I have GREAT neighbors.

My neighbors have been featured on this blog more than once :)! There was the first ever trade we did: the fencing around my yard in exchange for removal of the garden and fencing and grading of the the side yard. There are the numerous times that they have appeared on their backhoe to plow my driveway.

The plowing…we worked out a trade whereby I share a meal or bread or some treat now and again. I love to cook – they don’t “love” cooking and especially during the week and very especially in the winter, it is late when they both get home. I jokingly started calling it “Meals on Wheels” as I usually deliver via Jeep. It is fairly steep little incline between my house and theirs…and through the woods – so Jeepin’ over is less hazardous and a much better chance of food arriving intact.

The last food share was pumpkin pie. We were yacking about food and the holiday and family and family recipes and Mike mentioned that his mother made kolaches for them. He and Nancy had not been able to find a written recipe and none of Mike’s brothers or sisters had it either.

Yack…yack…yack. We talked about Bear and his surgery and how I was going to do things. I asked for their advice for a platform step I planned to build so that Bear could get to his sleeping chair. As we were talking, they suddenly said…”No reason for you to buy lumber, we have plenty of leftover and could make the step easily in our shop”.

Another trade was born: kolaches for a doggy step.

I googled and binged and read and googled some more. Kolaches are of Czech origin and it appears that families have their own variations. The photos of the size and shapes were extremely varied. BUT!!! – a number of hits revealed that West, Texas is home to kolaches so well loved that people go way out of their way to go to West and buy large amounts of kolaches to take with them.

AND, Lisa Fain’s Homesick Texan Blog (a favorite food blog) had a recipe: Kolaches … yippie – ki – yo – ki – yay!!

This is my second go at kolaches and I have more thoughts for the next round…not so flat, larger “pocket” and more posypka: the flour-sugar-butter-cinnamon topping that makes for a sweet crunch when you bite into one.

The dough is perfect. Well, I like it. Never having had a real kolache, I don’t know if it is right or not, but the dough is a pleasure to work with and results in a soft, sweet bun kind of thing. It is not flaky like a danish, but it is “airier” than a dinner roll. And although the recipe suggests eating them warm, I found that they taste best (to me!) the next day and they also freeze well.

They can be filled with anything. Per my reading, traditionally they are filled with a kind of fruit puree. But there are also savory fillings and Lisa notes that you can wrap the dough around sausage, cheese and jalapeno.

So much fun. Part of my enjoyment of being in the kitchen is trying new things. I love reading about traditional foods and although “kolache” was familiar as in I remembered seeing the name…I had no idea of the origin.

Mike’s mother is of Irish origin and lived in New Orleans so a mystery as to why they were a specialty of hers. And this recipe is not like hers…some resemblance but some difference – but that is as it should be…”Mom’s” should be best :)!

Meanwhile…Mike and Nancy made the doggy step.

It was delivered yesterday: Deals on wheels :). It is a brilliant design! I intended to build a square frame of 2 x 8’s and attach plywood to the top. I know now that that would have been monstrously heavy and hard to move around.

Their idea was a top…which I covered with one of my cheap-o carpets…

On top of an X of 2 x 8’s.

Not bad!! It is stable – I walked all around the edges and it stays put. I even jumped on it on the edges. Solid. And yet, I can easily take the top and move everything. Perfect.

Kolaches and the fun of the research and experimenting. A step for Bear. Sweet trade!