From Where to Here

Ep02: From Ukraine to Alabama: The Sweet Journey of Cake Honeys and Finding Home Through Food

• Alexandra Lloyd • Season 1 • Episode 2

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From Ukraine to Alabama: The Sweet Journey of Cake Honeys and Finding Home Through Food | From Where to Here Podcast 🎙️

What does it take to rebuild a life from scratch in a new country? In this episode of From Where to Here, host Alexandra Lloyd sits down with Lisa Strelnikova, a Ukrainian immigrant and owner of Cake Honey’s, to explore the emotional journey of adapting to a new culture while holding onto home.

Lisa shares how baking became her bridge between past and present, a way to preserve her Ukrainian heritage, and build a community in Alabama. From crafting unique recipes inspired by family traditions to navigating the challenges of starting a business in the U.S., this conversation highlights the resilience, creativity, and passion that fuel her journey.

We also discuss the impact of war on her homeland, her mission to give back, and her aspirations for expanding her business while staying connected to Ukraine. If you're interested in Ukrainian culture, food as a cultural connector, immigrant entrepreneurship, or stories of resilience, this episode is for you!

🔹 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✔️ How cultural identity is deeply connected to food and traditions—and why it matters
✔️ The ways food can serve as a bridge to understanding different cultures
✔️ Why immigration is both challenging and enriching, leading to self-discovery
✔️ How baking can be a powerful therapeutic outlet during difficult times
✔️ The crucial role community support plays in adapting to a new environment
✔️ How cultural exchange strengthens personal and communal connections
✔️ Why memories of the past shape our present identity and sense of belonging
✔️ The balance between tradition and innovation in culinary heritage
✔️ How a learner’s mindset fuels growth and adaptability in business
✔️ The journey of turning personal experiences into a thriving baking business
✔️ Why high-quality ingredients and lower sugar levels are a priority for healthier desserts
✔️ How community engagement helps refine recipes and connect with customers
✔️ The vision behind expanding the business beyond sweets to include savory dishes
✔️ Why giving back to the community is a core part of the business mission
✔️ How personal experiences of loss and gratitude shape an approach to generosity
✔️ The importance of sharing traditions to create a sense of home in a new place
✔️ Practical ways to navigate homesickness by embracing and celebrating cultural heritage

💡 Whether you’re an immigrant, a food lover, or passionate about cultural connections, this episode will inspire you to embrace traditions, build community, and find home wherever you are!

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🔗 Links & How to Follow Lisa Strelnikova
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📍 Follow Lisa Strelnikova: 
- https://www.instagram.com/thehandel_/ (Cakes and Pastries)
- https://www.instagram.com/thehandel__/ (Soups and Food) 
- Visit Cake Honey's website: https://cakehoneys.com/

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Sponsor Spotlight: Birmingham Breadwo

