The church my parents attended published a cookbook one Christmas with mostly Chechoslovakian and Polish recipes, and Perogis were spelled with an 'o'. I still use it for a variety of cookies I bake at Christmas that are probably not easily found these days~Ice Box cookies anyone? Nope, the onions do not overshadow the flavor, but Mom only added them to the potatoes. She sauteed(slightly)the perogis in butter which was first browned, then added. Mrs. T's just don't do it. I did find them handmade in a small market, but they were still too doughy. Maybe it's the freezing? There were never any leftovers at our house to freeze, so wouldn't know if freezing would compromise the texture of the dough. And I do remember Halupki, but not in soup. I make them but call them pigs-in-the-blanket. My best friend's dad, also Chech heritage, would make them and add to soup, and she said it was to 'strech it out for a few days'. lol So annie, do you just add the 'lone' ingredients~cabbage, ground beef, rice~to tomato sauce? And what is Krustchiti? Maybe I knew it by a different name. There's also a 'sour gravy' dish that my sis makes using pork chops. Ring any bells? Mimipadv, is that cabbage and noodles? That I do make! And speaking of pie crust, mine is a joke! I buy Marie Calendar's, frozen. ;)

We’ve just returned from a trip to Nashville. We were there two years ago for a medical seminar, but spent the majority of time inside the incredible, gorgeous Gaylord Opryland Resort. This time, we rented a house through AirBnB in the Edgehill neighborhood of Nashville. Although we love Country music and very much enjoyed our tour of the Grand Ole Opry, had great meals out, and saw the beautiful surrounding towns of Franklin, etc., overall it was just so congested everywhere! The roads, the entire downtown area, seemed so crowded, just as it was when we were there last. The majority of the homes in the. Nashville area seem to be without garages, which may be fine for the area but as a result, every street ( in both business and residential areas) was lined on both sides with bumper to bumper parked cars. Thank goodness DH can parallel park or we would have been in serious trouble (LOL)! We did end up driving 3 hours to Knoxville one day, which is a lovely city. If we’d had more time we would have loved to have spent some time in Asheville. In retrospect, I’m glad we went, but any future trips to Nashville will be to the Gaylord, with hired drivers dropping us off to see anything.

Do you usually go to Kripalu alone? I have travelled by myself a fair amount but I would much rather do a spa thing with friends or as a couple. I think "summer camp" is an apt corollary, and that's why friends make all the difference. You may want to try it again with a group; then you could spend your time making fun of the biatchy crowd which is much more satisfying then mumbling to yourself. Plus I think things like bracelet making would be more fun with friends, too.

I would love to see Yellowstone and other national parks out west. I'd also like to visit Hawaii and Alaska. Never took the opportunities I had to visit Paris and London when I was younger, and now I'm not so sure I'll ever get to do that, but hope springs eternal. Never had a 'bucket list' either. I feel like that term blew up in popularity because of the 2007 movie - which I've never seen, BTW 😄 Also BTW, AtlasObscura.com covers all kinds of marvelous places and their podcasts are a great way to armchair travel - and get ideas too.