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MidReal Story
The Doner Dream: Culinary Creativity Unleashed
Scenario:You find an abandoned doner grill with supplies to make a doner, what do you do?
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I was on my way to meet up with my friends Alex Rodriguez and Sarah Lee for a day of urban exploration when I stumbled upon the abandoned doner grill.
I was so excited I didn’t even wait for them to arrive before I rolled up my sleeves and started looking at the thing.
There was so much customization that had been done to this grill—it was a work of art.
I could tell that it had been one of those stationary grills that you see on the side of the street, in Middle Eastern cities, where they sell shawarma or doner kebabs.
But it had been used as a cooking station for a food truck.
I could tell by the layers of grease and charred bits that had accumulated on it over the years, which were very similar to my own grill at home.
It was filthy, rusted, and the heat elements looked like they were shot, but I was pretty sure I could fix it up.
And what a great piece of equipment it would be to have.
I couldn’t believe my luck!
This was exactly what I needed!
I mean, I could have gone to a restaurant supply store and bought a brand-new griddle, but this was so much cooler.
And the more I looked at it, the more excited I got.
It would take some work, but it would be so worth it!
It would be nice to have a stationary griddle at home.
It would be nice to have a stationary griddle at home.
This thing was huge!
It was covered in dust now, but I could tell that if I polished this up, it would be gorgeous.
This was one of those grills that were used in the Middle East and Turkey and in Europe when they make doner kebabs.
They are also used to make gyros or shawarma.
The meat is stacked on a vertical spit, so it can cook from all sides, and then when you order, they shave off the meat as it cooks.
These are really cool things and not only were they perfect for this type of food, but they were perfect for cooking lots of other things too.
And with all the customization that had been done to this one, it was already halfway there!
God knows, I could put this baby to good use!
I could totally see myself doing some serious damage with this thing!
If I could get it working again.
I was antsy with excitement and the heat wasn’t helping.
It had to be at least 85 degrees out and the sun was beating down on me, but I didn’t care.
I felt like I was about to explode!
When Alex and Sarah finally did show up, they found me squatting down next to the grill, running my hands over the metal and mumbling to myself.
I think I might have even been drooling a bit.
I knew that I was acting like an idiot in front of them, but I couldn’t help it.
Sarah could be the same way when she was on a story and there was something cool that she wanted to investigate.
She was like a dog with a bone.
I was an investigative chef.
It was what I did.
Exploring new things was in my blood.
“Are you okay?”
Alex asked, his dark hair falling into his eyes, as he shook his head in disbelief.
He loved me, but I think he thought I was a little crazy sometimes.
Sarah just stood there, with her hands on her hips, surveying the situation, her long red hair cascading down her back.
“Are you sure that thing is safe?”
I glared up at her, my eyes wide with excitement, but I took a deep breath and tried to calm down.
“It’s just dirty,” I said.
“It’s been sitting out here for years, so it’s rusty, but it can be cleaned up.”
She raised an eyebrow, a skeptical look on her face.
It definitely didn’t look safe, and I’m pretty sure she was worried about me poisoning us all when I put my food on it.
But I could see past the dirt and grime.
I could see its potential.
It would take some work, but it would be amazing when I was done.
“Are you sure?”
she asked, her green eyes wide with concern.
“That thing looks like it has seen better days.”
I climbed to my feet and wiped my hands on my jeans.
“I can fix it,” I said.
“It just needs to be cleaned up.
All of this can be sanded off and I can paint it with a high heat paint.
The elements look pretty good too.
I think they just need to be replaced.
Alex looked down at the grill and then back at me.
“If you say so,” he said, his brown eyes twinkling with interest, “but I think you should have Sarah help you.”
He looked over at her and smiled.
She was one of his cousins and they were close in age, so they were always teasing each other, but he was also trying to get her to come over to our side and see what we saw in things like this.
Sarah sighed and rolled her eyes, but there was a hint of a smile on her face.
