So, you know, when you're a kid, a lot of times it's the little things, the small things

that make a big impression.

And there's a lot of childhood foods that can do that, remind you of a certain time.

Maybe it was getting a slurpy on the way to the pool with your friends, or a certain snack

that your mom always gave you after school.

For me, there's this one pastry that always reminds me of road trips.

I grew up in San Antonio, so my parents would pile us into the suburban, and there were usually

two options, drive to Houston to visit family, or up through the hill country up to Austin.

And the other thing that is also really true when your kid is that road trips are pretty much

the worst activity out there.

Like four hours in a car, it's almost painful.

So to break up the hours of driving, we'd usually stop off in these tiny towns along the

way.

And they had names like Moravia and Praha.

There were meat shops and restaurants with names like Little Gretel.

There was definitely an old world vibe to these towns.

Like you had left the Texas countryside and were transported to Eastern Europe.

And usually there was also a bakery.

And this is where you would find these pastries.

The colotch. A colotch is a traditional Czech pastry, sweetened, yeasty dough that's pillowy soft. And in Texas, they're filled with fruit,

cheese, and sometimes sausage. My favorite flavor was blueberry. There are dozens and dozens of

these tiny towns with bakeries selling collages, and they're

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