Zeytin=olives

First off...Hero(Our poisened neighborhood dog, see the below post) is feeling a little better! I think he is going to make it! He was still in the bushes this morning but I fed him some beef broth. Also later in the day he ate some chicken. He moves a little. He tried to play with shero and tequila today as they wrestled but it's too early for that. Anyways slowly he is coming back!!!














But olive trees are all over Turkey especially by our house. Birsen and Ali picked some HUGE ones today. The would taste awful if you ate them as is so...


















Birsen washed them up and Ali got to work! Thank goodness he has been feeling great lately!


















You slice every olive in two or more places(depending on who you ask of course). Ali went with two. Then you place them in a container and fill it with water. You change the water everyday. You must be careful because the gas builds up inside the container and when you open it...boom...like a little bomb! Anyways change the water everyday for a few weeks or so and the olives soften and get rid of their bitter taste. Olives are eaten every morning for breakfast by most Turkish people. Healthy but took me a while to get into. Also olive oil is reserved for salads and times when you really taste the oil. They don't cook with it, heat it that they use less expensive oils. For having tons of beautiful olive trees olive oil is still quite pricey. Anyways I am eager to see how our olive curing goes.

I made chicken soup today and it turned out pretty yummy! The weather here is still great during the day but quite chilly at night so the soup tasted great!