*Drool*
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival started yesterday down on the Mall and runs this weekend and next weekend. This year's themes are Bhutan, NASA (NASA has a folklife?) and TEXAS, the Best State Ever. This means lots of dancing to music played by guys in Stetsons and boots, samples of Texas wine (yes, there is such a thing), and best of all, FOOD.
When I left Texas I knew the food would be a problem. I was sure I would pine for good smoked barbeque, made out of beef, not pork, like God intended. I thought the memory of sizzling fajita platters and fresh tortillas would keep me up at night. And I do miss these things, but not as much as I miss kolaches.
If you don't know what a kolache is, you have not spent enough time with Czechs and your life is suffering for it. A kolache is a soft, fluffy, sweet roll with stuff in it. Fruit jelly, cream cheese, bacon and cheddar, sausage and jalapenos, whatever. It is simple, delicious, addictive, and apparently entirely unknown in the Mid-Atlantic. Every time I go to Texas I bring back a dozen to freeze and ration out to tide me over until my next trip south. But the Smithsonian says they will have some there, along with the Tex-Mex and crawfish and spring rolls that colored my youthful culinary world. It's going to be a good weekend.
When I left Texas I knew the food would be a problem. I was sure I would pine for good smoked barbeque, made out of beef, not pork, like God intended. I thought the memory of sizzling fajita platters and fresh tortillas would keep me up at night. And I do miss these things, but not as much as I miss kolaches.
If you don't know what a kolache is, you have not spent enough time with Czechs and your life is suffering for it. A kolache is a soft, fluffy, sweet roll with stuff in it. Fruit jelly, cream cheese, bacon and cheddar, sausage and jalapenos, whatever. It is simple, delicious, addictive, and apparently entirely unknown in the Mid-Atlantic. Every time I go to Texas I bring back a dozen to freeze and ration out to tide me over until my next trip south. But the Smithsonian says they will have some there, along with the Tex-Mex and crawfish and spring rolls that colored my youthful culinary world. It's going to be a good weekend.