A Bulgarian Home in Berlin : Making Chocolates

Nothing brings an international group of women together like chocolate. So when my uncle sent me an email to attend a chocolate truffle class he was giving, I was right on it! I even got Martin to come along.

We’d been hooked on my uncle’s chocolates ever since Christmas.

Yet when Martin and I arrived, I sort of forgot about the plan to learn to make chocolates. Martin and my uncle talked about nerdy stuff until the ladies started pouring in, and the next thing I knew, I was engulfed in a room of the friendliest Bulgarian and German women.

We started with the traditional coffee and cake that friends like to have in Germany.

Then the ooey-gooey fun got started.

The other man there? That’s my uncle. Imagine putting a group of women together in your neighborhood; then give them all different native languages.  Add a baby crawling around in the background.

English words were floating from one end of the room to the other, intercepted by German baking terms and Bulgarian folk songs and explanations.

Then try to teach these women how to make chocolates!

It was amazing chaos – I loved it!

Take a look around our makeshift classroom. It’s a one-room apartment and kitchen that belongs to one of the Bulgarian women. I love her sense of simplicity, and I just know that everything in that home is used and enjoyed.

She uses the things in her home. Why does that feel like such a revolutionary statement in today’s society?

These women were amazing and kind. I believe that people are intrinsically good, and I never expected to be reminded of this fact in such a beautiful way.

So I don’t exactly remember how we made chocolates that day. But I discovered so many more delicious things.

Peek at more deliciously small homes here.