Yes, now there is snow

Call it luck or coincidence, but only a couple of days after my whiny lack of snow post, we are having an all-out fluffy day-long quiet snowfall. It's great. I've had tea and feta cheese sandwiches in bed, reading a book and watching the snow fall outside my bedroom window, the mountain covered in clouds. I'm enjoying myself. I might even head out for a walk in the snow, who knows :)
Oh, and if you look closely at the photo of the tree above, you can see a couple of birds perched on it. I actually didn't see them when I was taking the photo and only noticed them when I uploaded it on my computer. I love little surprises like that!

A Snowless Winter

I can't believe I'm actually going to say this, but I seriously miss snow.

Despite the fact that I was a February baby, born smack in the middle of winter here in Bulgaria and no stranger to freezing weather and snowstorms, I never liked the cold very much. You'd think I learned from that as I older, but I guess I didn't, since I went to college in Maine of all places. In my defense, it didn't occur to me to think about the climate when applying to college. In the past five years or so I have gotten progressively cold-averse, spending winters huddled under blankets, with thick socks on my feet and multiple layers of clothing. I also tend to crank up the heating in my house, much to Pavel's chagrin, who went as far as going out on the snow-covered terrace in his underwear one morning last year to cool off. It was hilarious.

Through all these snowy and cold winters, whenever I would shiver, and that was often, I would think about what it would be like to live on Bora Bora or at least somewhere like California. I thought I'd have a blast with the lack of winter, maybe making an exception for the winter holidays. I am a sucker for a white Christmas.

So guess what? This winter we've had exactly one snowfall here is Sofia, which was back in November or something, and since then it has been completely dry with the occasional week of thick fog. No snow. Above 0 C temperatures. I should be in heaven right now. Except I'm not.

Through all my whining about winter, I never factored in the fact that having lived in a four-season environment my whole life, my body is used to a certain progression of the weather. Now that the progression is all out of whack, my body feels uneasy, like it's waiting for something to happen, and yet nothing happens. It's like being suspended in the same late fall, early winter season for months and months, and it's annoying me. I remember back when I was living in London, I had a similar problem with the lack of sunshine. It was seriously messing with my mood in ways that you don't pick up on at once, but they are there, and they pile up.

So can I have some snow please? Not asking for a full on snowstorm, just one tiny quiet pretty snowfall. I promise I'll try not to whine about snow next winter...maybe.

What do you think? Have you experienced unexpected discomfort related to the weather somewhere?

2013: A Year in Review

Time for a Year in Review.

Looking back at my blog during 2013, I am sorry to say I did not write much. Even came as far as skipping two whole months - October and November. This sucks. Hopefully, with my MBA out of the way, I will be able to post more.

2013 was both better and worse than 2012. I managed to squeeze in two great trips, which made me very happy in view of the last few years of OK, but not awesome vacations. I toured the US with Pavel for three weeks, attended my five year college reunion, and even passed through London on the way back to see a friend. I also spent a long weekend in Brussels and Bruges with my cousin, which turned out to be quite the pleasant retreat in between school terms.

Something great that I did in 2013 was finally opening that Etsy shop of mine, and actually selling four paintings! I am so glad about being able to earn some money through my art, and this year I will try to paint more and take care of my shop.

As for the negatives: stress, stress, work, stress, stress, stress. I feel burned out, to be honest. Also, as I have often said, stress is bad for your health, literally, and I think that I am suffering some of the consequences. Long days, barely managing to eat lunch at 4 in the afternoon in front of the computer, weekends spent inside writing papers, evenings at the office instead of at dance class, they have all taken their toll on me, so now I need to make sure I have a better balance for my health.

