Kalahari Nights & Chocolate Delights: A Winter Skillet Treat

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Winter has quietly crept into the Kalahari — in her usual gentle, golden way. The mornings are crisp and quiet, the air still and clean. Grass shimmers in soft light, and the horizon stretches endlessly, wakened by a slow, amber sunrise. There’s a kind of hush over the land, as if time itself has paused to breathe.

It’s the season when family returns — trucks roll in with dusty tyres, laughter spilling out before the doors even open. Children come home from college, bringing stories of city life, tired textbooks, new friends… and always, a deep hunger for home (and mom’s cooking!).

This is when my Kalahari Kitchen comes alive.

In the end, food is the celebration of family, and family is life’s greatest feast. Lidia Bastianich

Coffee brews in the early light, the aroma drifting through the house. Hands wrap around warm mugs, eyes still soft with sleep, and hearts full of quiet excitement for the day ahead.

These are the days of full hearts and fuller tables. I pull out dog-eared recipes from my mother’s cookbook, flour dusts the counters, and the scent of cinnamon, cocoa, and roasted nuts fills the house.

And what better way to celebrate winter’s quiet magic than with a Warm Chocolate Fudge Skillet Cake — rich, gooey, and best served straight from the pan, with a generous spoon of cream or vanilla ice cream.

This dessert from Half Baked Harvest (love her recipes!) isn’t fancy — but it’s indulgent. Comforting. Honest. The kind of dessert that invites second helpings and long conversations around the fire. This dessert is best enjoyed with wool socks on your feet, good company, and stories that stretch late into the night. Around my kitchen table, each of us armoured with a spoon, we dive into the warm skillet — laughing, sharing, remembering.

So here’s to winter in the Kalahari — a season of slowing down, gathering in, and feeding both body and soul.

With love from my Kalahari kitchen,

Aldalene

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Finding Hope in the Kalahari (and a spoonful of chocolate ice cream)

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Summer has finally graced the Kalahari with its arrival, bringing with it the first whispers of rain and that indescribable earthy scent that fills the air. After enduring what some reports have called the driest year in Namibia in a century, we’re all holding our breath, praying, and hoping for more rain. There’s an undeniable sense of anticipation in the air.

This expectant waiting for rain, got me reflecting on the role of hope in our lives. It’s easy to let hope become just a fleeting wish, something we cling to when times are tough. I’m reminded of a favourite scripture from 1 Peter 3:15: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” It’s a powerful reminder for me to examine whether my hope is something real and substantial or just wishful thinking.

Wishful thinking is when we choose to believe something will happen, despite little evidence to suggest it will actually happen, usually just to make ourselves feel better. I hope to lose 10 pounds. (That’s pretty common this time of year!)I hope my husband remembers our anniversary (this is wishful thinking!). These hopes, while valid, are grounded in our desires and often rely on chance or circumstances.

Hope is praying for rain, but faith is bringing an umbrella– Unknown

But for us, the evidence on which we can base our hope is God’s own character — demonstrated most clearly to us in Jesus Christ. We believe that God is good, faithful, and capable of fulfilling His promises. Our hope isn’t dependent on our circumstances (like a parched Kalahari savannah landscape) but on a firm conviction that God will remain true to His word. This hope is anchored in the assurance of who God is.

As we navigate this week, let’s anchor ourselves in this genuine hope. Let our lives reflect a deep-seated confidence in God’s promises. As Colossians 1:27 puts it, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” May we live out this hope so visibly that others will be curious and ask us about it.

So today with summer blazing in the Kalahari and hope blossoming in my heart, I’m on the lookout for a cool dessert for the guests in my Kalahari kitchen. It has to be ice cream- my absolute favourite dessert, no matter the flavour, season, or time of day. I keep the hope of a delicious scoop in my freezer at all times! I reach for the dark chocolate in my pantry (my other guilty pleasure) and decide to make a chocolate ice cream that melts luxuriously on your tongue. Two kinds of chocolate and real cream make this the best and easiest chocolate ice cream you can make at home. It will fill you with hope!

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What’s In My Cup?

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It’s that time of year. Shop windows fill up with brightly-coloured, twinkly light holiday displays, and living room windows fill up with Christmas trees. Festive music plays on repeat. If you’re like me, this is the time of year when you realize Christmas is fast approaching and the year went far too quickly.

