Cepelinai (Zeppelin)

On my last day in Vilnius I finally summoned the courage to try cepelinai - the Lithuanian national dish. If you're wondering why I waited so long, lets just say that I was looking after myself. Actually, I lied. I did try the local cuisine: potatoes topped with crackling. But (to put it in slang terminology) I haven't gone hard-core traditional. Instead, I mainly stuck to sandwiches and western cuisine. Going off on a tangent: pizza and pasta are incredibly popular in Lithuania. The local restaurant chain Cili Pica - the equivalent of Dominoes or Pizza Hut - has branches all over the country and cooks maybe the best pizzas I've ever had...        

So, Lithuanians, back in the day, were farmers. Their meals mainly revolved around bread, dairy products and sometimes meat (mainly pork meat). Cepelinai translates to zeppelin in English. The meal is a massive zeppelin shaped potato filled with some kind of stuffing and served with sauce. Needless to say: it's heavy. I skipped breakfast on that day, knowing that lunch was probably going to be my only meal. Since it takes about 20 minutes to prepare cepilinai I ordered a soup and 50 ml of Utenos dark beer - a cross between Guiness and Kilkenny. This was a big mistake. People with small stomachs, or who are not used to eating big meals, should never order a heavy beverage to wash down a filling meal.

The waiter brought my meal (see picture): two zeppelins filled with meat and covered in sour cream. I finished everything. It was tasty at first. But the experience slowly turned to pain after each bite and each sip of beer. In the end I could not get off my chair. I was comatose with one hand on my stomach, my mouth hanging open and my eyes turned inside my skull. the waiters and other clientèle must be used to this sight as they just let me be. In my mind there flashed the black and white images of the Hindenburg Zeppelin suspended in the air and consumed in flames. Once I regained a sliver of conciousness I settled the bill and managed to walk out of the restaurant. Dragging my feet on the cobbled stones, I made for the B&B - to my bed. But I only made it to my room before collapsing on the wooden floor. With my trembling hand I reached out to the warm blankets and comfortable mattress of my bed. But my strength left me, just like a balloon that got popped. And like that, the lights went off.