Phillip and Rebecca Mefford

The just-under queen sized guest bed, replete with unnecessary decorative pillows. The first room to the right is our guest room…slash Sofia’s room…slash the workout room. When we put the stationary bike in there we really felt like Americans (come on, admit it, most American homes have a dusty, neglected piece of workout equipment shoved in the guest room or an abandoned bedroom). Call it the all-purpose room, if you will, or more affectionately, “Grandpa and Grandma’s room.” Either way, we specifically wanted a bedroom for guests. Typically, Turkish homes do not have a separate bedroom for guests. Most couches fold down futon-style into beds, which is more than sufficient for overnight guests, which usually only derives from the greater pool of relatives that may not live nearby. Feeling this would not be adequate, particularly for our parents, who tend to stay for two weeks to a month when they come, we reserved a room for them.                                            

Our favorite gözleme place.  During our second summer in Turkey we rented a car and traveled all throughout Turkey. We took our trip during the month of ritual fasting, Ramazan , which could have seriously inhibited the culinary experience of our journey, but Rebecca was pregnant so people were gracious enough to serve us food during daylight hours. One of the simple, but delightful foods we discovered on the way was gözleme , a Turkish-style savory crepe, generally filled with cheese, ground meat, potato, or spinach. Watching g özleme being made—the flat dough being rolled out, filled, and deftly flipped over a griddle—is really enjoyable, which is why more touristic places make sure to put their gözleme chef, usually an overweight, hijabed woman with floral patterned pants and smile lines around her eyes, in the front window of the restaurant. Istanbul sequestered gözleme to tourist areas, but the region of Turkey we now live in has it in plenty. Isp