Birthday in Bulgaria

Boys and girls, gather around your screens, take a popcorn and soda (or beer), and let me tell you a magical story about Bulgaria, the land of Bulgarians and... Gipsies! As you all know, I had my 29th birthday and my wife's present was a week (plus 2 weekends) in Bulgaria (the wonders of married life).

On a first day, when we arrived to Sofia, Sergo (who managed to steal a car) and Sveta picked us up from the airport and immediately, we went to a mountains to enjoy the views, escape the heat and the dust of the city (it was close to 40C), and sample local cousin (local dark beer was AMAZING) at the... hmm... can't remember the name. Later that day, we took a night walk (after couple of cocktails) on the streets of deserted Sofia.

Before I will go on, let me tell you, Sofia is every bit ex-Socialist country where people took democracy to the wrong direction. All the building (including historic and governmental) are spoiled with graphite and half of the bricks are missing (I didn't know they can walk away on their own). Also, all of the people (at least the 37+) are frowning all the time. It's like they've seen socialism, and now they've seen capitalism, and they're not impressed with either one. On the other hand, it could be the heat...

On a day after, after having an early and a very tasty breakfast (eggs, eggs and some more eggs), we drove to Sezopol. Basically, it is a very long drive across Bulgaria but surprisingly, the roads (or the highways) are not bad at all and you are allowed to drive 120kph on most of them. We arrived to Santa Marina resort (2km outside Sezopol), checked in and drove to the ancient town of Sezopol to eat (yes, we did it a lot).

The next few days were pretty much as every vacation looks like: Sun Beach (or pool) Aqua park Old, in some cases ancient and sometimes very small cities with a lot of tourists Beer and food, food and more food Ohh yeah, and a birthday cake (2kg of sugar, cream, caramel and chocolate)

Out of all places we have visited (Burgas, Sezopol, Nesebar,Sveti Vlas, Primorsko, Kitten and Plavdiv), I can recommend only one place – Sezopol. It is an old town (with historical value) on the cliffs with amazing view on the Black Sea, friendly people, excellent cousin and not too many tourists so you can walk around and enjoy your time.

If you ask yourself “where are the photos?”, there is too much of them and we are working to delete some (or most) of them. I will upload them as soon as we are done... [10/09/2008] and finally, here they are (I had to delete a lot of old photo album to free up some space on Picasa Web): http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/john.markh/20080829BirthdayInBulgariaPart1 http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/john.markh/20080829BirthdayInBulgariaPart2

Enjoy, John.

P.S.: A short lesson in Bulgarian culture: Drink “Aryan” when you are hot, drink “Aryan” when you are cold and drink “Aryan” when you are thirsty [more info can be found here: http://mideastfood.about.com/od/drinkscoffeetea/r/ayran.htm]. Ohh yeah, and you also have to try Bulgarian Chushki Burek (roasted peppers stuffed with cheese), Za-Za (small fried fish which goes really well with beer – local beer or as a cat food) and “Fish On A Roof Tile” (sorry, don't remember the Bulgarian name) which is a whole fish (I had Mackerel) in a roof tile, topped with a rich, red-wine, tomato, and shallot sauce, then slow baked.

A Business Trip to Tel Aviv

Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv

Who would imagine that after 3 and a half years, I will come back to Tel Aviv as a business man... For anyone who doesn't know, I stayed in Tel Aviv for 4 days... and it was HOT (more then 37C)!

But the best part of the story is a return flight back home (London). I have officially became part of the statistics: BA managed to loose my luggage. Although they did find it 3 days later and it was delivered to out door, the bag was ripped open. I have no photos to share... so, enjoy your week and see you guys soon.

John.

P.S.: Coffee in Israel is sooooo much better then in UK, but it is still too hot... :D

Small... Fast... and Furious!

Look at this tiny thing... so cute!

After donating my old HP brick (ohh... I have just been informed that it was called a laptop) to my grandma (now, she is a cyber-granny), I've got a new shiny Advent 4211 netbook. It is not a typo there, it is a netbook - a new category in portable computers...

There is an excellent review here: http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks/review/2008/07/30/Advent-4211-Netbook/p1

Enjoy, John.

Recipe: Roasted Marinated Lamb

As soon as my wife was out of the door (she is swimming somewhere in Mediterranean sea as I write those lines), I was back to my old ways...

So today, my dear readers, we are going to eat meat... and to be more specific a marinated, roasted lamb! To prepare this dish, you will need: Lamb 2-3 tbsp olive oil 1-2 tbsp fresh lemon juice 3-4 cloves of garlic 1 red chili (to make life more spicy...) 1-2 bay leaves Rosemary, oregano and grounded black pepper And... a lot of patient

First of all, mix it all together and marinate for at least 8 hours in refrigerator.

When the meat is ready, put it in the oven for 200-220 degrees Celsius for about 30-40 minutes and enjoy your roast.

I have removed all the dogs from the last picture as Mr. anonymous (I KNOW WHO YOU ARE) suggested.

Enjoy, John.

Madrid, The Perfect End of a Hectic Week

What a week! 3 countries with in 4 days! Belive me or not, it involves a lot of air miles and CO2 emission...

Now, it all come to an end in Madrid (the last city of this European tour), the city of sun, chorizos and wine...

I won't bore you too much except mentioning that is was damn hot, 42C during the day and 33C during the night (half past midnight), but then again, what else would you expect in Spain during a summer?

So, adiós my friends and enjoy the photo album: Madrid- The Perfect End Of A Hectic Week.

John.

Hot Breeze in Lisbon

I can not believe that I’m writing those lines, but I’m kind of enjoying hot weather in here. Right now, I’m in Lisbon, Portugal (for a second time this month) for a short project. Anyway, 10 minutes ago I was walking Av. de Liberdade and the temperature is still 26C (and that is at 23:00), but after having a decent meal (with excellent local wine) it is kind of nice. As long as you don’t have to wear a suite and go to work in that temperature, that is not too bad...

Enjoy, John.

P.S.: Tomorrow morning, I will have to don a suite and go to work...

Randomness in a Chaotic World

London is a big city... 14-16 million residents city... a very big city. So, what is a chance to meet a person you know?

Apparently, that can happen. Yesterday, I was working from our Austin Friars office in the city (for second time during the whole month) and while walking back from a lunch I met A. (a real name) who worked in Castle Trading office (where Comsec Consulting UK rented a office space). As it turns out, she works in the office next door (literally, next door) and started on the same date as I did in Verizon Business UK.

Now, how bizarre is that?

J.