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today's episode is brought to you by Birmingham Breadworks they've been serving up amazing sourdough bread European style pastries pizza soup sandwiches all made from scratch since 2,014 everything they make is fresh no preservatives no additives just simple clean ingredients their cafe is the perfect cozy spot with natural lighting warm wooden tones and arts from local students and photographers it's perfect to grab a coffee or something delicious to eat plus they're big on sustainability as a goal level member of the E80 Earth Aware team stop by Birmingham Bread Works and taste the difference of fresh local food from where to here is independently produced by me Alexandra Lloyd crafted with curiosity culture in a little bit of coffee hi I'm Alexandro Lloyd a French Canadian who's called Birmingham Alabama home since 2,017 welcome to from where to here the podcast that celebrates the rich diversity of languages cultures in the stories that connect us all each month I'll sit down with inspiring guests from different backgrounds to explore their cultures languages and tackle some fun in our truth there or debunk segment whether you're a language enthusiast a culture lover or just curious about the world you're in the right place let's dive into your next favourite cultural adventure today's episode is extra special we're diving into our guest journey from Ukraine to the United States more specifically Alabama um and her inspiring path to starting her own local business my guess is Lisa Strelnikova owner of Cake Honeys the Best Ukrainian Cakes and Authentic European Homemade Dessert if you haven't tried you have to try it's amazing we will dive into topics like navigating cultural identity and a new country food as a gateway to cultural understanding and also what home means when you're far from it but before we dive in uh we'll play a little game and uh together we'll debunk myths share personal stories and hopefully inspire you to see the worlds through a broader lens Lisa welcome thank you for being here thank you for inviting me I'm glad to be here very excited to just get to know you a little bit more and hear about your story because you have a very very interesting one I agree yes okay let's kick things off with a fun game and I call it truth dare or debunk you'll choose either a truth where you share a surprising cultural fact about your culture a dare you will teach us a phrase in your native language could be anything or a debunk where you clarify a common stereotype about your culture so something that we might have a misconception about and you will clear things up for us and that's the debunk would you pick truth there or debunk hmm I mostly pick the truth okay so you'll share a surprising cultural fact what's one thing about your culture that people assume is true but actually is hmm Ukrainians do drink pretty strong alcohol actually just recently uh I shared with a friend that uh the alcohol consumed in Ukraine is can be up to 100% of alcohol 100% he didn't believe me he was like how can you even drink that do you survive like will you survive after something like that and so it is a surprising fact I guess since somebody was surprised and and I said that yeah like the strongest I've tried was 90% and here I am it's not that bad yeah burning but and it's not like you drink it in large amounts so is it a shot or in a glass or hot a shot yeah you usually just take sips sips of the shot yes oh okay is very strong okay is there is like and unusual sensation do you pair it with any food or any anything else yes you might want to have a bite of something right after what do you typically pair it with culture honey it would be something like a salted pickle say salted cucumber pickle or a mushroom marinated mushroom let's say can be something like that okay do you homemade those or do you buy them we have homemade options we have um some varieties to buy also one of interesting alcohol beverage that we have in Ukraine that was also that was also surprising to my local friend when I shared about a story about it it's called perzovka it's um it's like an alcohol a strong alcohol beverage with um red pepper a flavor hmm it's like vodka um that has been um fermented somehow with red pepper okay like or red peppers were soaked in it for a long time so it has this so good very hot flavor yum I wish we can try some of these do you homemade any do you do any fermentation at home or anything like that no okay personally I don't and I just shared like a fact doesn't mean that I'm burst that very much into it okay okay just a fact I love it the truth that's a good now that's a good one because I think that's something that a lot of people just assume but then it's true it this one turns out to be true okay really good that's it round two truth there or debunk um okay remind me what the last one is debunk is debunking a myth so we might have where you clarify a common stereotype about your culture okay let's do that yeah debunk okay okay so for debunk what's the biggest stereotype maybe about your culture that's totally false hmm I need to think a little bit on this one take your time hmm it's not something I guess um not something like a fact it's more like an impression that I have noticed the people here or maybe just any other countries they didn't realize how developed and modern Ukraine was right before the war started and how happy and proud we were of our country and that we were happy and content and we never wanted to leave and so this is why sometimes we're um as much as we appreciated of all the help and support we're still missing our country very much yes it has you know like when you compare something with something else you sometimes start to value what you had more than when you actually had it because you weren't taking it for granted and then with time you realize that all the all that you had you know how amazing it was we had like one of my personal observations we had the most amazing banking system in the world the best how so we had um the most convenient online banking um where money transferring payments um document statements was so convenient available fast like you could send money to like any other cards accounts easily and fast it was just internationally in including internationally yeah here it's complicated I know like when we had this fundraising so we had a Ukrainian friend Ilona I think maybe it will be important that I mentioned that please we mad here she was going through a rehabilitation she was a volunteer Ukraine the frontline volunteer and she lost um her fiance in that war and her brother and she was very very mentally disturbed so her time here she was working with the children she was just you know going through a certain healing process we've met coincidentally somebody just saw my treats Ukrainian treats at the market and decided to share it with her and she texted me and appreciated text on Instagram and telling me how much it meant to her you know to have that small uh reminder of home and and we started communicating she eventually as our friendship grew when developed she started coming to the market and then just hanging out with us helping Pepper Place Market Pepper Place Market he has some um a lot of people I've seen her there and uh eventually was time she made a decision to go back to Ukraine to Ukraine she left um in the end of November she's there how long has she stayed in Alabama something a little more than a year so she went back and when she was leaving we decided that we don't want her to leave empty handed because of what she is doing there her missionary work we my friend and I my partner my um business we arranged a fundraising we were making Thanksgiving meals oh wow like dinners or two and just to clarify when you say your business partner is it with the company that also is at Pepper Place Market the local market her name her name is Olga okay yes that's yes she was also she could be seen with me at the Pepper Place Market yes so we um became their close friends we didn't want her to leave empty handed so we arranged that fund raising we raised a certain amount of money I think it was about like 26 well and we really wanted her to go there and find people who need help and so she did it it was challenging because of the war situation because of where she is the region because you know she has to be closer to the frontline and so between all the shelling and um attacks you know she was able to buy some food packages and candies for the children and just recently just some days before Christmas she sent us some videos and pictures we asked her for that because we wanted the people who were involved who were donating money who were helping we wanted them to see what they have achieved well the impact they had in other people's life and it was it was heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time is this video public I can we have not published it yet we have been asked for it but you know Christmas we didn't even expect that she will be able to do it on time like for Christmas to share it so we just we just received it but I can share it with you of course that's just talking about Ukraine and the current situation and the impact that that small something that we're doing here can be it can result as a very big impact on you know somebody's um just I guess can support somebody's hope and dreams oh wow yeah that's that's beautiful yeah and we want to keep on doing that I mean our business from the beginning I had to have more of a purpose than money making it started as just sharing I guess it was very simple and silly in the beginning when I tried sweets that I that are not bad just something I was not used to I I wanted to make something even though I never really baked at home really okay no I was just like a hobby and a rare occasion because I was busy with my other occupation and um what was your other occupation at the time it was a fashion business a factory that was producing women's underwear and I was really very much into it in designing like selecting fabrics making photoshoots for the new collections so they're very much into it right now it sounds like it has it's been all happening in my previous life does it still exist no unfortunately no my city and the factory and the warehouse is has been damaged absolutely at some point we managed to get some of the the colds that survived here we got them here and so it's sometimes shocking and surprising to me to see the reminder yeah wow that old life on somebody do you yeah and that actually that illusion to your previous life is it something that you is it how you think of when you used to live in