We weren’t quite sure what to expect from a Christmas in Bulgaria. We’d researched about the traditions observed here and got a lot of different information, but still couldn’t find out what happened locally. Most of our Bulgarian neighbours went to stay with their families in Popovo, so our neighbourhood felt quite deserted on Christmas…
Read moreAuthor: Joe
Merry Christmas!
Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas, and all the best for the New Year. Lots of love from Julie and Joe.
Read more
December in the garden
We’ve had some lovely warm weather in December, after what has seemed like weeks of rain and clag, so Julie and I have taken the opportunity to get some work done in the garden while it’s been warm enough to get outdoors. One of our Bulgarian neighbours came round and swapped my recipe for bread…
Read more
New arrivals!
We got chickens!!! Some friends of ours have had to return to the UK and asked us if we wanted their chickens. Naturally we said yes, so we now have five hens, all still laying and they are lovely birds. They’re very used to being handled, interested in everything we do, and they seem to…
Read more
Making Sauerkraut
One of the things I’ve fancied having a go at making is sauerkraut. All that lacto-fermentation stuff sounds really interesting, so now, when the market in Popovo is laden with humongous cabbages, seems like a good time to try it out. I found a decent sounding recipe, and bought a cabbage. Because it was my…
Read more
Cold weather stops play
Work on the bathroom has ground to a halt now that the weather has got too cold to plaster walls or put tiles up. Unfortunately we’ve taken the boiler out and can’t easily put it back, so we’ve got no shower, probably until spring. It’s not a problem though; a bath in the kitchen will…
Read moreMaking sausages part two
We made batches of sausages, loosely following recipes from here The Spicy Sausage Batch 1 5-lbs ground pork 3/4-lbs whole milk mozzarella, cut into ¼” cubes 1-bunch Italian parsley, finely chopped 6 ½-oz sun-dried tomatoes in oil, coarsely chopped 1-tbsp dried basil 1-tbsp fennel seed 1-tbsp coarse black pepper 4-tsp salt 1-tsp oregano 1-tbsp ground…
Read more
Pig to plate, not for the faint hearted
Some people may find the pictures at the bottom distressing. They show a pig being killed and butchered. One day we hope to rear our own pig. If we are going to do this we feel it’s important that we are able to complete the chain, from farm to plate, by taking part in the…
Read more