If you have been reading my blog for a little time, you would have gathered that we are currently renovating our house. We bought it because it is rock solid, and has a great view of the valley from a large verandah, but everything else needs A LOT of work. Lucky for me, I married a builder…
So far, we have built a large pergola, swapped a window and sliding door in the lounge room and completely gutted and renovated the bathroom. Oh, and let’s not forget the enormous shed in the backyard.
Our current project is the laundry. It didn’t have much in it when we moved in – just a completely impractical cupboard for the vacuum cleaner, which is now gone (the cupboard, not the vacuum). We have gotten to the start-from-scratch point now.
The plan is to build floor to ceiling cupboards along the left hand wall (yay for storage space!), replace the trough, retile the wall and floor, and get a bench installed along the right next to the washer. The fridge and freezer will go under the bench, and we’ll get a nice big overhead cupboard above it. We need to replace the door with one with a window, as we have blocked up the existing window for more cupboard space.
I really want to start a mini-album to document this whole process. I’m sure we’ll look back on all this with fondness one day. But let’s just say there’s not a lot of fondness in my heart for renovating at the moment.
Yeah, I know, it’s Spring. But today it has so far gotten to 35C (95F) and it is forecast to stay this warm for the next week. That is not particularly qualifying as Spring in my books. So, here are some of my summer faves – the things that come out as soon as the warm weather hits:
1. My black Havaianas. They match everything. Truly they do.
2. Banana and strawberry smoothie, made with icecream. Too yummy to be healthy.
3. Afternoons sitting on the deck (I’m blogging from right about there now).
4. BBQs for dinner. Less cleaning, no slaving over a hot stove, and a good excuse for a beer. Salmon steaks tonight.
5. Eating icecream from a cone. Or at least watching my cute boys do it.
Last night I cooked a roast pork. Pork is a fairly new adventure for me, since my dad always reacted to it therefore my mum rarely cooked it, and so I haven’t… Anyways, it was on special a few months back so I bought one and it was delicious, and roast pork has become a more regular treat for us.
So far though, I haven’t been able to get the crackling to CRACKLE. It has always been tough and leathery, not melty and crunchy.
Last night I triumphed though. The crackling was deliciously fatty, perfectly crispy and temptingly more-ish. The boys couldn’t get enough, and I kept sneaking just one more piece.
I’m not sure just what the secret was, but here is what I did to get perfect, mouth-wateringly shattery crackling:
- Wash the skin with cold water and dry well.
- If it’s not already, score the skin quite deeply with a sharp knife in lines about 1cm apart.
- Rub HEAPS (and I mean heaps) of ordinary kitchen salt well into the scores and over the skin.
- Drizzle a little olive oil over the skin and rub it in (and why not add a little more salt, just for good luck?)
- Preheat your oven to 230 degrees and cook the pork at this temperature for about 30 minutes.
- Baste every 15 minutes or so with the pan juices.
- Reduce the heat to 210 degrees and continue to cook for the designated time (will depend on the weight of your roast – I do 30 minutes per 500g). Continue to baste every 15 minutes or so.
Voila – perfect crackling! Or at least, I hope I’ve found the foolproof formula!
Not quite sure what triggered these memories, but I am thinking about my favourite Christmas movies right now. All of my favourites are the ones I grew up with – all of which I have watched at least 50 times. So it seems I have my list for Shimelle today after all:
Oh my. I have watched this more times than I care to admit and can probably recite the thing by heart. Way too many classic scenes to list, but when he wires up ALL THOSE LIGHTS and can’t figure out how to turn them on… too good. And the feral relatives are just too perfect.
My memory is quite vague on this one but I do remember watching it every Christmas. I think I need to hunt this one up as well… although I’m sure my mum still has it on video tape with all the authentic 80s ads still intact…
4. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
A gorgeous, stop-motion animated tv special which we would catch on tv every December.
I also remember watching Prancer and wishing that a reindeer would land in my backyard so I could take care of it…
I really do hope my boys prefer these classics over some of the trashy Christmas movies released these days… does that make me sound old??
Have I missed any? What is your favourite Christmas movie?
OK, so today’s prompt for Shimelle’s class was to write a list of what we are inspired by, or the like. Since I am rather busy today, I am going to cheat and direct your attention to this recent post and go and finish a layout that I need to send off rather soon!
