Lakatnik 2025

Last Friday we had our 5th in a row  March hike on the Lakatnik rocks. Lakatnik is a village with a train station in the gorge of the Iskar river, popular for its beautiful limestone rocks, carved by the mighty river on its way to the Danube.

The day was amazingly hot for early March, it was a workday and the place was almost empty - ideal for a peaceful and relaxed hike.

Hike info:

Date: 07 March 2025

Destination: Lakatnik Eco Trail

Mountain: the Balkans

Total length: 9.6 km

Elevation gain: 300 m

Total duration (plus rest): 3 h

Average difficulty: 3 / 10

Our visit to Lakatnik was a week or two earlier than usual, so the trees were still not in bloom, but some of the spring flowers were in abundance.

We climbed gradually up the trail to the plateau on top of the rocks, soaking up the view from above towards the picturesque gorge of the river

As usual, the dogwood trees are the first to come to blossom.

"Our" picnic spot - every year we have our lunch on this tiny piece of flat rock, overlooking the river and the mountains across.

The mountaineers' memorial

"Temnata dupka" cave - this time we were in a hurry to catch the train, so we only went near the entrance, without going further into the cave.

The rocks of Lakatnik this year had a big 40 m long martenitza, hanging from above - a temporary adornment, celebrating Baba Marta and the coming of spring, which I found quite nice.

Purple Burda 6202 Blouse

There are patterns that I love so much, that I keep returning to them over and over again. Burda 6202 blouse is one of those patterns - to my utter surprise this is the eighth (for Gaby and myself combined, I went back and counted them) and my fourth with short sleeves and let me tell you - I plan at least two more this year. 

The pattern is a quick sew, flattering and feminine and very easy to wear. The fabric I used for this blouse is a remnant of the long-sleeve Lotte I made last month - it does really have modest fabric requirements and as the pattern is raglan, it would also work well with color blocking, I imagine.

I made my two first short-sleeve versions with the elastic, sewn to the sleeve, as is according to the instructions, but for my third version I came up with a modification, which allows for the elastic to be inserted in the hem and this made the blouses even better and more comfy.

Pattern: Burda 6202 from Burda Catalogue 1 / 2020

Size: 36, shortened

Fabric: cotton fabric

Time to make: 2 days

I usually make this shirt in the smallest size 34, but this time I decided to make it a bit looser and cut into the larger 36 size. However, I think I prefer the more fitted look and my next make will be back to the 34 size and shorter length. I also plan a little remodelling of the neckline - I want to return to the original line at the front, but lift the back by 2 cm. It is always fun to play with a known pattern and see what little tweaking here and there can do for better fitting.

We took these pictures yesterday during our hike on Lakatnik. I had brought the blouse just for a quick photosession, but it was surprisingly so hot, that my new short-sleeved blouse turned a real blessing. More about Lakatnik soon in my next post :)

Hasenfrühstück

Ever since I started learning German, I've been interested in German cuisine and in trying traditional German recipes. As Easter is not that far away, various Easter recipes and paraphernalia began popping in my feed. Among them was this carrot and apple marmalade, called "Hasenfrühstück" or Rabbit's breakfast, which is typical, it seems, for German speaking countries, to be prepared at home for Easter.

As we love making home-made jams and carrots and apples are a staple in our home, especially in winter, I was quick to jump to the suggestion. 

There are plenty of variations on the recipe, as is the case of any recipe, so here are the proportions and the procedures that I chose for my carrot-apple-marmalade:

Ingredients:

• two big apples, cored and peeled, 500 g
• 700 g carrots
• 500 g sugar
• 200 g carrot and apple juice, store-bought
• juice from half-lemon
• half-teaspoon of apple pectin
  

Preparation:

Cut the apples and carrots into pieces (but better grate or chop in the chopper), cover with the juice of half a lemon, add 500 g sugar and 200 g juice (best would be fresh orange juice). Stir, heat up, turn the plate off and leave the mixture to stew and soften. Once the carrots and apples are soft enough, blend with an immersion blender. Even better, if the carrots and apples were grated in advance - we skipped that step, but experience showed that it the effort was recommendable.

