Showing posts with label Vilton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vilton. Show all posts

The End of Egg Shopping Adventures in Yambol

It wasn’t that long ago when the thought of buying eggs in sixes only and nothing else considered before coming to Bulgarian was the norm. Them only to discover that in Bulgaria if you only need one egg then you can buy one egg, no problem and no waste.

It has been just this year in supermarkets in Yambol that eggs boxes have been introduced in the egg bound refrigerated sections. Before that they all came in tied plastic bags and it was quite a feat to get the eggs home without being scrambled, that was part of the fun of shopping, for me. It was an event and an adventure buying eggs this way and broke up the boredom of everything being so easy. Call me a man wanting to live on the edge if you may, there is nothing better than a challenge, that's the appeal with the way eggs were sold.

It all began in new supermarket Kaufland, which had just finished being built. It opened on the edge of Yambol last year. The German supermarket monster introduced egg cartons, specifically design, and well designed I may add, for Bulgarian customers making life so much easier to take eggs back home with them. When I saw this my heart dropped, a big of Bulgaria had disappeared before my very eyes, I knew this was the beginning of the end of the flimsy plastic bagged eggs. Even worse now was the fact that you could not buy less than six eggs! The cartons were not for splitting Bulgarian folk now have to take all six. Europe has invaded and conquered were my thoughts.

What did Bulgarians think of this? Galia, understandably with her true Bulgarian mind, just for the life of her couldn’t figure out why I was so upset about the change. All she could see was the benefits of getting the eggs home unscathed. She also couldn't see the deeper turning of the screw where she was being forced to buy more eggs than she needed. She didn’t see the supermarket taking control of her budget on eggs.

I thought that was the end of the story, as other supermarkets in Yambol will now adopt the same packaging. It was only last week, the last bastion on eggs in plastic bags suddenly disappeared in my local small supermarket. Not a bag of eggs to be seen, just egg cartons sealed in plastic in sixes. There was just as much plastic there as was used as a bag the eggs before but now the carton is added which will end up as carbon in the atmosphere. Another sigh was made as I saw this moment of no return came about.

Was that the end? Not quite as I looked again last night at the egg section, there were now cartons containing just four eggs not six! This was a spanner in the works of EU dictatorship, I’m just waiting for a EU official to see this and put a directive on it as well as making sure that the Rakia duty comes in eventually.

The whole egg saga is of course purely contained to town shops and supermarkets; in the villages it is a different story as the eggs, even if delivered in sixes. These will be split for customers, besides, no one buys eggs in villages except the expatriates, but then they will ask for six and demand six anyway as they have been brought up on this.

Add:
Finally, the EU had caught up with us as I looked in our small local Vilton supermarket. this very day. All eggs were now in the cardboard containers in sixes! I have just experienced eggs packed as we used to know them here for the last time ever. This is a very sad day for me in Yambol.





Yambol Sparkling Wine

It was a special occasion today, Galia and I had been together for exactly two years, it was officially out second anniversary together. We thought it would be nice to have something a bit special this evening to celebrate, Bulgarian style of course.

Work had finished by 6:00 as we when to our local small supermarket Vilton just around the corner from the factory work place, it is often the place we go before getting back home. Daily shopping buying enough for the evening meal and the following day breakfast and lunch is normal in Bulgaria.

Once in the store Galia is in charge for two reasons, she is a woman and she is Bulgarian, her vocation is to prepare the food for her man. This is something I still have to get used to this but I relent because there isn’t any other way, she is on home territory and I totally respect that. I count myself very lucky to have such a hard working and caring woman as a full time companion.

I didn’t take too much notice of what was bought, a box of non-Nestle chocolates, naturally, Bulgarian salami, and a bottle of sparkling wine. Well this was a kind of anniversary so the treats were on.

It was back to our Yambol home and the evening meal prepared and cooked by Galia, it has to be n=mentioned as it was absolutely superb. A chicken/rice moussaka styled dish with cheese, yoghurt and egg topping was savoured and the wish for the meal never to end was the thought all the way through. This is another recipe to consider publishing as I have never seen or eaten this dish before.

I was reprimanded for attempting to do the washing up, yet again, as we retired to the front room and the view of the colourful flower laden garden. The table was already laid out with the sliced salami, and opened box of chocolates, wine glasses and just having been brought in was the bottle of sparkling wine, which had been in the freezer for an hour.

It was the pop of the cork and the celebrations began with the ‘Nastravey’ call ringing around the room. This delicious sparkling wine was fantastic, just as good and any champagne. Then, we had the offering and taking of the chocolates. We settled down for another couple of hours talking, eating and drinking.

During this time music was played on the glasses and a discovery that made the evening even better than it already was. The sparkling wine, I thought, had travelled down from Sofia, this I remember from times before when the sparkling wine was bought, and very nice that was as well. On closer inspection this sparkling wine was actually local, from Yambol.

Vinprom-Yambol was the big local winery producing this excellent drink. I was overjoyed with that discovery along and at a price of 2.10 Bulgarian leva was a steal. That’s what happens to prices if local produce is bought. This won’t be the last occasion this particular brand will be bought, but we will have to wait for another special day. In Bulgaria the special days are frequent so the wait will be a very short one!



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