Yesterday using Skype I spoke to my American friend Robyn.  Last year she lived in Budapest on a Fulbright and this year she's living and teaching in the States.  We've been friends since graduate school and she's one of the people who came to visit me this last year in Bulgaria.

She was telling me how much she likes being back in the States but at the same time desperately misses Europe.  I couldn't agree with her more.

But by far the best part of our conversation was when she told me (and I wrote this down word for word on a piece of scrap paper): I want to come back because I want a banitsa! I commented to the effect of: they sure are a little slice of heaven.  Robyn's response: A GIANT greasy slab of heaven! (Just for the record, I wrote that down word for word as well.)

That's when I realized what a perfect description that actually was.  A slab of heaven--flaky pastry and salty cheese.  It really doesn't get much better than that.

Oh and that she liked Bulgaria enough to want to come back and visit again.  I am really glad that the banitsa won out in her memories over the dead horse on the side of the road in Kazanluk.