Iftar

One of the many marvelous things that came from our summer comparative religions series was a new friend, actually a family of new friends. Andrea Mikulin of the Mosaic Foundation was our hostess when we visited the mosque and her husband, Hasan, and their friend Ihsen, shepherded the guys through worship downstairs. Andrea and Hasan have turned into marvelous friends. Andrea faithfully prayed for my husband as he went through the diagnostic process and continues to pray and offer help as he begins his chemo process.
Last night, Andrea and Hasan hosted Iftar, the fast breaking meal of Ramadan, in their home. We met Christine, a sociology professor who is writing a book on second generation American Muslims. The daughter of a Pakistani father and an Italian-American mother, she knows a thing or two about her subject. There was the couple visiting from Turkey and their daughter and granddaughter and four people who are active at University Park Methodist. We were about as varied a group as you can imagine. Yet there were commonalities around that table. All of us love to travel and experience other cultures, all of us apparently like to eat (the food disappeared with oohs, aahs and yums) and all of us were very interested in learning about each other.
The Mosaic Foundation offers free cooking classes on Turkish cooking and I have every intention of being there when the next class is offered after Ramadan! I'll let you know all about it!