Dining in Bulgaria

I have had a few people ask me about the food in Bulgaria. We ate really well and inexpensively there. 

Charles enjoys Thai food and we don't eat it very often. I found a highly rated Thai restaurant and had it in mind for his birthday dinner, but we ended up eating there the night before instead. It was so good! I had the yellow curry and a Thai beer. 

We are a dessert every night kind of family. Our first night we did not want to venture back out for gelato so we decided to try out the room service. Check out this fancy looking dessert! 

Another type of restaurant we tried while in Sofia was a BBQ joint. Being Southern BBQ lovers, we had to see what Bulgarians are doing with their BBQ. We were pleasantly surprised. We also tried some Bulgarian beer. I did not really care for mine (pictured above), but Charles' was good. I took a picture of our BBQ platter, but it turned out blurry. That's what I get for not checking before digging in. Our platter had a great sampling of different items--ribs, pulled pork, sausage, pickles, bread and corn. It came with a pineapple BBQ sauce. Mmmm! 

For birthday breakfast, we walked about 15 minutes to a place that came very highly rated on Google. When we arrived, they had a sign that said closed for renovations. Sadness abounds! Around the corner was a very hipster coffee shop called Chucky's so we gave that a try. The coffee was good. I had lemon cake and Charles had banana bread. Not exactly birthday level special, but we made do. 

One of our afternoon treats was bubble tea from a tiny place down the street from our hotel. I had green apple fruit tea and was not going to get any pearls, but the owner insisted so I chose cherry. It was very refreshing. 

This was Charles' choice for breakfast one of our mornings. It's a Bulgarian fried dough. Mine was topped with Nutella and bananas and Charles had honey and walnuts. It was pretty tasty!

For Charles' birthday dinner we tried Bulgarian food. The restaurant was down the street from our hotel (did I mention how conveniently located our hotel was???) and it was so affordable. We ordered a bottle of wine, an appetizer and two entrees for the grand total of about $40 USD. Wow!

Our wine was a Bulgarian white wine and it was very refreshing and light. 

The appetizer menu included several different dips to choose between. We chose this one which had garlic, tomatoes and cream cheese served with bread. It was delicious.

Bulgarian food has some similarities with Greek food. My meal, for example, was like puff pastry stuffed with chicken, spinach and cheese. It was really, really good. Charles' entrée was like a pot pie with several meats in the filling. 

Our very amazing hotel left Charles a birthday treat! What a fun surprise to come back to the room to this. 

Our very first meal in Sofia was at Supa Star, a soup restaurant. Each day they have a variety of different soups to choose from. It was quick, filling and delicious. Plus, like many of our other stops, was right down the street from our hotel. This is the broccoli soup. 

Can you have a European vacation during the summer without gelato? We didn't think so!

Andorra

On our most recent trip we were able to cross off two new countries--Spain and Andorra. We flew into Barcelona, rented a car and headed up to Andorra for one night. It was not the most convenient nor affordable of side trips, but it was a must to visit the small country that is nestled between Spain and France. 

Andorra is known for shopping (duty free, of course) and nature. We spent our first evening walking down the main shopping street. If you love perfume, this is the place to come. I think every other store was a perfume shop (a bit hyperbolic, but there were soooo many). 

Our hotel room had the best view! There was a rushing stream right outside. It was especially perfect for white noise at night. 

I keep forgetting to look it up, but this statue is based on Salvador Dali's work and it was in the main shopping area of Andorra la Vella. 

One benefit of our hotel was their spa! Andorra has a lot of spas (much like Germany) and we wanted to spend a least a bit of time there. Our reservation included time in the hot tub which we did not realize until check-in. We were fully prepared to pay extra for it, so that was a very pleasant surprise! 

The other nice thing about our hotel was the in-house restaurant. We chose a half-board reservation which means our time included dinner. We enjoyed our first taste of Cava at dinner. Cava is a sparkling wine, similar to Champagne, that is unique to this region. It is very popular in Barcelona, as well.

Breakfast was included and it was so darn good! They had an amazing selection including a full piece of dripping honeycomb. We were definitely fueled up for a little hike and journey back to Barcelona. 

As I said earlier, Andorra is known for nature. There are tons of hiking trails, skiing opportunities (in the season) and outdoor activities of all kinds. Throughout the country are wooden creatures called Tamarros. They are protectors of nature and the forests. There was one close to our hotel that we set out to find. It was a dreary morning, but we started on our trek, nonetheless. However, after thunder, lightening and hail started coming down and no Tamarro Andy in site, we turned around. We still do not know exactly how much farther we had to go to find him, but maybe we will return one day. 

Seiffen, Germany

For Veteran's Day weekend we visited Seiffen, Germany. We were originally planning to  visit Bolesławiec, Poland but neither of us were really looking forward to the long drive. Seiffen was a couple hours closer. In addition, I had to miss the spouses' club trip to Seiffen so it made sense to switch our plans and go together. 

