Thank You Asli! Turkish Delights By Post

 So I arrived home from work today, and Paul said, "Your Turkish delight arrived today, and you owe Asli a very nice thank-you note because she sent a lot more than that!" So: a full blog post to say thank you!

Some of you may remember me complaining about the British version of Turkish delight in a Facebook status (although the ladies in my singing group tell me I haven't given it a fair chance, having only tried the "raspberry goo" flavor - there are apparently others). Anyway, Asli's response to my complaint was to say, "give me your address in Scotland, I'll send you some real Turkish delight." So what could I do? I gave her my address and cautioned her about the vagaries of Royal Mail (stopping anything that seems to be worth more than a few dollars, or pounds, or in this case lira.) She assured me she was a mailing pro.

 So today, I come home and there it is, a veritable Turkish confectionery feast. Two flavors of Turkish Delight (raspberry-ish with pistachios, and something Paul and Audrey claim is ginger, but I think might be "plain"?) that are both yummy (Paul says "Like a gummy. But a really GOOD gummy.") In addition, candy almonds (in the US we would call them Jordan Almonds but I guess Turks would not call them that). Plus chocolate-coated pistachio-something. Plus a wafer-y pistachio thing. Plus three kinds of hard candy, one of which is cinnamon and two of which I haven't tried yet, though Paul says the yellow one with the inclusions (nougat? I say, but he says no) is his favorite.

Audrey (5) liked the pistachio Turkish Delight. Claire (2) preferred the maybe-it's-plain-or-ginger flavor. We didn't show them the other treats...yet.

So thank you, Asli. you have definitely changed my mind about Turkish delight, and at the same time made me want to come visit Turkey even more than I already did (although Paul told Audrey that Turkey is where all the turkeys come from so she may be somewhat disappointed if we make it there and there aren't a lot of gobbling fowl about).

I want to close with one word about the power of Facebook. I currently research technology and social media and there is much hue and cry about how Facebook is declining with teens (and intimating that it is declining overall). But if I didn't have a connection to Asli on Facebook, my lament about Turkish delight would have fallen on deaf ears (or at least the ears of people who didn't know what I was talking about) instead of turning into a delicious Turkish confectionery surprise for all of us!