Raindrop Turkish House of Austin organized the 9^th Annual Food and Craft Fair on Saturday, December, 1^st, 2012.  It was a great opportunity   for Austin locals to get acquainted with Turkish culture and traditions, including delicious cuisine, Turkish and Middle Eastern Music, beautiful handicrafts and friendly people from Turkey.

$3013 was raised at the fair and will be donated to aid relief efforts to help Hurricane Sandy victims.

Guests enjoyed learning how Turkish Döner is made and tasted many more Turkish foods and sweets. The fair featured samples of authentic Turkish cuisine, such as döner, Turkish pastries, stuffed grape vine leaves (sarma), Turkish ravioli (mantı), cakes, and desserts like baklava. The delightful conversations had while tasting these foods and and drinking Turkish tea and coffee were memorable to everybody.

In addition to the food, an art and handcraft gift section featured live demonstrations of traditional Turkish art (water marbling). Many of the attendees liked this wonderful painting on the water.  Guests purchased unique oriental rugs, ceramics, pottery, bags, traditional jewelry, clothing, decorative pillows, throws, towels, woven textile products, ebru marbling paper, and other souvenirs for themselves and their friends.

Members of “Bereket”, the University of Texas Middle Eastern Studies Ensemble performed beautiful Turkish music, and Texas dancers performed Texas traditional dances.

Children enjoyed having their faces painted and hands henna-tattooed, climbing on the moonwalk, and eating popcorn,Turkish cotton candy and more.

Guests took advantage of the opportunity to dress up in traditional Ottoman costumes and have their photos taken with the sultan.

Those who attended are already excited about next year’s Food and Craft Fair. The dates for next year’s fair will be announced at www.raindropturkishhouse.org/austin .