Lithuania | My Food Odyssey

Jan 22

Lone Cabin in the Snow, Lithuania | www.myfoododyssey.com

Serenity

Winter has final arrived here in Lithuania. It feels like we’ve been waiting for months for the snow to fall. We had a sprinkling in December and another in early January, but only now are we getting the thick blanket of snow typical of a Lithuanian winter. The sky has been grey for weeks. Now that the snow has fallen, hopefully the grey will give way to the clear blue skies and sunshine that make the snow sparkle like a million tiny diamonds. In the meantime, the snowy ground and grey skies are creating a very serene landscape, highly conducive to curling up with a glass of wine and a good book. I can live with that, for now. Read more

Jan 19

Lithuanian Cottage | www.myfoododyssey.com

23 Comments

Project House: The Transformation

I realise it’s been quite some time since I last gave you an update on our house renovation project. I had taken so many photos during the renovations process that the task of sorting through them seemed overwhelming and I kept putting it off. Now that the festive season has passed I am using the short, dark days and miserable weather as the perfect excuse to curl up with my laptop and get lots of writing done. Read more

Jan 15

Lone Tree, Adakavas | www.myfoododyssey.com

16 Comments

Shadowed

This is my favourite tree. Is it insane to have a favourite tree? Possibly. I don’t really care. In fact, if I’m honest, I don’t believe in insanity, no more than I believe in normality. What’s normal in one part of the world might be considered insane in another. The fact is, they’re just different. If we’re going to apply labels I’d prefer to hold with the Mad Hatter and say “We’re all mad here”. Read more

Jan 11

New Year's Eve, Lithuania | www.myfoododyssey.com

9 Comments

Ring out the Old, Ring in the New

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and days of auld lang syne?

I’ve sung that song countless times, standing in a circle holding hands with my arms crossed, and never once thought about the lyrics. They’re in Scots English, so they’re not immediately understood. I treated them like most nursery rhymes I know – I just rattled off the words without any thought of their meaning. Read more

Jan 7

Christmas Chalkboard | www.myfoododyssey.com

10 Comments

Of Turkeys and Dancing

“We’ll never all fit”, I said in a slightly panicked tone as I looked out into our conservatory. It’s not a small room, but with the oversize Christmas tree and several chunky pieces of furniture there wasn’t much space left for dancing. There were 11 of us here for Christmas dinner and I was struggling to figure out where we would all sit, never mind where we would put the dance floor. Read more

Dec 29

16 Comments

Warmth

I think the week between Christmas and New Year is probably my favourite week of the year. The stress of Christmas is behind us, tummies are full, hearts are happy and the fridge is full of leftovers. The weather is just cold enough that I don’t feel guilty curling up with a good book and a hot whiskey but not so cold that I can’t get out for a long walk with the dog to work off some of that stuffing. Read more

Dec 18

Sparkling Christmas Tree | www.myfoododyssey.com

12 Comments

Twinkle

Oh Christmas Tree, oh Christmas Tree,
You know not how you’ve aged me.

As a child I always loved putting up the Christmas Tree. We had one of those fake, glittery ones popular in the 70s and a beautiful collection of colourful, sparkly ornaments built up over a number of years. Mam would put up the lights, ensuring they were perfectly symmetrical with one light at the top to reflect off the star. My sister and I would then add the decorations. When it was finally complete we would enjoy our first slice of Christmas cake and perhaps our first movie of the season. Read more

Dec 8

Lithuanian Christmas Eve Biscuits / Kūčiukai | www.myfoododyssey.com

35 Comments

Lithuanian Christmas Eve Biscuits | Kūčiukai [Recipe]

Christmas is a time for tradition. What’s fascinating to me is how much those traditions vary from country to country and even from family to family. Some children post their letter to Santa up the chimney, some through the regular mail. Some leave out milk and cookies for Santa, but in our house it was a bottle of Guinness and a few mince pies. (Clever ole Dad!) Some traditions don’t believe in Santa at all. Read more

