A new kind of "date" night

Our kitchen is small...and really by small, I mean that it may perhaps be one of the smallest kitchens I have ever seen. It is also completely closed off from the rest of our apartment, which makes communicating with each other while cooking dinner pretty much impossible. So usually, while I am cooking dinner, Ilker is studying, and we stay separate until dinner is ready and it is time to eat.

On Sunday night, Ilker surprised me. When I went in to start dinner, he came into the kitchen with me, and said "I know it will be tight, but tonight let's cook together" So, even though we were crammed in there, we cooked dinner together (good thing we like each other!) It was so nice. We started with the recipe I had concocted in my head, and then together, we tweaked it along the way. Saturday morning Ilker went to the Farmer's Market, so we started adding all kinds of fresh veggies to the dinner...and it was AMAZING! I mean, it was one of the best dinners I have had in a long time! We are in the process of naming our culinary invention...once properly named, I will post the recipe. I took some pics of our evening to share.

Ilker putting the finishing spices on the top



Our beautiful entree, before baking



Going into the oven...



While the chicken was cooking in the oven, we decided to also fix some green beans. (and I actually DID have a second helping!) They were also awesome! And I thought they looked pretty as well!



And finally...our finished entree



This was a fun twist on staying home, and dining in. What was really so much fun was that we mixed our culinary tastes. My American tendencies, with his Turkish tendencies, and created a whole new hybrid of the two... perhaps a sign of things to come ;) We will definitely be doing this again, and I will make sure to update with our next creation. Hopefully, it two will be a success!!

xoxo