City Farm In Yambol Now On

We are lucky we live in the City of Yambol and have a village retreat, but anyone who has a home here knows that growing crops is a full time job from April onwards in Bulgaria. It is a sense of frustration that I can't be on the farm everyday tended to the crops, this was one of the biggest reasons for me coming to Bulgaria. Galia knows this and some wheels of motion were workng to get around this problem behind my back.

It was an excited Galia in her sick bed today who finds it very hard to keep secrets and couldn't wait to tell me this one. The good life got better in the space of 10 seconds of the news being told. I tease you no longer as the news is we now we have the option of farming and growing crops in Yambol and not just on the village farm. Let me explain.

Although off sick from work at the moment Galia works as a floor manager in a boiler manufacturing company which happens to be owned by her elder brother. The factory is situated in an industrial part of the Yambol and has grounds alongside the big new factory of which part is set aside for farming. This is managed by some of the workers who get food as a reward for maintaining the farm.

Let me just put more detail of the situation as it stood up unitl today. All our farming is done in the Skalitsa village farmhouse some 35 kilometres away from Yambol and all through last year to now it had just been weekend farming. This was very difficult, near impossible to keep up with the extreme heat in the summer. Watering needs to be done at least every two days and in really hot weather every day, this wasn't possible last year. We managed to get some crops out of it, but it was a poor year with the system of weekends only. The retreat to relax after a hard week of work was seeing us work 100 mile an hour to catch up with the work that should be done each day, we ended up more tired on Monday morning than if we hasdnt' had the weekend retreat. Added to this the cost of fuel to and from the farmhouse just didn't make it an economic venture.

This year I had intended to stay there four days a week, but that would be on my own, Galia would have to pay taxi fares to work and back and still there would be a 70 kilometre round trip that had to be made once a week. Besides that there was the fact I wouldn't see much of Galia.

So with this news, the answer to growing crops without expensive overheads and logistic problems seemed to be answered. What we would like is to start our livestock up again? I am at the factory every morning and evening dropping off and picking up Galia from work, so a little extra time there tending before my work starts would be totally practical. On paper it would work very well.

So, you can now see why I am excited, but at the same time apprehensive about leaving the farmhouse and letting it go to seed if this was taken up. I can see us being in Yambol full time if this does take place, not what I want, but work here in Yambol forces the issue. We just can't financially afford the fuel each week and not get crops to supplement our low income. Everyone is happy for us to be in Yambol and can't understand why I have such a great love for village life that has nothing to offer other than isolation. Every Bulgarian around me says it's not practical - They are dead right, it isn't practical seeing as there is now the opportunity to farm in the City. I count myself extremely lucky to be with such a kind and caring community and my yearning for village life I feel is a very small sacrifice to pay for this.

There is another bonus, perhaps now we have the chance to relax at weekends during the warmer weather rather than rushing around trying to play catch-up on the farm. This would also end the weekly disappointment and frustration that happened last year where we regularly found our neglected crops failing because they have been left for 5 days without water.

Right now there are just onion, garlic and the vines that are growing there, these don't need regular watering so they will be okay and the rest of the more senstive crop now are planned for the City farm. How lucky are we?

The bottom line is we can't afford to be sentimental here and reminded me of what someone mentioned to me the other day about living in Bulgaria, "Life in Bulgaria is not about living it's about surviving." This is very true and this is what we have to do to achieve that right now.

Bulgarian Soup Kitchen For All

Last Friday I took Galia out for the first time for a short walk. This was the first time she has been out since her operation. It was a lovely sunny day with temperatures around 18 C, not bad seeing as a couple of weeks ago it was - 18C! Mind you, if it was any colder we wouldn't have been going anywhere with a poorly Galia.

We left just before lunchtime and decided to eat out for the first time this year. Money is tight as Galia wasn't getting paid for being off sick and my income is almost nothing right now. Passing a few places we came across a cafe that I hadn't been to for over three years. I remember it very well as it isn't s fast food joint, but an eating place for poor Bulgarians who can't afford restaurant prices. I also remember it being very much like a soup kitchen, in fact soup is the favourite item on the menu and customers bring their own bread bought from the shop next door to dip in, the rest of the loaf is taken back to their families for the evening meal.

Many things are changing in Yambol, but this place hadn't, it was exactly as I remember it, spotlessly clean, busy and nothing but Bulgarian food on the menu. No chips no burgers, pure Bulgarian staple cuisine.

