I remember mountains of piparkūkas! (Māra Goldsmith)

My mother first baked this recipe before 1951. I remember how she and her friend, in the heat of the Australian summer, would spend hours rolling out the dough, cutting it, and baking batch after batch so there would be enough gingerbread for both families to give to colleagues, teachers, and friends. I still recall the enormous mountains of gingerbread that covered almost the entire kitchen counter!

We still bake them every year, though now in smaller quantities—just enough for us to enjoy.
These gingerbread cookies are fragrant, dark brown, and wonderfully crisp.

A Mindful Pīrāgi Making Adventure (Dace Dambergs)

Dace Dambergs has a “”foolproof”” pīrāgi recipe, that she has adapted from Mrs Silmanis’ 1960s recipe for “”Savoury Bacon Rolls””, which she entered in to the iconic Australian women’s magazine “”The Women’s Weekly”” recipe competition, winning a prize. Dace explains: “”The art of making pīrāgi is steeped in Latvian legend and folklore. For centuries grandmothers, mothers and daughters sat around many a table plying their art and chatting about ‘women’s business’. This pīrāgi recipe relies on 21st century ‘mod cons’ making the task somewhat less strenuous and stressful.These include a mixmaster with a dough hook, a microwave, cling wrap, baking paper and an electric blanket. The recipe does however call for a mindful, albeit eastern philosophical approach to the pīrāgi making process.”” The photographs demonstrate step-by-step dough preparation, as prepared by Inga Česlis (Brisbane).

Pīrāgi baking workshop (Brisbane Latvian Community)

PipArkūkas & Pīrāgi DECEMBER 2025 Pīrāgi baking workshop (Brisbane Latvian Community) BrisbANE, Australia The Brisbane Latvian Community reports: “Inhale — can you still smell that fresh batch of pīrāgi straight from the oven? We can, and we’re still smiling! In October 2025 a pīrāgi making workshop was held at the Brisbane Latvian Hall. What a warm, delicious, and joy-filled afternoon it was!The wonderful Dace Dambergs guided us through the entire process — from preparing the dough and savoury filling, to sharing her expert tips on shaping and glazing (plus a few treasured family stories along the way!). Dace was joined in the kitchen by Zile, Jasmine and Inga who added their own flair, tips and stories, and Jasmine demonstrated an alternative shaping technique for that perfect pīrādziņš.Attendees had a hands-on experience on shaping their own pīrāgi, and everyone had lots of fun in the process, especially the tasting (no burnt bottoms there)!” Photo author: Garen Krūmiņš DECEMBER news My family pīrāgi recipe – with commentary (Aivars Sinka) Communal baking in Shanghai (Ilma Wilkinson) I remember mountains of piparkūkas! (Māra Goldsmith) I wouldn’t offer these to pīrāgi purists! (Maija Hinkle) Pīrāgi as the feeling of home (Līva Ozola) A Mindful Pīrāgi Making Adventure (Dace Dambergs) There must be 12 different dishes on the Christmas table! (Inga Čulkstēna) Pīrāgi baking workshop (Brisbane Latvian Community) Even the cat smells like cabbage… (Irene Kreilis) Pīrāgu recipe trials and errors (Amanda Whittaker-Lee) The secret ingredient is faith (Inga Lucāns) Piparkūku camps in Italy (Ilze Atardo) No posts found

A once-a-year feast of Latvian specialities (Maija Liiv)

My family left Latvia in 1944, and settled in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, in 1950 and I was born here. At this pre-Christmas time of year I think back, with nostalgia, to the once-a-year feast of Latvian specialties of my childhood.
My brother and I had birthdays either side of Christmas Day, so there was always a huge family and friends party at our house then.
The anticipation and preparations started long before. I remember taking out our best plates and serving dishes, cleaning the rarely-used silverware, and shopping at the far-away delicatessen that was the only place in those days that had the ingredients we needed for our party table. I loved the sights and smells of that delicatessen, as well as the sounds of many languages spoken by customers.
My mother (Lauma Sīlis) baked her own rye bread and sweet-sour bread, bacon rolls, cinnamon buns and poppy seed buns, pepper cakes, and our birthday tortes. She assembled platters of what seemed ‘exotic’ cold-cuts in those times of comparatively very plain Australian food. There was smoked salmon, rollmop herrings, sprats, smoked eel, tongue, and salami. The making of meat-in-aspic involved a trip the to butcher’s shop to buy a pig’s head. In those days,1950’s 60’s, pigs’ heads (wearing sunglasses, very tropical) were displayed in butcher shop windows.
She also made her own pate, rasols (with beetroot), stuffed eggs, fresh cucumbers in sour cream, and home-pickled cucumbers, and countless other traditional Latvian treats.
Australian Christmas staples were also on the table: ham, home-roasted chicken (after killing and plucking), prawns, trifle, and Christmas fruitcake.
My mother Lauma did all this as a single mother (separated), who also worked in full-time employment as a shop assistant. I honour her for her effort, her planning and coordination, her ability to save all year for this annual expense, and most of all for her love and for her incredible culinary talent. This woman, who left Latvia as a 17 year old, gave us our Latvian heritage and the most amazing childhood birthday/Christmas memories. Unforgettable.

The salmon looks like it’s swimming! (Ingrida Hawke)

Ingrīda Hawke sets tables for the Australian Latvian community — for weddings, funerals, and anniversaries. In this interview excerpt, she describes her own festive table creations: one of the main elements is often a salmon, baked in such a way that it looks as if it’s swimming!

Sauerkraut-making workshop in Melbourne

A sauerkraut making workshop was held in the Latvian House in Melbourne on 26 July 2025. The workshop was organized and led by Arturs Landsbergs, and proceeds were donated to the organization of 3×3 camp. Video filmed and edited by Agnese Krūze.

Baskets full of Saffron Milk Caps! (Iveta Leitase)

Iveta Leitase in Canberra, Australia, tells how she discovered her perfect “mushroom spot” — a pine forest near Canberra where many saffron milk caps grow. It turns out that in Australia, the worms don’t eat these mushrooms!

My grandmother’s recipe book (Marianna Auliciems)

This is my grandmother Elza Auliciema’s (née Šūpulis, born in Cirgaļi in 1908) cookbook and recipe notebook. The book was published and purchased during the refugee years in Germany. On the inside covers, my grandmother wrote down other, newer recipes in her own handwriting.

Apples in rasols: Liene’s “Taste of Home”

REcipes & ingredients SEPTEMBER 2025 Apples in rasols: Liene’s “Taste of Home” Adelaide, Australia Liene grew up as a Latvian in Australia. Her “Tastes of Home” are an intriguing blend of cultures. Will you add both chili and dill to your soup? Video prepared by Liene Brūns, “Taste of Home” ambassadorInstagramFacebookTikTok https://youtube.com/shorts/U5TbaPgnDs8?feature=share September news No posts found