aşure (uh?sure?ay!)

this time of year (january), Turks celebrate soooomething. so, they give their neighbors/friends a dessert called aşure. our neighbors brought some over tonight, being our first neighbors to share aşure with us. we have, however, had aşure at least 2 other times this month, and this was the best yet....... maybe it's an aquired taste?

aşure usually consists of 12 ingredients.. the one we got tonight had.... cinnamon, chickpeas, beans, crushed pistachios, crushed almonds, coconut, apricot, peach, pomegranate, raisins, bulgur rice, grapes.........

yum!

some people celebrate in honor of a prophet who died... some say it's just a time to thank God, but the most commonly celebrated is.....

Noah and the ark.... they say Noah made a dish similar to this after the flood because it's all the food he had left and he did it to thank God... so that sounds good to me. Thank you, God for your faithfulness (and aşure, of course).....

oh, and april and i decided we will come up with our own aşure-like dessert....with 12 random ingredients--any suggestions?