The baked goods at Pashina include options such as kolaches, pelmeni, honey cake and Kyiv cake. Credit: Brandon Rodriguez

Despite the sweltering temperatures outside Olmos Park’s recently opened Pashina Pastry, owner Olena Ramanko continues to run its blazing ovens.

Her stoic demeanor makes her appear impervious to the heat as she portions out freshly kneaded dough, prepping for the next day.

“I work alone,” the Ukrainian refugee said, showing a tired smile. “I am a retailer, cashier, baker, everything.”

Indeed, Ramanko said she prefers hot weather to the cold of her former home, Oleshki, a city of 25,000 people in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine. Like many of the new Ukrainian arrivals in San Antonio, she was displaced by the Russian invasion.

Once portioned, Ramanko will use the dough for Eastern European baked goods such as kolaches, a Czech favorite familiar to Texans, or pelmeni, a specialty of her native land filled with ground meat and potatoes.

The baked goods at Pashina, 250 Hildebrand Ave., stretch beyond the savory options to include honey cake and Kyiv cake, a specialty of Ukraine’s capital. Both are favorites of the Alamo City’s growing Ukrainian community, and Romanko said they’re also finding an audience with sweet-toothed locals.

Despite Romanko’s adept hand with yeast, flour and butter, the bakery business is new to her.

Back home, she frequently prepared items such as cakes and pastries as a hobby and also assisted her family in operating three separate businesses — a grocery, a hotel and construction-supply outlet. But launching a new business venture in an unfamiliar country has been tough, especially while learning English at the same time.

Even so, Pashina Pastry is a symbol of her family’s new life in the United States.

In the aftermath of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Romanko and her two children — a daughter and a son — joined the millions forcibly displaced from their homes.

She and her children arrived in San Antonio last August after seeking a U.S. sponsor via Facebook. Shortly after her post went live, they received sponsorship from Collin Stone, owner of the San Antonio’s CR Stone Construction, which owns the storefront from which Pashina now operates.

Romanko said she may never be able to return to her home. Following a June 6 attack on a major dam and hydroelectric power station, the Kherson region was submerged underwater.

What’s more, Romanko’s husband Leo and mother Tatiana are still in Ukraine. Her husband was forced to stay due to requirements that men of his age fight the invaders. Leo is believed to be in a Russian prison in Crimea, according to an Expres-News article. Contact with him is intermittent at best.

“I like San Antonio. I like Texas very much. I met a lot of wonderful people. I met a lot of amazing American and Ukrainian friends, and everybody wants to help me,” Romanko said with a smile. “But I say I’m not a victim. … I am a strong Ukrainian woman. I have to focus on [my new life] in the U.S. because I understood that I will probably not go back to Ukraine.”

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This article appears in Jun 28 – Jul 11, 2023.