We ordered Shkembe Chorba, chicken soup, 2 Bulgarian kebab (pronounced kebap) three slices of bread each, a triple layered cream sponge cake, rice pudding and sliced tomatoes alongside. The bill was not quite as cheap as it would have beenthree years ago, but came to just over 8 leva and we got a napkin and a couple of toothpicks thrown in as well.

This place is so simple, the food is freshly made daily, the turnover of food during the day is continuous and of course, unlike some expatraites who don't even try it, the Bulgarian food sold and served here is second to none. It feels like home cooked and baked food in many respects. Many foreigners never get to come here, mainly because its not an easy place to find tucked away in the midst of many other little shops.

This calls back the call of communist Bulgaria where everyone is equal in this eating house. The wealthy business person in for a quick snack and, right down to the down and out come to feed themselves here. I could spend hours just sitting in the corner of this place watching the interesting and diverse characters that step through the door.

-Picture of what was left of the meal - I didn't think to take a picture before we started - Doh!-

When we had finished our wholesome food, it is required that you take the dirty dishes and cutlery back to a table at the back of the cafe next to the kitchen area. No one left there dirty plates or trays on the the table they ate at before they left. This is so refreshing to see this taking place.

It is a worrying moment as we left thinking how long can this place survive in the fast pace of feast food taking over. It will be a crying shame when it does fall to the steamroller of fast food coming from the American and Western Europeon eating habits. It is at the same time a privilege to be here at time when total change hasn't affected Yambol.

Bulgaria Is Very Different And Not For Everyone

I had recently changed the subtitle of my blog to read "Bulgaria isn't for everyone - As you'll find out."

I had known this for a few years, but had been in the habit of keeping quiet about it as my previous work involved promoting Bulgaria from a business point of view. It was quite difficult as first to keep pushing Bulgaria as the perfect retreat for retirees, property investment and other business investments. Never for one moment were any lies told, it was just that nothing much was said negatively to allow a 'too good to be true,' picture of Bulgaria to become distorted. On reflection, as a result of this near perfect portrayed Bulgaria, many people have come here and found that it was splattered with problems.

Homes here are built differently to those in the UK, along with the manner in which 'builders' built them. The struggle expatriates have here to get their new homes renovated or built is unbelievable. This is not just different from the UK, but worse. Guarantees on building work just aren't worth the paper they are written generally. This subject really needs another chapter to example the disastrous experiences I know some expatriates have had here, not just with with Bulgarian builders but British (expatraite) builders. Again, if someone tell you that building a renovation work is easy - they know nothing about Bulgaria or are trying to rip you off.

The main problem was the language alongside the fact that is wasn't like Britain at all. Only 2000 Kilometres from my ex-home, Britain and Bulgaria are so different in so many ways. Many expatriates just can't adapt to the Bulgarian ways and some haven't bothered and subsequently packed their bags and gone back home for that very reason. They have been surprised that it wasn’t the paradise they had been promised. In fact it was only because it was only on wave of being cheap that brought them here in the first place. Cheap living in Bulgaria is another massive topic, depending on what the word ‘cheap’ has behind it.

The language is difficult I must admit, I had known this before I moved here and made a big, big effort to get this on board. It was harder for me than most being dyslexic, this was something that I felt I must master to survive here. This was is still is the biggest hurdle for those who want to come here to live. This has been discussed before in another post that still stands firm from what I have said.

Other differences are a main contention for many expatriates coming here. The bureaucracy is horrendous; many just can't go with the flow wanting things done now. This is frustrating, not just to expatriates, but Bulgarians who have the patience of Saints, most expatriates don't.

Driving - another chapter, another major difference and another instance of driving like a Bulgarian or not getting anywhere. Stressful for many who come here? I know some expatriates who flatly refuse to drive here.

The food, so much has been written about the food here that my blog was beginning to look like a food and drink blog. Many expatriates that come here just don't like Bulgarian food purely because it's different. I needn't say anything else on the matter,

"The weather is either too hot or too cold." This was a quote from a Bulgarian who just couldn't understand why I had moved here. She has a more than valid point. It is too hot or too cold here and certainly wouldn’t suit many pensioners that might think about coming here to retire. They would have to spend most of the time indoors with the air-conditioning systems on all year! If I could sum up the weather here in one word it would be 'extreme.' Don't let anyone fool you otherwise.

