Lunch Report: Turks Deli in Lakehills; Google, We Have a Problem...

I'm giddy on multiple levels at this point. If you have followed along for any time now, it is not uncommon for my wife and I to pick a random town, fire up the Google and start looking for a place to eat. Then, through the use of Garmin, find said location and commence to eat. Today's little adventure was very much worth the trip, but before we talk about food, I have tell you about the Google incident.

Is it possible that the guy driving the little Google Mobile stopped at one of the many ice houses in the greater Medina Lake area and popped a few tops before setting his GPS system? I suppose anything is possible. Several months ago, we were traveling in that neck of the woods looking for a restaurant (the name I can't recall), and from memory of the map I had looked at on Google, I was following the road and hoping that once I got close, Garmin would pick up on the exact location of the restaurant. We never found the place and I just assumed it had gone out of business or something. As a matter of fact, I now recall that we ended up all the way back in Hondo and ate at Hermann Sons Steak House, having given up on wherever it was I was looking for. I had blamed the entire incident on Garmin, when now I suspect it was Google to blame.

So today, I happened upon a web page for a place called Turks Deli on Park Road 37 just south of Lakehills. This time, I printed off the map so there would be no mistake about where we were going. Once again, when I entered the address, Garmin didn't recognize it, even though I spent $69.95 on the upgraded maps. That was a clear waste of good money.

Turks Deli web page lists the address as 12293 Park Road 37 in Lake Hills. If you Google that, it will end up taking you to the East side of FM1283. In reality, Turks' and that address is on the West side of FM1283. This is a big deal if you are trying to find a specific address. I trust the fire department uses something besides Google Maps. Anyway, we followed the map and as instructed, turned right (East) on PR37 and the address numbers started at about 8000 and were getting smaller as we drove. I turned around, crossed FM1283 and headed west on PR37, and before long, we found Turks, several miles (like 5 or 6) from where it was shown on Google Maps.

Okay. Enough of my whining about all the potential good food I may have missed at the expense of Google Maps.

Today was so beautiful that we just had to get out for a drive. I have written many times before how we love the fact that just minutes from our home, we are out of the traffic, out of suburbia and into the country where any number of farms and ranches and wide open spaces seem to erase the destructive views I can't seem to escape when I travel through my 'hood these days. It doesn't take statues or water parks or monumental views to escape; you just need a quarter tank of gas and about twenty minutes to get beyond the traffic.The motorcycles were out today, taking advantage of the same views and cooler temperatures. Lots of windy roads and easy hills make the drive enjoyable in any form of transportation I suppose, but seeing the folks on bikes makes me want a convertible.When we finally reconciled the map situation and found the real location of Turks, I think my wife and I both knew before we even walked in that we were going to like the place. One sign on the front porch said "Simply Good Food". And they ain't lyin'.Walking in, the place is clean with an immediate homey feel to it. The living room really caught my eye! There was only one other couple there, finishing up their lunch, and I immediately went, with Google map in hand to discuss the situation with a wonderful lady named Gwen who turned out to be the owner.We talked Google, and web pages and directions and such for a while, then the conversation just flowed into the history of the building (Turks had been a grocery store and a bar prior to her taking over two years ago). Now, she serves up good, home made food with all natural ingredients and even makes the bread fresh from scratch (though today, the rye bread was store bought).In addition to the food, Turks serves as a place for the Rhythm and Rhymes night - basically, people go in and read poetry, sing songs, play the guitar and such. We suggested karaoke!

We also talked about the level of the lake. Gwen showed us where the lake uses to come right up to the back of the property. When Turks was a grocery store, people would drive their boats over, get vittles and leave. She has a great deck that overlooks what is Hamilton Cove (when wet) and you can see the floating docks simply laying dry on the ground. My wife ordered up a 6" Club sandwich. The wheat bread was so fresh and soft. Turkey, ham, bacon and the fixin's. Good stuff. My wife also wanted to try the broccoli and cheese soup so she ordered a small sample of it and Gwen ended up just giving us both bowls to try. It was really, really good, and served hot, along with home made garlic bread. What made me pick Turks in the first place was that I saw they had a Reuben sandwich. Of course, I ordered one and was nothing short of pleased. Have I had better? Sure. But this Reuben was excellent and I'd gladly order it next time around.

As an FYI: they have applied for their TABC licence, so if you need a beer to go with your vittles, you'll be good to go.

As we were leaving, more customers were coming in to grab lunch and some folks were coming in for a scoop of ice cream or the freshly made cookies. Turks is located fairly close to the Thousand Trails RV resort and of course, Medina Lake, so folks were in swim trunks. We weren't the only ones enjoying the beautiful day, and this great little deli away from it all...

Visitor Report: Konnichiwa!

As this little neighborhood-centric blog has enjoyed over 7,000 visitors (or just a lot of my wife and I looking at what I have posted), I am really pleased with the number of visitors from places beyond San Antonio and Texas.

I can attribute a handful of these "beyond Texas" visitors to people who are "lured" here by my occasional comments to the blogs I visit from other cities and states. Further, I can easily see that some out of state visitors end up in good ol' 78250 simply because a Google search led them astray.

But if you look down at the very bottom of the page, you will see a little world map that seemingly depicts where the people are visiting from. Of particular interest to me, is the person who visits us from Japan.

Konnichiwa! Hello and welcome. Perhaps a military member serving overseas who wants to stay in touch with the home town? Good for you and thanks for the visits.

More importantly, thank you for your service. E-mail me. If there is anything or place you'd like me to report on. Let me know and I'll post some pictures of home!

I Guess I Live a Sheltered Life...

So my son works at one of these stores where they Sell Ink. I don't want to say the name of the place, just in case they don't want this sort of thing to get out, but he came home today and could barely contain himself with the important news.

The cool thing about this job is that they have been very flexible in working around his college schedule. He doesn't make a lot of money, but when things are slow, he can do his school work and such. It is a pretty good deal if you don't have to pay any bills short of a cell phone bill (the times that he pays it). But I digress.

When he first started, they were even allowed to look at the Internet when they weren't busy, but apparently, somebody at one of the stores was found to have been looking at web sites that would be inappropriate for such a professional work environment, what with sexual harassment polices and such. To be clear, they did not want the young employees looking at nekkid pictures of women. Or pictures of women who were nekkid either. It only takes one employee to get upset and ruin a good thing for everyone.

So, tonight, I'm sitting in my recliner with the two dogs (Gracie and Panda) sitting on top of me so I could not even spoon ice cream to my lips without losing a lick from either side before getting it to my mouth, and my son comes into the house and heads straight for me. I knew something was amiss by the ear to ear grin he had on his face. I seriously thought Ed McMahon himself was standing on our front porch and my son was about to have me go pose for the big check. No luck.

I should tell you now that when my son is excited, he talks extremely fast and quite frankly, I can't understand more than a word or two of what he says. I usually nod politely and ignore him.

But today, the two key words I heard were "Horse" and "Porn".

WTF?

So he backs up, starts again and this time I make out that somebody has been fired, and I again hear the words "Horse" and "Porn". This time, I look at him and say, "What the F**k?"

"Yep - you heard right." he says with an uncontrollable smile on his face, "Horse Porn!"

So I say, "You got fired for Horse Porn?"

"No, no." he assures me. "Some weird guy had been looking at horse porn on the computers at work and they caught him. He got fired."

Well, I was glad my son wasn't the culprit, but frankly, I must live a sheltered life because I'm not even sure what horse porn is. But in fairness, I can only assume that the pervert who got fired wasn't looking at nekkid women.

Lord, I hope not anyway.