My tits are getting fat!

No, this is not a report of my body (where the opposite is the case, thanks for asking....), it's the black (coal?) tits I am talking about.

Since November I have been feeding them, with fine, homeproduced lard (still have not found any in the shops in Vilnius, but am beginning to ask myself if they dye it yellow here) and peanuts, in an empty Mamade tin. The last one lasted till about today.

Today another session of melting down the pork fat, and seeing it's Christmas, they had some raisins mixed into it as well. Aren't they just lucky?

They are beginning to look quite chubby now, and I wonder how much longer they will be able to swing themselves up to the fifth floor balcony....

War reports on Georgia

Here the New York Times reports a very critical US report on the performance of the Georgian army during the August war. Disorganised, running away (on day 2) leaving everything behind including their dead, people appointed on friendship rather than on capability. No surprises there.

According to an article in the Georgian Times the Georgian President says that 'in the nearest future we face no danger of large-scale military conflict by the Russian side'.

Here it says that Russia is 'now introducing even molre troops, tanks and other assault weapons onto Georgian territory'.

All in today's Google mail alert for the word 'Tbilisi'. Go figure.

Winter - the Georgian style

On Monday I was working at home in Tbilisi, and thought of going down to the Ministry to get some more information.

I changed my mind when I saw the snow outside. What with living high up on the TV tower mountain.

On Tuesday I had to go down, and slid over the snowy, round cobbles till I hit something more akin to pavement. By Tuesday night it had thawed a little and was broadly ok.

Went to bed very early; flight leaving at 4.50 am; taxi ordered for two hours before that.

Got a call that the taxi was there even half an hour earlier - luckily I knew the company's way of operating and was more or less ready. Outside it had snowed! Another 3 inches of snow were lying there!

Got to the top of my stairs - no taxi to be seen. Drat! The company's number was listed as private in my mobile; a colleague did not answer her phone at 2.20 am. Double drat!

So did what I usually do, and went off down the road, dragging my case through the deep and fresh snow. Vocabulary was used.

Halfway down I turned round - and saw my taxi sitting somewhere between me and the house. We made contact.

Then I never thought I would get to the airport, the way it slithered down the mild incline. I don't really think you should be using the handbrake to slow the car down on, effectively, ice. Isn't first gear for that. But what could I do - the driver was hanging on for dear life!

Eventually it got better, on the main road. Spotted some road lorries being loaded with salt. Crossed the river, on the other side there is an incline, which, it would appear, was covered in ice, and chaps standing on the back of a road lorry chucking shovels full of salt onto the road and any passing cars. Some cars apparently had had to stop at some stage, and they could not get going again (felt quite a bit of schadenfreude at the mercs who for the first time did not own the road). The taxi driver got round all these obstacles, without stopping, and there was a huge sigh of relief when we got to the top of that road.

But even President George W Bush avenue, to the airport, was not free of snow and so it was a fairly careful drive (they should always drive like this, what a difference that would make).

At the end I gave him a 10 buck tip; he was gobsmacked! It was not really too much, what with the conditions, Christmas etc. Left a guy happy....

Duda - in memoriam

Duda was a lovely dog. A Dalmatian belonging to my colleague Andro, aged less than two years.

Today at the hash he was having a wonderful time, running with everyone, especially at the front, chasing some sheep (hmmmm). At the end he was with the front team, when we returned to the car park, next to a very busy road.

Then no-one kept an eye on him, and before we knew it, he was knocked down by a car - a glancing blow, but at the speed at which Georgian cars are going on main roads, it was enough to kill him.

Let's remember him as a dog having a lot of fun.

Partial burial

Here is a story of 81-year-old Lithuanian Mr J. L. who a few weeks ago had to have a leg amputated due to diabetic complications, as happens far too often.

The hospital gave the leg to the family. The family was aghast and did not know what to do with it. So they went to the municipality who gave them permission to bury it in the family plot. 3 weeks later the owner died himself, and rejoined his leg.

Given that this story landed in the papers, one assumes that this is not how Lithuanian hospitals normally deal with these things. Or where they looking for a fee to dispose of the leg? What about then other body parts, appendices, breasts, tumours?

I suppose it's better than the incident in Scotland 8 or so years ago when a leg was found, chewed by foxes, under a bush in hospital grounds. That took a bit of explaining....

 

What is it with Georgian bakers these days?

Is there really a flour shortage? Has the demand for bread shrunk? The price has increased by 40% over the last two years.

6 weeks ago or so I had reported on my desperate search for the Georgian lavash.

Yesterday I went off for my weekly shop, and passed by my local baker's which was open. Yeah! So I could leave the bread buying until just before I got home, and it would be nice and fresh.

Tootled down to almost the river, and picked up the other bits, climbed back up the hill, arrived at the baker's - and he had no bread left - would be open again at 8 pm, he told me. So I had to run a bit down the hill again to find my lavash. In the evening, going out, I passed another baker's who does very good bread, and who I had seen open recently, and he was closed, too. Also, I have to say, that the bread has not been as hot, fresh and crunchy as it used to be - a lower turn-over? Does not sell like hot-cakes any more?

Very strange. Meanwhile I am off on the hunt for yeast. Seems difficult to find in Tbilisi - will I really have to go to the hypermarket 16 km from my home, for a packet of yeast?

What Brits can't buy in Lithuania

Currants - or in Georgia; they are just not available; but raisins in various shades are. Black raisins can be substituted.
Marmalade - actually, you can get it at Marks and Spencer's, even in different varieties, thin and coarse-cut, and from blood oranges. Somehow I like to make my own marmalade; recently someone brought me over a tin of Mamade, the pulp and peel of Seville oranges.....
Lard - you'd think you would be able to buy this in a country whose diet is,er, not that easy on fat. But in fact you have to make your own. How do you do that? You buy some pig skins (with the fat on), stick them in a low oven for a few hours and the fat melts. Learnt that a long time ago in Scotland.
Mixed peel - you can get it in Goodwill in Georgia, but when you go there, you end up buying all sorts of stuff you don't need.....Here's a recipe for it; American, and typical in its large quantities.... a 'gallon bag' would almost fill my freezer. I bought a bag of oranges, drank the juice of 8 of them, made the mixed peel and probably have enough for the next year.
Bramble jam - a friend complains about that; also you have to make your own, if you find the brambles.
Baking powder - people tell me. The problem is that it comes in sachets, called 'kvepimo miltelai'. With a German background I know those sachets, from the Dr Oetker company, well. But it seems Lithuanians and Poles bake for larger families; the sachets we get here are for 1kg of flour; in Germany they are for 500g. So careful if you use them for a German recipe calling for one sachet! 'Levure Boulangere', which I bought at IKI the other day, delighted to find sachets for 500g, in fact contains dried yeast, as I discovered to my horror.....

Then again, you can buy all sorts of other lovely stuff, like zillions of sorts of mushrooms.