Gardening is so, so different here. Everything I tried to grow in the first year didn’t really work because I did it the English way, I know now and found out from my mistakes. It didn't initially take much advice from Bulgarians, I thought I knew better than them. It took a couple of seasons to 'swallow my pride' and conform to Bulgarian gardening ways. I did know lots about growing crops to eat, I'd been doing it for countless years in the UK, but knew nothing about how to grow crops successfully here. I do now.

Crime, it does go on here no matter what anyone else says and it is on an increasing scale, it mainly depends on where you live, but not always. Again many expatriate homes have been robbed because they just couldn't blend their homes in the Bulgarian environment. Their homes stood out like a sore thumb with rich pickings and the rich pickings happened for that very reason. Crime is a worldwide problem and Bulgaria is not in the top league of country with crime problem, but certainly isn't excluded.

This won't be the last time that a post shows how different Bulgaria is from the UK or America for that matter. Many people will continue to make mistakes here, usually ending up having to pay dearly for their mistakes - I did, but had to persevere.

Finally, there are expatriates I know here who have taken the rough with the smooth and accept that. Bulgaria is more than just a bit rough at the edges or difficult, it is impossible sometimes, but within that are adventures with big rewards that you just can't buy. Bulgaria certainly isn't for everyone and certainly those with money would prefer a more comfortable option that exist somewhere else.

Weekend Feast of Bulgarian Food

Whenever I write about food some of the feedback I get says that there is better food in other parts of the world and that what I say is a distortion of the truth about food in Bulgaria. To me these critics can say what they want. Most that doubt my word haven’t even tried the food I have experienced here. Some may have, but they have only been to restaurant and bars that cater for a more western tourist taste. Until someone has tried home cooked and prepared Bulgarian food in a Bulgarian home with Bulgarian company these ‘mouthful self-righteous’ comments can just be ignored and the writers that compose them have pity taken upon them as they will never ever know.

Just to rub noses into the Bulgarian food scene again, this weekend past turned out to be a feast of wonderful food as my farmhouse in Skalitsa. It was opened to family guests, all female Bulgarians bar me. Every woman knew how to cook and cook well. Bulgarian food was on the table from the very first moment we arrived and never stopped right through to Sunday evening when we went back to our Yambol home. Even when we arrived there, Bulgarian food was waiting for us on the table from Baba.

The weekend menu started that very Friday evening:

Local cabbage and carrot salad, (Yambol grown)
barbecued peppers. (Skalitsa Farmhouse produced)
Homemade Barbecued Kyufte (Skalitsa goat based mince)
Local chemical free bread, (Skalitsa made)
Aryan (buttermilk) from Skalitsa cow milk
Homemade Sliva (Plum) Rakia (from Skalitsa sliva )
Ariana Beer (Sofia)

The following morning’s menu:

Homemade pancakes dressed with Skalitsa honey
Banitsa made with sirene and Yambol leeks
Menthe Tea

Lunchtime:

Kyufte (Yesturday's Leftovers)
Cucumber and tomato salad (Yambol produced)
Lemonade (Made in Yambol)

Late afternoon:

Sunflower seeds (Skalitsa produced)

The evening menu:
Shopska Salad
Rakia (Skalitsa Farmhouse Grape based)
Ariana Beer
Oven baked
Baked Yambol Rabbit with fried liver, heart kidney and rice stuffing. Accompanied with onions, garlic, potato carrots and broccoli

Sunday morning:

More freshly cooked pancakes
Menthe Tea
Brazilian Coffee!

Sunday Lunchtime (Late):
Sarma made from Goat mince, Skalitsa Farmhouse vine leaves and Bulgarian rice

There were so many feasting highlights this weekend it was hard to choose the best. The Baked stuffed rabbit got the accolade of the best presented feast. We had to improvise a bit as I didn't have needle and thread in the house being an Englishman's house, so we used a metal skewer to sew up the rabbit stomach to keep the stuffing in.

Also I hadn't mentioned about the pickling that went on as well during the weekend. We now have lots of vegetable in store to last us through the winter. The cabbages will be stored in the massive 240 litres barrels, where the wine has was feremented and turned into Rakia a few days ago.

After a fabulous feasting weekend, it was back to Yambol for more food and drink in the evening. All I can say is Phew! What's more, because all the Bulgarian women about, I didn't have to lift a finger, even though I tried and got told off!

