Food! Glorious Food! [ Stories from Siberia continued] Food! Glorious Food! [ Stories from Siberia continued] Translated from Lithuanian from the memoirs of Irena K Whenever our grand niece came to visit us she would always be interested in traditional Lithuanian food. We had great times together showing Jura how to make dishes like Kugelis [ a potato bake], Koldunai [like Italian tortellini] and Cepelinai [ like a huge gnocchi, shaped like a zeppelin and filled with meat] . One evening, all of our relatives were invited to our place for dinner as Jura wanted to make us a typical Australian meal. She even bought a few bottles of champagne. Victoria and Juliya liked her ‘pavlova’ cake the most. She explained that an Australian chef had created it in honour of Anna Pavlova, the famous Russian ballerina. It was like a huge meringue, but soft inside. Jura decorated it with cream, fresh strawberries and blackberries. Victoria and I made our “poor man’s cake”. It was just sliced apples in a greased frying pan with a cake mixture consisting of 1 egg, 1 cup of flour and a bit of butter, mixed up with milk. Your pour the cake mix over the top of the apples. When it had fished cooking on the top of the stove, I turned it out onto a plate and it had apples on the top. Then I sprinkled some sugar and cinnamon over it. Our relatives brought over some bottles of “kvass” to drink which they had made during summer. Jura wanted to cook us a traditional Australian lamb roast for the main course, but unfortunately we couldn’t buy lamb anywhere, as Lithuanians eat mainly pork. So instead, she roasted a leg of pork with potatoes ,carrots and peas. Victoria and I really liked it! This was the sort of food we dreamt about in our cold Siberian exile. Also, Jura had brought with her a few packets of Australian chocolate biscuits called ‘Tim Tams. Little Anna, Juliya’s daughter loved them so much, that her chubby little fingers wouldn’t let anyone take them away. I only wish that our mother Jadze and father Victor had been alive to meet Jura. I think that they would have liked to have been part of our family celebration. Translator’s note: For those who are interested, this website contains recipes and photos of traditional Lithuanian food. http://ausis.gf.vu.lt/eka/food/fcont.html