Holiday Folk Fair : Favorite Foods

Here's a photo of the Kolaces at the Czech stand. These tasty pastries shine like jewels! Grappa Eddie remembers these from his Bohemian upbringing. I even made him a batch a few years ago ... Maybe it's time to do that again?

The Folk Fair is always the weekend BEFORE Thanksgiving. We re-discovered it in 2000 when I was pregnant with Oliver. With all that music and dancing, the little fish gave the first flutter that I could feel (at 5 months).

When we go now, we make a beeline to the Czech food stand. We love the pastries!

The Rakviky, or "Little Coffins" are an almond cookie filled with a lemon icing. They are DELICIOUS! It's a good thing we can only get these once a year--That makes them special too. One year, I asked for the recipe for these Rackvivky, but I was told it's a secret family recipe that could not be shared. Then she invited me to come down to help make them the next year ... Maybe I don't want to know how much butter is involved, but I haven't done it yet. We live just a little too far from Milwaukee for such a baking trip.

Uly, or Little Beehives, is another favorite. It has a Nilla wafer base, with a chocolate-covered nut and cream topping. There's also some hint of alcohol (brandy?).

[Photo - Glugg]
Another favorite item of past years is Swedish Glugg, or mulled wine. They always made it with grape juice since so many kids attended the Fair. One year, I happened to sit next to the head of the Swedish presence there. I lamented to her that I couldn't get the Glugg anymore. She was wonderful enough to send me the recipe! Here it is (You'll be able to find lots of recipes for the wine version on the web, but probably not this version.):
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Swedish Glugg (non-alcoholic) from The Holiday Folk Fair International

2 c. apple juice
1 c. grape juice
2 T. sugar
2 sticks cinnamon
8-10 cloves
Peel of 1 or 2 oranges, peeled in a spiral

Combine ingredients and bring almost to a boil. Place raisins and slivered almonds in each cup and serve.
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We had a nice talk that year. She said the Swedes no longer did a food stand at the Folk Fair anymore. It's too much work, and too exhausting to man the booth (thousands of people attend). In those years, she said they had not been very good about encouraging the young people to take over the tradition. She regretted that ... I was pleased to see that the organizers seem to have made a special effort to get younger generations involved. There was one dance performance stage that scheduled only youth groups. Hurray!

We LOVE the international flavors in the World Cafe (We can't get most of this in Oshkosh, so when we go, it is special!) Here's what we ate this year :

Spanikopita from Greece is a delicious spinach and feta pie in a wonderful flaky crust

Koshari from Egypt / Egyptian Rice - a delicious warm salad of noodles, chickpeas, lentils, spices, rice (and more)

Hearty Lentil Soup from Slovakia

Hummert Salad from Denmark - Lobster Salad

Chicken Kebab and Hummus from Lebanon (above)

With so many choices, it's hard to decide what to eat! For all that, we managed NOT to over-eat this year.