Ukraine is that how you often perceive it as oh this was my other life I share this with some of my friends and I guess to answer this question I'll have to go back and tell a little bit of my story of how why I ended up here in Alabama and Birmingham I have been here I have lived here previously as a child at the age of from like 11 to 13 years old my father was working here he was a portrait artist and he was closely connected to um the people who I call my local family right now the the fans who have been supporting him are very much supporting me right now so I have been here before it it was such a long time ago that all these memories kind of faded I remember the my friends um I remembered you know some of the the local landscapes and places but it was so vague after all these years so that that was just just so we put a time frame a little bit but how old were you at that time I said your dad 11 when I came and I was um and we left in my I think 13 okay and now I'm 14 so it's been so old enough to remember some of the places yes but you're asking if I'm referring to my life in Ukraine as a is as my previous life I'm and I'm trying to answer that is a very weird experience because having these memories faded but still remembering Alabama and you know some of the people and my friends and some of the moments that I've cherished throughout my lifetime and then coming back here and walking like the same roads the same streets meeting the same people at some point made me confused I did not know which was the real alive I was even telling my some of my friends that I had an impression that I died because it was so um like mind breaking you know this whole experience as if I dreamt about my life in Ukraine or this is not real I was just confused it was very weird so I don't know I still don't know which one which is the real life that's an interesting perspective well it really touched me you sharing that because I would not have think of it this way and you saying that makes sense based on the fact that like you have those kind of flashes maybe like looking back of yes oh I've met that person or I've been here before yes yes when I when we just came uh came here and we used to live in the Crestland Village area and I was sure that I would recognize everything but tingly wiggly moved and I got lost tingly wiggly and I got lost because of that because I knew what I thought it was supposed to be and it moved that was so unfair Piggly Wiggly for you that was that was the point of reference that's what made you whatever I go to find thing wiggly and then and then you'll figure it out yeah that the their branding is pretty clear too yeah with the the pig heads of very noticeable very noticeable yeah but who would have thought that the whole thing would just move yeah yeah um and thank you for sharing that Lisa I really appreciate it um and going back to then you coming here so when I first met you it was through our friends Ellen we where I believe to Nicholas's birthday which is her husband and so my husband and I were at the party and Helen told me about this very touching story about you coming from Ukraine to here and that was what a couple of years ago um three four years ago and I I think I literally had a tear um it just was very very moving and you made a cake a birthday cake that day for Nicholas it was delicious thank you we I've never had a cake like this before and those little um walnut cookie I think that's how you call it walnut cookies yes delicious thank you um we we had a great time and I don't know if I got to meet you that day or if it was later on no I think um um friend from the past and from she's the part of my I call adopted family and the family that has been supporting my parents and man Ellen has been a friend to my mom and now she's he she has become a very very good and very supportive friend for me and all the family they are really are like my adopted family we spend all the holidays together and which makes me very happy and every time I'm trying to implement some of our Ukrainian traditions into their local you know ways of celebrating the holidays except of course I did not interfere with Thanksgiving like nothing to share on that account you you don't have any traditions for Thanksgiving is that what you saying we don't have Thanksgiving okay okay yeah okay okay except that when we were doing the fund Rising Meals it was like um my friend and my partner Olga she created a Thanksgiving dinner um with all the dishes that Americans usually have but she made it our way you know like with with Ukrainian hands like how would we um bake that Turkey you know how we would make that uh cranberry sauce something something like that okay but yesterday for Christmas uh we had a dinner party and I used to bake ducks for our Ukrainian Christmas and my friend and I will baked a couple of ducks and Olga reserved a jar of cranberry and orange sauce we mashed the potatoes and we brought it for dinner and everybody enjoyed it so it was like a part of you know our Ukrainian Christmas traditions so we had the lunch local traditional style and the dinner was very Ukrainian that's awesome is it in the ingredients that you use or the way you cook it that you I think starting from the fact that we have dogs okay okay Christmas baby dogs and then I think yeah maybe the way we prepare it we bake it stuffed with apples and robbed with the honey and the cinnamon in salt and pepper and it's very fragrant and because of all sometimes we stuff it with like with apples and oranges and you just have to imagine this fragrance oh yeah dog with all these spices it's it's amazing wow I can imagine yeah that must be smelling the whole house for hours enjoy that that tradition and I think it's going to stick yeah okay okay it's like it's going to becoming a staple yeah like for example we um I think the first year I since I moved here we were making I was making glintwine what's up the glue wine the German mold more wine is it warm yes it's hot okay I was spices yep yep yeah I know what that is spiced wine yes okay so and and this Thanksgiving I had a lot of work and orders and I couldn't stay for longer and I didn't make the document wine and everybody was like where is the wife what happened was where did our new tradition go yeah so I made it yesterday okay okay yeah this is very a converting type of alcohol not as strong as straight vodka as we discussed earlier it's relatively strong okay yours is what what alcohol do you use in your spiced oh no for grant wine just the regular wine except that our wines are different from the beginning so the most popular wines in our area are produced in war produced in Crimea before all the conflict situation started we were much like France I'd saying that we had the different like small binaries that uh grow their own grapes and produce their own limited editions of wines like the chateaus in France okay okay something like it with our own hint of you know our Ukrainian earth and density maybe altogether our wines are a level or two sweeter and the wines that are common here I'd say it took me a while to get used to the sour wine and the most popular wine kind of wine would be semi sweet okay so you use sweeter wine for that smeared yes from the beginning we do use sweeter wine sometimes port wines because I had to use regular opinion or I've added quite an amount of honey okay just to reach the the needed level of sweetness what I'm used to I guess yeah yeah yeah everybody liked it though but there's no um stores that you could find sweeter wine from other countries oh that's another interesting story we have a traditional um I guess it's called a church wine it's called cagor a wine that is that is used for communions and that we have for religious holidays it's called cargoward it is produced by is Moldova Romania Armenia Georgia Ukraine was producing its own there must be some factory still operating I hope yeah um and so it's a it's basically a steak uh sweet desert wine we managed to order some so friends helped me get it we so we ordered it was delivered to Georgia to their interest and they just brought it here it was so complicated but we were so happy to have it last night oh yes and everybody really enjoyed it and we are thinking that maybe this um this wine can be used for our communions sometimes on very special occasions because um to my opinion or maybe I'm just used to it on the blood of Christ does not taste like grape juice more like a strong and you know flavorful poured wine and one of my childhood memories since I remember the communions was this feeling this burning feeling inside when you um take your communion that to me as a child it meant like something special something sacred is going on you know it was so bright so strong so um impressed me so much that I really truly believed um and felt the power of communion so here in our independent Presbyterian Church I this was the only thing that I was missing this was I really love our communion our fellowship my church family here but that was just something that I think we could you know change okay thing that we could alter in our services so I'm not very familiar with how that works necessarily um and when you say communion is it the moment where you you would drink and you're saying you would have the the wine and then here you don't have that moment we do have that moment except that it's the grape juice that represents the blood of Christ okay okay so you don't have that burning sensation like you say it's just a few drops of wine basically just a so bread that represents the body of Christ broken for you and you dip it into the the wine like supposedly okay and which represents the blood of cries that is shed for you and yes when when it's this bright flavorful strong poured wine you feel this burning sensation and you feel the like the the mystery the importance of the moment you know and when it's grape juice you kind of lot of prices no grapes so in Ukraine even as a kid you would absolutely just a few drops you know some medicine has like some yeah some medicine has pretty much the same amount of alcohol just for better observance I guess okay keeps the keeps the keeps you healthy during harsh winter yes haha it builds the how do you say like um your immune system is strengthen your immune system probably this is what my grandfather used to say oh really yeah yeah so is this something that on a weekly basis every Sunday every time you go to church yeah okay we do okay like not we have two services we have the classic service and sanctuary the sanctuary there they have communion occasionally rarely I would say and then we have a casual service with amazing modern music okay