4 Eggs

It is the lack of free thought and doing things that make sense that caught me by surprise on this beautiful weekend in Skalitsa with Galia and Poliya her cousin. They came here after work on Friday evening joining up with me for a weekend of total relaxing with music, food. drink and dance.

It was Saturday evening when Poliya started to get together all the ingredients needed for a meal of baked rabbit and potatoes with honey based pancakes. It came to pass that everything was there, yes, including the rabbit that was caught and skinning in Yambol, except for the eggs. She presumed because we live in the village with chickens everywhere you look that eggs needn’t have been bought for this weekend. She was almost right but I had used the last two for the Skalitsa Banitsas I made earlier that morning, and were they delicious.

So, no eggs and the shop just a stone’s throw away could I go and get some. This was such a simple request but brought about a major rethink about how most of us have been controlled by the commercialism and how you think.

I asked how many eggs she wanted but the only reason was to find out whether I should buy 6 or 12 eggs. Poliya said that she only wanted 4 for the pancake dish so the question was answered; I was to get half a dozen as I started making my way down to the shop.

It was only 10 metres down the road and walking amongst all the free range animals, running, grazing or flying when a sudden though from this English head of mine. Why the hell do I want to buy six eggs, Poliya only want four for the recipe? Then another thought can to mind. What would happen to the other two eggs? I knew exactly what would happen to them, they would remain in the fridge for another week until another egg based recipe, in each case more than two would be required and anther six would be bought!

Why buy six! It was a life of being brought up on marketing standards, eggs come in dozens, and in England you can’t buy less than six! That is ridiculous, what a fool am I to fall for this time and time. In Bulgaria, if I want one egg I can buy it, that is normal.

With this I bought four eggs brought them back and another step forward into freethinking and away from institutionalised ways

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Food from a Bulgarian Baba

I live with Baba now during the day. Galia is out to work early ‘till late and I am writing with Baba Mama doing her busy woman about the house trick everyday.

She is 84 and doesn’t stop going back and forth from chores in the kitchen to sweeping the yard, watering the garden, putting the washing out. She starts at 7:00 in the morning and doesn’t stop until bedtime.

There is a rest at around 1:00 – 2:00 where she gets her head down for a little snooze but that’s where it ends. Even when she is sitting down her hands are busy sewing, knitting or repairing something.

What Baba can’t understand is why I don’t slow down and eat and sleep every couple of hours. She doesn’t understand that a Bulgarian man is very different to a Englishman. I always remember going back nearly tow years ago when she saw me vacuuming the front room…… she was in tears as she had never seen anything like it in her 80 odd years in Bulgaria.

I know now that every time the clock goes past midday she pokes her head around the corner of the kitchen area where I work and tell me I’m hungry. To be fair I start work at 8:00 after having given Galia a lift to work so she knows that a fair morning work has been done at this point.

The first week this routine came into play I Baba didn’t get any sleep, she was too shy and humble to tell me that her sleeping sofa was being occupied by my posterior working on the laptop. Little did I know that I was in the way of her routine until Galia found out and told me one evening. Now I move into another room for the rest of the day to give her a well earned forty-winks but not before she has prepared me food and drink whether I want it or not.

Now Baba is a tried and tested cook and there isn’t anything she prepares that isn’t home cooked and natural. Base ingredients all from the market or from my own Skalitsa farm. She is a superb cook and I cannot ever remember not liking anything she has prepared.

There is a little wariness about how long the food it kept as Baba always used the big pot to make lots – it is a question of economic cooking energy wise. There has been food, meat at that, which has been standing around for 4 or 5 days. This used to worry me immensely at first – is it my own British standards that have brainwashed me into thinking that everything has be eaten with two days or you die fo food poisoning? Yes I think it is, a ploy by global food producers to make you buy more putting the fear of God into you if you didn’t! I digress….

Baba totters along to prepare the food and she now has come to accept that a microwave we bought for her last year has its uses. It took her almost a year to the day to come to terms and understand what she can and can’t put in it and that was from experience not instruction! Now she can’t get enough of it but all she has learnt is how to cook pop corn in it! The little bottle gas stove is still used religiously as before and used for the original cooking using the big pot.

Today for the third day running and the fifth meal we had chicken, bean and potato stew and never in a million years would I get bored with that. The bones as after ever each meal is given to Alex the dog, our neighbour’s doorbell.

