Bohemian Rhapsody

This morning, I ate a poppyseed kolache and I was transported back to my childhood when Mom, Dad and I would visit my paternal grandmother in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.  Kolaches are a traditional Bohemian pastry -- a not-too-sweet dough formed into a round, with an indentation in the center that is filled with a couple of teaspoonfuls of canned filling, such as poppyseed, prune, apricot or raspberry.  Poppyseed has always been my favorite.  My Grandma Josie was a wonderful baker, as was my Aunt Norma.  It's unfortunate, but I never thought to learn how to make kolaches.  I just spent my time eating them.  My cousin, Sally, however, did ask and she learned how to make them at my aunt's elbow.  Sally now has my grandmother's spatter-ware mixing bowl and she has used it to make kolaches.  She's even sent them all the way from Washington State to my mother and me and they were delicious, just as I remember them from childhood!  It's amazing how taste can affect our memories.  Biting into that soft, doughy, poppyseed-filled kolache this morning brought back such a flood of wonderful memories of family, holidays and visits to Two Rivers that I carried the thought and taste of that splendid kolache with me all day.  Truly, a rhapsody to this Bohemian!