As I was not sure, whether the pectin in the apples would be enough to thicken the marmalade, I added half a teaspoon of apple pectin. Alternatively, you might want to boil the jam a bit longer, until you get the desired texture.

Once the marmalade is ready, pour it hot into clean glass containers, close them tight and turn them over, until they cool. Store them in a cool and dark place.

Serve the marmalade with croissants or bagels and coffee and enjoy :) 

The taste is definitely carroty and might not be for everyone, but we liked it - it is fresh and different. Next year I would add more sour taste, to neutralize the sweetness - freshly squeezed orange juice instead of the carrot-apple juice and more freshly squeezed lemon juice - in hindsight I would have added the entire lemon squeeze - apples, carrots and citrus go really well together!

Kopitoto, February 2025

Today's was a quick, but very satisfying hike from Zlatnite to Kopitoto and back through Momina skala. The round trail is one of my favourites, when we are looking for something short in the higher parts of the mountain. 

The day was cloudy, but warmish, even at the 1500 m altitude. To my surprise the snow at the skirts of the mountain had completely melted, at the higher altitudes there's still plenty of it, but the trails are well trodden and easy to hike.

Hike info:

Date: 28 Feb 2025

Destination: peak Kopitoto (1345 m), lowest point of the hike

Mountain: Vitosha

Total length: 9.5 km

Elevation gain: 140 m

Total duration (plus picnic): 2 and a half hours

Average difficulty: 3 / 10

Although the trail is easy and fairly popular, there were no other people but us on it. Maybe because it is Friday, a work day, maybe because of the forecasts for rain, which turned completely false, maybe because it is the long weekend here in Bulgaria and most Sofia residents are travelling further to take full advantage of the holiday.

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

 

Husband: men's boxers, Burda cargo pants, Burda longsleeve, Orange Hat

I:  lingerie, socks, Sinclair Lotte blouse, CC copycat hat, gloves

Without blue skies, the pictures look mostly black-and-white :)

We had our picnic on our favourite bench on the meadow, with a view to the city down in the distance. It was so satisfying to be back in the mountains, I hope the cold weather is behind us and I'm looking forward to our spring hikes.

Purple Sinclair Lotte Blouse

Sinclair Lotte is a hoodie pattern, which I've once made as a hoodie and already twice as a longsleeve blouse. I like the hoodie, but I find that the fit lacks enough easе for a sweater, designed to be worn over other blouses, although I did cut my size according to the sizing table. 

On the other hand, the fit is just perfect for a blouse and my previous color-block viscose Lotte longsleeve is one of my favourite blouses. I especially appreciate its thumb-hole cuffs - they are perfect for hiking in spring and autumn, when my hands get a bit cold when I'm holding a hiking stick. 

Last year I came to the conclusion, that I needed another hiking staple, both with cuffs and a hood. Initially I planned to add some hood and the cuffs to my basic Burda long-sleeve pattern, but then I decided that it would be an interesting experiment instead to make the Sinclair Lotte, but in solid color.

I had to create the front of the blouse out of the four separate color-block pieces, that the original pattern consists of, but apart from that, I followed the pattern without much modifications, I only shortened the sleeves by 2.5 cm

Pattern: Sinclair Lotte Hoodie

Size: Petite (152-160 cm) XS (US 2)

Fabric: stable cotton knit

Time to make: 5 days

The snow from the previous week has almost melted and I hope spring will be here soon,
probably a bit later than last year.

Apart from the hood and the cuffs, the pattern is a simple longsleeve. The hood is very unusual, its two parts completely overlap at the front, covering the neck and creating a polo-shirt effect. When up, the hood reminds me a bit of a headscarf Grace Kelly-style.

The thumb-hole cuffs are very cleverly designed and super-comfy and they can also be "unhooked" from the thumb and folded back, to turn into normal cuffs.

The hood is deep enough, but not too big and it doesn't drag down, as some hoods tend to do.

I plan to test the blouse on our next hike and if it proves to be comfortable, there might be more of these.