Looking at last year's resolutions, though, I think I did pretty well in that respect. It was the first year when I put them formally in writing on my blog, and it has helped me stay on track. I was not perfect, but then again, who is? So here is my retrospective:

1. Graduate with an MBA. Check! I am sooo done with studying! Having a demanding job and a demanding graduate program was hard as hell, I have to say. Still, the grades from my final class are out, so now I am just expecting my diploma. Yey!
2. Do more of the things I love and connect more with the people I love. Opening an Etsy shop: check! Spending time with people I love: I could have done better on this one, but now that I am done studying, this one will resolve itself.
3. Socialize. OOkay, this needs work. Like, major work. With my job and school, I have become a recluse, which sucks big time. This resolution will be transferred to 2014.
4. Look well-groomed all the time, not just sometimes.  I did OK on this one, I am proud to say. There is still room for improvement, but I am definitely taking better care of my appearance. I am also very happy to say that I have found some great cosmetics and make-up products that work well for me. One of my friends used to say that every woman should have her pamper beauty kit of quality cosmetics, and I think she is right. I feel good using the Bioderma line for problem skin, my Estee Lauder lipstick, my Clinique Superbalanced makeup, my Urban Decay Naked eyeshadow palette, and my latest favorite find - the Chanel Inimitable mascara.

Next up on my blog, expect my 2014 resolutions! Stay tuned!

Some Holiday Spirit

On the last day of the year, I thought I'd share a bit of holiday spirit by posting some pictures of some of my old and new Christmas tree ornaments. Back in 2008 when I was graduating from Colby, my parents and I spent a weekend in Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park, and on one of our strolls in town we ended up going into a Christmas store. I have always loved the Christmas season, by my family also really liked the idea of getting ornaments when we travel, so that our tree is a collection of memories, rather than just a pretty decoration. I am trying to keep that up with my tree; I love browsing through Christmas decor, and I usually buy at least one ornament every year to shake things up. This year I got a very cute wooden owl ornament from a Christmas shop in Boston near Quincy Market, and I also got a small white dove ornament and a cute angel ornament from a Christmas shop in Bruges on my travels. It's really fun to look at my tree and remember what I did and what places I visited.

So here are some of my favorite ornaments (although not all of them). I did try to limit myself and not photograph every single ornament on the tree, after all :)

My owl from Boston kind of reminds me of Harry Potter, even if it is not white, so I jumped at the chance to charm my tree into something more Hogwarts-related. Yes, I am a bit geeky at times. Next to it is the angel I got on my trip to Bruges, which you can read more about here.  

Next in line is this adorable elf that I got this year from a seasonal Christmas shop here in Sofia. It is so cute with the pointy hat, the scarf and the presents. On the right is a reindeer that I got last year from another shop in Sofia.

I actually couldn't limit myself to just one ornament this year, and I ended up getting another dwarf/elf from the same shop that I got the one above. I love how rich in detail these figurines are. Also, I got two balls with silver, gold and bronze flowers, which go really well with the while-silver-gold theme of my tree and are so very beautiful.

 

And, well, check out this gorgeous holiday candy....mmmm! I don't think that this is going to last until next year.

I Can Bake My Pie and Eat It Too

I have been drooling over this recipe for apple pie since I saw the photo in the article These Pies Are Anything but Humble, and since I have a few days off work around the holidays, I thought I'd finally give it a try. Well, what do you know? My first ever pie was a big success! Wo hooo!

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but I totally wanted to try the recipe for Lafayette's Caramel-Apple Pie Élevée because of its incredibly tasty-looking photo. Cookbook editors take note: this is why you should have great photos in cookbooks, not just the text of the recipes...we women like to be inspired, and I find that I browse food blogs whose owners dabble in photography more and more often because they usually have food for the body and for the eyes:)

I changed the recipe a tiny bit because I am not a huge fan of caramel; I like it fine, just not well enough to have a whole pie that tastes like caramel. Instead, I substituted the caramel sauce the recipe calls for with muscovado sugar syrup (just heat up the sugar with a bit of water, and voila). Muscovado sugar has this wonderful rich molasses flavor, so I thought it would be a great way to make the apple pie recipe my own - and I wasn't wrong. The apple filling turned out great.

