Food

Tom and I have been very excited about the food in Bulgaria. It is much healthier that what we were expecting. Every single menu leads with a full page of salads, and it is January! Salads are a large part of the Bulgarian diet. We can't get over the size of the salads; they are larger than entree size, like a small platter. Tom and I ordered one and split it. The one in this picture was like cole slaw, primarily cabbage with yogurt-like dressing.
 


We followed this with a chicken and a lamb shish kabob. Bulgarians are big on grilled meats. The restaurant we went to for lunch was cozy with a fire, wooden walls and furniture, and red folk table cloths and napkins. It's an old restaurant near us that local people flock to. One large party was celebrating a birthday, and the two women next to us were only having bowls of soup and bread. Flatbread is popular, probably because of being close to Greece and Turkey. You can order different kinds and they are often served in little paper bags.

Wednesday night we went out to our first, more fine dining restaurant, one that was recommended, called Hemingway. They have pictures of Hemingway on the menu, kinda funny. The waiter wanted to impress us, so we let him by taking his suggestions. He started us off with roasted aubergine diced with a wonderful feta spread and toast. All kinds of feta are sold here-delicious variations with olives. He then brought olive tapenade flatbread. I told him I liked seafood, so for an entree he served me squid stuffed with octopus and prawns with some cheese melted over the top. More than I could eat, but very good. He served Tom a veal steak with green pepper sauce. The veal was to die for--just delicious. It was cut and served like a steak at home. Tom had two beers and I got a half bottle of wonderful red wine, and our meal was about $43. Previously we had eaten at a pizzaria that serves fabulous thin crust pizza with wonderful salads for $15 including drinks.

Although I have done a lot of cooking because it has been cold, I have a feeling we will be eating out A LOT. By the way, yesterday I went and bought a scale....