Did I talk on the special occasions when Turkish people give some sweet treats to their colleagues or their neighbours before? What reminded me to tell this Turkish tradition was one of my colleagues the other day. She came to my room at school with a box of chocolate in her hand just when I was about to go to class. She gently offered me chocolate from that box saying “I’ve bought a new car.” I thanked her saying “Happy for you! May it bring good luck and wish you enjoy driving without any accidents!” Then she replied “Wish you a better one!”As you can guess, these sentences are typical words that we say in such a case. You wish her the best and she replies with another good wish saying a sentence similar to my colleague’s. She went on visiting the rooms of other teachers one by one and offering them chocolate.

I’m always trying to be a good observer in my daily life to share our ordinary traditions with you here. So I told myself “You must mention this on your blog!” just as my colleague went out. I was on the way to my class thinking about some other examples of this tradition and remembered another colleague did the same when he finally got his PhD degree. A colleague offered chocolate to each colleague when she bought a new house. Still another friend offered Turkish delights when his baby was born.

So when people achieve something challenging or when they have something happy in their life, they want to share it with others around them and get good wishes from them.

Do you have a similar tradition in your culture?

As to this yummy leek dish, it is originally made with white rice, not with bulgur. Bulgur is my choice to make it healthier as I barely use rice in dishes because of blood sugar thing. Also I love the flavor of bulgur in vegetable or herb dishes. So using bulgur or rice is up to you.

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