Calendar of Events

Updated Friday, July 23, 2021


Second Tuesday of every other month
- KJT / KJZT Monthly Society Meeting

KJT Society #40 meet on the second Tuesday of every other month, at 7:00 p.m. at Riverside Hall. Please call Big Ed Marik at 335-6402 for more information.


2nd. Sunday of October - Annual Holy Cross Parish Bazaar

Riverside Hall, details to be announced.

2nd. Saturday of June - Annual KOLACHE-KLOBASE FESTIVAL -- since 1990

M
ore info at http://www.kkfest.com 
 


ARCHIVES OF PAST EVENTS AT RIVERSIDE HALL

14th. Annual Czech Kolache - Klobase Festival
Saturday, June 12, 2004


Riverside Hall
13th Annual Czech Kolache/Klobase Festival

Czeching Out The Menu


POSTED:
3:11 p.m. EDT June 26, 2003
UPDATED: 11:39 a.m. EDT October 24, 2003

I've written several times now about fair food, those mostly deep-fried delicacies available only on carnival midways. They're usually yummy, always fattening, and the same items are available from Houston to Omaha, with minor regional differences.

Where delightful diversity rears its head, however, is with food festivals. A great example was the 13th Annual Czech Kolache/Klobase Festival I attended two weeks ago in the small town of East Bernard, out among the verdant farm fields of southeast Texas, some 40 miles outside Houston.

East Bernard is a Czech enclave, and the first indication that I was among these fine, if somewhat self-effacing folk came at the city limits, where a large sign festooned with Lions, Rotary and other club emblems proclaimed East Bernard to be "A Good Place To Live." Not "Great," not "Fantastic," but good. That's the sort of statement a fellow can get behind. Folks who say things like that at the city limits must have the confidence that what lies within them won't need many superlatives laid out to make it shine.

Riverside Hall, where the whole shebang took place, was your usual multifunction sort of small-town gathering place, with a big kitchen/serving area attached to a huge gathering room with a stage. Within 25 minutes of arriving and meeting the lovely and charming Martha Viktorin, who showed me "behind the scenes" doings on the kolache end of things, I was ensconced with my wife and some townsfolk in the gathering room, dining on a plate lunch made up of the finest sauerkraut and sausage I've ever put in my mouth, and creamer potatoes cooked in real butter.

OK, so it wasn't exactly what the Surgeon General ordered, but it was mighty tasty stuff. It was followed, of course, by a few kolaches for dessert.

Those of you who aren't blessed with a Czech presence in your community are by this point just about ready to hurt me badly if I don't explain exactly what a kolache is.

A kolache is a simple yeast roll that's either topped or filled with a variety of toppings ranging from fruit to cream cheese to various meats. There's even a traditional poppyseed filling that's absolutely delicious. Basically, the kolache dough is a blank slate upon which you can write your own flavoring "signature." One of my personal favorites is a filled kolache made by wrapping the dough around a hot Polish sausage. If you let your imagination wander, you can come up with all sorts of fillings. I've seen pepperoni-and-cheese, spinach-and-feta and even egg-and-meat combinations eaten as breakfast treats.

You can find any number of kolache dough recipes online, but for Mrs. Viktorin's family recipe, and dozens of other fantastic Czech creations, call the Czech Family Singers at (979) 335-7907.

You might recall me mentioning the best sauerkraut I'd ever tasted. Like most great family recipes, its true marvel is its simplicity.

Old-Fashioned Sauerkraut


4 slices bacon
˝ c. chopped onion
2 tbsp. flour
1 qt. sauerkraut
1 tsp. caraway seed
˝ c. water

Chop bacon and fry. Add chopped onion and sauté until tender. Add flour and brown lightly. Add sauerkraut, caraway seed and water. Stir well and cook until thickened. Great served with sausage or pork chops.

 

 

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