Seiffen is known as the place where traditional German Christmas decorations like Nutcrackers, arches (or Schwibbogen) and pyramids originated. The locals, back in the day, were miners but after the mines were closed they had to find new ways to make a living. Their skills translated well to woodworking and thus the wooden decor and toy industry flourished. 

I did not really know what to expect from the town. It's a pretty small town without a lot of tourist information available. I had seen some pictures from a couple of the spouses who went on the spouse club trip, so I had a little bit of an idea but experiencing it in person was totally different!

Throughout the town you can find these really beautiful lights showing popular designs. This one is showing the angel motif. I'll talk about that a little bit later. Whenever we travel, we like to pick up an ornament for our Christmas tree. Our ornament from Seiffen is a mini version of one of these lights. 

We brought Suzie along with us on the trip to avoid having to find a pet sitter on a weekend when a lot of the military community were also traveling. Because of Suzie, we ended up on some walks we might not have taken otherwise. Charles took this picture on one of his solo walks with Suzie. 

We stayed in one of the apartments at the Spielzeughof. The location was perfect as it was just up a hill from the main drag with all the shops and restaurants. It was so peaceful! This little nutcracker lives in the apartment and was a nice piece of Seiffen to admire during our stay. 

Every European city has a church and this is Seiffen's. We did not check out the interior, but walked around the outside a bit on one of our walks with Suzie. You can purchase arches, pyramids and more that feature this church. The arch I really wanted had it on there. Unfortunately, the store employees were not sure if it was compatible with 110v so we chose not to buy it. I'll have to do some research about that and maybe purchase it another time.

On the main drag in Seiffen we saw lots of little huts like these serving anything from gluhwein, snacks and wooden decor pieces. This grouping was outside of the the restaurant (Holzwurm) we had dinner on Saturday evening. It was especially cute in the evening with the stars and string lights on. Our dinner was delicious, so I highly recommend making a reservation for when you are in town. 

I finally experienced gluhwein while visiting Seiffen! Gluhwein is a hot, mulled wine drink and can come in a variety of flavors. The first day in town I had a white wine with Amaretto version that was my favorite! I didn't snap a picture because it was served in a Styrofoam cup (not Instagram worthy). I also had some from a local bakery to accompany a pastry. That one was my least favorite. Our third cup, pictured here, was from one of the stands in town. We thought about keeping the mugs, but unfortunately they were from the 2019 Seiffen Christmas market and we didn't think it would be worth it. We returned for our 3 Euros back. 

Nestled amongst the shops and restaurants in town were large examples of the many pieces you can buy in the stores. This one shows the angel and miner. These were popular back in the day and you can still find them in the windows of the local homes. They can be illuminated with regular candles, battery powered candles or electricity. In the background of this picture, you can also seeing a couple in the top left. They move so they get closer and closer until they kiss. There is even a kissing sound that accompanies it! 

We purchased quite a few things on our trip. Seiffen had all the things my heart was dreaming about when it comes to German decor, especially for Christmas. We spent our first day in town visiting lots of shops (and there are LOTS of shops); we took pictures of pieces we liked and made a list of our top priorities to make sure we did not blow our budget. The next day, we went back to the shops to make our purchases. When we were planning our trip, I was worried that a three day weekend was going to be too long, but it was perfect as we were not rushed to make our purchase decisions and had plenty of time to visit as many shops as our hearts desired. 

One thing I wasn't necessarily planning on getting were the angel and miner. We saw so many cute ones throughout town and this is the set we decided on. I especially like the miner from this set (pictured below) because of his fancy coat tails. 

We have a Nutcracker collection that is displayed all year long. We went into our trip desiring a taller Nutcracker since our others are roughly the same height. Well, as you can see, we ended up with one that is quite a bit taller than our others. Charles wanted one that had the miner symbol on his hat and there were a few to choose between. 

Smokers are also a popular item in the shops. We have a couple that Greg gifted us with from his time living in Germany and we have two small ones that we bring out for Christmas. When we saw the beekeeper, we had to have him! Charles also loved the toymaker so we brought him home, too. 

We purchased a couple other pieces that we will put out for Christmas including a pyramid and a pinecone that is decorated with tiny pieces like a shepherd and sheep. It was very unique!

Trier, Germany

We had a long weekend with Friday being a "Family Day" on base due to the end of school. There are definitely some perks of living overseas! We spent it in Trier, Germany. We had perfect weather all weekend, even if it was a tad warm our first day. One of the top sights in Trier is the Porta Nigra which is a Roman gate right at the entrance to the old town. 

One of the first things we did was grab some food and drinks. The Paulaner biergarten was down the way from our hotel (Holiday Inn Express) and despite having zero tables in the shade, we decided to go ahead and eat there. We were pretty hungry! Even though it was a bit sweltering in the sun, we thoroughly enjoyed our food. Paulaner is a Bavarian brewery, so the food wasn't unique to the area of Germany that Trier is in, but the food was tasty nonetheless. Charles had this dish that was some kind of cheese ball served with a salad, pretzel and bread. It was tasty. I had weisswurst (white sausage) served with a pretzel and sweet mustard. 

