Witch's Hill
Witch's Hill
Hill of Crosses
Hill of Crosses
Onions from our gardenTonight we spent some time recalling our best moments of 2009. By far, the most exciting thing that we did was visit my sister in Warsaw, Poland and take a road trip through the Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. This segment is a tribute to our time in Lithuania. What an amazing country to visit! We remembered our trip as we enjoyed homemade borscht and Svyturys beer that we received as a Christmas gift....
We began our trip in the capital Vilnius. Being a group completely obsessed with food, we started off our journey with a memorable meal of "beer snacks" and borscht. The beer snacks were rye bread strips deep fried in garlic and butter! What more could you ask for? After the delicious meal, we walked around the old town for hours delighting in the architecture and history.
Next, we were off to the coastal town of Klaipeda. From here we visited the Curonian Spit where we walked through a forest trail filled with giant carved wooden sculptures. The Hill of Witches is an amazing feat of woodworking featuring characters from Lithuanian folklore. This stunning collection of carvings inspired us to try out some carving in our work for the new year. Walking the sand dunes (reminiscent of our nearby Cape Cod) at the far end of the Spit, it is possible to see Kaliningrad, Russia. This journey was a great lesson in geography for us as well!
Driving inland and up toward Latvia, we stopped to see the miraculous tourist destination of the Hill of Crosses. We were stunned to discover that this hill had been plowed down several times by the Soviets during their occupation of Lithuania. None of us are religious at all, but we were all in awe of the determination of people to recreate what they believe in against such powerful forces. This feeling permeated our entire Baltic trip and we left feeling humbled and inspired.
Tonight, we looked back on these memories while enjoying this borscht recipe that we created using onions that we grew in our garden this summer (seen in last photo drying on our porch).
Borcht
3-4 TBSP olive oil
1 bunch of large beets julienned
2 large onions finely chopped
4-5 garlic cloves
1 TBSP dried dill
1/4 cup dried mushrooms (we used 1/2 porcini and 1/2 wild trumpet)
1 quart chicken or vegetable stock
1 quart boiling water
1/4 dry red wine
2 bay leaves
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
Bring 1 quart of water to a boil and pour over dried mushrooms. Set aside and let steep for about 30 minutes. Heat olive oil in a dutch oven and add onions, garlic and dill. Cook until onions are translucent. Add beets and cook for another 5 minutes. Add stock, mushroom liquid, mushrooms, red wine and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover until beets are tender. Serve alone or with a dollop of sour cream.
I sveikata!!