It seemed a bit daunting to make pie crust from scratch for the first time, though, especially since growing up here in Bulgaria I had never seen anyone I know make their own pie, and I had only ever had pie in a chain of sweet shops and coffee houses called Pchela and in the US, of course. First of all, the recipe said that I should use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, and I was like....oooookkaaay...please tell me who here owns anything like that...It is funny actually, but if you ask a Bulgarian who is not a chef or cooking enthusiast whether they have even heard of KitchenAid, he/she would most likely say "A KitchenWhatNow?" Yeah, maybe it is because kitchens here are mostly tiny (why architects keep designing apartments with teensy kitchens is beyond me) most people don't seem to have stand mixers, and I am no exception.

But never you mind, I thought, I can do this with my hand mixer. I am tough like that. Or not. I had my four cups of flour, the sugar, and the butter cubes in a big bowl, and I had the genius idea to use my hand mixer with the regular whisks to mix the ingredients into what the recipe said should be a texture that "resembles sand." So I start the mixer, and what do you know, flour is blown around in my face and nothing seems to be mixing. Of course - there isn't any liquid in there to make the mix settle, and the recipe wants me to add mere spoonfuls of water and three egg yolks only after I achieve the elusive sandy texture.

So then I decide that I can transfer everything in a bigger bowl, but that doesn't solve the problem either, and neither does putting aluminum foil over half of the bowl, so that the flour doesn't fly. Finally, I gave up and did it by hand with a whisk, feeling a bit like an idiot and consoling myself that Julia Child didn't use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment either when she started cooking. Oh well. Still, the do-it-by-hand method was actually quite successful, and I did manage to make the dough, refrigerate it, roll it, refrigerate it again and so on. I feel like quite the "sand texture" expert at this point.

The second obstacle to my day of pie making was actually the fact that, silly me, I forgot that I didn't really own a pie dish of any kind. I have several rectangular pans and some muffin cups, and since I love muffins and tiramisu is my favorite cake, those work well for me. However, I have yet to see a rectangular pie, and while I was pondering whether I would become the first woman out there to try that novel idea, I remembered that I bought a springform cake pan last year when I was making a tangerine cake. Problem solved.



This pie sure did take a while, in part because it was my first adventure into pie-land, but the final product was well worth it. It came out just as I had wanted but not dared hope: with golden crust, beautiful sugary lattice on top, and a sweet, spicy and slightly tangy apple filling that melts in your mouth. Delicious. I do love my American treats.

So check out the recipe for yourself, as well as some other pie recipes that also look great to me: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303985504579206182830054334

Two Paintings Sold

Sooo...Long time no posts! It's the usual reason - all work and no play. The good news is that I am about to finish my MBA by the end of December, which will hopefully lighten the load for me. I miss my weekends, what can I say.

In the meantime, I have actually sold two more paintings. The cool part is that I sold one of them, Kaleidoscope Heart, here in Bulgaria. It is a very vibrant, while kind of eccentric work, and I wasn't sure if it wasn't too crazy to be purchased, but it turns out that there are people that it calls to. It is very interesting to discover how each painting affects different people and all the images and diverse reactions and associations it evokes.

The other work I sold, Peony, is on its way to its new owner in New Orleans. It is so great to know all the different places where your art is hanging :)

Here are details of the two works:

Kaleidoscope Heart

 Peony

Bruges Travel Photos

 

Bruges is a fairy-tale little town an hour away from Brussels that, if not for the tourists, would make you feel like you are in a different century. The canals and the houses with little terraces and backyard patios facing the water create quite the serene and romantic atmosphere; in fact, I am all for having one of those terraces and drinking my morning tea and reading a book surrounded by greenery and a beautiful view of the water. I got a little obsessed with that image when my cousin Tsveti and I strolled around Bruges that I wouldn't stop talking about them, and she kept teasing me.

Bruges is quiet and quaint, and I could easily picture myself spending a couple of quality weeks there in the summer painting some watercolors. With its picturesque buildings, the place is a painter's heaven. I am only bummed that I don't really speak French or Dutch. I really like getting immersed in a place, and it's just not the same when you don't speak the language.

I spent quite the pleasant day in Bruges, and while it lacks the hustle and bustle of bigger cities, it will help you relax and unwind from a stressful work week.