“And why do I have to help?”
she asked him.
“Because you’re good at this sort of thing,” he said, nodding at the grill, “and because you have more experience with tools than she does.”
He pointed at me and I scowled at him, my blue eyes flashing.
“Hey, that is so not true,” I said.
“I can work a wrench as well as anyone!”
He just grinned at me and shook his head.
“Whatever you say, McChef.”
I glared at him and made a face.
He was always teasing me about working in the kitchen, like I was some kind of fast-food cook or something, just because I wasn’t working in a fancy restaurant, but it wasn’t true and he knew it!
“Besides,” he added, “you could use a little lesson in how to keep things clean.”
he said, with a sly grin, and I ignored him.
“I can do it myself,” I said, “but you guys could help me if you want.”
I looked from one to the other, and they both hesitated for a moment before nodding their heads, their eyes wide with excitement.
“I have lots of ideas for this thing,” I said, “but first we need to get it home and see what we’ve got to work with.
We need to make a list of what we need to buy, so we can go get it at the hardware store before it closes.”
They both nodded and I could see that they were willing to help, even if they weren’t sure that this was a good idea.
I grinned at them and led the way down the alley, my mind already working as I thought about what I would do to make the perfect doner kebab that would set our stand apart from any other that had ever been out on the streets before.
I knew that there were people all over the world who loved this kind of food and that it was popular in many places, but I had never liked what I had tried before and I knew that I could do better.
My grandpa had always said that there was no such thing as bad food, just food that hadn’t been cooked right yet, and I was determined to prove him right again by making this dish better than ever before!
It wouldn’t be traditional doner kebab, but something new and exciting that people would love as soon as they tried it!
“What’s your plan?”
Sarah asked me as we walked down the street toward the hardware store.
She sounded skeptical and I couldn’t blame her, because I didn’t even know exactly what I would do yet myself, but I knew that everything would come together once I got started cooking it!
“I’m going to experiment with different meats and spices until I find the perfect combinations,” I said as I looked up at the clouds in the sky and inhaled deeply through my nose so that I could smell all the different smells that were coming from the restaurants around us and get some ideas for what I wanted to create, “and I’m going to put my own spin on it so that it’s something new and exciting!”
I glanced over at her and smiled, hoping that she would be excited for me instead of trying to make me think that I was being stupid again.
“I think it’s going to be great,” I added, and she sighed and rolled her eyes again, but I could tell that she was starting to come around a little bit and that she was curious to see what I could come up with too.
“Okay,” she said, “but we need to make sure that it’s going to be safe and that it’s not going to get us in trouble.”
I nodded and grinned at her reassuringly.
“Don’t worry,” I said as we reached the hardware store and I pushed open the door and walked inside, “I’m going to make sure that everything is perfect and you are going to love it!”
It had been years since I had been out to my grandpa’s old farm, but as I led Alex and Sarah out there on our adventure I felt myself being overwhelmed by memories of all the days that I had spent here as a kid.
My parents had always been so busy with their jobs and with raising my little brother and sister that they didn’t have time to take me out to the farm very often, but they always made sure to bring me out here whenever school was out so that I could help Grandpa Tom with his chores and so that they could get me out of their hair for a while so that they could concentrate on everything else that they had going on for once.
I had loved coming out here because it was so peaceful and quiet compared to the city where we lived, and because it had so many cool things on it for me to explore and play with while I was out here.
I had never thought about how much work Grandpa Tom must have done out here on his own before he got so sick until now, but it didn’t matter because it had always been a lot of fun for me anyway and it had always been a place where I could get away from everything for a while and just be a kid.
I looked around at everything as we walked around the property and tried to remember where everything was because it all looked so different now that the grass was all grown in and the buildings were all falling apart in a lot of places.
The house looked pretty much the same as I remembered it, but the barn looked like it was going to fall down any day now and the old shed where Grandpa Tom used to keep all his tools looked like it was already halfway there now too.