Each day Baba lays the table and never a day goes by where raw garlic, fresh bread and green salad is positioned next to the main meal. The most delicious combination and compliment to any meal. Drink accompaniment is Ayran made from yoghurt made in Skalitsa from my neighbour’s fresh cow milk. Baba loves Ayran along with all three generations of family living here.

Spoilt? Yes but in this day and age of fast food how lucky am I to get traditional food derved up the most respectful and experienced cook. Something now she is handing down to me so long may it continue to live on.

Baba has such a variety of cooking skills and recipes that now after a while of Bulgarian routine the sleeping habit after lunchtime meals is beginning to have an affect on me. A lie down after her fantastic food is something that just seems so natural to do. Unlike before where no break and no food was taken, a habit picked up from England now finally beginning to be laid to rest.

An Early Introduction to Bulgarian Shkembe Chorba

Bulgarian Tripe Soup (Shkembe Chorba) was first sampled a while ago in Yambol at 2:00 in the morning. This was after a very busy evening with Bulgarian friends eating, drinking, dancing followed on by more drinking, dancing and talking in a local nightclub. Just as I thought the nightclub scene was over and time to go home we zig-zagged our way a non stop bar and was presented with another round of beer and in addition of a round of tripe soup!?

It was a real mystery as to why tripe soup was ordered at the time until it was explained that this soup was a perfect remedy for heavy heads after drinking sessions usually drunk in the morning for the morning after the night before!

For starters tripe soup went out of fashion decades ago in the UK and after this session all I can say is they just don't know what they are missing over there now. This was the resurrection of a dish for me that I thought had disappeared of the face of the earth. How could I ever doubt that the Bulgarian would continue to surprise me with their taste and food fashion that always remains very much at the doorway to heaven.

Shkemba Chorba was enjoyed to the hilt with fresh bread (there is a bakery open 24 hours round the corner of this bar) after adding dried roughly ground chili peppers, garlic, vinegar and salt.

Such a simple dish that touches all corners of the tongue taste buds resulting in a clearer head and constitution to walk home to.

I may also add that at no time does the descriptive word 'Drunk' portray evenings like this. Bulgarians generally do not get drunk, just more merry as the evening turns into morning. The Bulgarian company, food, talk and dance help enormously.

Shkeme Chorba is based mainly on chopped up calf stomach lining cooking in a milk based liquid with garlic, vinegar and chili peppers as seasoning.

The recipe has been sourced from my Bulgarian partner Galia and has been published here, just look for the recipe menu:

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Mice in Bulgaria - Revisited

Mice in Bulgaria - Revisited

Mice in Bulgaria revisited has a double meaning. You will never really get rid of mice in Bulgaria, especially in the Bulgarian country regions. Once one clan of mice have gone other clans of mice will revisit. Whether they stay of not is down to the surroundings and environment, just like house Bulgarian hunting really.

Bulgarians in the main, especially in village locations of Bulgaria live with the mice and look at it as a minor inconvenience. They do try and take sensible steps with traps and poison but the odd mouse or two is not deemed a major problem. They accept that mice are a part an parcel of their living space, especially in the village locations and live not quite happily alongside them but content enough in any case. Rats are a different story and are looked upon in a very different light, this requires another chapter.

Mice in Bulgaria are very simple creatures and you have to put yourself into their frame of mind before knowing how to cope with them. Survival is the key element, not only from the point of an individual mouse but from a mice family perspective.

Imagine you're a mouse just out of nappies on your own with hormones running wild.... what do you need? Well let's list a few things for starters.

A warm, safe and draught free home
A food supply
A water supply
A family

This short list of basic requirements is not to dissimilar from our own needs therefore the problem of ridding you house of mice give us a slight edge as to changing the environment they would favour..

The first step it to ensure that all food in the house is not left out and floors are kept clean and free from food. There is no particular favourite place for mice in houses as each room has its own attractions.

The kitchen or kitchen/dining room it well known by mice for scraps of food or plentiful supplies from cupboards that don't have stocks containerized effectively. Tupperware and glass containers are the answer, not only does it prevent mice gnawing away at cardboard based containers it helps keep the food stocks fresher for longer as well. I invariably use these plastic or glass containers to store food direct they are bought and stored away, all recycled of course!.

