Ellis and Jodie's Bulgarian Adventure

I discovered the restaurant on one of my walks to work. Golden Apple is located just around the corner from our house, and it looked like an island of modern cuisine in a relatively dumpy neighborhood. The waiter spoke to me in English and apologized that they didn't have any menus in English. I promised him that I would be back with my wife for dinner. It turned out to be our best meal in Bulgaria so far. But for Jodie, much of it may have been a blur, for we were served Rakia with our starter carrot salad. Rakia is a popular fruit brandy in Bulgaria, and I guess you could call it the national beverage. Jodie's head was spinning after our first course. We enjoyed a delicious steak dinner and the Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon just made our heads spin even further. Jodie ended up giggling, but I didn't feel anything until I stood up to go to the bathroom. The meal concluded with a shared piece of homemade cake and for Jodie, a strong cup of coffee. It was a good thing that our...

We had company for Saturday lunch, and when planning the meal, Jodie wanted to bake her favorite chocolate cake. The recipe called for applesauce, but alas, we couldn't find any in the local supermarket. We searched high and low, and two employees sent us off on wild goose chases in the direction of jams and canned fruits, but no applesauce. Needless to say, there was no chocolate cake for lunch that day. At least two local women have since confirmed that applesauce is not on sale in Bulgaria. We'll keep our eyes open.

I had passed the barbershop/beauty salon many times on my way to work. I had seen men getting their haircut there, but there was always a line waiting for the scissors. The opening hours were posted on the door - from 07:00 to 19:00. Today, on my way home from work, I bravely stepped in. "Dobre vecher," I said. I knew how to say "Good evening." I followed that by "Ne gevorya Bulgarski," informing the entire room that I didn't speak Bulgarian. There were three women working in the shop, and none of them spoke English. But under a hair drier, her hair rolled up in curlers, one customer knew English. She stood up and asked me, on behalf of the staff, what sort of haircut I wanted. "Kus," I said, proud that I had learned the Bulgarian word for "short" in preparation for my visit. "How short," the lady in hair curlers asked. "1, 2 or 3?" I hadn't realized that there were these variations of the adjective "sho...

These are just a few of the pictures we took on our visit to the museum town of Koprivshtitsa. More pictures have been posted on Ellis's Facebook page = you can see them by clicking here . Panorama Hotel. The colorful street near our hotel, with the main color being white. Oskelov House. Village resident. Snowy Koprivshtitsa. The Georgi Benkovski house. Street scene. The Karavelov House. The Bulgarian symbol of Spring, which has not yet come to Bulgaria.

We woke up on Saturday morning to see that Sofia had turned into a wintry, slushy mess. Should we go away for the weekend as planned? We decided to brave the elements and took a taxi to the Central Station. The Central Station is actually two separate buildings. The cavernous Central Train Station was very cold, and the level near the platforms was like a freezer. Jodie noted that the woman's bathrooms were just holes in the ground (please aim carefully). The Central Bus Station was more modern, more crowded, and much warmer. In both stations, you could book your travel to destinations all across Europe. Our bus left from the Traffic Market parking lot between the two stations. We boarded the bus, and only after it departed, the ticket lady came down the isle collecting fares. It was 10 Leva one way. The bus was a local line, stopping in villages along the way. The direction we traveled was eastward, towards Burgas. As we drove, we climbed into snowy mountains, but in other flat ar...

Last week I had lunch with some of my co-workers, and one of them ordered Banitsa (Accent on the first syllable) – and he told me a little about this dish. This dish is made with phyllo dough, feta cheese and many variations from there on. There is a sweet version made with pumpkin and honey, and a more savory version with either just cheeses, or with an addition of spinach, or green onions. I was told that many Bulgarians eat this for breakfast, along with yogurt – apparently, you can also see people buying it on the street on their way to work. There is a lot of Greek and Turkish influence in Bulgarian food, and you can see it in this dish also. It reminds me of the Turkish spiraled “spinach bareka” that you see in Israel. The frozen variety that I saw in the supermarket (now that I know what I was looking at!) looks a lot like this. I searched for recipes on the Internet, and the recipe that I found and tried was from a site called Traditional Bulgarian Recipes from Ralitsa’s Kitche...

On Wednesday we woke up to snow flurries, with the weather forecast predicting more of the same throughout the day, and throughout the coming week. However, by the time I walked to work (and yes, on many mornings Jodies goes in a taxi while I walk), it had stopped snowing and there were only gray skies threatening from above. During the morning, the snow resumed, and Jodie reported that it was hailing as well. A short while later I looked outside the window, and the sun was shining. There were patches of blue in the sky, and it looked like winter was behind us at last. An hour later, and the snow flurries were back. Nothing was sticking to the ground, but it was cold, very, very cold. But half an hour later, and the sky was blue again. The wind was strong, but in the sunshine you could imagine that it was spring. On and off through the day, the snow flurries came and went, alternating with hints of warmth. The Bulgarians call March the Woman's Month. No, this is not a tribute to wo...