Frozen Experiences

About a week and a half ago, some good friends invited a group of us (Americans, Brits, Germans, Japanese) to tour a Bison Ranch about two hours away from Vilnius. I was immediately intrigued so Damian and I hopped on the band wagon (also known as our friends' car) and made our way to the Bizonu Ranca. Disclaimer - I should note at this point in the post that the story of the Bison Ranch does not end well for one particular animal. Yes, we tour the ranch and view the herds and take pictures and smile and all that jazz. However, one of the points of going to said ranch is to partake in the primal tradition of consuming.......consuming delicious, tender, lean bison meat!

Hello, bison!

Puppy!!!

Along the way to the ranch, we stopped and walked around several historical and modern sites located pretty much in the middle of nowhere. One of the things that Lithuania is known for is having numerous churches, something close to 4,000 (4,000! In a country with a population of roughly 3.5 million people, that's equivalent to 1 church for every 875 people!), so two of the sites we saw were (naturally) churches. Europe is sprinkled with an incredible amount of churches, and although there are those travelers who snub their noses at the sight of another 1,000 year old church, I relish each and every one that I encounter. Although I grew up with a Romanian Orthodox upbringing, I am not a terribly religious person. In other words, I attend church every now and then and try not to miss Romanian or Greek church festivals if I can help it (yummmm sarmale or maybe gyros). Ok, I'm getting off topic with the thought of food! Back to churches. Each one has it's own character and background story that makes it unique and interesting. We did not go inside the two churches, only walked around the perimeters, so we spent only a short time at each location. I should mention that it was very cold. How cold, you ask? VERY! Close to zero degF. After our scheduled detour stops, we were all getting anxious and hungry. We finally made it to the ranch and were greeted by the resident Mastiff doggie. So cute he was! The owner of the ranch gave us VIP access and we drove up to the bison herds and were as close as 10ft from the glorious creatures! It was so cool! I remember thinking, "if these beasts get pissed, we lose!" After the tour, we sat down in an incredible open space reception-like room to consume bison meat! The large strip and filet that I had were tender and surprisingly light. I didn't feel like a lard ball after eating, which was very nice!

Forgot to take a pic before I started eating :)

Cured Bison displayed on a ...... wood platter in the shape of a Bison

Moving on from the bison....Tuesday nights are quiz nights! A local bar basically shuts down to the general public and hosts the quiz night. There are about 15 teams with an average of 8 people on each team so almost every seat in the house is taken. Of the 15 teams, ours is the only majority American (with 3 Lithuanians) team. There is one other international team but the remaining 13 teams are Lithuanian. Since we don't speak Lithuanian at the level of understanding quiz questions, the quiz MC asks the questions in both Lithuanian and English. I joined the team long after it was formed so had no input into the team name, which is "Condoleeza and the Rice." No comment. Anywho, some of the questions are extremely difficult! For instance, last week there was a guest round from another quiz team on the Grand Duke of Lithuania. 10 questions on the Grand Duke? Ugh. Luckily, we had one Lithuanian person show and we ended up getting 2 points. Not bad when the Lithuanian teams averaged 5 points! Our team should do a guest round on Andrew Jackson and see how well the Lithuanians do! :)

Some of Condoleeza and the Rice

Alright, to end this week's post, I want to touch on a few things. First, before coming to Lithuania a former colleague asked if I was a huge Frank Zappa fan. To his shock (and perhaps to you all), I had no idea who Zappa was. I actually had to Google him and found out that he was beloved by so many Lithuanians! Why? Who knows why, but the Lithuanians erected a statue (more like a bust) in his honor and lucky for me, it's located about 100 yards from where we live. Second, I would just like to note that the delicious treats here will make me gain 15-20 pounds. And the caffe lates and cappuccinos? Forgeddaboutit. Finally, I may need to pour a glass out in memory of my two plants that are on their way to plant heaven. This past Saturday, I bought a lovely green plant and a beautiful yellow-purple orchid and in the five minute walk home from the grocery store, they were both flaccid! Damn you sub-zero temperatures!

Cheers to you, Zappa!

The sweet, delicious, yummy culprits

Happy Monday!