The Amazing Orange Cake...

As Jill Dupleix says on her website: "very now and then, a recipe comes along that is set to take over the world. The Amazing Orange Cake is just such a recipe".

Since Jasmine and Juliet are into baking these days I thought this was a good Holiday recipe we could make.

So yesterday we, or I must actually say: JJ & Jezz made this cake. Although they baked it, they haven't tried a slice yet... that is the part. They like to bake, but then they are not really interested in eating, and then Dirk and me are stuck with a yummy cake, but way too much for us. So that's why I don't like to bake!!

Here the girls are getting all the ingredients together, and buttering the pan. When you click on the link above it will bring you to the recipe. We halved the recipe, since this was a huge cake, and half is already for a 22 cm pan, which is more than big enough!



Mixing part is so much fun, they took turns!



And then the end result.... not bad for a first attempt! And the girls are so proud of themselves :-)



It's a very yummy cake, but my friend Dunke makes a better version!! So Dunke, next time I'll come and get your recipe, because nobody beats your yummilicious Orange Cake!!

Have a wonderful Xmas all!!
Mireille xx

Last day of school.... Hooray!

The girls had a Christmas celebration at school, with some snacks and crafts before every body went on a 3 week vacation.

All excited that it is over and vacation can start!!

Here, JJ is decorating a small box to put some ornaments in they are making next. It was also twin day at school, that means that each kid had to choose a friend and they had to dress up the same for the day. I have no pictures of that because most of the kids already dressed back in their own clothes by the time the Xmas celebration started where the parents were invited to.





Juliet and her teacher Ms. Gina.



In between the different crafts the kids had a chance to have a snack and a drink. Here Jasmine with a few of her friends.



Jasmine and her teacher Mrs. Jackson.



Both decorating their boxes.



Jasmine with one of her classmates.



These are some of the examples the kids could make from the edible dough.



But Jasmine seemed a bit daunted by the idea, although later she made a few cute ones....



Xmas break is a bit lonely here, since most of the families go back to their home countries to celebrate with their families. But we are staying here, which we actually like a lot. The weather is gorgeous, the city is not so crowded and we are looking forward having our friends Ginster and Peter over for Xmas and a few days thereafter.

We will catch up on our good times together in Thailand....

What are your plans for Xmas?
Are you traveling to family or staying home?

Mireille xx

Merry Christmas to you all!!

Since last year most of my cards only arrived in March and some didn't even get theirs, this year I will only do an electronic version. So please consider this our Holiday greetings to you and your family!!



The beautiful picture was made by my friend Kate Morrison from Max & Mimi Photography and this version is edited and made into a card by Karen Lim from Story of Bing.

If you didn't get the card by email, that means either your email bounced back or I don't have your email address, so here the text that I wrote into my newsletter this year. I hope by posting it here that everybody got our message.

Hello friends and family,

Since last year most of my cards only arrived in March or not at all, this year an E-letter. We have reached our 3rd year here in SA and moved to another house while still enjoying the life in the Southern Hemisphere. We enjoy the weather & the many weekend trips we are able to make in this beautiful country.

The girls are 9 years old and in 4th grade now and doing just wonderful at school. Dirk is busy with work and has been making some major changes with some great progress. Hopefully the company will go only upwards from now, although the crisis is felt everywhere!

I am enjoying my life here as well, keeping busy with the usual stuff like many book and cooking gatherings, school activities, social life with loads of interesting woman from all over the world. Photography, volunteer work and other interesting and fun stuff keeps me occupied.

As most of the previous years we travel quite a bit, and this year we went to Incredible India in March. The girls and I visited Mumbai and Delhi, and it was truly an amazing journey!! So fun to meet old friends again!
Over the summer we went for 2 weeks to the Netherlands and 6 weeks to the USA, where we hooked up with so many old and new friends, it was a great trip and we cherish those memories for life.

Besides these 2 overseas trips we did many other local trips here in South Africa. The country is gorgeous and we like to explore it as much as possible while we are here!

We also had many friends and family visiting us this year and we hope to see even more the coming year we will be here, so are you up for it? Come and stay with us, you will be amazed how beautiful South Africa is!!
Even after 3 years, it is still strange to celebrate Xmas in the summer but it has is advantages too. While we are staying here for the holiday season to celebrate with our dear friends Ginster & Peter the girls can swim in the pool every day during their school break, while we are just relaxing!

Wishing you all a festive holiday season and may the coming year be full of joy, health & happiness!

