mish-mash

My wonderful Tatko became 80, unbelievable and incredible! Please, be healthy and enjoy every minute of every day! You are the most honest person, I ever have known, who would risk to suffer but always says the truth! You are looking after all of us, mainly after Mama, for what I will be grateful forever! You are the best male cook, I have ever known, with your passion for food! You taught me millions of good things, hope that I have lived up to your hopes... You taught me that family and friends are to love and cherish! You taught me that to be Bulgarian is a blessing! Thank you. I love you so very much x Varna Our family of friends Tatko I Mama With Ellie in Galata Making tikvenik- pumpkin pie with Ellie

I had to share this, as the name of my blog comes from this purely delicious Bulgarian dish. Now I will tell you how we cook it in our family, as there are so many variations of the dish. Apologies but the photo is not one of mine. Mish-mash 1kg of roasted red peppers , can be mixed with green, the best are the pointy Italian ones if you want to roast them yourself, otherwise  buy a large jar of ready roasted ones form any ethnic shop, the Turkish ones are very good! 1-2 small GOOD tomatoes , tinned Italian ones are just fine! 4-5 large eggs , from happy chickens of course! 400g of feta cheese , any feta cheese will do! 3 spoons of olive oil, 1 spoonful of plain flour, a bunch of flat-leaf parsley Heat the oil in a good frying pan and add the cut into strips roast peppers, fry for good 5 minutes, then add the flour and mix well and fry to further 10 minutes. Next add the bitten eggs and stir them through the peppers. Once they scramble, take the pan off the heat and ad...

My adorable and very clever friend Mimi (sometimes she is my little sister, sometimes I am her young aunty) has yet again created  some beautiful gifts. She loooooooooooooooves making things, very, very pretty things! These are her Christmas and not only! Bon Bon trees! Wonderful idea, since I stopped buying any other presents but food and drink to all but the kids, because who of us actually needs anything? But don't we all love chocolate! Quick! Order yours before they are sold!

I have to share this with you, if I could I would have shared it with the whole world, as I was so proud and happy to make the big Bulgarian HORO(a dynamic and beautiful circle dance) in Gloucester actually happen! I am Bulgarian and extremely proud of it! I love everything Bulgarian- the language, the old traditions, the folklore music and dance, the food of course and last but not least the people! I have lived in the UK for the last 19 and 1/2 years and have never even dreamt that I will hear Bulgarian folk music, never mind dance to it  in the middle of Gloucester on a busy Saturday morning. It was surreal, amazing, emotional to the point that I thought, if I open my mouth to speak I would have cried, so I kept smiling for a while. Here is the time and place to say by BIG thank you to my incredible friends- Geri, Mimi, Ina, Simona, Eli, Jivelia and Miro who made the day even more special, they were dressed in the colourful Bulgarian folk costumes-NOSIYA and danced ...

As I said in the last post, we have two baby-boys, they are soooooo cute and cuddly, and mischievous of course! My husband brought them on the 14th September, according to the Vet not even 5 weeks old, and we instantly fell in love with them. Ellie named Simba and Martyn -Pepper. Mitzi has proven to be the perfect big sister come mummy cat, she is very patient and caring with them. ready for bed!

Let me introduce you to Mitzi, our beautiful and lovable cat. She has been with us two years now and we all love her so very much, but her favourite is our daughter. Why "our big girl cat"? Because we have two baby boys, who are gorgeous too, photos of them will follow. Here Mitzi is happily asleep next to Ellie's bed, where she usually sleeps best!!! Mitzi-the princess!

I must say that I always fancied myself as a photographer, evidence of which you will see plenty of here, I am sure; so I decided to put some of my photos forward to the competition in one of my schools. Here they are, hope you like them as much , as I do! medlers New Delhi street food Orthodox Easter Turkish village wedding Delhi traffic My photos at the competition!!!

OMG, I am actually writing my first post. Pelin, my clever, beautiful and kind pupil is teaching me-for a change! how to do all this. She is a wonderful teacher! Just to let you ALL know that my blog will be full of many different things from my colourful life! My daughter and husband, my family and friends, our cats, my teaching, my passions-travelling, cooking and reading, my everything...as I've named it MISH-MASH!