Filed under: Food & Drink
From Lithuanian Heritage September/October 2010
(Mushrooming)
My favorite word in Lithuanian, grybauti, means “to go mushrooming.” In English the meaning is simple and to the point, but in Lithuanian, the sentiment of the word is much more poetic. I didn’t fully understand it until recently when some friends put me in a pair of rubber boots, handed me a basket and a knife, and drove to a “secret spot” some 20km outside of Vilnius on a cold, damp morning. Wandering through a moss-covered forest with your head down, looking for small brown lumps hidden in the earth, it’s easy to get lost. You never walk in a straight line, glimpses of baravykai and voveraitės pulling you this way and that, so if you were to leave a trail of red paint on the ground it would look like a drunk lost on his way home from the bar, only to wander around and around in circles outside the front door. Lithuanians use the word not just to describe the act of picking mushrooms, but also any time they want to describe someone who is perhaps a little bit lost in life. When one of my ski racers takes a particularly wide race line through the course, we might say, “Nu, kur tu grybauji?” (Where are you wandering?) Or, if taking a wrong turn means arriving late to a party, we might explain our delay saying, “Grybavome!” (We were mushrooming!) The mountain bike race in Anykščiai this year was muddy from a week of rain forcing hundreds of riders to get off their bikes to trudge through the mud, creating a massive traffic jam at the start. I heard riders over and over exclaim, “Ir ka, visi grybauji? Baravykai daug šiais metais!” (So what, everyone is stopping to pick mushrooms? There are a lot of porcini this year!)
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October 7, 2011
Evening in Christchurch along the Avon river
There are ducks in New Zealand—I don’t remember their name—that mate for life. The female has a white head, and the male a black one and we first saw them while kayaking in Milford Sound. In Christchurch, they stroll through the Botanic Gardens in pairs, resting in the sun on the banks of the Avon River.
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July 22, 2011
After the rain stops, September is the most beautiful month of the year in Lithuania. Temperatures are normally in the high 60′s in the sun, the skies as blue as Christmas Day in Aspen. The trees begin to turn yellow, orange and red, so that even the slightest breeze has them sparkling in the sunlight. It also turns out, that despite how small Vilnius is, it actually is possible to spend all afternoon people watching and not see a single person you know.
On such a day, I love to fill my backpack with my book, a couple notebooks, my newest Harper’s and my journal, and set out to find a nice table in the sunshine to pass the afternoon…
Continue September 18, 2010
Sostinės dienos (Capitol Days) is a good time of year to be in Vilnius. Always the first weekend of September, the city is alive as students and families return from the seaside, sodyba (countryside garden) or grandmother’s house in the village. The tourists have mostly gone home, and Vilnius is left for its Vilnečiai.
For three days, the full length of Gedimino prospektas is taken over by stalls of artisans selling their wares, local restaurants grilling sašlykiai (sishkebabs), griddles frying enormous bulviniai blynai (potato pancakes) and serving troškinys (stew) bubbling hot in large cast-iron pots. To drink there is alus (beer) and karštas punčas (hot wine punch). Near the Parliament building games and activities fill the street with children, a DJ spins favorite teenage tunes while a group of boys plays 3-on-3 basketball in front of the national library.
Lidija Rasutis was singing with her women’s ensemble, Eglė, on a stage set up on Lukiskių aikštė, with the sun setting behind them. Though they were all dressed alike, Lidija still stood out as the most fashionable, dancing and swaying while she sung. The music was old-fashioned, but the crowed enjoyed it.
There were all types strolling along, eating, dancing, listening to music and buying fresh breads and sweets; young families, elderly couples, rebellious teenagers and even a few angels. Life can be hard in this small country on the Baltic Sea, but from the smiles along Gedimino prospektas in September, Vilnius seems to be the happiest, most carefree city around.
September 15, 2010
In Lithuanian, the word užupis means “beyond the river,” though the Vilnelė River, which divides Užupis from the Vilnius Old Town, is actually more of a winding creek. In 1997, a group of bohemian artists and writers declared the neighborhood independent and founded the People’s Republic of Užupis. Independence Day is April 1st, and a sign marking the entrance to the district features four distinct symbols including a smiley face and the Mona Lisa warning you of “art ahead”…
Continue April 1, 2010
Kazuiko Mugė, the centuries old St. Casmir’s Fair, stretches along Gedimino gatvė and throughout the senamiestes (old town) with stalls selling baronkos (hard bagels on a string), verbos (dried feathers and flowers on a stick – the Lithuanian version of palms used on Palm Sunday), handmade meats, cheeses and honey, textiles, crafts and sweets for the children…
Continue March 9, 2010
There are obviously a few places in Vilnius where you can get Lithuanian food, but the quality and authenticity vary drastically from place to place. Here’s a round up of the best potato pancakes, šašlykiai and dumplings in the city and around the country…
Continue February 25, 2010
There is no question that Zoe’s is my favorite restaurant in Vilnius. Living just around the corner, it was usual to see me in there at least once per week – more during the summer months when they have tables outside in the square across the street. It helps that my good friend, Agne, is the manager, but what really keeps me coming back to Zoe’s is the fast, friendly and competent service, the fresh bread and zesty dip served as an appetizer, and my favorite chicken Caesar salad in Vilnius…
Continue January 29, 2010
When the weather at Mt. Ruapehu is bad enough to actually close the ski area, we get a day off. There’s not much to do in Ohakune on a stormy day, but Taupo is only an hour and a half away. I piled into the snowboard team’s van with a few colleagues for a much needed rest day…
Continue December 6, 2009
It’s Saturday morning, you lay in bed semi-conscientious of the sun streaming through the window. You sense it is a reasonable time to get up but your eyes remain closed, in protest to the splitting headache that will surely follow the moment you open them. After last night’s party, one could argue that the only thing to do is remain in bed all day except that after a long winter a warm spring day is not to be wasted. There is only one thing to do: drag your tired broken self to Pilies Kepyklelė for lietiniai (crepes), coffee and a fresh squeezed grapefruit juice…
Continue April 8, 2009
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