For many of us, this is also one of our busiest times of the year. If you have school kids, you’re swamped with Christmas concerts, school year end functions and the thick fog of final papers and exams. After lockdown it feels like we are still trying to make up for the missed months. In between all the busyness,you want to create the most perfect family vacation and a special Christmas celebrations. Yes, November/December season is packed with parties, decorations, presents, so many events and above all, meeting everyone’s expectations.

I love this analogy I stumbled upon this week. And it reminds me of the scripture that reads “For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Matthew 12:34; Luke 6:45).

You are holding a cup of coffee when someone comes along and bumps into you or shakes your arm, making you spill your coffee everywhere.

Why did you spill the coffee?

“Because someone bumped into me!!!”

Wrong answer.

You spilled the coffee because there was coffee in your cup.

Had there been tea in the cup, you would have spilled tea.

*Whatever is inside the cup is what will spill out.*

The bumping is simply the catalyst to reveal what was tucked inside.

Therefore, when life comes along and shakes you (which WILL happen), whatever is inside you will come out. It’s easy to fake it, until you get rattled or busy or frazzled or overwhelmed.

So today we have to ask ourselves… “what’s in my cup?”

When life gets tough, what spills over?

Joy, gratefulness, peace, joy and humility?

Anger, bitterness, harsh words and reactions?

Life provides the cup, YOU choose how to fill it.

Friend, I do not know what is in your cup right now but if you are in any version of normal, there is a lot of coffee-infused exam nerves and cinnamon-spiced holiday stress. The demands are overwhelming and if you are like me, this time of year also brings a reflection of all the ways that 2020 did not measure up to expectations.

So today, let’s work towards filling our cups with gratitude, forgiveness, joy, words of affirmation; and kindness, gentleness and love for others. For life will bump into us. But a heart full of Jesus doesn’t get bruised when it gets bumped.

And when the hustle and bustle of this season seems to drain you from all your good intentions and you get bumped around, there is always ice cream and coffee. Affogato is an Italian classic dessert and means “drowned” in Italian as it is essentially drowning ice cream in coffee. The hot coffee starts to melt the ice cream and forms a thick foam at the top. The best way to eat an affogato is with a spoon, eat the ice cream first and then drink the coffee along with any melted ice cream.

Affogato is so good, you won’t believe it is so elegant, easy, delicious and only needs two ingredients. Perfect to round off any festive menu or as a late night treat. I am filling my cup now! Recipe page 2

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Life is a Book with Many Chapters

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It is Monday morning and our seniors started with their final exams today. Yes, in Namibia our school year runs with the calendar year and our kids finish their year in December to start a new school grade in January. With Covid -19 and the pandemic that also reached us here in the southwest of Africa, there was a time when our seniors were to only write their finals in 2021.

But thankfully, with prayerful faith, meetings with top officials and hours of negotiating, our seniors could walk into the school hall today to write their Cambridge final exams and close this chapter named ‘school’. I stand in awe at how quickly this crazy but delightful season of school runs, lunch boxes and sport days went by for me as the mother of a bright beautiful young girl..

Our lives are all about chapters and seasons. 2020 may be a year for many of us where we wish we could skip some chapters, skip to THE END. As we flip through the pages of our life, and especially this year, we live through an array of emotions, actions, and circumstances. We had our ups and downs. We laughed,we cried,we won,we lost,we faltered and we grew stronger…in ourselves and in our faith.

Yes, every day adds a new page to our overall journey. Every day offers a new beginning. A chance to act, to live attentively. To start over. To try again to make something beautiful of this journey called life.

The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react.”

George Bernard Shaw

The Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes 3:1, “For everything there is a season.” It also tells us in Ecclesiastes 3:11, “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time.” I love these scriptures, as it encourages me that seasons change and that God is working in my life and the lives of my too-quick-growing children. I can keep the faith and live expectantly! For God is the author of my (and their) life.

So in the next few weeks, we as a family are in the chapter or season called FINALS. Long days of studying, encouraging, late nights, cookies and milk, supporting, praying, biting nails, coffee on the porch, tears, giggles, hugs and chocolate. Lots of chocolate! We have already finished a batch of the most delectable Rocky Roads… and this is day one!

