Expat Mommy In Angola

Last week Karim made these scrumptuous chocolate chip cookies, recipe from Averycooks.com . Believe me when i tell you that this is the yummiest out there because karim's grandma aka my mama tried them all! and this one is surely the winner!! Karim took them to his best friend Nada's birthday party and there weren't any crumbs left! These are the ingredients for the cookie and make sure to watch Karim's video below for the step by step tutorial 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed (I use light) 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1 large egg 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons cornstarch 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt, optional and to taste 6 ounces (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips 6 ounces bittersweet or dark baking chocolate, chopped into bite-sized chunks   PS: Chill the cookie dough before baking it!

We have been accustomed lately into using Emirates when flying back and forth from Angola to Lebanon. And I have created a habit, maybe a bad one, of extending the usual 9hours stopover in Dubai of the Beirut-Luanda flight to a couple of days or more. Each time we go there I find new things to do with the kids, with a regular visit to the aquarium of the Dubail Mall as requested each time by my son. So whether you decide to visit Dubai for a family vacation or a 24 hours stopover before your next destination, there's surely something exciting to discover and do every single time. Below are my top destinations for visiting Dubai with kids, these are places we visited over the past two years of stopovers (lets keep calling them this way:) ) 1- The Green Planet Dubai   thegreenplanetdubai.com Prepared to be wowed before your kids! From the moment you enter a huge indoor vertical rainforest with numerous types of tropical birds, insects and animals. Definitely worth a visit...

My baby boy that was my inspiration for starting the blog is no longer a baby. At just 5 years old he has really taken interest in cooking and baking. Baking with your kids can be a great form of entertainment , at least they are not sitting in front of a screen right? I know its messy and the recipe may take double the time to finish, but be patient because the satisfaction they get knowing that they helped or they did it alone is worth it. Here's a super easy and tasty recipe for all the ripe bananas you have laying around your kitchen! Just 3 ingredients, 15 minutes in the oven and they are ready to go. 4 bananas 2 cups of oats 1/2 cup of chocolate chips After forming the cookies using only your hands, lay them on a baking tray and into the oven 170 degrees C for about 15 mins. I guarantee they wont even last for the next day! Here's a video of Karim demonstrating how easy it is to make those yummy and healthy treats

And three years later ,  We' re back!  Three years later, what changed? a three year old baby girl, a  5 year old energetic boy and an economical crisis in Angola. Let’s just call it writer’s block, ok?  Get ready to follow us as an expat family living in Angola amidst all the turmoil and the challenges that come in living in the most expensive city in the world . This city that we now call home offers us a lot , with our kids living amongst an amazing cultural diversity and learning to accept others regardless of nationality ,religion or beleifs.     From cooking, arts and crafts and daily challenges in a foreign country follow us as we encourage you to try new and unfamiliar things in a not so ordinary city.

My  Ailurophobia  -persistent and irrational fear of cats- has been there for as far as I can remember! I cannot stand being around cats, hear the sound of cats and even their sight on tv or even in pictures is unpleasant!! And no it's not all animals, only cats! I admit I dont have a passion for animals but we've had a dog around the house and i lived with it. But when we visit friends that have cats in their houses , it's either me or the cat in the house!  Last month, I was saying good bye to my neighbor who's leaving Angola to her  home country to go deliver her second child, as I opened the door of their door to go out of the house I was surprised by the sight of a cat standing on the door, automatically I tried to shut the door to avoid any me-cat confrontation, oblivious to the fact that my son has already passed through the front door and started screaming at the sight of the cat. Thank god my husband was there to the rescue! And this became m...

Since my mom came to Angola and stayed for about three weeks, her visit was centered around two things, Karim, my son, and food! As if we were starving before she came :)) And since she's a pro in all things sweets, chocolaty and packed with fat, am sharing with you the recipe of this cheesecake we made together before she left. I will not babble a lot about how yummy, decadent and scrumptious it is, I will let you look at the pictures and save the recipe and try it out! If you do not have Mars bars on hand, try it out with twix bars or even snickers bars, you can even mix all three bars together, Heaven on a dish! Recipe from http://aww.ninemsn.com/food/8376077/mars-bars-cheesecake INGREDIENTS 310g chocolate chip biscuits (I used digestive biscuits) 75g butter, melted 2 tablespoons brown sugar 20g butter, extra 11/2 cups (375ml) cream 11/2 teaspoons gelatine 1/4 cup (60ml) water 500g cream cheese, chopped, softened 1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar 2...

A perfect way to learn face distinction and parts of the body, this puzzle only involved the parts of the face because the pictures I had were two portraits of me and my hubby. It was so much fun to watch my son try to put mommy's eyes and nose and mouth together to form the picture. The thing that was even funnier was how much he got mad when we were playing with the puzzle and I tried to put my eyes on daddy's nose :) "No that's daddy nose!". Try it out with old pictures you have, (I had two copies of these portraits) or if you don't want to cut your pictures go through your magazines and cut faces from there. Then take pieces of magnetic and place one of each piece of picture puzzle! Just give them a cookie sheet or even let them stand on the fridge and put the pieces of your face back together.