Mixing It Up, Vesela Koleda 2011

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas time. We enjoyed it very much. The house was decorated to the hilt & looked like a fairy grotto with lights everywhere & the fibre optic tree was over decorated as was my want this year. We invited our Bulgarian family over for Christmas eve. Yovo likes to experience traditional English things. Last year it was Christmas dinner this year its the eve.

So Mulled wine, mince pies, sausage rolls, a chilli with rice & apple cake, all homemade, As its my tradition to cook something easy the day before which we can serve to anyone who pops in along with the traditional fare. In Bulgaria it is their tradition to eat only vegetarian & flat bread with a coin in so Pavlinka brought round a still warm bread & some stuffed cabbage leaves, along with Yovo's bottle of Rakia (if we ever needed even more booze). We added everything to the table & had a feast!
Pavlinka gave me a traditional Bulgarian runner & I gave her some Christmas napkins, ahh all very simple & really nice. Yovo still has trouble though, accepting hot spiced wine instead of hot Rakia, bless him.

The Bulgarians are so generous & you never know what they will turn up with.
Christmas day was great, we really had a fantastic day. I was panicked over driving in the snow & even took 2 beta blockers ;-) I needn't have worried as once out of the village the roads were clear & the views amazing, what a lovely day to be out, the sun was shinning the snow was glistening like someone had scattered trillions of diamonds across Bulgaria!

First stop was to see friends who had just had their furniture turn up from the UK, apart from a small op which means they have to be in UK for a few more days they are starting their new adventure just down the road from us, well 20 mins, but to us they are close neighbours! Can't wait to throw a big welcoming party for them, when they're back & forth trips are over!!! Dave & Irene were spending the Christmas period celebrating with us, Sue & Tid so we didn't dally long & made our way to Peychinovo. We had a fantastic day being spoilt by two great hosts & enjoyed every bit of it. We had a traditional Christmas with a twist this year & opted for beef instead of Turkey on Christmas day & we had Duck & Pork on Boxing day (no left overs). Sue made some gorgeous pastry tarts with a custard & fruit filling, lovely & for starters my fav prawn cocktail, I have not had this for years & its always been my favourite anything with prawns or shell fish is up at the top of the list for me!

You know that Christmas evening feeling when you just can't envisage eating another morsel well we were all in that zone but still managed just a little more hahaha, what are we like, is it just the British? So well stuffed & lubricated we had a great drive home, no ice on the roads brill, just to repeat it all again at our house the next day. Boy its hard work. I couldn't prepare most of it before hand just the sausage rolls, grape & apple cakes the rest had to be cooked on the day. I made two sauces to go with the duck one was the proverbial orange tangy sauce & the other a cherry sauce made with my own preserved cherries from over two years ago & yes they are still great & the juice is amazing yummy!!!!! The cherry was also good with the pork so I will definitely be making that again. I loved the fact I had made something for Christmas that we had grown & preserved almost 3 yrs previously. I also prepared a butternut squash we had grown from the seeds of last Boxing days butternut squash, that's what home produce is all about & I love it.

We had another great day & it was over all too soon!
I had been very homesick this last couple of months on the lead up to Christmas & I couldn't have had a better Christmas without my family than this it was just what my spirit needed & my family also had a great time in the UK.
I really hope you all had a fantastic time with your family & friends especially those of you who will be moving over to Bulgaria this coming year, Nastrave priateli, Chestita Nova Godina, sichko hobovo x Now the grammar will most definitely be wrong but its meant from the heart! I wish you all a very happy New Year in whatever you are doing my friends & may everything be good xxxx