Kolache Memories

I recently discovered a bakery in my area that makes Kolaches! I found them online and went earlier this week to see if the confections they made lived up to my memory of my Czech grandmother’s kolaches that were made for special occasions for the first 50 years of my life (she stopped cooking sometime in her 90s and no one in the family picked up the mantle from her).

The tray of kolaches in the place looked very similar to my grandmother’s – lots of fruit rather than just a little dab of jelly on top of a mound of dough that some people claim are kolaches. I was a little disappointed that they didn’t have apricot filling (my grandmother’s favorite and thus mine too) but the peach was a good second best.  I bought one to see if the taste would live up to my memories.

Yummy! It was obviously freshly baked. The dough might have been a little heavier than my grandmother’s was…but otherwise it was close enough to bring back a tidal wave of good feelings. I ordered a half dozen with apricot filling (they will make them for special orders) to take as part of my contribution to a pot luck luncheon today! And I’ll probably go back for another half dozen right before Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving!

When Thanksgiving Day first started, it was a celebration of the abundance of food after the annual harvest. Now – the vast majority of people have ready access to plenty of food throughout the year and the day is a holiday that (hopefully) acts as a reminder to be thankful for that aspect of the modern world. I applaud the efforts of organizations the seek ways to make the availably of food true for everyone, going beyond the majority that it true today.

The holiday period from Thanksgiving through the New Year have been a time of overeating and weight gain. I’m starting with a strategy this year to avoid the weight gain: spread out the treats so that no particular day is ‘over the top.’ I started off my making my ‘new’ treat for this season based on the cranberry carrot cake recipe from VegKitchen on Tuesday and enjoying one piece each day as my morning snack. I substituted grated sweet potato for the carrots and processed an apple with its peeling for the applesauce….and didn’t make the icing at all. It is still yummy.

Thanksgiving is also a time of traditions – particularly food related. My husband does not like turkey so we’ve always had roast. We have pumpkin custard (not crust) as one of the desserts. Sometimes I can’t resist a pecan pie but I make a small one (about half the usual size…and skip the crust). One food tradition that faded away with my grandmother was kolaches (apricot) and raisin buns; no one in the family makes that kind of bread any more.

Enough about food….there is a lot we all have to be thankful for every day. Having a day set aside each year with the name ‘Thanksgiving’ is a good reminder to realize that more often…not let the busy-ness of life cause us to savor and appreciate the wonderful aspects of our lives.