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Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
For Bulgarian Christmas Eve! The tradition is that for dinner there must be 5, 7 or 9 vegan meals. I usually strive to prepare 7. They are: bread with lucky charms/tokens; peppers filled with beans; dolmades with rice and raisins; oshav; salad; fruit;
pumpkin pie…….for more click
here
For
Christmas we prepare roast pork with pickled cabbage,
banica – pastry pie with feta cheese, pita – bread with lucky charms for
everyone at the table baked inside, cake or other type of dessert.
and
Happy New 2022 Year!
Captain James Cooks Cottage
If you are
in Melbourne, you must see Cooks Cottage. Very attractive and cool place. How
to find it? Its Fitzroy Park, Wellington Parade, East Melbourne 3002 I went there by tram 109.
At the entrance
the park, there I saw a family of ducks. They are so cute and beautiful. We sat
on a bench for a while and honestly, I think there is some energy or magnetism, who knows, but I felt so good.
After that you will see Fitzroy Gardens with beautiful flowers
and then James Cooks Cottage.
I will not retell the whole story, you can read it on the internet,
but I’m so impressed by it.
In 1933 Sir Russell Grimwade learnt that the cottage was about
to be demolished in England. He purchased the cottage and arranged for it to e
dismantled and brought to Australia.
After you have seen the cottage, you can wander through the
beautiful backyard garden restored as close as it is possible to the original.
Keep an eye out for the vegetables, herbs, and flowers. Home grown herbs were used to cure all manner
of illnesses and injuries, from bad breath to influenza and broken bones. (if
you are interested in natural remedies you can buy my book here: Mish
Mash by Ellie Great). In the last room you can sit and watch a movie about Captain
James Cook.
Enjoy!
Travel
Saint Augustine
Remedy for Sinusitis
Remedy for
Sinusitis
Prepare an
infusion of chamomile by dropping a soup spoon of the flowers. After boiling it
for 2-3 minutes take it of the heat. When it cools snort some of it into your
nose with the aim of washing it from the inside.
Do that every
morning and evening for ten days. After that – take a break for ten days.
Repeat this
cycle three times and take a two-month break.
Repeat again
if needed
Mish Mash in
Amazon:
Lockdown again
Freedom, Cockatoo (Sancho), is one of the most precious gifts that heaven ever gave to us ……
(Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra)
Good Morning Japan - おはよう日本 Ohayō Nippon
Good Morning
MISH MASH
Hungry Parrot
Христос Воскресе!
Easter – Velikden (Great Day) in Bulgarian
It is the
greatest Orthodox Church holiday. Usually, some people fast for 40 days before the day
but I cannot do that and I fast for one week but exclude all animal products
including eggs and oil including oils derived from plants. During that week I
eat only vegetarian/vegan food vegetables, fruit, nuts vegetable soup.
The night
before the day which is by tradition Saturday night before Sunday we go to
church before midnight. Everyone brings colored boiled eggs – usually red. One egg
is left in front of the icon of Jesus. There is a liturgy and at midnight the
pastor leads a procession of worshipers walking around the church building
three times. People use the other egg to strike the egg of someone close to you
– usually a friend or relative with wishes for health and abundance during the
year. The pastor is holding burning candles in his hands and all believers
light their candles either from his candles or from the candles of someone who
has lit their candle from the pastor’s candle. You strive to bring the lit
candle home carrying the holy fire from the church to hour home and leaving it
there to burn off completely. That was difficult to achieve at times with the
wind blowing the flame out or imagine carrying a burning candle in a moving
car. Luckily, we were going to church in groups so you could always relit your
candle from someone else who managed to keep it burning.
The big
feast starts at noon on Sunday. The whole family gathers. The traditional menu
is:
Lamb soup –
kurban chorba – made with holy water obtained from the church the previous day
Roasted
lamb
Kozunak
- special Easter bread
Colored
boiled eggs – they can be boiled and colored either on Thursday or Saturday
Salad –
which has an Easter egg in it.
All food is
arranged on the table and the oldest must say the Lord’s prayer and bless the food with incense and a candle. The
candle is left in the center of the table and then we can sit and start eating.
Before leaving the table once more the ritual with the eggs where you hold a
colored egg and either hit your neighbor’s egg with it or they hit yours to see
which one will break first and who is stronger.
Walnut Cookies
Walnut Cookies
Ingredients
2 egg whites
1 cup of icing sugar
3 cups of ground walnuts
Pinch of salt
How to prepare
Beat the egg whites with a pinch
of salt – or better use a mixer – adding gradually the icing sugar until fluffy.
Fold gradually the finely ground
walnuts with a wooden spoon and be careful to keep the egg whites fluffy.
Spoon the mixture in a baking tray
covered with baking paper by shaping the cookies and make sure you leave some
space between them because they will become bigger while they are being baked
and you don’t want the cookies to stick together.
Preheat your oven to 1500
C and bake the cookies for around 25 minutes or until they are slightly brown.
Enjoy!
Bye Bye Summer From Melbourne
Martenitsa
Martenitsi are worn from 1 March until the wearer first sees a
blossoming tree or until 22 March. Usually, you give them to friends and
relatives wishing them health. If you see someone with a Martenitsa in March
they are either Bulgarian (or Romanian) or have a Bulgarian (or Romanian)
friend or relative. The name of the holiday
Baba Marta (Martisor - Martishor in Romanian) means
"Grandma March" in Bulgarian and the wearing of Martenitsi is a
tradition related to welcoming the spring, which in Bulgaria begins in March.
Before 22 March you have to tie the Martenitsa to a branch of a blossoming tree
and make a wish.
.
Enjoy!