Lithuanian dinner

The fraternity house provided 20 meals a week. We were on our own on Friday nights. An informal custom arose in which someone would volunteer to cook that night, and those who were interested in participating pooled the funds for the food. The first one that I recall was John Archie's "top wop slop" spaghetti dinner.

Vaiva took the idea to a whole new level, when she created a multi-course dinner of traditional Lithuanian foods. It became an annual event.

I still remember buying food with her for the first Lithuanian dinner. The menu included jellied veal, for which Vaiva needed fresh pork hocks. We took the subway to Boston's North End, where, in addition to Paul Revere's Old North Church, there was in those days a flourishing "little Italy" enclave. We found a butcher shop untouched by modernity, with sawdust on the floor and kittens roaming freely, where we were able to purchase our necessaries.

You can see in this photo that we had flowers on the table and wine with dinner, not customary in the fraternity the rest of the week. We're up to the dessert course, pascha, sweetened farmer's cheese pressed into shaped in a flowerpot and decorated with dried fruits. That's Joe Sacco at the head of the table. I'm the waiter, Vaiva was in the kitchen.

Dress rehearsal for our marriage, come to think about it.