A new start

The Beginning of a New Era

After a ten year break, I have decided to renew my efforts to write a weekly column. Probably biweekly. You should be proud of me. I am finally ending the slothfulness at home, have become motivated, and will really commit to this project. My inspiration this time comes from two sources: my friend Owen and the movie Julie and Julia. If they can do it, so can I. The topics here will include:


1. Joe's dating life, or lack of dating life? You decide, just be fair and balanced about it.
2. Cooking and recipes
3. Life in Sofia
4. Audi and Mercedes mafia drivers with big necks. Oops, I mean the 'legitimate businessmen' who believe the law is above them and drive like idiots and cause 90% of the accidents in Sofia.
5. Anything that pops into my mind at the time.
6. I will have at least one glaring error somewhere in this, because I am my own worst editor.

I hope to fare better than the current state of Bulgarian football, or soccer for the Americans. Enjoy the first post, leave comments, and I hope you enjoy.


New Zara Jacket and my secret to getting back to Oprah thin:
Yes, I know this jacket looks fabulous on me. Last month, I decided to check out the sales in The Mall. Doesn't the mall have a name? Yes, it's called The Mall.

Before the Mall, there was no such thing as a real sale in Sofia. Sure, the high end stores would have sales, but then they would raise their prices, and you could never really know if it was a real sale or not. NOT ANYMORE!!! 2010 brought the opening of real malls with more store chains, and finally a real sale on clothes.

In 2009, I would have never fit my fat butt into this jacket, as I was pretty husky in my Oprah fat phase. Plus, there were no real sales. 2010 made me lose about 14 kilos, two new malls opened, Zara is now here in Sofia, and it is a different story. Last month after Christmas, I walked into Zara not looking for a jacket, but the jacket found me, I tried it on, and I had to have it. It was my reward for working hard and losing 14 kilos.

How great do I look in it? Even my boss said I looked great in the jacket this morning.

When I bought the jacket, I also made a commitment not to gain weight, because the jacket is fitted and it will not fit if I gain any weight back. Zara here makes their clothes form fitting, and the sizes are more Italian than American. Large is the US medium, and medium is the US small. Small is the way too small in the US. I fit into the medium jacket, but it would have been tight driving, so I bought the large. I was impressed I actually fit into the medium in Zara, which I couldn't do until last month. This means I can fit into small sizes. Woo hoo!

In the months ahead, it would probably be helpful to lose the last 4-5 kilos hanging around the stomach, so that I can achieve Oprah thin status, look great in small sizes, and get great deals at the stores in Buffalo this summer. Small is always available on the sales racks along with XXXL in Buffalo, and I plan to take full advantage of this. But unlike Oprah, I am actually eating. Today, I ate my homemade macaroni and cheese, which is full of carbs and cheese. But, I ate a lot of vegetables and fruits and didn't just gorge on macaroni and cheese, which I would have done previously.


In 2010-2011, I work out a lot again now, just as much as the swimming days in DC. It helps to have a decent gym at school, and an Itouch. I have a goal to work out 211 times this year, and I am at a 70% workout rate for 2011. Every workout this school year, I make sure I do at least 500 various stomach exercises of some sort, and/or get my ass kicked by pilates by the amazing Bulgarian woman who takes pilates to the extreme. I love Pilates and my abs scream in pain afterwards, but I am starting to see some resemblance of what you would need to have a firm stomach. So, onward pilates, and more rowing machine, cardio, and weights. Now, I just need to find a decent pool that isn't freezing, and/or doesn't cost 17-20 leva per use (about 12-13 USD). The gym at school is much cheaper(free), has great stuff, and I am the only person who actually uses the rowing machine.

My peanut butter addiction:

I am a peanut butter addict. It is a food I have eaten since I was two, and I just love eating mass quantities of peanut butter. The end of 2010 has made me realize peanut butter is something my stomach really cannot handle anymore. Being a peanut butter addict, this is has taken me about a year to admit, and sometimes I still eat it, despite knowing there's a 70% chance that I will become sick.

Why would someone eat a food that makes you sick 70% of the time? Umm, it's called addiction. My family has a reputation for having some great addictions, but not much will power in dealing with them. Hopefully, I will have better success quitting my addiction compared to them.


Since there is no Peanut Butter Anonymous in Sofia, here is my own step plan to quit peanut butter:

1. Admit that I have a problem. Check(Woo hoo, did it!, that was easy)


2. Talk to people about my addiction. Check. Colleauges and this blog counts.


3. Find a medicine that will allow me to eat peanut butter.


4. Cooking with peanut butter for others: Peanut butter pie, peanut butter brownies, peanut butter cookies, and more.


5. Put in 1 BGN leva penalty (about 75 cents) for each time I eat peanut butter for 2011. I'm up to four leva as of January 10. Hey, I told you my family was terrible at dealing with addictions!

I have decided to use the penalty money to buy presents for family and friends at home, or to buy myself something nice. Yup, I know this may encourage me to eat more peanut butter, or have you encourage me to eat more peanut butter. But I'm an addict, and I am in the middle of quitting. I think I deserve some leeway after having a hard day at work sometimes.

Seeing the Nutcracker in Sofia:

This holiday season, one highlight was going to the Nutcracker at the Sofia Opera House with a few friends, Nevena, Owen, Sarah, Andrew, and Hrissi. The opera house is easily one of my favorite buildings, and looks nothing like the rest of Sofia. Here were the highlights of the ballet:

1. Owen thinking there was some crazy guy waving his hands around in front of the stage during the entire performance. Yes, this was the conductor.

2. One guy who was obviously checking me out that three of my friends saw him checking me out before I saw it. This guy had a rather large man purse, so he's out.

3. Seeing about 5-6 women playing the roles of men. It must be because must men are too busy chain smoking to handle ballet dancing.

4. 40 BGN, or about $27 USD, for the best seats. In DC, I would have been lucky to sit in the cheap seats for this price.

Cooking at my host mom's in Balchik this year:

A miracle happened this year. I was allowed to cook and bring things to Christmas dinner in Balchik. It has only taken three years, but I was allowed to bring homemade cranberry sauce, my fabulous pumpkin pie, and was shocked when my host mom actually asked me to cook the turkey. In all the time I have known them, I have NEVER, EVER been allowed to cook for her except for my birthdays in Balchik back in the good old Peace Corps days. Even then, she took control of a lot of it and did a lot of the cooking.

What changed? Mimi, my Bulgarian host sister, and her son, Christian came to Thanksgiving this year. After eating all the food I made them and the leftovers for three days, I guess they decided I needed to add to the table this year. Luckily for them, I made the pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce. The cranberry sauce was great with the turkey, and amazing when you put it in a palachinka, aka crepe.

For my extraordinary cooking efforts, I was given over a kilo of homemade sirene, which I have almost eaten and may become my new addiction after I get rid of peanut butter. Homemade sirene is simply delectable and puts any other sirene to shame. The only problem is I need to find a great source of homemade sirene in Sofia.

That's all for now, but expect real writing this year! Have a great week!