Nov 1

14 Comments

Cover Art

We all have one good book in us. Or so they say. I’m convinced I have at least one in me but have yet to figure out what it will be. I don’t read much fiction and can’t imagine myself writing anything in that space. That said, I do have a vivid imagination and would love to write something that brings the reader into a completely new world – something akin to “Alice in Wonderland”. More likely it will be my food memoirs – my passions, my challenges, my philosophies, my journey – told around a lifelong love of food. Read more

Oct 29

23 Comments

A Taste of Home | Barnbrack [Recipe]

I longed for a taste of home. Something simple, wholesome, comforting – something my mother used to make. Halloween was coming and I longed for a bowl of colcannon, that dreamy combination of creamy mashed potato and deep green curly kale. Mam always made colcannon for Halloween and always took the trouble to hide a coin, a ring and a rag for us to find. We always knew what was coming but there was something safe and soothing about the familiarity. I longed for that feeling.* Read more

Oct 20

Wheat Field, Lithuania | www.myfoododyssey.com

17 Comments

A bit about writing

“It’s all a bit beige”, Mrs Weaver concluded as she surveyed my plate. “We eat with our eyes”, she said over her shoulder as she walked on to the next student having barely tasted a bite. It was our end-of-term exam and I had been practising each element of this dish for weeks. I had proudly served a crisp vol-au-vent (made from scratch) filled with chunky morsels of monkfish and prawn smothered in a creamy velouté sauce, gently spiced roasted cauliflower and duchess potatoes, impeccably piped and toasted to perfection. Every element looked and tasted as it should but, now that I reviewed it as a whole, I had to agree with Mrs Weaver that the colours were all a bit similar and, well, beige. We eat with our eyes and this dish looked distinctly unappetising, despite the expensive ingredients and the care that had gone into the making. Mrs Weaver had 18 plates to get through and if I wanted her to stop and pay attention to mine I needed to make it beautiful as well as delicious. Lesson learned. Read more

Oct 17

Winter Sunset, Lithuania | www.myfoododyssey.com

13 Comments

Dreamy

The evenings are getting shorter, there is a distinct chill in the air and golden trees are rapidly giving way to bare branches. After a mild and sunny September winter is suddenly closing in here in Lithuania. Much as I love warmth and sunshine I am very much looking forward to winter. We have a warm and cosy home. We have a wonderful new kitchen where I will make comforting stews and slow roasts. We have a stock of homemade wine and beer which we will sip curled up in our panoramic conservatory, looking out at the dreamy winter landscape. We will read, write, savour, enjoy. We are ready. Bring it on. Read more

Oct 11

Chicken Eye Infection | www.myfoododyssey.com

35 Comments

Help! My chickens are sick!

My poor girls. They’re just not well. A few weeks back we noticed that one of our grey marans had started to develop a bit of a cough. None of the other birds seemed to be affected so I wasn’t overly worried. Not wanting to rush to the vet with every little sneeze I googled to see if there was a natural remedy I could administer. Read more

Oct 9

31 Comments

House Hunters

We were the talk of the town. Probably still are. I mean, who do we think we are? Adakavas is about the size of a teaspoon and very little out of the ordinary happens here, so when TV cameras roll into town it gets everyone’s attention. It wasn’t enough that we bought a house out from under a poor 94-year-old woman, then tore it down to remodel, but now we were making a TV programme about it – sacrébleu! Read more

Oct 7

Marine Fossil, El Torcal de Antequera (Spain) | www.myfoododyssey.com

5 Comments

Signs

Signs. That life on earth has existed for a very, very long time. While on tour last summer we visited my cousin in Antequera, Spain. He brought us to see the stunning limestone landscape at El Torcal de Antequera. El Torcal is over 150 million years old and is home to some fascinating records of marine life during the Jurassic period. The chubby little finger belongs to my cousin’s young son – a sign that human life is set to continue for at least one more generation. Read more