Kitchen draws are another favourite haunt where mice can find resources they need for their home. Drawers or cupboards where tea towels or aprons are kept should also be stored away thoughtfully and checked periodically. Mice look upon this as a good bedding or bedding material if not there making the drawer their home, for their own homes elsewhere. If the draw is not opened for a couple of weeks that is time enough for a generation of mice to have been brought into this world with the help of your tea towel/apron material. Of course the likelihood of this is less if the food source in the kitchen has been sealed off in the first place.

Bread bins seem like an obvious and practical place to store bread but many types are not mice proof and the remains of crumbs invariably stay there for ages. If you do get a bread bin try and get an actual bin with a tight fitting lid and not a flap designed one. Make a habit of tapping out old bread crumbs for your for your neighbour's chickens each time a new loaf is placed in.

Keep plastic bags stored in a containers with a sealed top, plastic is a favourite bedding material for with the added bonus sometimes of traces of food still left in the bags, i.e. bread crumbs, etc. Not good tactics for putting mice off from coming in.

Bedrooms are another good place to find bedding naturally, it a bedroom! But not just for us, men and mice alike want the best conditions for our homes and beds. Again look in the bedroom drawers and wardrobe shelves as sometimes the mice gain entry from the back of the furniture where the material is maybe just hardboard or plywood, easily nibbled for entry.

Mice can squeeze through the most minute gaps and using filler to seal all the gaps can reduce risks, a great deal needed in the case of many Bulgarian styled rooms. Again this is another problem that mice will look at an seek alternative easier entry points elsewhere.

You need to bare in mind that mice will also seek new places to visit and search for suitable places that can provide the list mentioned earlier. So even though you may not have mice now it is always going to be open for investigation at a later date. The secret is to keep one step ahead and make the environment unattractive to inquisitive mice on their constant quest for raising their families.

Bathrooms and toilets are usually mice free as they are usually tiled and free from wood based fitting and food isn't usually found there unless you leave traces dropped eating your meals on the toilet. So there shouldn't really be any worried there. Towels and spare toilet rolls stored usually are untouched but there could be a problem in airing cupboards where these are sometime kept, especially int he winter. Put yourself in their position, what a lovely place to raise a family and worth doing a bit of commuting for food and water.

Living rooms are also a favourite haunt for mice, sofas and settees are sometimes looked as a either a place to nest within or just a supply of material, perhaps the foam stuffing or cotton based covers. These are attacked from the back with the runways along the skirting board and even in the wall paneling. Again sealing the gaps that they can gain access is a option and making sure that the seating areas do not have dropped food laying behind and under the cushions. We all know how this can sometimes be overlooked. When vacuuming alway make a point of covering the settees and sofa cushion confines.

Use the long adapter extension that comes with the vacuum to get into the crevices that food (and money form visitors if you're lucky) hide.

If you have dogs or cats this doesn't always prevent mice in fact in many cases attracts them! Why? well there are so many instances where dog or cat food is left out only to attract the mice naturally of course. There is a free food source just waiting, just think of 'Tom and Jerry' and you will see why this is so, Tom is always around but so is Jerry, the food source is always there!

As is the case of dogs... as ex pats dogs (and cats) in the home means pet food in the home on the kitchen floor and lays there for hours on end. Even with the bowl empty there is sure to the traces of food left, more than enough to satisfy a few mice fro an evenings feed. The secret is to feed the animals and take away, clean and store the bowl until next feeding time. Your pets soon learn that feed time comes and goes at certain time during the day, or even more Bulgarian, feed your pets outside away from the house. Water of course should always be available.

Just a short point about traps, they don't work, they are not sensitive enough, precarious to use and quite often just attract the mice with the food bait which is taken off the trap and their there the next day looking for more! Used outside, it catches hedgehogs, sparrows and other non vermin creatures in but no mice!

Moving on, it remains that all these procedures may still not guarantee your house being visited by mice and that where the insurance plan comes into play. Not pleasant but the trump card is the poison!

Place mouse poison at all times in places where mice would tend to investigate. Under kitchen drawers, behind fridges and freezers and right at the back of food cupboards at ground level in the kitchen. In the bedrooms, under the bed, behind wardrobes and dressing tables. In the living area behind the sofa and cabinets also behind hi-fi units with trailing wires, another favourite bedding source for mice. finally at the back of the airing cupboard if you have one.

Finally keep some poison laid out in the attic, again bedding there is usually very attractive to mice and just another precaution in place.

