A trip around the world for Memorial Day weekend is as close as the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, where the 49th annual Pittsburgh Folk Festival will take place tomorrow through Sunday.

The festival -- one of the city's oldest multicultural events -- will feature the music, food, dancing, culture and crafts of 25 ethnic groups.

Look for representation from Persia, China, the Philippines, Croatia, Germany, Scotland, Lithuania, India, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Greece, Lebanon and Scandinavia, among others.

New in the food area this year is a spread of treats from Latin America, being cooked up by members of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.

"They're doing some really interesting stuff," says food chairperson Angel Roy, who was impressed by their "ambitious" menu. The Peruvian specialties will include a potato dish call papa a la huancaina and a purple corn drink call chicha morada. From Puerto Rico there will be beef and chicken shish kebabs called pincho de carne and pincho de pollo and traditional nonalcoholic pina coladas.

The festival will be held from 4 to 10 p.m. tomorrow; noon to 10 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. A complete schedule of events is on the festival Web site at www.pghfolkfest.org or call 412-278-1267 for information.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $9 for seniors and $2 for children ages 2 to 12.

Perunasoselaatikko (Finnish Mashed Potato Casserole)

• 6 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces
  
• 2 eggs, beaten
  
• 1 cup cream or milk
  
• Salt
  
• 4 tablespoons butter, plus extra for topping
  
• 5 tablespoons dry bread crumbs

Heat 1 inch of water to boiling. Add potatoes. Cover and heat to boiling; reduce heat.

Cook pieces 20 to 25 minutes until tender; drain and mash.

Add the beaten eggs, milk, salt and butter to the mashed potatoes, whipping constantly. (The mix is more liquid than thick but will firm up in the oven.) Turn into a buttered one-quart casserole. Dot with butter and top with bread crumbs. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until top is golden brown. Serves 6.

Tester's note: Some online recipes call for adding 2 teaspoons sugar and a pinch of nutmeg along with the other ingredients. Doing so adds a hint of sweetness. Also, we used a non-stick cooking spray instead of buttering the casserole.

Empire Biscuits

This sandwich cookie recipe comes from Scotland.

• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
  
• 1/2 cup sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
  
• 1 egg
  
• 3 cups flour
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• Jelly and icing (recipe below)
  
• About 12 maraschino cherries, halved

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and dry ingredients. Blend well to make a soft dough. Roll dough out thin. (We experimented rolling dough out both thick and thin; we preferred the thicker cookie.)

Cut into 2- to 3-inch circles and bake for 12 minutes at 375 degrees. Remove from oven and while still warm, put 2 circles together with jelly (we used McGinnis Sisters current jelly) to form cookies. Ice top and decorate with ¹/₂ maraschino cherry.

Icing: Mix 2 cups confectioners' sugar with ¹/₂ teaspoon vanilla and enough cream or milk to make spreading consistency. (We used 6 tablespoons cream.)

Makes about 2 dozen 2¹/₂-inch sandwich cookies.