Food

Food, Travel

In my experience a Bulgarian Christmas is family, food, and snow — all in large portions. To be fair, minus the snow, that pretty much describes any time of year in Bulgaria! Allow me to elaborate (and share a few specifics)…

Food

For the purposes of this list family and food are one in the same; recipes and traditions about food are passed down from generation to generation, and food is enjoyed together.

Apparently, according to traditions in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, people are supposed to forgo animal products like meat, eggs, milk, cheese, etc for forty days before Christmas. In practice (and probably more so in urban areas) it seems like people generally only do this on Christmas eve.

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Food, Pictures, Travel

It’s winter and it’s still beautiful here in San Diego, California. I wouldn’t get in the water, but sitting on the bluff eating a California burrito (basically carne asada with french fries) is definitely something I can do. ;)

Also, it was a beautiful day in Laguna Beach today. This is from my grandma’s house on the cliff in Laguna — I spent a lot of summers on this beach!

Food

A year or two ago I learned that making bread is really easy. Contrary to popular belief — if my friends are any indication of “popular belief” — you don’t have to do any messy kneading or rolling. Making your own bread isn’t just for hipsters anymore. In fact, you don’t need to look far for rationale…

For hippies, when you make your own bread you can control what goes into it. For cheapskates, making your own bread is way cheaper than buying it. For fancy people, home made bread tastes better than store bought loaf (ok, not the really fancy stuff).

It’s easy! Try it!

Ingredients

The ingredients are simple and wholesome!

  • 1 tablespoon of yeast
  • 1 tablespoon of sugar (optional)
  • 1 cup (to the brim) of warm water
  • 1 cup (to the brim) of white flour
  • 1 cup (to the brim) of brown flour
  • 1 teaspoon of salt (to taste)
  • 1 tablespoon of oil (or so) to grease the baking tin

Activate the Yeast

Put the yeast and sugar into a mixing bowl along with the warm water. The yeast will activate and dissolve…

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