There is a a whole new chapter to the problem of mice in garages, outbuilding and livestock areas and this actually does link up with mice in the home. A degree of mice in these places is the norm it is just a case of laying the poison out of the reach of domestic pets. In my garage I use a couple of heavy Bulgarian slates leaning again the wall with poison behind. They cannot be moved by cats and solely accessible by the vermin. this was done in the barn where the hay and straw is kept, checked once a week and topped up if necessary and it works for me.

Can I also point out that this out of home system works very well for rats and many time the poison bait has suddenly completely disappeared but I am safe in the knowledge that this has been taken away by mice or rats and a generation will not return. But there will always be this search by other vermin on their search for suitable places to live.

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Living off the Bulgarian Land

Food here in Bulgaria is something else. Everyday a new experience is to be had in Bulgarian cuisine. I must say that it helps tremendously that my partner is Bulgarian and cooks like an angel, but that aside, the Bulgarian friends and neighbours would still tickle my taste buds at every opportunity with their own cooking.

Since coming here, there hasn't really been any moment where a pang for supermarket branded food has called out. No Twiglets, Mars Bars, Baked Beans or even Sherbet Fountains with the liquorice sticking out felt needed or wanted. In fact nowadays the only thing I can remember about these foods is the horrible aftertaste!

Those who have been here eating natural Bulgarian food for long enough will know exactly what is meant by this!

Every few weeks someone asks, “I'm coming over, what would you like me to bring over for you?” It is very difficult to think of anything, even after really thinking hard. So these kind people usually bring over some English teabags, Cadbury's cream eggs or a bottle of whisky, many thanks guys and I mean this most sincerely, but these are then actually used for English guests that come round, so very useful anyway. This is not being ungracious but just speaking truthfully about how things are now.

Here in Bulgaria, most produce comes straight out of the village homes, most of which are not just homes but smallholdings. Food comes from a variety of sources mainly grown from rich, dark, fertile land. This produce also feeds chickens, cows and calves, goats and sheep, ducks and geese, rabbits and peafowl to name a few.

Back in the village of Skalitsa where I live, there is no need for supermarket shopping. Occasionally food is bought from the supermarket, more out of habit if I happen to be in town but usually from my local village shop that provides everything I need. These needs are for bread and flour, (both made and milled in my village), sunflower oil, (locally produced), salt and sugar. Local honey is used more often for sweetening than sugar.

Filo pastry is also sometimes bought for the homemade banitsas, the recipe given for the unique Skalitsa banitsa is further on in the book but there are other pastry variations of the banitsa throughout Bulgaria.

Last but not least beer is bought here. Making your own beer here is not entertained purely on that basis and it would never touch the quality that the Belgian owners of breweries achieve here. You just can’t improve on perfect beer.

I can't say there is much else needed. As much wine, Rakia and liqueur as I could ever wish for is all locally produced in the village or on my own farm.

Sunflower seeds are gathered from the field adjoining my land and as long as it is for personal consumption there is no problem with this, in fact the mice in the field eat more than any villager. They are dried, (some salted) and stored in airtight, recycled plastic food boxes.

Chickpeas are grown and stored in the same way, sweetcorn is grown or again taken in from fields and dried but not used for animal feed, (that wouldn't be right if taken from the co-operative fields), dried and fried in oil to make popcorn: another treat from the garden flavoured either with honey or salt before popping. So there's your little variety of snacks with drinks sorted.

All the cheeses and yoghurts are homemade. All from natural ingredients. Walnuts are gathered and keep for up to a year for use in cooking and stored. Walnuts baked in honey is another Bulgarian legend in good tasting food or for use as another accompaniment to drinks. Almonds are gathered with shells you can remove without nutcrackers, ever tried that from a supermarket almond?

Fresh figs are preserved in syrup, there are melons galore both the honeydew and water type, the latter makes a marvellous jam to be eaten all year round. Strawberry jam used for cakes and for milkshakes is a summer taste second to none all year round. Apples, pears, sliva, can all be stored in boxes or bottled in syrup and kept for up to six months. My last apple was eaten in April this year was almost as good as it would have been picked in October the year before. And it was sweet and tasted like an apple!

On occasion non-Bulgarian guests visit and sometimes, 'turn their nose up' at some of the food offered because it is not like food bought in the shops. You may well be surprised at how many say that! This is the only other reason that supermarkets are frequented, to cater for the need of these occasions. No offence taken at this point, it's not their fault it's the system they have grown to rely on.

