Cabra - Natural Food & Bar

I heard about Cabra Natural Foods and Bar relatively recently, but decided not to wait an check it out. Despite the fact I am neither vegetarian nor vegan, I am love herbivore cookery. I am on this new sort of personal mission to find a "health" food restaurant in Sofia that knows how to cook and season food well. Cabra was pretty good!

Sage Bistro: Evening of Seafood and Wine

The last time I ate dinner at Sage Bistro, it was my 31st birthday. I remember enjoying the food and drinks. If you ask why I haven't been there in a few years, well it's located in Bistritsa, a suburb about 16km outside the center of Sofia and the roads in that direction are narrow and winding in the warm weather and a complete nightmare in the winter, so I have heard from my friends that live there. Angel and I made the trek from Kyustendil to Bistrisa for this dinner because it was a special seafood and wine dinner with Morski Dar Mussel Farm and Chateau Massimier la Mignarde. To date, this was my best seafood experience in Bulgaria, yet I haven't dine extensively on the Black Sea. The special menu included 4 courses and 3 glasses of wine for 44 lv, which I considered quite good price for the quantity and quality of food being served.

Multi-Kulti Kitchen: Dominican Republic

Designed by Svetoslav Ivanov

Back in February, I attempted to join my first Multi-Kulti Kitchen event. It was all about American food culture, which I considered quite apropos, but due to horrid weather and severe snowstorms, the 90km journey was near impossible. I was on board to make fresh cranberry sauce and a cheese cake for the Thanksgiving themed meal. Even though I missed my own country's event, I wanted to be apart of the organization for a variety of reasons. The most obvious being my passion for food, but I share the belief that understanding and respecting different cultures is important and one of the best ways to accomplish this is through the breaking of bread.

Let's Clean Up Kyustendil 2012

A few weeks ago my daughter Maya came home from school talking about cleaning up Hissarlaka, the hill that overlooks Kyustendil. Her excitement made me very proud that she was learning about community and civil responsibility. The action was part of Let's Do It: World Clean Up 2012, which BTV is sponsoring as part of Да Изчицтим България: Let's Clean Up Bulgaria.

GastronoMe - The French Market Next Door

GastronoMe opened in the autumn of 2011. Somehow the news of a French grocery store came to me quite quickly, but traveling back and forth to the States and my limited visits to Sofia this winter and spring, I only got to check out this delightful little shop this week. The shop owner Maria, also a Bulgarian food blogger of the site LaMartinia, shares her love of good food by offering Sofians French products imported directly from France.

Raspberry Leaf Tea

You don't need to be pregnant to find Raspberry Leaf Tea beneficial, but for all the positive uses, it might be helpful to have a uterus. The number one ingredient in commercially available pregnancy teas is raspberry leaf, followed by nettles (which I also have in abundance). One of the reasons that I waited till my 9th month to start using the tea is because the leaves on my raspberry plants have finally started to flourish.

The Olive Garden - Sofia, Bulgaria

It has been about two years since I have last been to The Olive Garden. Aside from my in the US last year, I am not sure why I haven't been back sooner. I bumped into one of the owners Tom at the St. Patrick's Day Ball at the Hilton and he was raving about their new chef. He told me that is Italian and was previously employed at the personal chef to the Italian ambassador in Sofia. Just the chef's resume alone piqued my interest... then Tom mentioned a tender juicy steak and I was sold.