Old Country Christmas

Saturday was great, really. The weather was crisp and not too warm and sunny, I didn't feel like I was hit on the head with a sledgehammer when I got up, and a friend invited me to go with her to Ft. Worth where her church had their annual Christmas bake sale. I try to make it every year, but missed it last time. I mean really missed it. They have these amazing East European cakes and cookies and really taste like the stuff I used to have at home, and the poppyseed roll is such a hit with The Husband that I cannot hide it in the freezer deep enough to last until the actual season starts...:)
They were out of the poppyseed rolls this time (sniff, sniff) but my friend made a great suggestion for how to recreate those at home, so I think I'll try that even though I prefer the walnut rolls myself. I picked up cherry-cheese rolls, pumpkin cakes, chocolate cakes, apricot rolls and baklava instead. Everything landed in the freezer except the baklava, which was gone the same day-- they make it really, really good, dripping with syrup and with a thick layer of walnut-pistachio filling that is crunchy and soft at the same time (one of the mysteries of a well-made baklava).
After the sale, we had lunch at Blue Mesa in Ft. Worth--I keep forgetting just how good their food is for a chain restaurant. They have sweet potato chips mixed in with the blue and yellow corn tortillas in their tortilla basket, their two salsas are a bit on the hot side but very flavorful (especially the roasted tomatillo one), and the tiny corn cakes that come with most of the entrees are so sweet from the perfectly ripe corn they use that they prectically pass as dessert. Unfortunately the smoked chicken in one of the tacos I had was just a bit dry, but the beef and the shrimp in the others made up for it. A good thing that they don't have a location close to our house, otherwise we'd be SO broke!