Expat Mommy In Angola

We're still in the spirit of valentine around here! I saw this cake on pinterest a while ago and been meaning to do it ever since- like any other pin of the almost 1000 i have pinned- but this one looks sophisticated and complicated but it is so simple to make. And having the appropriate cookie cutter you can adapt it to almost any occasion you have and it would definitely wow the crowd! I got the "how to's" of this cake from the following site,http://www.kidskubby.com/peekaboo-pumpkin-pound-cake/, over there they did a pumpkin cake with a pumpkin peekaboo! check them out! I used my own recipe of a vanilla pound cake and a chocolate pound cake, yes you will be doing two cakes in one so if you have cake mix boxes in hand it is even better!  First start with the chocolate cake mix Pour the mix into a loaf pan and straight to the oven Make sure not to cook it through till then end, and remove from the oven 10 mins before its time. Leave ...

I think I got you at Nutella, no?!? Well I know what this word does to me :) I was looking up recipes for banana muffins, since I had over riped bananas and found this one from "buns in my oven" http://www.bunsinmyoven.com/2013/01/10/banana-muffins-with-dark-chocolate/ . I adapted it a bit and instead of the dark chocolate I used 1/2 tbsp of nutella in each muffin! one word YUM!! You will need 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened 1 cup granulated sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract 3 medium bananas 2 cup all purpose flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp ground cinnamon Nutella     In a mixer, blend butter and sugar until creamy. Add egg and vanilla, beat until combined. Blend in bananas- I actually made my little one mash up the bananas and he loved it!         Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Then put the mix in molds, I used flower shaped silicone ...

Safari trip here we go! We're going to see the animals, that's what we told Karim or like he says it "Amimals!". The trip to the Quissama National Park takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes from Luanda Sul. That's the easy part! You reach the gate of the park, and then you need to look at the picture below! It's about 40 minutes of this! yes! An off road that seems to be neverending!     When we finally reached the park, we waited for the truck- don't know what else to call it!- that will be taking us on the tour to see the "amimals!"        All through the trip you can spot gazelles running around, but the picture is kind of difficult since they disappear the moment they hear any noise.       Then we reached the area where the giraffes are located. Fascinating! We could spot around 8 or 9 giraffes, maybe more and they were really close. My son was shocked! He's like mommy mommy, giraffe eat tree! ...

3 hours stuck in traffic for a normal usual 1 hour ride from the city center to the suburbs, with a 2 year old in the car! fun no??! I am sure any of you readers can relate to this if I tell you think of the rush hour the day before Christmas in your own country! well it wasn't christmas yesterday in Angola, it was VALENTINE'S DAY!! From about a week or so Luanda started to get ready for the celebrations, as this is a major occasion for them. You can spot pop up shops selling teddy bears, lingerie, flowers and basically anything red on every corner and under most buildings. The flower stands which are located outside the cemetries turned bright red and festive as people rushed to get last minute bouquets. And while stuck in traffic , all I could spot were people carrying bags with ribbons. I know what everyone says , people take advantage this february 14 to make money, well maybe they do, in Lebanon they sure do :) but here you actually feel that people enjoy it and ma...

  Who needs a reason to bake cookies right?? but since I've been trying to lose some weight lately I've been trying to stay away from the baking ,because I cannot control my sweet tooth ;) hurray to you if u can!  So it's valentine morning, I decided to bake with my little one for the first time today and see how it goes. TIP NUMBER 1 when baking with a toddler, make sure you finish all the dough, try cutting up most of the cookies yourself and then ONLY THEN let him in into the kitchen, otherwise you will be left with overworked dough from his little hands and a messy kitchen to finalize your recipe! But definitley do it! Karim enjoyed it so much specially since this week he's into shapes and all! So back to the recipe, here it goes 3 1/2 cups of flour 3/4 cups sifted powdered sugar 1 cup soft butter 1 egg 1/2 tsp vanilla extract a pinch of salt Put the egg , vanilla and salt in a bowl and whisk. Then add the sugar, butter and then th...

Well it has worked in my house, if you try it let me know how it worked out for you! Yes! A trampoline! Not a slide or a tree house or a bycicle, but a trampoline, a jumping castle will work as well! If your kid is like mine , takes a long time to snooze when we put him to bed, it means he has so much energy still in store! And since in Luanda children play centers are unexistant I have created a playground right in my backyard , however the only thing that has proven useful for my baby's peaceful night of sleep and our peaceful evening as parents turned out to be the trampoline !! And it's so much fun for him too!  So for your kids next birthday, christmas gift or any occasion for a gift, please give yourself the gift of peaceful sleep and go buy a trampoline !    

Karim and I came up with this game spontaneously. We had an empty cereal box that I opened up for him to draw on with some crayons. Since these days he's into shapes, I started drawing circles and squares, then he   started aligning his miniature plastic toys on them. So here it goes, open the box , draw whatever shapes you want and ask your kid to for example put the giraffe on the circle and the lion on the square, and watch as he takes the correct toy and places it on the correct shape. Fun and easy game for indoor play time. Notice how our Minnie Mouse is with no head?! Karim removed it with his tool box toys Lion on the circle

I guess one of the good things of being an expat is that you get to live and be part of an international community. And what is even better is that my son is able to enjoy that and he's not even two! Tuesdays and Thursdays afternoon Alice hosts a playgroup in her house (for those of you reading from Angola, its in Miramar) and although I need about half an hour to arrive there and sometimes an hour and a half  to get back home -traffic peak hour in Luanda- for the past two weeks Karim has been enjoying his time so much that seeing his face when I ask him "do you want to go to Adam" eases the long ride for me. Then again if you are in Luanda you have to always be prepared for long car rides. You never know when you might be stuck in traffic for hours and hours, specially when it rains... but that's another story. So the playgroup! The lovely Alice, who is from France, has set up a nice play area for the kids both indoors and outdoors. Untill n...