I really love it it's at 5:

00 the time is very convenient to for me and there we have communion every Sunday yes well so maybe for we should try the wine yeah yeah maybe that's something they should consider introducing to this it's you know it's casual yeah uh huh

and it's 5:

00 kids don't come there a lot

so you said 5:

00 is convenient for you is it because of your typical schedule the time you usually have dinner or what what does it look like um for you like in terms of the time so it's just that it's my only day off and sometimes it's hard to um commit to the morning services and I really love to be there I understand like one of my older friends and members of the church would say that um will make it work you know I mean God deserves better than that but um we're human and there's only so much that we are capable of there's only so many hours in a day so yes yes sometimes this is how I see it and I have a son and sometimes I really want to spend time with him in the morning because you know school and he he is um he's the same doesn't have too many days off from school yeah you shared with me and with us a little bit about um you know some of the things that are different from Ukraine to Birmingham Alabama I'm curious if we go back a bit when you first got here all the second time uh huh so not in your very very young age yes which was which was recently the most recently which was um three four years ago or so couple of years ago it was um June 2022 2020 um some more than two years ago okay so in that moment if you bring yourself back to that moment how did it feel to be here or can you like share with us a little bit like what was that process like for you and your family um it was it has been stressful of course because I would have loved to visit and I was happy to be here except for the reasons why I was I came here and um I had like a postponed stressful reaction which was funny as a child I used to ride horses here a lot and and I never did before coming here again I never um I wasn't riding in Ukraine so when I just came my friend Ellen she told me that the best thing um according to her opinion like the best way of getting over um stressful situations is like the best thing is horse therapy and so we got on horsebacks and we were riding often going on trail rides in the woods it was amazing and um and we were we would ride for hours I remember once she and I we just got on horseback and we talked and talked and talked until somebody called us called her from the barn asking like where are you it's been like three hours or more and we didn't feel it and then with the time maybe a year passed I started to be uh afraid of like downhills you know rocky roads and I started complaining and insisting that we choose the flattest trail and Alan and other friends that have been riding with us they were asking like what happened to you you were not afraid of anything when you came we were riding like you were never complaining you were like you would go through whatever and I realized it made me think like really why then I realized that I was just so shocked and from all the changes from everything that had happened that I didn't realize the the danger the I was just I was and then autopilot mode I guess and then with time as I started to getting back to my normal um cowardly self yes I started being concerned about you know like we can follow action you understand that this is a dangerous yeah that was that was funny but it kind of I guess answers your question how I felt when coming back here for a long time I did not acknowledge even how I felt it was just life kept going I think baking was one of the other things that has been distracting me from sinking from processing all that has been too painful to process at that moment that I just um needed you know time to um I guess just to make it a little bit less painful yes all the that has happened in the due to the war in Ukraine I mean that that part and that's not what we're discussing here so I just want to say that the baking was another thing that was helping me at over what I was going through it had several reasons first of all it kept me busy and it's just it's just personal this is just a part of my personality I do need to be busy with something be productive I'm an overachiever so I was about to ask if you've always been like that or if it's something that you developed after no I haven't I think I have been born with those yes with those trades first of all I had to be busy with something just for myself because this is who I am secondly I wanted to do something creative it kept my mind at peace and then I wanted to share some good stuff the people I loved I wanted to um show that there there is there is something just something good something delicious that I want to share that I want you all to know that it exists and it was so common for us and it felt unfair that you don't have it here and what do you think was missing here well our sweets definitely sweets and our sweets are cakes and I do have to explain the background of that please I did I was just recently thinking about it actually and discussing this but a friend I was thinking about how happy I am and lucky to be born exactly at that time and place where I have been born we have collected so much inheritance you know that the place where we are exactly in the middle of the of the map if you look at it so we had uh the influence of the old Russian Empire if you know the history well enough there was this time of the history of Russian Empire when everything French was so popular and fashionable and trendy when almost all educated people spoke French they adopted crepes eclairs one of our most popular cakes is called Napoleon that inheritance and then the Soviet Union when they were capable of creating amazing cakes from nothing like sometimes they ask me like what is it what's in that cake that makes it so good I'm like it's just eggs and flour and honey and sour cream and butter that's all very clean ingredients it's all about the technique it's all about like it's some some time ago some talented person had just that to make a cake from some of the cakes are just like that they they're plain and simple yeah and from this same amount like same package of ingredients there are several absolutely different cakes this is amazing and then are the like location of the country we border with Poland with Romania uh Moldova we are so close to Europe that the cultural exchange was very fluent so we also adopted a lot of European tradition so which we kind of consider our own because western Ukraine is very European from there I guess I I knew about Aston Hazi cake which is Hungarian Ponie Valevsk cake which is Polish um apple show them that a lot of countries claim haha um it's something European obviously so the inspiration more it comes from all the different countries all these influences yes I mean that we were soaking in all this influence like if you um and and why would I bring it up why would I want to make it because I've had it because it was common it was everywhere like you would go to whatever a decent cafe or restaurant and and it would you would find it there they would offer you estehanzi they would offer tiramisu which is Italian you will also have an Napoleon which was created in the Soviet um uh Soviet Union you would have something very Ukrainian you would have something absolutely not Ukraine related so this is why I'm I guess I'm grateful for my experience this is what I was saying that I am I'm grateful to be here now and I love I absolutely love my local family and friends I have been missing this too I was also maybe not fully content you know without uh having this um uh part of my life in my life for all these years I mean my memories my friends because it when we laughed I was still a child and you know there was no internet back then it's been years and years ago so we did lose contact at some point oh with people here yes okay and we reconnected only after all these years and um and now in a way despite the fact that despite what's happening in my country right now I still feel that I have gained something I was missing