Whoever came up with the idea for Rocky Roads was a genius. It requires no baking, contains lots of yummy ingredients and no one expects it to look picture perfect! It is a family favorite, especially during the exams. This is a no bake cookie recipe that doesn’t require the oven, so it’s super quick and easy to make. Child‘s play! Perfect to keep a batch on hand to serve friends as they pop over and spread some holiday cheer.

The problem will be keeping your family away from it long enough to actually serve to guests! I know my pan has already been devoured and they are waiting for a refill! And we are not even close to vacation time or Christmas! Maybe it is because of exam nerves? ( Mum included!).

While Rocky Roads are the perfect easy treat to put out any time and during any season of year, it also makes for an amazing homemade holiday treat! A great homemade gift for all the teachers,coaches, friends and family over this festive season.

I love to add cranberries and flaked almonds or pistachios for a Christmas touch and then box it with a big Christmas bow! Use your imagination and add dried fruits, candied cherries, Turkish delight, Maltezer chocolate balls, white chocolate, hazelnuts, raisins, choc chips or anything you may have on hand in your pantry. This is your story, your own take on Rocky Roads.

So whatever season you find yourself in, or whatever chapter of your life story you are writing, or if you just want to reach THE END of 2020, there should be a special mention of these fudgy, chewy, and crunchy textured Rocky Road cookies. You will find this a scrumptious, indulgent and easy-to-make Rocky Road recipe. Perfect for the holiday season ( and exam chapter) and so super easy and simple to make. It will bring a huge happy smile to your face and give you the spring in your step you need for the next few weeks. Recipe on page 2.

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Where there is a perfect pancake flip (and rain),there is life.

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The first drops of rain falls on the parched Kalahari soil…. dark thunder clouds creep closer with the promise of rain…. the thunder rolls in the distance. Excitement is tangible. The first summer rains are on their way!

Living in the Kalahari desert gives you an appreciation of every drop of water! Few things can compare with the smell of the red Kalahari earth when the rain falls on dry arid ground. It brings back special childhood memories with the three kids sitting on the porch, eating freshly baked cinnamon-sugar pancakes and watching the rain cascade down the thatch roof. The smiles of happy children and the thankful look on my farmer husband’s face, fill my heart to overflowing. God is faithful. God is good.

No matter how powerful a man, he cannot make the rains fall on his farm alone.

African Proverb

With the rain comes my mother-in-law’s ‘pannekoek’ (pancakes) recipe. Yes, when the first drops fall, one of the girls will start mixing the batter. Pannekoek is the Afrikaans word for pancake, but this is not like an American pancake. Flat and thin, a pannekoek is more like a version of a French crêpe than the fluffy, buttermilk pancakes we love to eat in America.

The pannekoek batter is runny and not sweetened — one pancake generally fills up the whole pan. It is cooked on both sides and then it can be filled with savory or sweet fillings for either entrées or desserts.

The Kalahari kitchen Pannekoek way is with plenty of cinnamon sugar, melted into the rolled up pannekoek with a dash of fresh lemon juice. With a pinch of nostalgia for good measure. The waft of cinnamon sugar literally pulls you towards the kitchen and the kids ( and dad) stand around for another round of freshly baked pannekoek.

First off, this is an easy one bowl pannekoek recipe that takes no effort at all. You simply add all the wet ingredients (water, eggs and oil) in a bowl with an electric hand mixer at the ready.

Next you just add the dry ingredients little by little while beating with the electric mixer until the batter is smooth. I let my batter stand for half an hour before adding the vinegar. I now scoop about a ladle full into a hot non stick pan.

Tilt the pan when you pour the batter in, to spread it out all over the pan. Once the pancake batter starts pulling away from the sides, with bubbles in the batter on top, it’s ready to flip and cook for a few more seconds. Now serve with cinnamon sugar and lemon juice or any other delicious filling your heart desires on this rainy Monday afternoon.

So armed with flour, eggs, milk, oil and a thankful heart, I am heading off to the kitchen to flip some pancakes. Because ‘Rain showers my spirit, and waters my soul.’ ~ Emily Logan Decens

Recipe page 2

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