Goal#55 – Eat something I have never eaten before

This might come across strange to many, but  I ate Dairy Queen for the first time. I had a cheeseburger, fries and a Cookie Dough Blizzard. Of course I have had a burger and fries before but it was my first time trying out a blizzard and I must say I was super dissapointed. I mean people act like its the best thing in the world and always seem to look at me like I am an alien when I tell that I have never had a blizzard before. I tried the cookie dough blizzard and it did nothing for me.

But with that, I get to mark of Goal# 55 off my list.

That’s worth gaining 10 lbs

There have been many places (and trust me I have probably tried most if not all of them) that called them selves Mediterranean Restaurant’s, and honestly I cannot say that any one of them even came close to what I was used to. So I kind of gave up on my search and actually started my attempt at cooking (ohhh and by now SRR was already in love with Turkish Food). I made Lahmacun, Cacik, Borek, Kofte, Coban Salatasi, Baklava…etc but it was never the same. It just sort of took the edge off, but left me wanting just one more hit – I mean bite.

Then we made the brilliant decision to move to Cary, NC (where before we moved, we were warned that we should learn how to cook at home, because the food sucked – or something like that) and with the help of SRR’s AWESOME office mate found out about Bosphorus. Even when SRR mentioned the name to me I was still very skeptical, until I saw the menu and felt like crying from happiness (yes, I know… I have a weirdly wrong relationship with food). That night we went and tried the food and I think I had a smile on my face for the next week (yes – good food makes me happy). They were playing Turkish music, the waiter was Turkish and spoke Turkish to me (which at this point I realized – I need to work on speaking it more often), the food was to DIE for and we walked out of there probably 10lbs heavier then we walked out. But before we walked out, the waiter told us about a Turkish Market (I think at this point I was fighting back tears of joy) and pointed us in the direction. Of course we had to go check it out that night and the place is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. It’s like a little Turkey. They have pretty much everything that I have my mom bring me back from Turkey (hmmm you did not hear that from me) and much much more. I think I was that much more in love with Cary after this. They have an American – Turkish Association which I need to join and I think along with meeting many new people, it will also help me complete Goal #43 off my list.  

Holiday Eating Tips

I came across this today and had to share…

Please print out and carry with you in case you forget what to do.

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they’re serving rum balls.
2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And QUICKLY. It’s rare; you cannot find it any other time of the year, but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It’s not as if you’re going to turn in to an eggnog-alcoholic or something. It’s a genuine treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It’s later then you think its Christmas.
3. If something comes with gravy, USE IT. That’s the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.
4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask of they’re made with skim milk or whole milk. If it’s skim milk, pass. Why bother? It’s like buying a sports care with an automatic transmission.
5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas part is to eat other people’s food for free. Lot’s of it. Hello?
6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year’s. Yu can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you’ll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.
7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don’t budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They’re like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you’re never going to see them again.
8. Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Of if you don’t like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?
9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it’s loaded with mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.
10. One final tip: If you don’t feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven’t been paying attention. Re-read tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.

Remember this motto to live by:

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming “WOO HOO what a ride!”.

NC Nesties

I attended my first GTG (Get ToGether) with the lovely NC Nest ladies last night and had a great time. It was the 2nd annual Tacky Christmas Sweater/Cookie Exchange Party. The idea is that everyone bakes 3 dozen cookies and seperates them in to 6 batches of 6 cookies and everyone walks away with 6 different packages of 6 cookies…

I made Sandies Pecan Cookies and Peppermint Bark and walked away with delishes GOODNESS!!!

The GROUP

Around the Food Table

All the cookies spread out on Blair’s Guest Bed

Happy Thanksgiving… Take II

Yes, I know it has been days since Thanksgiving – but I just got to dumping the pictures off my camera!

Hope everyone had a lovely and delicious Thanksgiving.

Ours was GREAT. We had a full house, including my Mother in-law, Father In-law, Aunt In-law and Uncle In-law and of course Peanut the dog.

Tuesday: My Mother in-law arrived that evening and picked up the two pie orders I had placed (Pumpkin and Chocolate Pecan pie) from the Farmers Market. We finished the night by eating dinner at one of our favorite restaurants Café Parvaneh.

PS: I finished reading Twilight.

Wednesday: I was able to get out of work around 11:30 and headed home. We had a few more things to grab from the grocery store (this was grocery run #2 so far) and we also grabbed Five Guys burgers to have for lunch. Aunt Brenda and Uncle Gary arrived around 5PM and Perry (my father in-law) made it to our house around 8PM. We stayed up watching TV and playing some Scene It.