I want to go back to how the business started okay yeah please so it started with basically just sharing my experience I just baked a honey cake for no reason for wanting to share just uh I guess it was something like easier to show them to explain so to share with others so they can try my friends yeah they can try it yeah and then I was remembering other things that I have tasted and it was again easier to make it and let them try than to say something like oh there I remember there was this delicious cake you know or just make it and and share it so you started doing it for your friends for people that you know and then how did it and then how as how most of the businesses start somebody said you could you like something like oh you could sell this yeah I know and and yes this is it happened kind of itself you know like things that are really meant to be they just happen like the right people come into your life um situations happen coincidences happen for reasons you don't really understand so true and I found myself at the Public Place market selling my cakes and with absolutely zero experience of um um working in food industry so it has been a learning process but the good thing is that I have always loved to learn um um um everything anything so you have a learner mindset yes like you you're always curious about things yes that's a good skill to have I mean so I was interested I was curious I was into it I was I am I still am very passionate about it and same about the customer service I guess I have been very observant I always appreciated feedback yes maybe I'm not very tolerant to criticism haha but this is maybe why I have been so um hard working on avoiding flaws to make my customers just happy so I don't hear the criticism because there's nothing to criticize so how did you come up with the recipes some of the recipes um I just I have known from my grandmother from just hanging out around in the kitchen growing up you know some of the recipes I had to take lessons to learn how to make something that required almost deep knowledge of chemistry and chemical reactions in the process of like of baking crystallization processes Moses you know but um it's just like it has always been a rough draft for me I would make something we would sample it and I right away I feel what I don't like about it and then make my improvements and it was so funny recently I know I think I'm like that crazy professor sometimes I remember people came to pick up an Napoleon cake and it was right before Christmas and then just rolled their window and I was hand handing them the cake and they were obviously in a hurry that was like this like this is the Napoleon cake and I and I and I started telling them how different this Napoleon cake is from whatever Napoleon the whole story about the cake like how many times I have been updating this mess me you know like really crazy professor and then I by their reaction I realize that you know they just want to roll up and get going and so yes what I'm saying is that I'm really passionate about it and I always do I have my own way of saying of tasting of understanding how I want my cakes to be the textures the flavors the colors everything so some recipes yes some new things they start with whatever roll recipe I have a friend and Ukraine she used to she's related to restaurant business okay she's an educated baker and like candy maker okay pastry chef I guess uh she studied in London like Cordon Bleu uh school and so sometimes she uh helps me with my recipes but I like one of the cakes that the recent ones that I got from her the recipe already I understand and it's probably because of my of this never ending learning process that I have been going through when I even started with that recipe I already knew what I am going to do differently about it so I guess also I reached a point where looking at the recipe is enough for me to understand that it's not gonna work or what's wrong with it okay or exactly you know why this you have your own standards yeah things that your standards and also sometimes you collect you know all this information like you have all these kinds of sponge cakes all these kinds of icings these kinds of mooses ganaches confiz that you've been working with and then you just create your own stuff your own combinations of all of that and your own way just by using your imagination of how this will come together so you're created flavors will bland oh yeah you have a more of a sweeter salty tooth this is the funny part I'm almost sugar free in my everyday life okay except of my own sweets and I don't eat much I guess it's more about just uh sampling and understanding the the the you know the levels of sweetness the the flavors yes this is all I eat okay from the sweets uh and it was so funny there are so many memes on the you know on social media about that the family of the baker get like you know like this is what my customers get and this amazing cake with all these decorations it's so pretty it's so um looking delicious and this is what my family gets you know this got off uneven edges you think if you should throw it or they will eat it you sell all this sweet you make all the sweets but then at home you don't consume as much as obviously yes yes it's like a small part of your diet or my I guess I just it's limited by having to eat something to understand where I'm at with my recipes I guess that's what I'm I limit myself to I would have been completely sugar free I guess if not for um like having to understand what I'm making for my customers okay I used to be completely sugar free and I think except like not completely I would treat myself like once a week and to my opinion this is this is actually this all explains why the desserts that I make are very low on sugar and I might have like a slogan I guess that this is the healthiest that the sweets can get yep because of all the homemade ingredients and all the high quality ingredients and being the sugar with honey or like monk fruit or whatever whatever it's possible um so I used to when I considered myself sugar free I used to treat myself once a week maybe but it had to be worth it it had to be absolutely worth it I was thinking if I eat that sugar it better taste like heaven so it's kind of it's still the same for me I think that if my customers eat that sweet cake it better be worth it well what I really like is that it's sweet but it it's not overly sweet so it doesn't overpower you yes uh tell me what the business so what what can we wish you for the future I met my partner bubble gum and uh and we were thinking like I'm in charge of the sweets definitely that is something I'm passionate about and not something something um I need to learn to delegate actually oh okay I'm something I I really want to be in charge of because um sweets it like the cakes it also it has the not only the creativity of like creating the flavors part it also has the decoration part that I also enjoy very much and I never consider it work sometimes when I get tired with baking I rest with decorating it balances it all out I get recharged energized and and I feel completely rested and at peace thanks to the the creative part of the the decorating and we decided that why are we only doing sweets hmm there is so much more we have all these delicious healthy homemade soups we have all these um Ukrainian dumplings yum uh cabbage rolls the Ukrainian borsche even itself is worth sharing yeah so and she has been very passionate about cooking it's her love language okay it's her way of showing affection it's like feeding people I've been observing some small things about her like whenever her friends are like feeling down or going through tough times in life she's there she's there with a pot of soup and you know something delicious something homemade made with love and she has the same uh criteria as I do same level um she always uses good ingredients she's looking just for the best it must be healthy it must be organic it must be flavorful she's also updating her recipes all the time she's never she's not somebody who would say you know it's fine they'll eat it no she believes that it must be enjoyable