Love, Dirk, Mireille, Jasmine & Juliet xox

and for my Dutch readers:

Hallo vrienden en familie,

Omdat vorig jaar onze kaarten pas in maart aankwamen of helemaal niet, doe ik het dit jaar met een electronisch bericht. We zijn nu al ruim 3 jaar hier in Zuid Afrika en inmiddels verhuisd naar een ander huis. Maar het bevalt ons nog steeds goed. Het weer is echt fantastisch en er zijn nog zoveel plekjes te bezoeken dat we nog geen zin hebben om ons hele boeltje weer te pakken. Dus blijven we nog een jaartje of 2.

De meiden zijn nu 9 jaar en zitten in de 4e klas van de lagere school, oftewel groep 6. Ook volgen ze NL’se les 1x in de week en zijn aardig op niveau. Maar het Engels overheerst tegenwoordig toch wel.

Met Dirk en ik gaat het ook goed, hij is druk aan het re-organiseren op het werk, veel veranderingen de laatste tijd, want de crisis is nog goed merkbaar. Maar het gaat de goede kant uit en hopelijk zien we een stijgende lijn vanaf nu. Ik hou me nog steeds druk bezig met allerlei kooklessen, boekenclubs, fotografie en vrijwilligerswerk. In plaats van kooklessen te volgen ga ik volgend jaar beginnen om ze te geven, op verzoek van verschillende vrienden hier. Ben benieuwd hoe dat gaat lopen!

Zoals de meeste jaren reizen we redelijk veel. In Maart zijn de meiden en ik naar India geweest. Daar hebben we Mumbai en Delhi bezocht, wat echt ongelooflijk mooi was! Leuk om wat oude vriendinnen van mij te bezoeken en gelijk er een culinaire tocht van gemaakt. Heel bijzonder!

Tijdens de grote zomervakantie zijn we 2 weekjes in NL geweest en 6 weken in Amerika. Heel veel vrienden en familie bezocht en heel wat kilometers afgereden, zoals gewoonlijk in de States! Maar naast deze 2 buitenlandse trips hebben we ook weer heel wat nieuwe plekjes van ZA bezocht. Er is zoveel moois te zien!

Wat we altijd erg leuk vinden is als vrienden of familie op bezoek komen en dit jaar hadden we ook weer een aantal op visite hier. En we hopen dat jullie ook nog komen! Aangezien we nog even blijven hebben jullie de kans om deze kant uit te komen en op safari te gaan, wat echt een super ervaring is!!

De kersttijd is weer aangebroken en het blijft raar om dat in de zomer te vieren. Dit jaar komen vrienden van ons, die we hebben leren kennen in Thailand, Ginster en Peter ons bezoeken, dus dat wordt super gezellig!

We wensen jullie heel fijne feestdagen en een gezond en gelukkig 2012!

Liefs, Dirk, Mireille, Jasmine & Juliet xox

Movies, X rider & making your own sushi all in 1 afternoon.

I haven't been posting for a while now, because my pictures take forever to upload, but it seems to go a bit better these days, so let me try to add some posts with only a few pictures and try to get back onto my schedule!

A few weeks ago I went with the girls and their friend Cathlynn (our neighbor) to the movies at Montecasino. They wanted to see the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ~ part 1. But here this movie is rated PG13 and the girls are only 9. Although it was fine with me, since they have seen them all so far. So I told them to stay on the side when I purchase the tickets, so the seller doesn't see that the girls are younger. But then when we walked towards the theatre with their popcorn and drinks a lady called us back.... but we just pretended we didn't hear her!! LOL and watched the movie. So much fun to be to have a naughty mom the girls were saying! :-)

Then the girls wanted to go into the X Rider, a simulated ride where you get wind, snow, bubble effects and water sprinkled upon you and the chair moves up and down and left to right. You have to wear those 3D glasses and the girls totally dig this every time we go to Montecasino.

After they were full of adrenaline of the shaking and movements of the X Rider we went to YuMe for sushi. Juliet and Cathlynn love sushi, Jasmine goes for a safer option; fried noodles. We were sitting at the sushi belt when we ordered some special sushi that was not on the belt, so the sushi maker asked the girls if they wanted to make their own order.

And YES that sounded like a lot of fun!!







And here Juliet and Cathlynn on another sushi outing together! These girls love the good life!



Another fun Wednesday afternoon here in South Africa!

Life = good!

Enjoy your day,
Mireille