The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
RENAISSANCE WOMAN
Meet a marathon runner, champion folk dancer, world traveler, wife and mother
Aldona Stungys shows off a few of her marathon medals in front of a world map her family has marked for their travels around the world. Learn more about Stungys and get a taste of her native Lithuania on
Fueled by the cold beet soup she learned to make as a girl in Poland, Aldona Stungys is a marathoner, a world traveler, champion folk dancer and an inspiration to those she leads in aerobics classes at Mentor Heisley Racquet and Fitness Club.
“I have a hard time sitting still,” she admits. “And I love running.”
She often runs the five miles from her home to the club, maintaining her regular training schedule despite the cancellation of marathons she had hoped to run this year. She’s completed dozens of marathons including those in Boston, New York and Chicago as well as around the world. The long distance races, each 26.2 miles, have all been cancelled this year due to the coronavirus.
She met her husband Pete, a Lake County native, when both were dancing in Lithuanian folk dance competitions in Europe. They married 26 years ago in Poland and have raised their three sons to dance competitively. The two eldest boys, Mantas, 21, and Aras, 19, have just returned to their universities in Columbus and Cincinnati as son, Gytis, 16, prepares for return to Mentor High School.
Although U.S. citizens, the family speaks Lithuanian at home and among themselves when they travel. Lithuanian music plays from the radio in their Mentor home. In recent years the five-member Stungys family has traveled throughout Europe and to both Vietnam and Ecuador in addition to many U.S. cities visited for marathons and dance competitions.
Their travels are marked on a wall-sized world map in their home’s family room. Aldona’s dozens of marathon medals hang in a corner of her laundry room.
Aldona learned English as an adult. “I spoke no English when I came here,” she said. By then she had traveled widely for folk dance competitions and had been bitten by the travel bug.
“I’m a Lithuanian raised in Poland.”
The beet soup she makes is saltibarsciai (say shult-aybursh-chay), a Lithuanian version of the borscht best known from Russia. Although served cold with a side of hot boiled potatoes, it’s a hearty meal-like dish that’s perfect for dinner on a hot summer day.
“It gives me energy,” Aldona said. “And my family loves it.”
Like many good cooks, Aldona doesn’t use a recipe when making her cold beet soup. And ingredients vary from time to time. She uses kefir, purchased from the dairy case at Heinen’s, but a thick Greek yogurt will also work although the resulting soup will not be as tart. After boiling the beets in water until tender enough to grate, she saves some of the red water to add to the soup. Adding a little cider vinegar helps deepen its vibrant crimson pink color.
After boiling, the beets need to be cooled enough to handle and the cooling time is best used to chop and assemble the other soup ingredients. The potatoes, boiled until tender but still firm, are served hot as a side dish to the cold soup. Dill, a popular herb in Lithuanian cuisine, is chopped and sprinkled along with chives over both the potatoes and the cold soup.
The soup will keep nicely in the refrigerator for about a week.
Recipe Lithuanian Šaltibarščiai
(Makes six servings)
INGREDIENTS
2 medium red beets, trimmed, cleaned, boiled and cooled
2 cucumbers, peeled and chopped
6 scallions (green onions), white portion chopped 2 hard cooked eggs, chopped
3 pints kefir or thick Greek yogurt
2 Tablespoons cider vinegar Juice of one lemon Fresh dill
¼ cup chopped chives Salt to taste
Sour cream for garnish Side dish
3 small red potatoes, unpeeled and quartered Fresh chopped dill and chives
INSTRUCTIONS
Grate the cooled beets into a large bowl. Add the chopped cucumbers, onions and hard cooked egg. Pour the kefir over the mixture and stir, adding a little beet water, vinegar and lemon juice as you stir.
Stir in dill. Refrigerate until icy cold.
A few minutes before serving, boil the quartered potatoes until tender but still firm. Drain and sprinkle with fresh dill and chives. Dish soup into bowls.
Top with chopped dill and chives. Plate the hot potatoes. Pass the sour cream to dollop over the soup.