okay does she are you able to find all the ingredients you you need at the grocery stores or do you have to order online uh a lot we have to order online like for example for my gigs I have to order some of the berries that just don't grow in uh Alabama yeah probably because of you know weather climate conditions so I I have to order them like blackcurrants and tart cherries all of that that we use a lot and that the gooseberries I think okay I don't I forgot the English term for it I think the gooseberries too yes so we do um order some things and um some we just if you look well enough you you can find so yes we um see can you shall find I think and we find it mostly and we decided to like we gave her some time she was um experimenting like we were trying to understand how the local society will accept our food will it be appreciated will the people here enjoy it will they understand even like some yeah something and the quality that you're offering I mean it yes but but also we had to work out a certain price range because a lot of the ingredients are pretty pricey because they're rare so we we were working on it for almost a year she's been helping me at the market she has been assisting me sometimes with baking she has been working on her recipes mostly for friends and family this level but now we're thinking to unite our efforts and we're about to go through rebranding process okay we just registered the new LLC are you allowed to share what is gonna be called yes since we registered the name so it's going to be called the handle it's in Ukrainian a handle it's a um like a small bistro that offers um it's a very old word a very old term how do you spell it it's a H a N d E L okay at the same time it's the last name of a composer at the British German okay Handle Composer okay so we thought you know we like the name because that handle in Ukrainian means the small bistro was just like an old tavern Yep was underground homemade the food okay okay okay with home baked pies all of that and maybe me some drinks maybe maybe in the future you know yeah things happen and with a lot of vodka and wine we'll see how far we can go and at the same time because the level we're going for is not exactly a tavern level okay it's going to be more like a higher level of cuisine okay not molecular accusing of course but but still something more refined and exquisite hmm so this is why we thought that the handle is a good name especially with the refer the reference to that composer you know it adds a hint of exquisite to it that's that's awesome yeah so is that gonna be a seated restaurant are you still gonna be at the market we will still be at the market because this is where our customers like they used to see us they want to see us it's a great promotional opportunity it's a great um communication opportunity to be there and see the reaction we always give away samples we communicate with our customers it's very important to have this feedback even when we have our cafe we're thinking to start small and develop naturally and gradually and in the direction that the society and the community wants needs I guess we just want to observe and and see how it goes we want to start with something like a small cafe pastry shop with a couple of tables maybe okay with coffee our style and beverages and teas necessary really are liking that tradition because our pastries are just they they combine with teas and coffee perfectly they're just made for each other so we are thinking to start with something small and do maybe like a grab and go for the soups and um and savory meals and then again see where it brings us that's exciting congratulations thank you so much but still we still want to be at the market we still want to be there for our customers so when we finish the rebranding process when we come back to the market in January and I think the next market starts January 25th we want to be there as handle with some maybe hot soups okay and cakes that's amazing that's amazing so this partnership continues into something even bigger yeah coming out and you know it's also like I've been um not related to the food industry and same she was not she's a clinical psychologist by education and I'm a pharmacist and it's a very oh you were a pharmacist I never worked I'm saying by education she did she was a practicing clinical psychologist I think maybe this is why we managed to get along so well there's my friend is a clinical psychologist haha yeah she has been very supportive actually I can't say that she's been my personal therapist even though we do joke about that sometimes that I can say that I need to I need to talk to my therapist you know what maybe maybe yeah maybe it had played its part in our companionship yeah that's awesome she's just very very supportive very understanding we're on the same like we're looking in the same direction she's very compassionate is she is very generous she it was her she's done a lot for this fundraising and I know how giving she is sometimes we have to like stop ourselves and say that no we can't do this we'll go broke if we you know continue we have to sing for the future but we really need our business to have more of a purpose more of a mission except of you know like sharing the what we like it's something like at a level when you find something good and you want to tell all the world about it so we really want to share what we like we want to do it well because as experience shows things can be done differently I mean the same kind of cake can be baked differently sure and it will not be I mean you bring your unique touch to it unique touch and the level of quality at what matters I'm a perfectionist and I think that um you can't compromise on quality never you make me want to eat cake right now I know it was it was combined very well with your coffee I was saying she's a we have a lot in common so um I think I believe this is why um like we have no reasons to doubt that our uh business will be successful we're both hardworking to the extremes we have similar understanding of quality and we have the same we're the the same soft hearted I guess when it comes to helping other people and we have this need of um doing something for others you know when I just came here I have always been a giver instead of like taking something from others it has it has always been an issue while giving was always making me happy and so when I came here losing like most of what I had earned and what I have achieved in my life leaving all of that behind in Ukraine and being in need in a way and my friends have been helping me a lot they've done so much for me that I will never stop being grateful it's like it's I'm forever grateful and one of my friends who is also she's not you know she's a where does the she's not where does she live she's she lives here she's a teacher she's not making a lot of money yet she wanted to support me too well you know when I think about this situation I always refer to a biblical story when um Jesus said that like when you have a lot and you give um that there was a story when um you know this um people who rich people were uh donating something to the temple and then a woman who had nothing donated her last to the temple and he said that she gave a penny but she gave more than all of you did even though you gave like a lot but compared to her who had nothing it was a lot it was more than all of you that that gave and so she was still trying to support me and I said I know I can't I can't accept this and I want and she and she insisted like you know finding words saying that it will hurt her and I said well I want to do something for you and she said something that I will never forget she said do it for somebody else you know like it must be a never never broken circle of goodness like I did something to you pass it to somebody else and they will pass it to somebody else in need yeah let continue to to give back yes continue to put goodness in the world exactly and then it it it has that amplifying effect where other people then benefit but also want to do the same and she's she encouraged you to give back to others instead of giving back to