I thought that if I was lucky I might get a sneak peak into a Bulgarian kitchen in Teteven two weekends ago and that by helping prepare some food, I might be able to count one of them as my own in my on going pursuit of mastering a few Bulgarian dishes this month.

This was not the case. But I did eat a lot of bread with lutinitsa and sirene cheese. I realized that I need to eat this combination more often. It's so tasty. I think it's the mix of chewy bread, the smooth tomato-y but slightly peppery lutinitsa spread and the tangy sirene that you bit into unevenly because it doesn't spread well that makes it a simple yet satisfying snack/open-face sandwich.

[caption id="attachment_4349" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="Homemade Salads!!"]<a rel="attachment wp-att-4349" href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/?attachment_id=4349"><img class="size-large wp-image-4349 " title="Salads!!" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSC02328-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="614" height="461" /></a>[/caption]

Outside of lutinitsa sandwiches, we had a really great dinner. There was tons of food, lots of people eating, drinking and talking. And later into the night the talking turned into singing. In my mind, that's the sign of a great night.

I wish I'd been able to get into the kitchen to help more but as they say there were already too many cooks in the kitchen. I guess this happens when there are 19 people to feed hanging around. Luckily, I. and her boyfriend J. are great planners and had things under control. They put as many people as they could to work right away.

[caption id="attachment_4347" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="Bulgarian Pottery"]<a rel="attachment wp-att-4347" href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/?attachment_id=4347"><img class="size-large wp-image-4347 " title="Bulgarian Pottery" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSC02309-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="614" height="461" /></a>[/caption]

I helped where I could.

That ended up being potatoes. I like potatoes. I pretty much figured that I'd seen potatoes cooked and prepared every imaginable way.

Turns out I. made a simple but tasty potato salad without mayonnaise. Of course it was great.

The one thing that I was surprised by was that the potatoes had been boiled with the skin on and then after they were soft enough to mash taken off the stove and pealed by hand. Basically, you take the potato and scratch the skin with your fingernail and the skin comes off in strips.

[caption id="attachment_4348" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="Making Potato Salad"]<a rel="attachment wp-att-4348" href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/?attachment_id=4348"><img class="size-large wp-image-4348 " title="Making Potato Salad" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSC02322-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="614" height="461" /></a>[/caption]

This seemed to me harder than pealing the potato and chopping it into piece before boiling it because when do it the other way around you're wrestling with a hot potato. This said, I think this way you probably toss out less potato than if you peal it ahead of time. I. thought that boiling the potatoes with the skin on meant that the potatoes didn't absorb too much water. I don't know. Maybe.

[caption id="attachment_4350" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="Grilling Meat"]<a rel="attachment wp-att-4350" href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/?attachment_id=4350"><img class="size-large wp-image-4350 " title="Grilling meat" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSC02332-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="614" height="461" /></a>[/caption]

So I helped peal a few potatoes, took some pictures and then missed out on the actual assembly of the salad because I was whisked out of the kitchen to speak some Bulgarian with one of I.'s super-duper nice friends.

These things happen. So instead we chatted, drank rakiya and then dinner began to emerge from the kitchen on plates. That was pretty great. The highlight of the meal was grilled pork which took some time but was well worth the wait.

[caption id="attachment_4352" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="Homemade Rakiya in a Coke bottle"]<a rel="attachment wp-att-4352" href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/?attachment_id=4352"><img class="size-large wp-image-4352 " title="Homemade Rakiya in a Coke bottle" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSC02346-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="614" height="461" /></a>[/caption]

Only now I have only the vaguest idea of what when into the potato salad and I have no idea what else went into the killer bean salad.