Therefore produce that is not in season has been either frozen or bottled and supplies take us through the winter and spring. This is not a chore as the garlic and onions are plaited and the tomatoes, peppers pot and pumpkins boiled for bottling on the outside wood-burning contraption. Everything is done slowly and very systematically. When it comes to doing anything like this in village life there is never any panic or rush with the long day ahead. Why do we on the other hand, still try and hurry things to get it done as quickly as possible all the time?

With all this food to hand, including most meats, a range of poultry and dairy products you can make anything you want from the ingredients. Even beef can be grown, bought or bartered for in the village.

Everything and more is grown here than in the UK so what's the problem there? Nothing, it would seem, the problem in the UK for many is the culture of buying convenient food rather than growing your own. How many have a garden where produce can be grown? most people. The climate here helps a lot, but what makes it work here and not there is the way of life and the homegrown food culture, that left the UK some 40-50 years ago. You come to Bulgaria and take a big step back in time. It hit me last night yet again how the simplest ingredients can turn out to be another memorable meal. Just a sliced young marrow fresh from the garden dipped in flour and fried until brown then served hot topped with homemade yoghurt. It was that simple
but the result was something very special. Everyday another taste or recipe is laid out and enjoyed; it really is like going back to base ingredients and enjoying them for what they are.

How often is this forgotten, bowing to commercially processed foods made for you from a point of ease and laziness? For convenience, the process squeezes out the taste of natural foods with chemically enhanced products as the replacement, and this becomes the 'taste of the norm' for the weekly consumers.

Food regulations don't help and in fairness the argument will always be health first - which I have to agree with. But I must add a summing up of the situation at this point by saying that this is may be an overkill in regulations. Perhaps this is an unfortunate phrase, considering that the artificial preservatives and enhancers being consumed ironically mandatorily in processed food for health reasons, defeat the object.

It is quite strange that most village folk don't have a choice of shopping for food over growing their own food; they simply can't afford it. If they could afford to and had a choice the convenience foods are there, waiting in the wings ready to pounce for profits, which is the name of the game. The new generation of Bulgarians is making its way to become part of the American and Euro fast food brigade. Horticultural activities carried out as in villages throughout Bulgaria may be just restricted to commercial dimensions as they were in the UK so many years ago. I am grateful and privileged to have the opportunity to experience Bulgaria as it is now.

Just one point I should mention as I continually hear stories about this, it's an old wives' tale: eggs! The chickens I keep are totally free range, with access to all natural food in the big yard and greenery from the wasted organic vegetation, with a supplement of natural wheat to call them home in the evening. Nothing could be more free range than these chickens. So, when someone says, 'Oh, I tried some free range eggs and the colour of the yolk was so deep in colour, it was orange!'

What are you thinking right now? Do you have this picture of this apparently fresh free-range egg now revealing its sensuous lush orange yolk just waiting to melt in the mouth after being lightly fried in a little oil and laid on a bed of the softest white buttered bread you could imagine? Looks good? Tastes good? Doubt it! This is not true; the colour of free-range eggs is usually just plain yellow at best!

On the contrary My Dear Watson battery and commercial egg producers (other than the chickens themselves of course), put colour additives in the feed to produce a more deeply coloured yolk, which is what the consumer wants and gets - supply and demand. So the chicken may be described as free-range but what are they given to eat? Market research has found that the yellow yolk doesn't sell as well as the darker orange tinted colour, so they artificially change the colour by using chemicals in the feed. Next time you go to a town supermarket and buy eggs, even so called free-range, see how orange the yolk is; you know why now.

Finally, and this doesn't apply to many people coming over here but it does to some, it is so petty when I hear complaints about Bulgarian food from non-Bulgarians. The comments include, 'It has no taste!' or 'It's bland!' or It's boring!' Well these sentiments just get passed back into thinking it's not the food but the people who complain who have no taste, are bland and boring. In many cases they just haven't even tried Bulgarian food! I just remember a quote from someone talking about Bulgarian food saying, 'I hate Bulgarian sausages, I have never tasted one and never will!'

No names mentioned here of course but this comment just speaks for itself.

Back to Bulgarian earth chaps - I am still a lifetime away from getting my produce up to the standard of my Bulgarian neighbours: the learning goes on all the time. With a previous life in the UK weaned on convenience foods combined with no time to eat due to work constraints, it is like being born again here in Bulgaria. In Bulgaria I have found one thing that rings true, the food grows faster than the pace of life.