Tea and eat.

It is terribly cold in Sofia these days. So much snow and low temperatures that ski fans cannot think of work at all because of snow, while the others just do not want to even think about going to work.

In such cold weather the only proper thing to do is just sit down somewhere warm and have a cup of tea (or other hot drink).
This is what I thought I've found one morning when passed by a small nice cafe and tea place and decided to jump in.
'Tea' is a part of a pastry-cafeteria-and-stores chain which I like because of their light cakes with modern taste and handsome waiters (only men, no women);-)

This forth site of their has:

a kind lady behind the bar,

no male waiters :-(

a great old-fashioned coffee machine

great horse-headed piles on the pavement in front

coffee and tea selection of the brand Richard

Italian food and wine and other bottles...

and last but not least - the tiny rounded paper for your chewing gum served together with your coffee.
It won my heart :-) Can you see it on the picture above?
Their ceiling was a strong competition to it though.

But it's too cold in the winter mornings there so I'll wait till April before visiting the kind lady again.

New way. New life.

Sometimes we need to change something in the everyday routine just in order to feel alive. This could be our way to work, or the type of clothes we chose to wear today, or the thoughts we chose to start the day with. I've tried with the thoughts and it worked... for about a month. I'll tell you another time about that. Now I'm trying to start my day without coffee. That doesn't mean I am not a coffee fan anymore. I just try to live without it so that I enjoy it more. As much as I used to enjoy it before I started drinking three cups a day between e-mail checking, quarrels at the office, and excel sheets browsing... I wanted to re-invent the pleasure of its taste, to remember how it was when I touched it for the first time. Also, that helped me find new tastes in life - those of different types of tea. When we are over with something old, we always find something new to replace it. Like these:


And I can tell you, it worked surprisingly well. I felt shockingly well :-) Shocking was my first morning without coffee when I realised I am still alive after not having it for a couple of hours after waking up! Long live the fresh tea!

My record was 7 days without a morning cup of coffee and 5 days without coffee at all. Now it's over, but I will try to not drink coffee whenever possible so that I don't get used to it... As ADF sang once: new way, new life :-)

Le Pettit Cafe - a tiny French place in Sofia

This morning, still sleepy on my way to the office, I was dragged to a secret silent place in the heart of Sofia - on Patriarch Evtimii Blvd, near Dunkin' Popa.
Called artistically 'Le Pettit Cafe', this cafe is so tiny, elegant and so perfectly designed and maintained that I couldn't go with my usual grumbling about service, chairs, mug size, milk, etc. and kept my mouth shut. The girl behind the counter was very friendly, she even closed the door and stopped the freezing morning air from spoiling our little 'siesta' with a cup of coffee with milk and croissants.
Let me tell you about the coffee - see, I'm back to the purpose of that blog from time to time ;-)
The coffee was of some Arabica type that smooths the tongue and is strong but mild at the same time. The only thing I didn't like was the small cup ... I dislike small cups and espresso served the so called 'Italian way' - literally 2 sips able to awake a bull. The croissant was great! even better than those sold at OMV, which I adore.
As my little new discovery doesn't have any website or other promotion tool online, I will try to attract you to its products - puffy fresh cakes, biscuits in jars and organic tea. And great atmosphere - furniture in 'French province'-type style, in white and dark wood colours, and music - also French, and the white cupboard here.

Cosy is the word! I'll go again to sit at one of the three tables in the room ;-)

P.S. Oh, and no smoking there - welcome non-smokers and mothers with young children!