Back with something more interesting tomorrow!
This story is in response to the Day 2 prompt from Shimelle’s Blogging for Scrapbookers class.
My wedding day dawned bright and shiny (which was quite a surprise, as the day before had been dark and rainy). It was quite a strange feeling to wake up knowing that I was beginning a very new and different life. I had just slept my final night in my childhood bed. My three favourite girls were asleep in the room next door, but it wasn’t long before we began the preparations for the busy day ahead.
Hair and makeup was up first, while inhaling a breakfast of croissants and champagne, in the knowledge that we might not eat again until that night. Dresses were donned; theirs blue, mine white. Mum kept us fed and sane, while Dad flittered around, not quite knowing what to do with his houseful of nervous females, while being just as nervous himself.
The photographer arrived and spent a good couple of hours posing us all and finding our best angles. He even got Mum to smile, which is quite an achievement. I think Dad was a bit disappointed that the photographer didn’t use the back garden more, as he’d spent the last two weeks grooming it for the occasion.
We seemed to have plenty of time to get ready, although I’m not sure that was a good thing, as the more I stood around, the harder it got to breathe. Final touches were added – the last coat of lipstick, and the essentials – new shoes, an old hankie of Nanna’s borrowed from Mum and a blue garter. Finally, the cars arrived – beautiful new Jaguars – and we took off for the church, my girls in one car, and me with my parents in the other.
Driving to your wedding is quite a surreal experience. Everyone loves to see wedding cars, so there’s a lot of staring. But I kind of felt disconnected from it all. Nerves and excitement had taken over. It was almost time…
As much as I would love to scrap this story right now, I can’t find any of my wedding photos except for the actual pro album… Anyhow, the story is here for later. And that’s half the point.
Right, so this is the first of Shimelle’s classes that I have signed up for – not for lack of wanting to, because I have always heard about what a fantastic teacher she is. Anyhow, this one seemed very relevant, as I would really like to make this blog a place for me to record real life as well as my creative stuff.
Our first prompt was to blog about what we would like to get out of the class and intentions for our blogging.
- I want to write blogs in a way that is interesting, real and relevant to my readers.
- I aim to blog every other day.
- I would love to make this blog a record of real life as a mum to boys, and a resource for my scrapbooking.
- I still want to share plenty of crafty goodness!
I would LOVE to know who is reading and what you would like me to share more of. It’s no use having a blog if I’m not making it interesting for you! Please, please leave a comment suggesting things you might like to see here, or just say hi. I really appreciate that you pop by to share life with me. Isn’t the internet awesome!?
Oh, and my real life photo for today is my big monkey boy and his best mate at the park last night:
It’s a long weekend here in Melbourne – well, kinda… Today is Melbourne Cup Day and a public holiday, and most of the state also took yesterday off.
Mouse update – Well, Morris lived behind our air-con unit for a full day, popping out occasionally for a wander along the rafters. He seemed to like the peanuts and dried apricots I fed him but I think he was still hungry. Sunday night he took a walk down to the window sill. The cat was watching, and with a well-timed jump, knocked Morris off his ledge and chased him around until I felt too sorry for him and captured him with a jug. I fed him dinner and Rog released him over the road where he was found, stunned, by a passing bicycle rider the next morning who was convinced Morris was a possum and tried to release him into a tree. True story.
Kids update – they are LOVING this weather and being outside constantly. Unfortunately they are both allergic to *something* outside – not sure what – so I have been having to keep them dosed up on anti-histamines to keep the rash down.
Renovation update – lino is completely removed from the laundry and Rog has prepped the walls ready for plastering. I cannot WAIT to have a shiny, clean laundry!! AND to get rid of this mess – renovations are so untidy!
Crafty update – me and Mel had a good night on Saturday night making a start on the boys’ santa sacks. I had the bright idea of appliqueing their names to the front which took us the best part of five hours. They will be super cute when they’re done – planning another night of sewing tomorrow.
Friends update – awesome impromptu fish and chips dinner at the park last night with our friends. The kids played while we ate and drank and enjoyed the beautiful warm evening. And I finally got the chance to practice getting some sun flare in my pics – definitely need more practice, but it was fun playing with the great light.
More later – Shimelle’s blogging class started yesterday so I have my ‘assignment’ to do!
