Bulgarian Food

Although there are some similarities between American and Bulgarian cuisine, overall the food is quite different and unique. One of the best aspects of Bulgarian food is that it is always fresh. Every family has their own personal garden and grow everything from tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers to grapes, carrots, and pumpkins. Due to this, most meals are based heavily around vegetables and usually served with either chicken or pork. Here are a few typical Bulgarian meals and how to make them:

Tarator: Cold Cucumber Soup


Ingredients:
2 cucumbers
500 grams of plain yogurt
3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of crushed walnuts
2 tablespoon of fresh dill
Salt, oil and water (optional)

1) Grate the cucumbers and place them in a bowl
2) Mash the yogurt with a fork into a liquid like consistency and pour over the cucumbers
3) Add the crushed garlic, dill, walnuts, and salt
4) For a more watery consistency, add 1/4-1/2 cup of cold water
5) Refrigerate and serve

Shopska Salad: My favorite Bulgarian meal


Ingredients
4 medium tomatoes, washed and diced
4 cucumbers, washed, peeled and diced
2 green bell peppers, diced
1 red onion, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
1 cup grated Bulgarian white cheese (cirene) or feta cheese
oil, vinegar, salt and pepper (to taste)

1) Put the already cut tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onion and parsley into a large bowl and mix.
2) Pour the white cheese or feta over the top of the vegetables
3) Pour olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper over the cheese and enjoy!

Note: This is an extremely easy dish to make and is absolutely delicious.

Rhodopean Moussaka



Ingredients
.5 kilogram minced meat (pork and beef although just beef is alright)
1 kilogram potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
3 tomatoes, chopped
2 onions, chopped
1/3 cup parsley
3 medium sized eggs
1 cup plain yogurt
3 tablespoons of flour
salt and pepper

1) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
2) Cook the minced meat and onions in a pan over the stove until the meat is brown
3) Mix together the meat, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, parsley, salt and pepper together in a large baking dish
4) Bake uncovered for 45 minutes - 1 hour until the potatoes are fully cooked (you should quite easily be able to mash them with a fork)
5) Combine the eggs, yogurt and flour together in a bowl and pour the mixture over the top of the dish
6) Bake for 15 more minutes and serve warm!

Hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I do. Be sure to have your parents help you when making them as they can get quite messy.

-Bulgarian Phrase of the Week: "Vkoosno" (Вкусно) = Delicious

A Little Background Information About Myself

Before starting to post information and stories about Bulgaria and my work here I've decided to tell you a little about myself and why I choose to become a Peace Corps volunteer.

I was born and raised in Littleton, Colorado along with my twin brother, Andrew, and younger sister, Staci. Andrew is currently living in Washington D.C. and attending graduate school at Georgetown University. Much like me, Andrew loves to travel and lived in Cairo, Egypt for six months before attending Georgetown. My sister Staci was adopted from South Korea when she was six months old and has been with us ever since. Last fall she started her first year of college at Colorado Christian University.

When I was in my first year of high school my Dad invited me to go with him to Guatemala on a trip to help provide clean water to a small village near the capital city. The trip was one of the hardest but most rewarding times of me life. We worked all day under the hot sun carrying pipes, digging wells, and building a shed for the equipment. By the time we ate dinner and went to bed we were all exhausted but thrilled that we were able to make such a great difference in the lives of others. It is because of this trip that I became interested in doing humanitarian work and spending my life helping those who are less fortunate than myself.


Throughout high school and college I went on many more trips such as this to villages in Guatemala, Costa Rica and Mexico. I was also active in Colorado volunteering at the Denver Rescue Mission and helping to found a non-profit organization called With Love Inc. in Boulder. It was through these experiences that I realized I wanted to work to help people as a profession after I graduated from college.

I applied for the Peace Corps midway through my junior year of college and in July of 2006, was told that I would be spending the next two and a half years of my life in Bulgaria. A month and a half later I stepped onto a plane headed for Sofia and here I am today...

Bulgarian Phrase of the Week: "Kazvam se..." (Казвам се...) = My name is...

-See if you can introduce yourselves to each other in Bulgarian. For example, I would say "Kazvam se Eric."

Greetings from Bulgaria

Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Eric Helms and I am currently serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Bratsigovo, Bulgaria. I was born in Denver, Colorado and graduated from the University of Colorado in 2006. I have been living here in Bulgaria for just over a year now and will be here until September of 2008.

Bulgaria is a small country (about the size of Tennessee) located in Eastern Europe on the Black Sea. Although it is a poor country, it has a rich history, fascinating culture and some of the nicest people I have ever known.

The town which I am living and working in, Bratsigovo, is located at the base of the Rhodope Mountains in southwest Bulgaria. The town is quite small by American standards (only 4,000 people) and is surrounded by hills, mountains, and lakes. The town has two elementary schools, one high school, a large church and two orphanages.

What do I do here? Well, I help out whenever and wherever I can. This includes writing and managing projects, working with youth, cleaning up the environment, tutoring children at the orphanages, working with minority groups, teaching English to my colleagues and much more. In my free time I enjoy going hiking, jogging, playing soccer, reading on my balcony and going to the café with friends.

As you can probably imagine, things in Bulgaria at times are much different than in America. The most obvious difference is the language. In Bulgaria they speak Bulgarian, which actually uses a different alphabet than in English. Here are a few words spelled in the Cyrillic alphabet:

Eric Helms = Ерик Хелмс
Colorado = Колорадо
Bulgaria = България

As you can see, there are some letters which are similar in both languages but others that are completely different. This alphabet was created by two Bulgarians, Kiril and Metodi, in 940 AD and is used in many other countries including Russia, Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine. In my little town there is nobody who speaks English so I have had to learn the how to speak, read, and write Bulgarian in order to communicate with the people here. Although it was difficult at first, it became easier as time went on and now I am able to have conversations with people, teach business classes to students, write projects, and give speeches, all in Bulgarian!

Well, it is almost lunch time so I must go but I hope you enjoy the first of many posts here on my blog. I will try to post new stories, pictures, and information every Monday. Although this is just an introductory post, I would love to hear from and get to know you all as well. I am also more than willing to answer any questions you have about me, Bulgaria, the Peace Corps, or any other things you are interested in. You can do this by either clicking the “comment” button at the bottom of each post, or by e-mailing me at ericphelms@gmail.com.

Bulgarian Phrase of the Week: “Dobur Den!” (Добър Ден) = Good Day!