Distraction

Suburban Chicago, July 1970. I'm opening a gift (in a Madigan's box), but everyone admires Gigi.

After we pick, we pit.

Door County, Wisconsin, July 1980. It's the second part of the job.

Ha! I remember how much I loved those curtains when Mom sewed them in the 1970s. The fabric featured a Japanese-inspired motif.

Talent Show

Sacred Heart School Melrose Park, Illinois, June 1972. Most of the girls from the eighth-grade class participated in the show. We're standing on the stage of Marian Hall.

After-Dinner Conversation

Suburban Chicago, October 1972. My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, chats with Vytenis. Tatjana dozes again; she had narcolepsy. She wears the watch we bought for her in Switzerland.

Graduation Dance

Oak Park, Illinois, June 1972. Most of the eighth-grade girls wore floor-length dresses.

Make one at home.

I started baking in the early 1970s. I don't recall what sparked my interest, but I grew curious about trying new recipes. My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, did not venture much beyond her own repertoire. My Mom worked full time, so she never cooked, and she only occasionally baked for the holidays. We also had few cookbooks. Besides the 1956 edition of the Betty Crocker Picture Book, I remember the German-language edition of this book, and a copy of European Desserts for American Kitchens.

I started experimenting with some of the recipes in European Desserts for American Kitchens. I first made a Dobos Torte, and then I moved on to a dessert—Crepes Saint Martin—that featured a delicious, rice-pudding-like filling. I finally saw that the book contained a recipe for one of the "triple crowns" of Lithuanian baking: "Baumkuchenas" (the other two "crowns" would be "Napoleonas" and Nut Torte ... at least at our house).

A homemade Baumkuchenas, of course, would not feature the typical "branches" or dough spikes created by baking the cake on a turning rotisserie over an open flame. If  you want a Baumkuchenas with the typical appearance, then order one (the mail-order cakes are quite good). The recipe in European Desserts for American Kitchens, however, tastes almost identical to the traditional, branched cake, and I've been making it since 1972. A few years had passed since I made one, so yesterday I got ambitious.

*     *     *     *     *

Here's how I adapted the recipe:

Baumkuchenas

1-1/2 cups (7.2 ounces) potato or cornstarch
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8.4 ounces) granulated sugar
9 egg whites, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
9 egg yolks, room temperature
1-1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup powdered sugar
1-1/2 tablespoons freshly-squeeze lemon juice


Adjust the oven rack to about six inches below the broiler element. Preheat the oven—on the broiler setting—to 475 degrees. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper and the sides of the springform pan with butter. Dust the pan with flour and shake out the excess.

Sift the potato or cornstarch and set aside.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, begin mixing the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt and low to medium speed until the egg whites begin to get foamy. Gradually increase the speed to medium-high and then high. While beating, add about 4 tablespoons of the granulated sugar to the egg whites. Continue beating until the meringue is stiff and holds its shape. Set the bowl with the meringue aside.

In another bowl of the electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and the remaining sugar. This should take about 5 to 6 minutes, and the mixture should be very light and pale in color. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the lemon rind and the vanilla extract.

On low speed (or by hand, using a spatula), mix in about one-third of the potato starch. Gently fold in half the meringue. Then, add one-half of the remaining potato starch and the rest of the meringue. Finally, fold in the remainder of the potato starch.

Before beginning to bake, place the bowl with the batter, a trivet, and a large spoon or ladle near the oven. Using the spoon or ladle (or a small, offset spatula), spread about 1/4 cup of the batter in the bottom of the prepared pan. Place in the preheated oven and bake until the layer is lightly browned. The first layer may take about 2-1/2 to 3 minutes. When the first layer is done, remove the pan from the oven, set it on the trivet, and spread another 1/4 cup batter over the first layer. Continue in this manner until you have used up all of the batter. In our oven, the layers take about 2 to 2-1/2 minutes each, and you should end up with about 14 or 15 layers. The baking process is tedious.

Remove the cake from the oven and let it rest, in the pan, on a wire rack for about one hour. Run a knife around the sides of the pan and remove the springform. Let the cake rest until it is completely cool, about two hours.

Before serving, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice and spread it on top of the cake.

Religion Class

River Forest, Illinois, January 13, 1976. Religion classes were mandatory at my high school. Few of us took the classes seriously, and we usually tried to find a course that wasn't very "religiony." This photo is from one of those classes, Marriage Class.

The requirement that students wear uniforms did not mute self-expression.

Grading

River Forest, Illinois, November 1975. A teacher at my high school uses the time between classes to review a few papers.