her which then yeah it it's very powerful um and I love that and I always remember that I always remember that and it made me um I guess um cope with the situation I was in when I had to I had to go out of my way to accept all this help you know because it was something was it hard it was hard to accept that the help from others yes I don't know maybe it's my personal issues because like I said people are different and I have always been the giver for others being in this situation when I had to accept help was unusual not natural and stressful and hard and and when she said that and I always wanted to give back you give me something I want to do something for you right away give it back even more than you did for me and and and when she said that it helped me cope I thought okay I well accept this help I will use it in a way to grow and develop and become able to help others since it has moved you so much it always has yes is it something you also try to instill into your son oh how does that play a role with you being a mom you know they don't um they will not remember what you told them but they will remember what you have been doing it's a children raising children is not about telling them what to do it's about showing by your own example I think that's that's what matters the most and and I see that he has he's very very much like me in so many ways but not because I have ever been you know telling him these things just because he has been observing he had to grow up a little bit I guess earlier than most of boys his age because of his experience which um I have mixed feelings about I'm proud of him but in the same time I would maybe want him to have more of a childhood like a extended childhood instead of being so wise in his you know young age at the same time I think he's becoming an amazing human being and will have his impact in a way with time so like I said you don't tell them what to do you show him what to do yeah so you've shown him without even not perfectly not intentionally exactly without without even wanting to necessarily but just the way you've been acting the way you've been doing the way you've been being yes doing but even being I'm sure is an inspiration to him every day there is a saying that happy parents have happy kids right I think it's there's a very profound meaning to it it's not just about being happy just being the way you are makes them observe that energy that um experience that life position everything they just they learn from example better than from words because especially when words don't match your deeds that's just confusing following up on that have you found and you sense of home and your current place of residence and if so what makes it feel like home hmm this is it's not an easy question for me because I'm only in the process of letting go of my home and understanding that in my life in the years I guess that I have left it will not be the same my country will not restore itself as to how I remember it and um the war is still on we don't know when it will end we don't know how it will end when it started we expected the misunderstanding to be resolved in a day or two you know and it will be three years in the February I guess the home is where your loved ones are definitely this is what I guess the only thing that holds you to a certain place it's not things it's not never something um material that sense yes I now I understand that the majority of the people I love are here of course hmm parts of my heart are spread all over the world but when you if I have to answer that question then yes I I did find a sense of home here that's beautiful I wish this was a more cheerful conversation no I think I can relate too I mean especially during the holidays oh yes I think this is um this is the right moment and the wrong moment at the same time to talk about these things really because the holidays you know I found a friend here maybe a year ago hmm unexpectedly just someone became close and influenced my life and has been so supportive and my friend organ we were he is also in the food industry he was planning to help us set up the coffee process of you know like bake a coffee maker because he was he was unfortunately in that business and he died and and he died sometime in early fall he was fighting cancer and he lost the battle and my friend was also experiencing health issues and it was so unfair and at the same time amazing how the short friendship influenced both of us she was telling me that she understood what like really felt what she was going through because of him she realized that it might have ended differently for her too and made her volume you know this the life and this second chance that she's been given when she she had a similar health issue and and she succeeded in that battle I guess that fight yeah and me he was just um so supportive he was so I'm doubtful about what I'm doing about that the business so that it would definitely be successful with this approach that he actually motivated me it into taking some further steps even like thinking that maybe despite yes sometimes me being disturbed with you know with everything that maybe I'm I'm ready for the next step you know in my in the development of my business and so it was just so miraculous that you know sometimes like people come into your life just to serve that specific purpose and then they sometimes go and especially you remember them closer to holidays always it's like a the presents the the presence but in your heart yes of the people that you care about that have made an impact or that you you know you wish well yes maybe you're just remembering all the people that you love and you want to wish the best to and um you're just collecting processing your current memories maybe you're just you know come making conclusions when the year end is approaching yeah absolutely do you have any tips for when you feel homesick the homesickness of or missing some loved ones that you can't be with you know or at times that are maybe a little more you feel a little more um sensitive because sensitive might not be the right word but a little more emotional because it's the time where you know as holidays like where people gather do you have any tips for anyone may be listening that you know are in the same position and try to get out of that funk or try to better go through a period of time that they just miss home so much what has worked for you I think the replacement works for me of course you know situations are different if you just you are missing somebody who you can reach out to and tell them that you miss them and you love them and talk to them and try to be closer to them in ways what I did for this this holiday season I asked my mom to ship some of the Ukrainian candies here and all my friends got boxes of chocolates from Ukraine the ones that I used to love as a child and also I have implemented in other tradition and you might be familiar with that it's hanging candies on the Christmas tree okay well we do candy cane growing up but are you all kind of so what we do is different separately wrapped assortment candies very different they must be different this is the fun part okay and you hang them all over the tree in different places unexpected and then children hunt them and it's a very interesting process to watch because they have their preferred candies they that their looking for all over the tree and then they have their compromise candies that when they don't find the favorite ones they I would say okay I would do this one and then they have those that completely avoid and they would only eat them when there's nothing else left on the tree except that so I also asked mom to ship me some of those separately packed candies or tree decorations and I made small bags and gave it to some of my friends so they can friends who have kids so they can play that game too and maybe if they like it do it next year and you know just kind of adopt the tradition so that I just loved it as a child yeah and really the parents just fill the Christmas tree with all these chocolates or and candies they are different candies actually they don't have to be chocolate some