"It's like fish with purple mayonnaise on top."

Tasting Russian food.

That "Meat Gelatin" ("Košeliena" in Lithuanian) is something my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, prepared. She used pig's feet to make it. I hated that dish. But here's a recipe (and here, in Lithuanian) if want to try it.

Related by Marriage: Bounty

Panevėžys, Lithuania, July 31, 1992. Stacey and his wife host Stacey's older brother, Ignas.

The salad on the right resembles "Babos Vinegretas." There's a plate of Košeliena (ew, ew, ew)—sometimes translated as "Jellied Pigs' Feet," "Chopped Meat in Aspic," or "Head Cheese"—near the bread. The fried pastry mound on the left looks like a "Skruzdėlynas," or "Ant Hill Cake."

"When I was a boy, all the best meat went to Moscow. … We used to say that Lithuania had exploding pigs. After the explosion, only the ears, tail and feet were left."

A guide explains Soviet-era life to a tourist bicycling through the "Baltic backwater."

 

Mom remembers how the Soviets exported Lithuanian products—butter, pork, and geese—to Russia. In turn, trucks labeled "Food for Starving Lithuania" arrived from the Soviet Union. The trucks were filled with watermelons.

Reach for a Sheep

 
Brookfield Zoo, 1968. Piglets aren't the only attraction at the Children's Zoo.

Pigtails / Piglets

Brookfield Zoo, Spring 1968. Those twisty-bobble thingies always pulled my hair.