"Bonjour!"

River Forest, Illinois, November 1975. Here's another snapshot from my stint as a high-school yearbook photographer. The woman on the right is the Dominican sister who taught French. I enrolled in French-language classes after I completed my two years of Latin study. She was an amazing teacher: she never allowed us to speak English in her classroom. I felt nearly fluent in French after I completed the coursework.

This teacher's training was so good that when I enrolled in college, I tested out of the foreign-language requirement and earned the equivalent of four years' credit in French. I was so excited when I learned the news that I called her from my dorm room telephone to thank her.

(Does anyone still install terrazzo floors [distinguishable from "terrazzo tiles"]? The Venetian apartment in which I lived had them, too. I just love them.)

Related by Marriage: Full-service fill up.

Skokie, Illinois, probably January 1978. Mr. Irene's friend leads Mr. Irene to the pump.

A Seasonal Event

Suburban Chicago, October 1971. I'm hosting a costume party; we're in the Rec Room.

Clearing

Door County, Wisconsin, April 1974. Mom watches as work begins to make a spot for the cottage.

(Whenever I post a photo from the 1970s or later, I feel like I am using a "contemporary" image.)

Holiday Weekend

Suburban Chicago, May 1970. I earlier posted photos from this afternoon here and here.

Related by Marriage: Graduation season approaches.

Suburban Chicago, June 1976. Mr. Irene rocked those tinted aviators.

(He wore a different eyeglass style here.)

Babos Receptai (Part 9)

My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, never transcribed the recipe for her signature dish, "Babos Vinegretas," into her collection. She had memorized the ingredients, so it's likely she didn't think it necessary to write down the recipe. In the early 1970s, however, she jotted the recipe down for my friend Kris, and Kris later have me a copy of Baba's instructions.

Here is that recipe:

Here's how I wrote up the recipe:

Babos Vinegretas

Salad:

3 to 4 "boiling" potatoes (500 grams), unpeeled

3 hard-boiled eggs

7.5 ounces frozen peas and carrots, thawed and drained on layers of paper towel

3 green onions (50 grams), sliced thin (or chives: Baba wrote, "arba 'chives'.")

2 fresh, pickled cucumbers* (not sour: Baba wrote, "ne labai rukšcius"), chopped very fine

1 to 3 tablespoons fresh dill weed, to taste

crabmeat**

Dressing:

1/2 to 3/4 cup mayonnaise

2 Tbsp. sour cream

1 teaspoon (no more) Dijon mustard (a little: Baba wrote, "truputi")

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sugar, to taste

salt and freshly-ground pepper

Cook the potatoes in boiling water with 1 teaspoon salt until done (about 20 minutes). Drain potatoes thoroughly and allow them to cool. When potatoes have cooled, peel them and dice neatly into small (1/3-inch), uniform cubes. Place the diced potatoes in a large bowl.

Dice the hard-boiled eggs and add to the bowl. Stir in the drained peas and carrots, green onions, cucumbers,* and dill weed. Mix well.

Prepare the dressing by mixing together 1/2 cup of the mayonnaise, sour cream, and mustard very thoroughly. Stir in the lemon juice, sugar, salt, and pepper and adjust, to taste. Stir the dressing into vegetables to coat evenly. If mixture seems dry, then add up to the additional 1/4 cup mayonnaise. (Salad may be prepared in advance. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least four hours until serving time.)

*To make "Fresh Pickled Cucumbers:" Stir 3 tablespoons white vinegar and 1 teaspoons kosher salt in a small bowl until salt dissolves. Place one pound English hothouse cucumber, thinly sliced and 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill in a 1-gallon resealable plastic bag. Add vinegar mixture; seal bag. Turn several times to coat. Refrigerate overnight, turning bag occasionally.

**Tatjana added crabmeat or shrimp to the salad on special occasions.

Think Big.

River Forest, Illinois, November 1975. Here's another image from my stint as a high-school yearbook photographer. I took this in the office of the school's library. You likely notice the card catalog and typewriter. Did you see the film-strip canisters?

Exploring the Gardens

Salzburg, Austria, July 1971. We're visiting Mirabell Gardens and Palace, where everything is smaller than it appears in the movies.

Not-So-Swiss Reunion

Lugano, Switzerland, July 1971. There's a different feeling here.

Economy Class

Over the Atlantic Ocean, July 1971. We've boarded the Pan Am 747 "Jumbo Jet," and we are on our way to Vienna.

We dip South.

Lugano, Switzerland, July 1971. We're still in Switzerland, but we are close to the Italian border.