I see this post was not nearly as amusing as intended. I neglected to get the content published. I'll have to try to bring it back from memory.
Trying to keep the floors free of debris seems a never ending task. Stuff is tracked in every time I enter the house. Counter intuitively, it seems more is tracked in than is tracked out. The obvious solution is to just ignore. A fine solution. If I were willing to always wear shoes. Which I am not. The debris is painful to walk on barefoot. Sweep every few weeks? That's what I've been doing. I deem too time consuming.
A few days ago, I made a kolache run to La Grange and Ellinger. As usual, as I consumed the kolaches, I tossed packaging on the floor by the wood burning stove. To be later tossed in the stove to contribute heat. While walking around barefoot, I found the styrofoam trays that held the kolaches made for comfortable walking. Perhaps a solution to the debris problem? BUT, what happens when debris begins to build up on the styrofoam? It gets pressed into the foam, is immobilized and makes walking more comfortable! AND, when the foam trays are eventually picked up and tossed in the stove, much of the debris is embedded in the foam and goes with it into the fire. The sweeping task is entirely eliminated! IF I eat enough kolaches.
What are kolaches actually called?
ReplyDeleteA little Czech lesson: Those sausage-filled pastries you've been calling kolaches for years actually were never brought over from the motherland. They're called klobasniky, and they were invented by Czech families settled in Texas (The Village Bakery in West, Texas takes credit for the delicious treat). https://www.austin360.com/entertainment/20161203/a-plea-to-central-texans-from-a-czech-girl-please-stop-referring-to-sausage-filled-pastries-as-kolaches
It is my understanding that only the fruit filled pastries are properly called "kolaches". The meat and cheese filled pastries have some other proper Czech name. Common usage now makes them both "kolaches".
DeleteI know of Czech settled areas of Texas where kolaches are popular: West, north of Waco and home area of Willie Nelson, and the La Grange to Schulenburg area between Austin/SanAntonio and Houston. Are there other Czech areas?
Actually, the area now known as Czech is Texas heartland, settled by mostly southerners before the Texas Revolution. It was only after the Revolution, in the period roughly 1845-1880, that many settlers came directly to Texas from Europe.