Thursday: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! We woke up early and Marie (my mother in-law) was already in the kitchen getting everything ready. She made us some delicious cheese and sausage wraps and pumpkin bread for breakfast. The boys went out to play some basketball in the afternoon and we just chilled around the house cooking and playing Ratchet & Clank the Quest for the Booty. The Turkey was done around 3ish I believe and there went in the rest of the feast (Green Bean Casserole, Mac & Cheese, Stuffing, Gravy, Rice, Pea Salad, Stewed Tomatoes and last but not least Yeast Rolls with Honey Butter). I set the table up around 5ish and we sat down for dinner. After stuffing our selves with more food then we probably should have, we cleaned up and decided to play Monopoly (which ended in a tie between Perry & Gary). 

Friday: Once again we were up early and decided to go grab some breakfast before Brenda and Gary hit the road back to Myrtle Beach. We decided to try out this breakfast place that my Mother in-law had seen (looked up) a while back called Brigs. We got lucky and only a short wait for 6 people. I ordered their French Toast Griddle Combo and it was delish! After breakfast we attempted to find a Best Buy to check out some deals, but oh boy oh boy… the place was CRAZY! We decided that it was not worth losing our sanity and headed back home. We said our goodbyes to Brenda and Gary and they headed back home.

SRR and Perry worked on installing his new speakers and Marie and I headed to Bath and Bodyworks to grab a few things. The stores were busy, but not CRAZY like I had imagin

ed them to be. By the time we got home the boys were done working on installing the speakers and we had decided to go see a movie that night. But Sugar was not feeling well and we decided to stick around incase she needed a potty break. We had leftover for dinner and wrapped up the night playing Monopoly (tie between Perry and I).

PS:  I started reading New Moon.

Saturday: We were up and about by 10:30 to make it to Dim-Sum by 11:00 – only to find out they did not open till 11:30. Once they opened, we went in and enjoyed some really really good Dim-Sum. We had plans to go see Transporter III, but had a few hours to kill.. so back to home we went. 2:30 rolled around and we went to see the movie… hmmm Jason Statham was GREAT as usual (I happen to think so anyway), but my GOD the leading actress was HORRIBLE and I mean HORRIBLE. This in my eyes made the movie pretty bad as well. After the movie we headed home for some Turkey Sandwiches and Queso & Chips for dinner. Followed by a few rounds of Buzz and a few rounds of Scene It.

Sunday: Up and about around 11:00 to grab some breakfast. We headed to Cindy’s House Café only to find out they were closed. After driving around for a few minutes, trying to come up with a place to eat… we found our selves back at Brigs. This time around there was about a 15 minute wait, which again I do not happen to find long at all – especially with the Church crowd starting to come out. This time around I had the Hot Cake Griddle Combo and once again, it was pretty darn good. After breakfast we headed back home so Mom and Perry could hit the road.

SRR took a nap and I played a little Ratchet and watched a little TV. We ate dinner and headed out to Barnes and Noble to grab the other two Twilight Saga Series books. Well, even though their system showed that they had both, they only had Eclipse in stock. So being the inpatient person I am, we headed to Borders were I found them both.

We had a LONG, but FUN filled Thanksgiving. One of the main reasons we wanted to move here was to be closer to our extended family and it was nice to be able to accomplish that.

Goal #91 – Carve a Pumpkin for the first time

I know that a lot of you were surprised that I had never carved a pumpkin. But for those who know me well, also know that I was raised in Turkey, where we don’t celebrate Halloween or carve pumpkins. So here I am at age 27 and I carved my first ever pumpkin and enjoyed every second of it.

First – the perfect Pumpkin

Then comes the carving

Masterpiece

The Insides

And there you have it. Poontater’s first pumpkin Masterpiece!

Farmer’s Market

Mom and Perry came in town to help me celebrate turning 27. We have been wanting to check out the Farmer’s Market since we arrived in NC, but it took us 3 weeks to actually make our way there. We started the day with some yummy breakfast at a restaurant at the Farmer’s Market (the name slips my mind) and enjoyed some good old southern food. After stuffing our faces, we made our way to the Farmer’s Market. Everything was so fresh and people were so nice. I felt like I needed to/wanted to buy everything I saw – then had to remind my self that we now live here and the Farmer’s Market is open 7 days a week.

Check out some of the Freshness… and vibrant colors…

Ahhh the the big PUMPKIN’s they had were AWESOME!!!

They have a crafty section as well, which is where we found this awesome swing (that I happen to think would look GREAT on our patio)… he he

ENJOY!!!

We interrupt this message…

I am going to sway away from my Cancun updates to share with you all that we will be going to Fogo de Chao tomorrow night. I will update once I am stuffed to the point of wanting to vomit…