the hungry expats

  After a year in South Africa, we finally experienced our first safari adventure. My mother and her companion came to visit us last September, so we thought it was the perfect opportunity to do this together. Instead of booking a lodge in the famous Kruger National Park, I followed one of my colleagues' advice and looked into the Madikwe Game Reserve, located in the North-West region, along the Botswana border. The drive from Johannesburg took us about 4 and a half hours, with a pit spot in Sun City (approximately half-way) to refill the tank, as there are no recommended gas stations after that (or so we were told by the lodge's staff before departing). The relatively smaller size of the reserve (750 square kilometers) guarantees that you will get to see the wildlife you are expecting to find, including the Big Five.                                  Entering Madikwe Game Reserve ...

  This is a French classic traditionally made and eaten in January to celebrate the Wise Men (or Three Kings). Buttery puff pastry filled with an almond cream filling, it contains a hidden fève (usually a small ceramic figurine, but it can also be a coin or a bean). Whoever finds it get to be crowned king or queen. Of course, you can make it with store-bought puff pastry if you can your hands on good quality puff pastry dough. This recipe yields about 600 grams of puff pastry, which is enough for both top and bottom rounds. It's a bit time consuming but so rewarding! Puff pastry 5 g salt 125 ml water 250 g white bread flour (2 cups) 25 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled (2 Tbsp) 200 g unsalted butter The frangipane (almond cream filling)   Pastry cream 130 g milk 15 g sugar 10 g cornstarch 1 egg yolk 1/2 vanilla pod (or extract)   Frangipane 90 g unsalted butter, softened 80 g icing sugar 110 g almond flour 1 egg 5 g cornflour 1 teaspoon rum (optional if you don't drink...

         Saint-Pierre island       Crystal blue waters, pristine white sand beaches, and an amazing array of tropical flora and fauna... After dreaming about it for so long, we finally took a trip to the Seychelles, only a 5-hour direct flight from our current posting in Johannesburg, South Africa. Eager to pack as much as possible into our 2-week stay, we started our trip on the big island (Mahé - 6 nights), then took a ferry to Praslin (3 nights), followed by another one to La Digue (2 nights), and back to Mahé for the last 3 nights. Our flight tickets with Air Seychelles were relatively cheap: 882 EUR for 2 round trip tickets between Johannesburg (JNB) and Victoria (SEZ).     PRE-TRAVEL        All travel to the Seychelles is subject to obtaining a prior authorization from the Seychelles government ( https://seychelles.govtas.com ). You can only apply for your travel authorization 10 days before your arrival ...