{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

I hope you all have a beautiful weekend ahead of you.  Mine will be full of celebrations for Mother’s Day and my birthday too.  Jacinta x

6 months to knit, wonder how long it will take me to get it posted!?

I cast on another Sweet Memories Cowl, this time for myself.  I was tossing up between knitting with some Noro Silk Garden Lite in green/blue and brown shades or some mid grey Alpaca yarn I bought while we were away at Easter (something else I haven’t gotten around to blogging about!).  I decided to go with the alpaca yarn.  The yarn was purchased in Beechworth at The Ardent Alpaca (lovely shop and staff).  It’s made in Australia by Tailored Strands and is 8ply.  It has a lovely soft feel to it.  I am determined to finish this one for my birthday, which of course is this coming Sunday!

I think I want to knit another Tea Leaves cardi this winter too.  I also love this pattern.  Jairah needs a new jumper/sweater this winter too, not sure what though.  Any suggestions for a boys pattern in size 4/5 would be appreciated.

Jacinta x

I came up with this recipe this morning before dashing off to do the school drop off.  I haven’t cooked pork belly in the slow cooker before, so it was an experiment.  I’m happy to say it was a success, with both the girls liking it!  The meat cooks up oh so tender.  The marinade turns into a delicious caramel-like sauce, perfect for drizzling over the dish once served up.

Slow Cooker Asian Style Pork Belly

 

Author:

Jacinta Gleeson Munn

Recipe type: Main

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 10 hours

Total time: 10 hours 10 mins

Print

 

Ingredients

• 1kg pork belly
• 50ml soy sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 small knob garlic, grated
• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 1 tsp vinegar
• ¼ tsp white pepper
• ½ tsp chinese 5 spice

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients in a jug, except pork, and mix together.
2. Place pork belly in slow cooker, skin side up. It is optional to lightly sear the pork belly in a frypan before adding it to the slow cooker.
3. Pour marinade over the pork.
4. Cook on high for approximately 4 hours, then turn back to low for at least 6-8 hours. Baste the meat with the marinade and juices throughout the day if possible.
5. Serve with rice and your choice of steam vegetables.

3.1.09

Enjoy!  Jacinta x

Kitchen

Dining Room with Cardamon doing his usual photo bombing

Lounge room

View from lounge room

My favourite part of our garden.

Fingers crossed it will sell quickly.  I have more pictures, but will save them for future posts.  Jacinta x

I will endeavour to take more photos this coming week to show you how our house has come along.  I need to dig up some before photos too, as I can’t believe at times, just how different everything is now.

Hoping to be here on a more regular basis, I’ve missed you all.  Jacinta x

For those interested in where to buy:

Duvet cover is from Adairs
European pillow covers from Adairs
Small decoration cushion from Target
Bedside tables from Ikea
Print above bed from Ikea
Bed was purchased on Ebay a few years ago

The weekend was filled with another renovation job, the removal of our pergola and wisteria.  Thankfully Greg had a mate help him.  There is no way my chicken arms were going to be of any help!  This was one of those decisions that wasn’t made lightly, in fact, we thought about this 6 months ago, but we didn’t have the heart at the time to take out the nearly 30 year old wisteria vine.  Our decision was hastened when the pergola started collapsing a couple of days before Tenneille’s party.  It was a little hairy, but Greg was able to shore it up at the time.  The cost to replace the pergola was not an option, as it was just too expensive.

It was a big job, taking most of the weekend to clean up, but I cannot tell you how much lighter it is inside the house now.  Our lounge room has never been so lovely and bright.  It has totally changed the whole feel of the house.   We can now appreciate the original design concept of the house, that allows you to be at one with nature.  We can even see the sun setting now over a distant ridge.  I often find myself standing at the window admiring the glorious views that we previously had to step outside to see.

The front before pergola was removed.

Panorama of the front of our house.

Looking left from the deck.

On the deck looking to the right.

View (or should I say, lack of) from deck.

The pergola is staring to come down.

The mess!

Panorama after the pergola and wisteria were removed.

Without the wisteria blocking the view, look what we can see now! This was taken the morning after. Not long after sunrise.

We just need to scrub the bricks down where the beams were attached, but other than that, the hard work has been done.  We will have gardeners coming in in the next few weeks to help us get the garden sorted.  It’s getting to the exciting part of renovations, where we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  After nearly 4 years, the renovations are almost complete!

Jacinta x

Meanwhile, we are on day 3 of bathroom renos.  They are coming along, albiet slowly at the moment, as there has been concrete that had to set before shower bases were fitted.  The plumber was here today too, fitting the new pipes for the tap ware.  We are going with flick mixers for both the showers and the bath, which I think will be lovely.  We now have tiles around our ensuite vanity and already it is looking lighter and it’s not yet finished.  I’m really glad we picked the white now.  I have go shopping tomorrow for the shelving that will go in the showers.  Not sure what to go for at this stage.  We kind of over looked that aspect when we were choosing the tap ware.  Oh my, another decision to make.  I’m sure I will survive though.

A sneaky peek at the tiles. Lighting wasn’t great today due to rain, as the tiles are much whiter.

Jacinta x

Our ensuite. Before.

Smoked glass shower screen, be gone!

I could never get those horrid tiles clean!

This is the current state of the ensuite shower. Much improved I say!

This is the shower in the main bathroom. Before.

This should be my Keepin’ It Real post. We never use this shower, so it was my hiding place for all those things that I would get to one day. One day has come

This is the main bathroom shower currently. I have now dealt with all the crap that was hiding out in there.

The big news is, we are actually doing the house up to sell.  Maybe as soon as next month, if all goes to plan.  We are looking to have a big change, but where to, we are uncertain.  Greg is wanting to have a shift in career, still in IT, but in different direction.  He wants to get more involved in writing Apps for phones and other mobile devices.  It’s kind of scary and exciting at the same time.  I’ll keep you posted as to what eventuates.  I still have to share our New Zealand adventure with you too!  Ah, blogging, it’s either feast of famine isn’t it!

I’ll be sharing more bathroom updates as the adventure continues.  Jacinta x

I made her a yummy dairy free/gluten free chocolate cake and used some lovely vegie based food colouring for the frosting which made the most gorgeous shade of blue.

I have spent the past week making her a party dress, foxes of course.  She was so excited to wear it (I’ll write another post about it later in the week).
It really was a lovely day and we are so glad Tenneille is surrounded by such lovely school friends.  Although I must admit my feet and I are rather happy tucked up in bed!  Hope your weekend was gorgeous too.  Jacinta x