Seattle Cumhuriyet Bayram
Seattle-area RPCV's can once again give themselves a collective
teşekküler for a well-attended
and very successful Cumhuriyet Bayram dinner. We
got together on October 28th at the home of Ruth and Dale Hultengren in
Shoreline, a north Seattle suburb. Several dozen volunteers and friends of
Turkey attended.
RPCV's attending were Pat & Patty Anderson (T16), Sandy Anderson (T-13),
Dick Denda (T-13), Ed Elenbaas (T-8), Hanna Eulenberg (T-15), Bob Ewing,
Albert Hall (T-12), Dale Hultengren (T-15), Phil Konkel (T-15), Dana Marmion
(T-15), Arleen Ryan (T-8), Barbara Van Dyke Shuman (T-8), Chris & Ann Smith
(T-4), Alden Stewart (T-15), Dave Vandergrift (T-8), and Danny & Joanne
White (T-4). Just barely, T-15's win!
Also
attending were Kent Breidenstein, Margaret Hall, Ruth Hultengren, Tom Ryan,
Tom Snoeberger, Patricia Stewart, Nancy Tosta, and Elinor Vandergrift. Our
special guests were Yasemin San, director of the recent and very successful
Türkfest festival in Seattle, and her daughter Rana. (Yasemin's
husband, Ali, a Turkish instructor at Occidental in 1968, was in Turkey on
business and unable to attend this year.) Our other special guests were
Oğul Koçer, an AFS (American Field Service) high school exchange student
from Ankara, and his host-parents Tom and Rhoda Lawrence.
Following a variety of meze was an amazing selection of dishes, including
mücver, dolma, köfte, salata, imam bayıldı, karnı yarık, cacık, pilav,
ıspanak, iç köfte, börek and Adana kebab. We were also treated to
fesanjan, a Persian delight of chicken cooked with pomegranate syrup and
ground walnuts. Uhm, uhm good! And, for those who planned ahead and left a
little room, there was lots of baklava to follow.
Our
local Turkish restaurants may or may not rival those of other cities where
bayram festivities were held, but I suspect no one left our dinner
thinking the food was better elsewhere.
We
missed the many local RPCV's who were unable to attend and hope that they
will be with us next year. We, also, unfortunately missed getting everyone
together for a picture at the start of the evening. So apologies to those
not pictured. And thanks to everyone for making it such a wonderful
evening.
Dale
Hultengren
T-15