5. Day in White River Junction, VT
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| Getting Ready to Ride |
The
Hotel Coolidge has an odd breakfast arrangement. You need to ask for a coupon
at the Reception Desk and then get a chit to use at a coffee shop next door.
Depending on what you eat, there might be an extra charge. Normally, I think
the coffee shop can handle the traffic load, but this morning, 11 riders showed
up at once. It was a bit much for the help in the shop.
So
what do we do today was our question. We are here in Vermont with the group and
like most of the time, the Club, as a group, rides through the nearby towns to
explore the area. Are we going to ride with the group?
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| The Evil Eye Wards Off Evil in Turkey |
Nah! I can still walk, so walking we did, all
through the neighborhood. We found a genuine Turkish store with all the spices
you can find at a bazaar. They even had Lokum (Turkish Delight), a
real treat
for me. I chose Pomegranate and Pistachios as the filling.
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| Whirling Dervish Dolls |
In
fact I love Turkish food and there is a reason for it. For 623 years the Ottoman
Empire had its headquarters in Turkey. The Sultans loved to eat well. From all
around the Mediterranean world and beyond; the Sultanate collected the best
foods. Just imagine what treasures you can collect in over 600 years. Turkish
food is amazingly varied, amazingly delicate and trendy. It is a delight for
any true foodie, especially the fish and desserts which are out of this world.
Right, Turk?
After
this store discovery we entered an old bakery building (factory) that a group
of investors has repurposed as a conglomerate of various small businesses.
Photography studios, pottery places, art galleries, nonprofit organizational
offices, etc. were tucked in a seemingly haphazard fashion throughout the
building. The charm of the old was kept but was painted over with modern
colors.
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| The Old Bakery Building - Bricks Painted Silver and Red Floors |
Have you ever seen a bright red wooden floor? Well, you get the idea! Historic pictures of
White River Junction and the olden days hung in the hallways. It was a cozy
place, a cozy building.
In one corner of this place was a restaurant called
Thyme. We
had an unusual lunch there. While I had just a Tarragon chicken sandwich, a
soup and a salad, it was somehow special. Very well made and delish! The tomato
basil bisque and the curried soup were outstanding. We both enjoyed this place.
While
we ate we thought maybe we should bring something memorable of this town home
with us. Before our lunch we had visited a unique pottery place in the same
building.
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| Work Area and Selection of Pottery to Paint With Examples of the Finished Product |
No,
we did not make the actual pottery, we just ‘painted’ each piece that we bought
in the ‘raw’. I thought that would be a good ‘Club’ activity for when the other
Club
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| Hans' Creamer and Sugar Bowl |
members come back from their ride, but it did not work out that way. It
was just Carol and I sitting in this shop, doing our thing. I chose a breakfast
milk pitcher and a sugar bowl for the kitchen here in Toronto and Carol painted
a butter dish with cover. We were like kids in a candy store. The proprietor
was wonderful. He was more than helpful; I think he enjoyed us as much as we
enjoyed ourselves. Oh, no, we are no artists, Carol and I, but does it matter?
We picked our colors, picked our glaze, picked the brushes, sat for a good 2
plus hours and became ‘inspired’ by our ‘art’.
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| Carol's Butter Dish |
I
first thought of painting tire tracks diagonally across each pot, but Carol
asked me to be nice and more conservative. So I painted polka dots! The arrangement with the shop was that, AFTER
we painted our pieces they would hold them and when they had a ‘firing’ going
on for their pottery, they would add our pieces to the pile and then ship them
to us.
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| Sugar Bowl |
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| Top of Creamer |
It
will take some weeks before it is all done, but so what, we have time. I think
we will see our dishes end of October at the earliest. It does not matter when;
we had a great ‘fun’ day being ‘artists’. No we did not ride, but is it not
important to stop and smell the roses? We certainly did stop for the day; no we
did not smell roses but Turkish spices.
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| Finished and Glazed. Received Mid-November |
Because…
for dinner at night we walked to the restaurant next door to the hotel.
You
would not know it by the name; the restaurant was called ‘Tuckerbox’. This
place had a Turkish kitchen. It was not a touristy place, but genuinely
Turkish. Everybody from the Club, all 11 of us, were a bit stunned when we
realized we had just arrived in ‘Turkey’. We did not know it was a Turkish
place. The menu offered foods we could not pronounce well,
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| Ride to Eat: Eat to Ride |
we read names of foods
we had never heard of. I am glad some English translations were available. I cannot say what others ate, but I had the
Meze Platter as an appetizer with Lavash Bread. The main dish for me was Güvec
(K̦fteli) Рa kind of stew Рit was just wonderful food.
Carol
had to try the Baklava as dessert and it was good, not as good as hers, but it
was very good.
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| Lavash Bread |
As
a special guest, Carol and I invited Muriel Farrington to this dinner, she is a
nice lady, former Secretary of the MOA and a delightful woman. Everybody loves
Muriel. Thanks for coming, Muriel; I hope you enjoyed yourself, too.
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| Muriel Also Had the Stew |
