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Tales of Touring Turkey by Fred Moore:
© 2009 by Author
Greetings this fine and wonderful day; Carol and I are going for a drive to get lunch. It’s a beautiful day and the air is cool for a change. The sun is shining but it’s a bit cloudy.
I decided we would go to the truck stop out on the autobahn for lunch. It’s Ramazan for the month and few places are open since fasting is the rule of this important Moslem fasting period. I thought it wouldn’t be a problem to get lunch at the truck stop because travelers are allowed to eat even during Ramazan.
The sky is sapphire blue with some huge piles of white cotton clouds sitting on the horizon surrounding us. They look as though they may be building to bring us some rain later in the day. I point out one to Carol that looks as though it’s some human figure leaping into the sea with his arms out stretched in front of him. With clouds this massive and billowy one can nearly name anything they might imagine.
The autobahn seems less traveled today than usual but maybe it’s only psychological on my part. We travel only 15 or 18 minutes to get to the truck stop. About half way there we see some thing has happened along side the road; it appears someone’s belongings have been thrown into the ditch and strewn on the roadside bank. It’s possible a truck toppled over but there is no vehicle around to confirm an accident. There are a couple people gathering things up and piling them in one place. Whatever happened is not good but there’s no hint of the incident except for the aftermath.
The rolling hills through this area look as though they would make a great golf course. As fall has come, so has the rain and things are getting greener and so the hills are really lovely where it isn’t cultivated. There is plenty of wheat stubble in the fields since the harvest and many of those fields have been blackened by burning. The rains have washed the dust from the trees so they have become more alive and vibrant. The autobahn raises and falls with the hills as we drive and it curves gently toward our destination. As we near the truck stop we see the mountain that someone is taking down for the gravel content within it. We’ve been watching this mountain for more than a year; the construction workers have taken more than a third of it down. The peak is still in place but I fear it is only a few months away from coming down too. It appears to be terraced from bottom to top, there are four levels thus far and the excavation is only a small way from the top. We can see the dust being stirred up on several levels where trucks and excavators are at work today.
Just a moment after the mountain comes into view we arrive at the truck stop. We slow and ease down the off ram of the autobahn and pull into the petrol station lot passing by the gas pumps and circling the dinner to park. As we enter the dining area we are greeted by the cashier and a number of waiter personnel. This is a large facility with vaulted ceilings with three large dining rooms and a large outside patio for dinning.
We go directly to the serving line of steam tables to order our lunch. We find the line half empty; again it’s Ramazan and they obviously do not expect a great number of dinners today. But the lack of serving trays makes the line look quite stark. It certainly does not diminish the offerings though. We opt for soup which is always excellent, Carol gets one variety and I get the other. We both have an eggplant plate that is very much like a stew. These are large trays that have been baked and set out cafeteria style.
The meals we order will be brought to our table and we take our seats in the family section of the dining room. We sit next to a very large window that has been opened to the outdoors; these windows slide and swing and make you feel as though you’re sitting outside. The breeze today coming across the plain into our dinning area is mild and very pleasant. Once we’re seated one of the waiters brings us the soup, a side of pita bread and some sliced tomatoes and cucumbers with quartered lemons on a plate. The soup is thick, smooth and hot; it’s very good. Half way through our soup the waiter brings our eggplant dish.
I use the pita to sop my soup as the Turks often do and it also lessens the heat of the soup. I very much like hot soup but am impatient to eat it. My soup is red lentil with a touch of spice; it’s cooked for a long time and is thick and flavorful. Carol’s soup is known as wedding soup with rice and a yogurt base; it’s also thick and Carol says, wonderful. Our eggplant is nothing short of great, with a little broth very suitable for sopping. The flavor of this dish is simply indescribable with simple words! This eggplant is soft but not mushy; the green peppers are slightly spicy but add well to the mix. The other spices are well blended adding one more flair, and the ground beef tops it all off. I’m sorry to say I do not have the proper name of this dish at my finger tips but suffice it to say, this is heavenly fare.
Carol has opted to top off her lunch with telkadif (this is shredded wheat like desert that has been soaked in sugar water syrup). I topped off my lunch with another bowl of soup!
Anyone leaving this dining opportunity hungry is simply bizarre; the food here is consistently good and the waiters are all great folks who will not let you go without anything. We spent an hour and then turned around to for home. Our lunch was great.
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