I have been writing letters in ink on paper for over twenty years. When I was thirteen, I connected with a penfriend in Australia. Back then, this was a great deal because I grew up behind the Iron Curtain and contacts with people from the West were strongly discouraged. While the snail mail correspondence with my Australian friend thrived, the Iron Curtain came down. Eventually, I left Bulgaria for the US, where I wrote even more for my graduate degree. Recently, it occurred to me that I might enjoy other forms of writing and decided to start a blog.
I had been convinced that I didn’t have much of a future as a home cook, when I stumbled on a recipe for Shepherd’s Pie in the September 2003 issue of The Ladies Home Journal. I made the recipe that night for friends in the closet-size kitchen of my apartment. The evening couldn’t have turned out better. It was a convivial gathering, full of compliments about the food. I have been cooking for friends and loved ones ever since.
My dinner guests often want to know what Bulgarian cuisine is like and whether I cook any traditional Bulgarian food. The answer to these questions has to do with the historical and cultural idiosyncrasies of my childhood in Communist Bulgaria, as well as with the different relationships within which food was made, shared and eaten in my family. The stories about these historical circumstances and relationships form the core of my blog.
I alone decide which books I find interesting enough to discuss on my blog. Penwhisk is strictly commercial-free and no one pays me to promote their book. Oftentimes, the books that I read and write about become part of my own story.
I consider everything that I publish on Penwhisk to be my intellectual property. You need my written permission to use my ideas or any part of my writing. If you do so, you need to credit me as the source. I am currently working on a book proposal for a foodoir.
I would be excited to hear from you. You can contact me at:
penwhisk (at) gmail (dot) com
Thanks for reading!