Water...anyone?

In Bulgaria, drinking mineral water was not popular 5 years ago...Usually Bulgarians drink water from the tap. The water from the tap can be used for cooking, washing and bathing. 20 years ago mineral water was considered as healing water and only people with specific health problems drink mineral water. The most popular brand was “Hisar” mineral water and it is still one of the top popular brands. I will wite to you more about Hissar in the coming days.

Typical Menu Recipe

Bulgarians like to start the meal with a salad of chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and onions in summer or pickled vegetables in winter.Most main dishes are lamb, chicken or pork based. Grilled meats are also very popular.Sirene is the common cheese made from cow or sheep milk.Banitsa is a flaky pastry filled with sirene and often served for breakfast. It can also contain spinach, leeks or pumpkin and walnuts.Yogurt is a staple in the Bulgarian diet claimed to have originated there.Kapama is a traditional stew said to contain at least 7 types of meat cooked slowly in an earthenware pot

Cold Soup Recipe - Tarator

Tarator - Traditional Bulgarian cold soup

▪ Ingredients
* cucumber* 1/2 kilogram of yoghurt ("Kiselo Mlyako", lit. sour milk)* 1-2 cloves of garlic* several walnuts* some dill* salt* 2 teaspoons vegetable oil* water

▪ Directions
Grate or finely chop the cucumber(s) and place in a large bowl. Mash the garlic with salt and add to the cucumber. Add ground walnuts and finely chopped fresh dill. Pour in the yoghurt. Then gradually add water - the thickness is down to taste. Finally, add the vegetable oil.Tarator is a traditional Bulgarian soup and it's serve cold.

Enjoy!

Food Talk

A few words about food. There are a few staples here. Some may surprise you and others not.

The obvious is bread. It is cheap, and when fresh, it is amazing! In restaurants, they think it weird if you don't order bread with your meal.

The next is yogurt. The Bulgarians think they invented it and perhaps they did. They use it in cooking, they eat it, water it down and drink it.

Garlic! I like garlic and use it in cooking. I am accustomed to adding a few cloves. Bulgarians add a few heads of cloves.

There are mainly two types of cheese. The main one is like the Greek Feta cheese called Sirene. It can be made from cow, sheep or goat milk. It is used in salads but also in cooking with eggs, on pizza and in other dishes. The other is the yellow cheese or kashkaval. Less popular cheese but used mainly for pizza.

I will write to you more on Bulgarian cuisine recipe in my coming post. Keep tune:)

What do Bulgarians look like?

Compared to the average Anglo-European, Bulgarians tend to have darker skin and a prevalence for dark hair. There are a number of ethnic groups in BG, however. Turks tend to have darker skin, as do the Roma. The best way to answer this question is with photos, but looking through our snaps I discovered that we didn’t take many shots of people other than ourselves! More photos will follow throughout the year, of course!

Stork and it's nest...a common sight

As you drive around villages in Bulgaria, it's a common sight to see this wonderful creature's nest high up on top of the street lamp post, and on old buildings' chimneys. You have to judge for yourself if they can be classified as great builders when you see their nest. As for me, I find it all amusing and amazing!

Challenges of the Bulgarian Language

Some of you may be wondering what it is like to study the Bulgarian language. Difficult is an understatement!

Let’s start with the Cyrillic alphabet.: cyrillic X is equivalent to H in Roman alphabet; m is T; B is V; C is S; g is d; Are you following this?

And then of course…to confuse you even more…there’s a few inverted roman look-a-like alphabets to consider! Such as: R facing backwards; N that is up-side-down; W that comes with a tiny tail?!

After a year we discovered that there actually is a pattern to Bulgarian verb formation but most verbs have two forms and the tenses do not strictly match the English tenses. Don't even get me started with prepositions!!!!!!!!!!!

History Lesson Of The Day

BULGARIANS: The Bulgars were a Turkic tribe that came into the Balkan area after 600 AD soon after the Slavs. The Bulgars were the minority group and quickly took political control of the Slavs-but the cultural, social, and religious ways of the Slavic majority prevailed.Although the country is named “Bulgaria”, its people and culture are predominantly Slavic. The Bulgarian language is written in the Cyrillic alphabet and is closely related to that of the Russians, Slovaks, Serbs, and other Slavic peoples.
TURKS: From the late 1400s the IslamicOttoman Empire ruled Bulgaria for 400 years. Ethnic Turks had settled in the area centuries before that time and comprise 6 to 9% of Bulgaria’s population.The overthrow in the 1870s of Turkish rule in the Balkans was violent and bloody, but for the most part, the Bulgarians live in peace with their Turkish neighbors.
POMAKS: Offspring of ethnic Bulgarians who converted to Islam under Ottoman rule. They speak Bulgarian rather than Turkish.
Altogether, Bulgaria is around 14% Muslim
GAGAUZ: In Bulgaria there are small numbers of Gagauz--the only indigenous Turkish Christian group in the world. Revival has taken place in the Gagauz district of Moldova, and they may be the key to evangelism in nations like Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Turkey.
ROMA: Also known as “Gypsies”, they constitute 3% of Bulgaria’s people. Shunned for centuries, the Gospel is being received by the Roma, and some are worshiping alongside their Bulgarian neighbors.
JEWS: Significant fact: Although Nazi Germany forced Bulgaria into an alliance in WW2, Bulgaria refused to send their Jews to Hitler’s death camps. Not one Jew was transported out.

General Facts - Bulgaria

General Bulgaria Fact Sheet

Area: 110,910 sq km

Borders: Macedonia, Serbia, Romania, The Black Sea, Turkey and Greece

Population: 8.5 million

83.6%Bulgarian

9.5% Turks

6.9% Roma, and other

Religion:

68% Bulgarian Orthodox

14% Muslim

14% Atheist

4% Jews, Catholics and Protestants

Less than 1% evangelical Christians

We're in Bulgaria

You know you are in Bulgaria ....

When people park on the sidewalk and walk in the street...

When you hear firecrackers at all times in every season and wonder if the city is under attack...

When the sizes for clothes say 42, 44, 46 and the salesgirl tells you they are all too small for you....

When you hear someone speaking English and wonder what foreign language that is...

When you see people responding you by shaking their heads when they mean yes...