TE15 Lithuanian Honey Cake

Tautvyda Marcinkevičiūtė

STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS, MY DOVES I’m not saying that this is our national dish, but just that we’re used to it, like all of Eastern Europe. I don’t know on which nation’s genealogical tree they alighted, sweetly pursing their beaks, before landing in this bubbling cauldron: I. guillotined head of cabbage II. meat ground fine by the machinery of State III. rice that gives an oriental tang to the filling, though it’s okay without it IV. salt, pepper Note: To avoid overcooking them, Mom would bind them with slender threads, forming an artistic sign of the cross with her filigree, so as not to frighten the eater.

But I’m talking nonsense, my cousin, my real cousin, already born in the State for which I wish only such gastronomical excess—

Bon appétit!

Translated by Julie Kane, Rima Krasauskytė, and the author

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