Galia Joined By Donatello in Yambol

It’s all change in Yambol as Galia is out of hospital and at home recovering, the operation was completely successful although she will need quite a time to recover.

Needless to say she won’t be starting work for at least another week possibly up to three weeks. I won’t allow her to go back unless she is fully recovered. The weather has changed from – 18 C to 0 C during nights and reaching +12 C during the day.

Having had a couple of days in Skalitsa, having a whale of a time sorting out an iced up farmhouse, I return to Yambol late Sunday evening. The following morning we were without water again! No freezing temperatures, just a normal occurrence, we knew it would be back on in the evening and it was Ivo and I tossed a 20 stotinki coin to see who took a shower first – he won.

Ivo had recently acquired a new friend, which he said was going to live with us. We thought, ah ha, at last he has a girlfriend, but it was with great disappointment that when he brought his friend home it turned out to be a buck rabbit named Donatello. The disappointment didn’t last long as the rabbit now has the free run of the house and we discussed that fact that a rabbit is cheaper than a women and certainly much less of a headache for Ivo. It is a great concern of all of us that one day as the silent roaming rabbit will wander and that Baba will eventually accidentally sit on him!

Rabbits aside, our neighbour the priest has his house up for sale – we were gob smacked at the value he is putting it up for. Almost the equivalent of £100,000! Fair do, it has been done up really nicely with all the modern fitting you would find in a modern westernised house and a garden that is mainly lawn, but for that money it is only Mafia or foreigners that could afford it. It is not typical of a Yambol town house, it is as if it had been done up for a foreign buyer with no vegetables or other garden produce being grown. It has been observed and documented before in this blog that priests in Bulgaria are astute businessmen so perhaps it is no surprise that the home was perhaps a business enterprise for this holy man.

Finally, back to Galia, it is great to have her back home again and to be quite honest we both feel quite lost without each other.

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!

Marta the Rabbit

Marta the Rabbit, our "Security Guard" has gone to a new home. With the onset of summer, we felt that it was in Marta's best interests if she could live outside and enjoy the fresh air. She now lives with one of our clients in Kabile and has two children to play with.

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Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit

It was one day in the office, Phil hates birthdays but knew there was something on the cards when he arrived for work on this particular day but what?

'I hate Rosh Den Dens, there's too much fuss over them" we all heard him whisper under his breath as he came into the office.

We had all prepared for the occasion with party hats, birthday cake and a gift that would touch the hearts of an angel. And it did!

Presented was a little incy wincy 4 week old pure white rabbit. Only in Bulgaria would such an occasion happen without any thought about where a rabbit could be kept. Phil, now with his heart being touched and an avid a dog lover was under no illusions that the rabbit would be short lived if taken back home to his rabbit loving pets. Rabbits lovers of course very much in a "Dinner" sense!

Where could the rabbit be kept? This was not the first problem, the name had to be chosen. Bugs, flopsy, Mopsy, Dog, Rabbi and many other variations on rabbit and non rabbit names. The name Marta came about and it may have been the reaction to the name being mentioned by a twitch of the nose that laid claim or the fact that all the other names were stupid, who knows!? The name stuck and we now had not only a white rabbit but a white rabbit called Marta! Furthermore not just a white rabbit called Marta but a white rabbit called Marta with nowhere to live!

The sense of panic was now set in with this fact, more immediately where was Marta going to sleep tonight? She came in a cardboard box with some lettuce leaves and wood shavings, that's it. Something else had to be conjured up.

The Property Guide and part time boy scout Evgeni went out to find a suitable house for Marta in local pet shops, luckily there are two just across the road. It was in his absence that Marta was official assigned as the 'guard rabbit' for the office. Security certainly wouldn't be the same now with Marta about, hop two three four, hop two three four as Marta made her way around the office to familiarise herself with the territory she was to guard.

Our boy scout Evgeni returned with simple wicker basket, some bowls for feed and drink and finally a packets of rabbit food to complete the package, I heard Evgeni say that he was looking for food that had lots of good vitamins to keep the rabbit healthy. What a loving and caring man he is, even though he does like rabbit stew!

So Mr Rose is now another year older and up by one rabbit as Marta is not only a guard fore the officed, but technically free range within the confines fo the office.

Marta was found to be a girly rabbit after a few weeks so the name Marta had a girly sound to it so no change there! She even celebrated her name Day on March the 1st along with all the other Marta and Martins in Bulgaria.

Everyone loves Marta and Marta loves everyone. She plays hide and seek in the morning as the first thing everyone says when they come in is 'Kede e Marta? before the 'Dobro outro!' She sometimes hides under the kitchen sink or behind the paper shredder but is always found eventually, she's a little tinker.

When clients come in to the office Marta is there and the first topic of conversation. And then there are the kids that meet her. They love here to bits, when kids pick her up it's 'Aaah and the it's Stroke City!

She has adapted so well to her environment and has taken to it like a duck to water, hang on guys don't get anymore ideas for birthdays just yet! The office just wouldn't be the same without Marta now.

Now young rabbits make a mess and Dori is our official 'Rabbit Clearer Upper' among other things. She didn't smile too much when she was first faced with Marta's mess in the morning, but then she doesn't smile that often anyway! It doesn't look like mini marbles is her favourite game.

So Marta is now part of the team and our mascot and we wouldn't want to change that.

www.bulgarianrealestateonline.com

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www.self-catering-breaks.com/Properties/Prop42149.htm