is mainly because my “traditional” holidays- Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter- are not celebrated here. The whole holiday atmosphere I am use to experiencing in stores, at schools, in the neighborhoods is totally not here. No bell ringers in front of the storefronts, no drives in the car to look at lights, no nativity scenes; I really miss it all!  Now this may come as a surprise to people who know me well because let’s be honest, I am kind of a Grinch when it comes to “Christmas” tradition. I use to complain if someone played  one more Christmas song, or groaned every time my mother mentioned driving around to look at lights. Now I want it all (I can hear the “You always want what you can’t have” echoes).  But instead of wallow in my sorrows because the “Who’s down in Whoville” would not approve, I decided to make my own holiday “merry”!  For me that mean baking and cooking holiday food, and my favorite seasonal yummiest food in the pumpkin roll!!!! Problem is canned pumpkin is nonexistent here sooooooooooo an already putsy (a word my mom made up to mean lots of tedious steps that I didn’t know was a word she made up until a few years ago) recipe has become even more putsy. I had this amazing idea to show you the steps in photographs, and it all went well until I got to the fun parts of rolling the roll, filling the roll with cream cheese frosting, and then eating it, but you’ll get the gist. Love you all and soak up some extra holiday merriment for me! Blessings!  

Step 1: Get a whole bunch of raw pumpkin from the pazar

Step 2:  Boil pumpkin in water until it is nice and  mushy!

Step 3: Pretend like you know how to cut the rind off of a pumpkin then later realize using a spoon is a lot easier!

Step 4:  Mash it into a nice baby food texture

Step 5: Store a whole bunch extra in your freezer, so you don't have to keep doing this process all year!

Step 6: Add a whole bunch of other ingredients after you run the names through googletranslate

Step 7: Pour the batter into a parchment paper lined cookie sheet (odd color!)

Step 8: Bake in the most finicky oven known to man!

Steps 9, 10, and 11 which are roll, fill, and eat are sadly left out because I was so excited that it turned out that I forgot to take pictures! I promise; it was delish!