Gaby's Graduation

This past Friday, on the eve of the National holiday of the Bulgarian Alphabet and Bulgarian Enlightenment and Culture, Sofia University officially handed the diplomas of its 2021 graduates.

It was a nice and heart-touching ceremony and our girl is now officially a holder of a Bachelor's Degree in Molecular Biology.

Just a few photos I took during the ceremony, I really liked the solemn togas and hats the graduates wore.

:The moment of handing the diploma. Gaby also received an honorary certificate for graduating with  excellence.

:The stained glass mural in the University, depicting the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius, creators of the Slavonic Alphabet

:A moment with her closest University colleagues

:Hats in the air :)

:And now off to the next degree - she is currently pursuing a Master's from Vienna University

Stay Home Card and Lemon Cupcakes

Gaby and her colleagues are missing each other  very much and came up with a cute idea - to cook together virtually. They even made an amusing video of the making of a lemon cake. And this is the card Gaby made for the initiative - the baking of the lemon cake.

My humble contribution to the card - I sewed the curtain :)

And here's the recipe for the lemon cake, which she baked into cupcakes:

• 120 g flour
• 150 g sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 100 g yogurt
• 3 tbsp sunflower oil
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

Glaze:

• 150 g powdered sugar
• 5 tbsp lemon juice

Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for about 30 min. Let to cool, glaze and enjoy.

Raspberry Cake and Jam

It's been an emotional weekend here - the results of IBO 2017 are more than excellent for our modest team - gold for Dimitar, silver for Gaby and bronze for Maria, the best ever results for the Bulgarian Biology team. The contestants and teachers arrived last night and we had a small family celebration with a home-made raspberry cake:

The team in Warwick University before the award ceremony:

Silver medalists:

The team on arrival:

And more raspberries - we love raspberry jam!

My latest most favourite recipe:

• 1000 g clean raspberries
• 750 g sugar
• 5 g apple pectin
• 5 g citric acid

Clean the raspberries, cover them with the sugar and leave over night in the fridge. Add the apple pectin and cook at average heat for 45 min. Add the citric acid, cook for another 5 mn. Pour the jam in clean jars while boiling hot, close with the cap and turn over until the jars have cooled. No further treatment of the jars is necessary, store in a cool and dark place and consume within a year.

I love it with pancakes!