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Tuesday, May 15, 2007

About Ramadan Dinner-2

After a big nice family dinner, it is time for the "cay fasli" which means "tea time" ;) This "tea time" is not special for Ramadan. In almost every Turkish family, whether or not it is Ramadan, there is a tea time after every dinner. I will specifically explain our "tea love" to you in another post because (believe it or not) there is a lot to say about it. ;)

There is also our wellknown "Turkish coffee" which is served after the dinner whoever prefers. I will give some information about Turkish coffee and our coffee culture in another post as well. In my opinion, especially after big meals such as Ramadan dinner, Turkish people tend to drink tea instead of coffee. But I would like to say that both the Turkish tea and Turkish coffee have a special meaning to our hearts and they are part of our culture. That's why I would like to write about them separately.

Anyways, generally we are not eating any dessets during the Ramadan dinner. However, we are saving little empty spot from our stomach's for upcoming dessert. ;) With delicious Turkish tea (I will stick to Turkish tea for this posting), there is always some dessert to serve. I have uploaded only one photo of the possible dessert as an example out of hundreds. This dessert is called "yogurt tatlisi" which means "yogurt dessert" (as you might have guessed).

During tea time, I believe everyone is a lot happier since

* we are not hungry anymore,
* we have eaten a delicious meal,
* we are together with our family and friends,
* nice and happy conversations are on the way,
* and we are thankful to God for all the things that I have just counted above.

During 30 days of Ramadan, there are several invitations like this. Some days you can be a "host" and some days you become a "guest". This tradition is strengthen our relationship with our friends, neigbors and relatives. We are not only sharing our food but also sharing our feelings, thoughts and concerns with eachother. That's why I think I feel very happy when Ramadan is approaching and I feel kind of sad when it ends.

PS: The dessert photo is from yemekgunlugum.blogs.com