TANTE  - an aunt

But more specifically, I want to introduce you to “TANTE – Z”.

Z is short for Zigrida and, in this case, Zigrida is a Latvian woman who fled to the United States during World War II. Back then she was just a little girl, but many years later, she is known as Tante Z and is the main inspiration behind a new and delicious salad dressing. Tante Z kept her recipe secret until an emotional chain of events inspired her to reveal the recipe and now share it with all of us. Read full story here: The Tante Z Story.

I have had a chance to try one of the three Tante Z salad dressings – Original Garlic Vinaigrette, and I give it 5 stars!

Rich combination of spice, vinegar, garlic and love. The dressing is strong, but not overpowering. If you are a garlic lover, like me, you will be pleased to see chunks of garlic in every spoon.

I have tried to use it as a marinade for chicken as well. I can not wait to try the other two flavors – Honey Lemon and Spicy. Here is the link for current sales locations Buy Here or you can order it online.

I also found a video from factory where the dressing is made and jarred

I absolutely love, that the dressing is packaged in a jar, because it reminds me of Latvia, of my childhood when we gathered and jarred everything for the winter…

I truly am excited about this new Latvian product in the USA market. Love it!

You rock Tante Z!

Latvians might seem reserved and “cold” at first, but will warm up after they get to know you.

“tu” or “jūs”  (“you” or “you”)?

* Please note that I am referring to singular form of “you” only.

In Latvian there are two ways of using singular form of “you”. Both “tu” and “jūs” translate as “you“, but here is the difference in using them:

TU – (singular and informal “you”) – use it if you know someone well (friend, relative, younger person, classmate, co-worker etc.). For example: Ko tu dari?   – what are you doing?

JŪS - (singular and formal “you”) – use it if you are talking to older person or someone you are not familiar with. Addressing someone with “jūs” shows respect (someone you are not familiar with, teacher, older person, someone you meet for a first time. This does not apply to children. However, children must always address unfamiliar grownups with “jūs”). For example: Ko jūs darat?   – what are you doing?

Sometimes, you might be talking to an unfamiliar or elderly person and addressing then with “jūs”, but they might tell you already from the start that it is ok to say “tu”. This is a sign of acceptance and should be noted

Latvians love to eat, but even more then that – Latvians love to feed their guests. Every time you go to someones house (even if you just dropped by), as soon as you walk in the door – you will be offered to sit down, have a cup of coffee or tea and miraculously some other goodies will appear on the table along with it.

We were so lucky to go to Latvia in the middle of vegetable and berry season. Not a day went by without freshly picked tomatoes and cucumbers. A carrot could be pulled straight out of the carrot-bed. Rinse it off and crunch it away just like Bugs Bunny – green stems in your hand.

One of the favorite Latvian summer side-dishes is a cucumber/tomato salad with sour cream. Cut it up in small chunks, add fresh dill, some onion, coarse salt and pepper. Mix it up and add as a side dish to almost anything. In my opinion, this salad tastes best if paired with boiled potatoes.

Cucumber & tomato salad. Add sour cream or oil/vinegar.

And, of course, there is BBQ. There is nothing better than the grilled or smoked taste of a pre-marinated meat and veggies. We ate garden-smoked chicken and a whole lot of pre-marinated, paprika spiced chicken wings.

Smoked whole chicken, pre-marinated in garlic and vinegar

Paprika spiced chicken wings

Finger-licking goodness

Of course, it’s always nice to cook your own food and fix your own plate, but sometimes it’s even nicer to relax on an outside terrace at one of the local restaurants, do people watching and enjoy a glass of locally brewed beer. Shish-kebabs or “šašļiks” is very popular.

Grilled chicken kebab, rice and fresh veggies

Lightly battered pork fillet over fresh fries and fresh veggie salads

Crepes filled with cottage cheese, raisins and cinnamon. Sprinkled with chocolate and raspberry sauce.

We could not leave Latvia without visiting a bookstore and picking up a beautiful, 200 page book called “Latvian Cuisine” by Lolita Šelvaha. Besides the fact that each dish comes with a photo, each recipe is written in Latvian and English. The author has managed to show Latvian cuisine all through four seasons of the year, holidays and daily Latvian dinner table. Having this book will give you an opportunity to try Latvian dishes and learn “food vocabulary” as well !!!

"Cuisine in Latvia" by Lolita Šelvaha. ISBN 978-9934-0-0722-4

I hope to get time to cook a few dishes together with you and post it right here in my blog! For now…thanks for reading…. go cook something!

Blog Promo:

The Freedom Monument (Riga, Latvia)

There are lots of reasons why people learn a foreign language. For some it’s love and relationships, for others it’s a necessity for business and travel, and for       many more – a struggle to keep connected with their family roots from generation to generation.

In my case, I speak fluent Latvian, however, I live abroad and my husband’s first language is English. So as you can see, his reason for learning Latvian, is his love for me and wanting to relate to me and my culture in all ways possible.

And of course, being a bi-lingual family, we know that one day we will have bi-lingual children and we will want them to have the best of both worlds, including Latvian language.

I decided to create a blog where I will teach you step by step, the beautiful sound of Latvian tongue. As you can see, the site is just starting up, please be patient and come visit as often as you can. I have lots of ideas, and I will try my best to make the learning experience fun and interactive.

My goal is to gather the abroad living Latvians and their friends to learn the language, share the culture and experiences.