of them are like marmalades jelly kind of candies and then as a kid you would you can go in the Christmas tree at a specific time or just whenever and then you try to find your favorite ones more like hunting its parents would say you had enough sweets don't come near the tree and you trying to you know casualty just okay okay walk past the tree maybe grab something and or they would tell you okay you can go get one candy one candy from that tree that's just I like that yeah so then so that's a tradition that you're bringing here even from candies yes it was something I was growing up with and yes maybe maybe sharing this with these some of these traditions made me feel closer to home to my childhood for the loved ones that are gone for also it relates to some of the recipes to my Christmas dogs and um some of the sweets that we make cakes that we bake that make all of that that that home former understanding feeling of home closer and when you have it here with those new friends and um other people that you love close to you it kind of feels like one big happy home yeah I think that I think that's the only tips yes also losing unfortunately makes you I mean unfortunately it's the losing that makes you value uh what you have so much and the people that are with you and um that you are that you become less ignorant and less neglective towards them and you value the quality time more and you will put aside whatever you're busy with to spend time with them because you understand that there isn't all that much time is your mom okay and Ukraine she's she's okay it's been it was her choice to stay it's always harder for older people to immigrate even with her experience you know that she lived here for a couple of years and she's also very fond of her friends and she would love to visit maybe someday but her choice is to stay in Ukraine she says until the victory at least she's not going anywhere but like I said we don't know where this is going my sister she um she lives in Netherlands for more than over 10 years for personal reasons she's married to a Dutch my brother in law is Dutch and she has been inviting mom to come and stay with her a lot the friends here and I would love her to come and stay too but yeah it's um it's a choice it's like was Ilona it was her choice and however heartbroken we were she's a grown up person and she felt the coal she felt some kind of I don't know purpose maybe to go back and serve her mission there I guess how often do you get to talk to her she only left I think it was November 31st she just recently left and Olga and I we try to stay in touch she likes to Facetime Olga I have been very busy with my order so I couldn't I didn't have that much time to talk um like almost on daily basis I would say we communicate it's um you know at some point we were trying to read less news because it was a very traumatic but um now having Ilona there we have to be uh we have we have to keep up with everything that's going on but mom hmm I mean I love my mom but the relationship is very complicated for so many reasons like even her choice to stay in Ukraine was accepted but uh it raised also several issues you know it's uh the eternal problem parents and kids that special grown up kids and parents we're coming to an end Lisa you've been so generous with your time in the stories I'd love for you to share how can people follow you with your business and also how can people support your initiatives alone at your friend you know the front being on the front lines are helping the Ukrainian community what can people do if they're interested in supporting you supporting them how how would that work how would you redirect anyone interested in doing that supporting our business will automatically mean supporting Ukraine because like I said for us it's um it's more than business it's a mission we um it started it um it's not something I really like to share but in the very beginning when I was still learning when it just started and I started making my first money I believed that I had like as many Ukrainians who left uh their country to safety we have this kind of we feel kind of guilty you know towards be more skilled I don't know how to define it correctly towards the people who stayed so we understand our position like we're safe and warm and not hungry and we're not experiencing any of the horrors of the war that they're experiencing so yes I guess maybe we do feel kind of guilty for leaving all of that behind so from the very beginning and it actually would kept me going in tough times uh I committed myself to sharing some percentage of my income uh was a church uh like a daughter church of IBC in Ukrainian city of vineyards uh I was doing that until recently like from the beginning when the business started and until recently when Olga and I decided that we we have not heard much back from we want to see what we're doing we want to it motivates us you know just at least to see where the money goes so I have not heard much back from from them I mean I believe they served their mission and everything's fine but I really need um to know that I can change something with my work that I can do something so Olga and I we decided that we're going to change the approach now that we have Ilona there and we have some kind of control over where the money actually goes to we wanted to be specific people who were really influenced by war and are in real need like she Ilona found a boy who's an orphan he lost both parents in the war and there was a heartbreaking story and she took like um a patronage over Bad Boy and then there are several more families and then we will be looking for more people so we want to be there you know through her and see uh where the money goes and and and and maybe do more so we're just you know with all this rebranding restyling where we want to also change our charity approach we will probably be doing more uh fundraisings we will have something like uh a line for donations we will be telling the story we want the people to know like I said we just got some photon video materials from Ilona about what she's done for Christmas we we are about to share that and this is how it's going to be and of course besides the fund raisings and donations and everything else our business will keep supporting Ukraine to and the people in need that's a beautiful mission on social media currently it's at currently we have cake honeys yes and and magic pot at the magic pot the magic pot no it's a magic pot bhm on Instagram and cake honeys I think under underscore on 4 cake honeys yes that's until rebranding whatever information regarding the rebranding it will be played in our accounts and we will make sure that our customers can find us awesome the handle that's going to be the handle yes how exciting Lisa I hope the word comes to an end thank you so much thank you so much for sharing everything you shared with us today um is there anything else you'd like to add something that I might not have asked you that you'd like to share oh I not something that I can think of right now and thank you for having me over and thank you all for listening and just I want to appreciate all the support and um uh will love this community I love being here it has become my second home and I wouldn't right now at this point of my life I wouldn't be I wouldn't want to be anywhere else hmm I love that for you I love that much success in the continuation of your business thank you um that's very exciting I look forward to just keeping in touch with you and seeing how it continue to grow um I will need to go I will definitely come Simon I will come yeah by whenever it opens um but yeah again thank you for everything and do ya cool you Daiku you messy that is so sweet thank you so much thank you thank you for tuning in to from where to here if you enjoyed this episode be sure to hit subscribe leave a review and share it with someone who loves discovering new cultures follow us on Instagram at from where to here pod for exclusive updates behind the scenes moments in a peak at upcoming guests until next time keep learning keep connecting and keep celebrating the beauty of languages and cultures