Made Russian tea cakes this afternoon, one of Lonnie’s favorite Christmas goody.
We were invited to Liton’s at 5:00 for pita. He does not live far away, a10 min. gari drive right along the highway into Khulna City. I had never been to his place or met any of his family. But it was a good experience and an experience at that!! We parked the van along the road and walked thru an open area where boys were playing cricket. 🏏 Then stepped thru a shrub row into Liton’s family’s yard. Mama hens and their baby chicks running about the dirt yard. Lonnie commented that when he had been here in rainy season this yard was all under water and the mom was fishing from her front porch!?! And he had walked in on a little foot bridge. This afternoon, Liton’s mom was there on the front porch cooking at the gas burner. This house is made of bricks and has a dirt floor. 2 rooms with the 3rd room being the other end of the porch from the cooking area. Truly felt like we were stepping back in time! This house reminding me of cabins I’ve toured from early American days, but here in Bangladesh is living conditions of 2025! Truly hard to wrap one’s brain around the actuality of it😳! 42? Yr old Liton lives here with his parents, “little” brother, and sister and her 2 children (sister’s husband was at his home village currently ..?..) Anyway, so Liton’s brother showed us his cages of parakeets, beautiful blues, greens, and yellows. One mama bird was sitting on eggs and when she got off for a minute we could see one had hatched, the tiniest featherless pink baby bird!
They had us sit in Liton’s room on his bed that he shared with his brother and sister’s 11? yr old son. We could watch Liton’s mom cooking the pitas thru the barred window… very interesting. She would pour batter from a cup into her wok of hot oil, it would all sink to the bottom and then after a bit she would slowly start working it loose from the bottom. After a bit she’d turn it and when it was done, hold it against the side of the wok to drain some of the grease. Liton’s dad would come around and measure out the next cupful of batter for his wife occasionally.. I thought that was really sweet of him and found out later that he is a chef at a girl’s home locally!
For the conditions that they live in, I was impressed with their level of cleanliness and tidiness. But at the same time was not a great surprise as Liton is usually very well groomed and dressed.
We sat on Liton’s hard bed as we were served. There was also slivered alu (potatoes) in a sweet white sauce served in small porcelain dishes with gold spoons. Liton soon arrived back from a dokan with a 2 liter bottle of water and a1liter Coke. Cha (hot tea) was served also. Lonnie had played a bit of cricket while pitas were cooking so he was really warmed up especially since he’d worn a long sleeve shirt so he went outside to take his tea and we all joined him after a bit. It was a nice cool evening. We sat in the yard and visited with Liton, his dad and sister while Annslie and his 15 month old niece Annie cut capers around us. Then Liton’s mom joined us and Liton asked Lonnie to have a prayer. We sang a few songs and made our departure. Was special to see Liton’s family and where he lives.. he’s a barber who cuts Lonnie’s hair but I only see him on Fridays.
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