Life, Seasons and Muffins

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tiny white flowers with dried leaves

August in the Kalahari is not the most beautiful time of year. The savannah landscape is dry and dusty, the wind relentless, and the sunsets, while striking, are tinged with a haze. Yet, even in this raw, untamed season, there is life, movement, and anticipation.

Life is a lot like this August landscape. There are seasons that feel harsh, uncertain, or barren. But even then, we can hold fast to the promise that “there is a season for everything, and He makes everything beautiful in its time.” As the beautiful (and a family favourite) song by For King & Country (2024) reminds us:

“And You make everything, everything beautiful You make everything, everything new You make everything, everything beautiful In its time, in Your time, it’s beautiful.”

Just as the Kalahari is preparing to bloom again, so too do our lives unfold in God’s perfect timing. Each gust of wind, each swirling dust cloud, each fiery sunset is a reminder that beauty is coming—even if we can’t see it yet.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.- Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV)

In this season, I love to pause and savor the small joys that make life meaningful, even amid the dust and wind. There’s the delight of my daughters visiting home for a week, filling the house with laughter, stories, and warmth. The quiet evenings under the stars, when the vast Kalahari sky stretches endlessly above and the world feels still, are moments of peace and wonder. There’s the comforting aroma of freshly baked bread and muffins.

These small joys are gentle reminders that even in a season that is rugged and unpredictable, there is goodness, provision, and an expectation. Just as the Kalahari endures the wind and dust to bloom again in time, so too do our lives hold beauty in every season.

The Kalahari in August may not be the most beautiful, but it is a season worth embracing. And every season of life holds the promise that He will make all things beautiful in His time. (Recipe for Bran muffins on next page)

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When Life Gives You Lemons… Make Limoncello

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There’s a hush that settles over the Kalahari in winter. Mornings arrive slow, with breath visible in the crisp air and frost dusting the dry grass like powdered sugar. Winter is lingering—stubborn, beautiful, and utterly Kalahari.

The veld lies still, golden and brittle, stretching under a bright cold sky. Yet, the silence doesn’t last long. Laughter echoes through the house, boots crunch across the yard, and the clatter of coffee mugs marks the start of another day. Our winter days are filled with the joy of hunters who find joy not just in the chase, but in the moments in between—the stories, the meals, the memories. This is Kalahari Safari.

In the quiet moments—between prepping stews and stirring pots—I pause by the basket of lemons. My heart is full of thankfulness and memories that arrive unannounced, like the scent of citrus on a breeze. The sharp, sunlit fragrance takes me back…

To Italy.

To late alfresco dinners in Tuscany. To Positano, where the scent of citrus drifted on the sea breeze. To summer in a glass.

Limoncello. A bold, zesty Italian liqueur made by steeping lemon zest in alcohol. Bright yellow and intensely citrusy, it’s best sipped chilled on a long-awaited summer evening.

I find myself searching for that taste again—that golden memory. Longing for the return of slow, sun-drenched evenings. I scroll through the internet, looking for an authentic recipe, hoping to bottle a little bit of summer before it arrives.

I gather our Kalahari lemons. It will take time. But all good things do.

Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly.

Mae West

While the hunters laugh and share stories around the fire, and the wind whistles outside, a jar of lemon zest quietly steeps in the corner of My Kalahari Kitchen—bottled sunshine.

And when the limoncello is finally ready, we’ll raise our glasses.

To winter in the Kalahari. To memories. And to the joy of citrus and time. – Aldalene

(Recipe on next page)

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SETTING THE TABLE

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My Kalahari Kitchen is born out of a love for food… and a girl that fell in love with a tall handsome farm boy. Never did I imagine a life of breathtaking sunsets with my toes in the red Kalahari sand, bright starlit nights making a canopy over our heads as we sit at a roaring log fire and herds of Zebra eating my carefully planted herbs… a beautiful, simple life in the Kalahari, Africa.

A sharing of memories, photos, Kalahari moments, recipes and life from my Kalahari kitchen…. this is what this blog is all about. Our journey together.

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