Coq soup

La soupe au coq

The coq got a reprieve for Easter because people here are not allowed to kill animals until the holly weekend is over. But the following day with Stoyan and his wife Milena we chased him and cornered le coquerel in the barn. Stoyan with the speed and dexterity of a killer grabbed his wings. And with no more than two movements placed his neck on the board and guillotined the cocky bastard with an axe.

Le coq bounced up with his head hanging upside down with only a shred of skin and a few feathers to keep it attached to his neck. He took off and ran like Hussein Bolt looking sideways, ready to score gold on my arse. Stoyan saved my arse and French pride by catching the beast and throwing him in the bucket.

Ruska boiled and plucked it. She brought us half to make a broth. A little bit of onion and slow cooking, oooolala, merveilleux, vkosno, we drank its soul and ate its flesh...

Le Coq

The Coq was a proud bastard. A true Frenchman by spirit, misunderstood in Bulgaria. He made hens feel like sexy chicks. But he got a bit too cocky. Not only was he chasing his harem of hens but he also prowled on women of all ages. He could smell female hormones and wanted a taste of the forbidden fruit. He attacked and tried to submit a grandma that passed through his territory. He bit her and drew blood. He even chased Mariya between our house and the neighbours while she was carrying Rafski. He was a cock-sure cock with a death wish. His time was up....

Weed medicine

One man's weed is another man's medicine.

Nettles are rich in iron and great to strengthen the blood, hair and skin.

Baba Mariya

The Galoche

I should have listened to my friends when they told me my wife had a rubber fetish. Mariya integrated so well she bought the same shoes and socks as the grannies. Check out the mix of textures. Black rubber shoes with red and black woolly in-socks. I like the clash of styles, Brick Lane here she comes!

Petit pied noir

Earth is yummy!

And Raphael helped us with his own tools. He tilled the soil with his hands and raked it with his feet before tasting it. Lots of Vitamin B12!

Integration

Digging deep...

We grabbed the opportunity of the end of winter to dig up the back garden. We planted salads, carrots, tomatoes, cabbage, peas and many herbs as well as many flowers to feed the soul.

After escaping the concrete jungle of Canary Wharf we were so excited to have our garden and the opportunity to create a little Eden of our own that we dug relentlessly for a few days.

Our neighbours could not believe it! Why did we come all the way from London to do some gardening... They were so impressed by our zeal that they gave us many seeds and plants as well as plenty of advice which we needed.

Mariya impressed our neighbour most of all when she planted the rose bush upside down with the roots in the air... she's a city girl after all.

We survived last winter with a lot of help from all our neighbours who gave us preserves. For next winter we have to be ready and give something back.

That's mine...

Oi! Give it back.

Spot the bike?

Do you see it?

Health & Safety

The great thing about Bulgaria is that Health & Safety is not an issue. At the motocross chiampionship we were right on the side of the track with Raphael sleeping deeply in the pram hugged by the exploding engines.

Wassup?

Just havin an ice-cream, watching the race....

Check out this one too...

WMC Sevlievo

The best track in the world!

They're like grasshoppers. The Bulgarian number one is only 16 years old.....

Velikden

Milena and Ivailo

In Bulgaria Easter is celebrated by decorating eggs and  having egg-fights. It involves tapping two eggs together to see which one is hardest. Mariya took a duck's egg.... she's always very competitive. Next year I'm importing an Ostrich egg!

And everybody enjoys Kozunak. It's like a brioche with orange water.... dipped in fresh milk from the morning that's just warmed up on the stove..... Mmmmm!

Spring pikanik

There's still snow on the ground but we couldn't stay in. We went for a walk in the mountain to enjoy the air and lots of spring sunshine!

Prolet

Spring's arrived!

The snow has melted. The temperature is quickly warming up. Green is back and the trees are starting to bloom.

Travelling

If you wanted a postcard here it is....

You can travel and not see anything. You can go around the world and collect stamps in your passports, read guide books and visit monuments without really travelling.

It's all about the journey. And travelling is a journey of self-discovery through contact with new people, new environments and dealing in real-time with unplanned situations.

We've decided to go deep rather than wide. We wanted to find out who we were outside our comfortable London environment. And we could only do this by throwing ourselves off the cliffs of Dover into the precipice of 100% natural mountain life. There was never a Plan A or a Plan B. Just pack up and go and let's see.

We've already seen a lot and now we're going to see even more....