Trier has numerous old buildings to explore and one was the Dom and the adjacent church. Like many churches throughout Europe it was filled with amazing pieces of art and craftsmanship. 

A volunteer told Charles (in German) that if you stand on this star in the church that you will be able to see all twelve apostles painted on the columns. He told us a few other details about the church, but sadly I was not able to understand due to my VERY limited knowledge of German. But his passion for the building was very palpable despite the language barrier. I love how some things are just universally understood.

The area of Germany that Trier is in is known for Riesling wine. Being that it is my favorite type of wine, I was pretty excited to try some while in the area. We chose Weinstube Kasselstatt for a late lunch and wine. We could not beat the view of the Dom and church from our table! Plus the wine and quiche were delicious! One blog I read during my research phase said that if you don't drink Riesling in Trier, did you even visit??? 

Another Roman building found in Trier is the amphitheater. It was neat to walk around and imagine all the people who have walked inside throughout history. When we first arrived there were some gladiator reenactors practicing in the arena. It reminded me, somehow, of watching vintage baseball in Connecticut and Ohio, even though it was a completely different sport and period of history. 

Both days in Trier were eis (ice cream) kind of days! On our first day, we got cones from a walkup gelato stand and on our second day we sat at an outdoor café for sundaes and a view of the Porta Nigra. I had a frozen yogurt sundae which was a bit different from frozen yogurt in America; it was a bit more sour tasting. But it still hit the spot after walking around all day! 

 Charles thought Trier was a bit grungier than he was expecting and we saw a good amount of graffiti around town. I thought this face was fun, though! 

Design: Pizza, Pajamas and Wine

The base spouses' club has a wine and gourmet group that meets monthly. Each month they focus on a different theme. This month's theme was pizza, pajamas and wine! I was so bummed that I couldn't make it because it sounded amazing.

Design: Gourmet & Wine

What would a group of ladies (mostly) be without a wine group? Our base's spouses' club is no exception. I am not a big wine drinker, so I don't know how many of these I will attend throughout the year, but I'm sure it's a great chance to learn more about what is out there and hang out with some awesome folks.

Fonts used:
Scriptina
Franklin Gothic Book

Wine & Pizza

One of the many perks to being affiliated with the military is services like Outdoor Recreation. It's an organization on base that plans trips. I took my first Outdoor Rec trip last night for Wine & Pizza. Being in California, there is a plethora of wineries around. And you don't have to go all the way to Napa Valley either!

Everyone who signed up for the trip met at Outdoor Rec and they drove us. We visited Sierra Knolls Winery at their Bear River Tasting Room. It took us about 45 minutes to get there; I was a little worried that I was going to get car sick because the roads are a little curvy and I had an empty stomach. Luckily I made it through just fine.

The awkward part was that it was 2 couples, the girl who organized it, her father and me. I felt a little bit like a 3rd wheel. One of my friends was supposed to come, but she had to back out.

When we arrived they started pouring the wine samples. I think we tasted around 5 or 6 different types. I do not know anything about wine and do not usually like wine and I wasn't a big fan of any of the wines we tasted. I sat with the girl and her dad and they both liked several of the varieties, but they knew a lot more about wine than I did. They were fun to talk to.

We also had wood oven pizza...yum!

It was such a nice little spot for an evening visit. The weather was perfect and we sat outside for a little bit before heading back.

I did purchase a bottle of their Chocolate Dessert Wine. The winery owner recommended pouring it over some vanilla ice cream with some berries sprinkled on top. That just sounded so delicious. And the wine was actually pretty good...because it tasted just like chocolate. :)

Sister Visit

This week my sister, Delaney, came out to visit. It was nice to see her and to have our first house guest. She flew into the bay area to spend a couple of days with a friend and then I met up with them in Napa. It sounds so fancy to meet someone in Napa, but I was a little disappointed in the part of Napa I saw. There was a lot of road construction and even more traffic. Ugh! I will have to give it another try.

Since Napa is so expensive, we actually stayed the night in Vacaville which was about 30 minutes outside of Napa. We checked out their outlet mall, which was a let-down and had some dinner.

The next day we grabbed breakfast at a local spot, Joe's Creekside Cafe. Afterward, we visited the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, CA. You can tour the factory and get samples of jelly beans. They also had a wine and chocolate tasting that we participated in. Yummy!

Jelly Belly artwork

Our options for the tasting

The winner

The next day we spent time in Roseville for lunch and pottery painting. We also walked around the mall.

Our pieces

And yesterday we were planning on hiking. Right before we were about to leave the power went off expectantly. Therefore, I could not open the garage door to leave. We thought about walking down to another trail but the only way out was blocked by a couple firetrucks and police cars. I guess there was a fire. On the way back, we realized there is a fruit tree in a yard down the street and saw a deer napping in a flower bed. We came back to the house and played Monopoly until the power came back on. Then we drove up to Grass Valley for manicures and a snack. I went with a fun bold hot pink on my nails...perfect for summer!

Now I'm ready for more visitors!