From Soulemama {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, savour and remember.
I love your moments too. Â So feel free to leave a link in the comment section for us all to see. Â Have a beautiful weekend. Â Jacinta x
From Soulemama {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, savour and remember.
I love your moments too. Â So feel free to leave a link in the comment section for us all to see. Â Have a beautiful weekend. Â Jacinta x
On Sunday, I was lucky enough to escape with a group of lovely women to a birthday brunch for a friend. Â We went to a lovely venue called Bella Vedere in the Yarra Valley. Pulling into the driveway, we could have easily mistaken the building for something I’d expect to find in Tuscany (does it count if I haven’t actually been to Tuscany?). Â The food was gorgeous, their desserts, heavenly. Â No photos of the meals of course, as we were all too busy eating and talking! Â It was refreshing to have good table service too.
After the meal we had to have a wonder around the cottage garden which we had been admiring during our meal. Â The garden was beautiful. Â The air was filled with the scent of sweetpeas. Â In every corner of the garden, there was yet another beautiful scene to take in and admire. Â Of course, the whole place is surrounded by the most gorgeous countryside and there are vineyards as far as the eye can see.
Bella Vedere is well worth visiting, should you find yourself in the Yarra Valley. We certainly enjoyed ourselves (Nothing like a group of women who rarely get out without partners or children, to make the most of their situation!). Â I know I will be going back. Although next time I will make it a family outing and take Greg and the kids. Â I might have an excuse to use the butterfly nets they supply then.
If only you could smell these sweetpeas!
A gorgeous artichoke in flower
Ok, so now I want a curved arbour.
A view out to a neighbouring vineyard
I hope you got to do something special on the weekend too. Â Jacinta x
The lucky winner of the Christmas stocking, thanks to random.org is:
Congratulations Zara from Zaranne Handmade. Â I will contact you via email.
Thank you to those who entered.
Jacinta x
From Soulemama {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, savour and remember.
I love your moments too. Â So feel free to leave a link in the comment section for us all to see. Â Have a beautiful weekend.
I have a giveaway running at the moment. Â It is a handmade Christmas stocking made by me. Â Check it out. Â The giveaway is open to all. Â Closes Monday 21 Nov. Â Jacinta x
Joining in with Ginny at Small Things for yarn along this week.
Thank goodness my family don’t rely on me to keep them warm with hand knits, because we would be very cold! Â I have hardly knitted at all lately. Â I am kind of cheating with what I am showing you tonight. Â In my last yarn along post, I was helping my daughter Scarlett knit a square for her teacher’s baby blanket. Â Each child from Scarlett’s class knitted a square that was then sewn into the blanket. Â It looked gorgeous and I was able to snap a photo of her teacher holding it up after they presented it to her at her send off. Â I can’t take credit for the sewing up of it, however the square that is second down from the lefthand corner is Scarlett’s.
As for reading. Â I finished The Other Hand (or Little Bee, as it would be know in the US) by Chris Cleave. Â What a book. Â It made me laugh, cry, cringe, feel sad, and feel sick to my stomach as it was quite graphic at times. Â Although that said, the language was like a work of art. Â It was so beautifully written. Without spoiling the book, it’s based on a Nigerian girl, Little Bee, who meets Sarah and her husband Andrew, while they were in Nigeria on holiday. An incident occurs which reunites Little Bee, with Sarah down the track. Â Together they help each other through their past and present situations.
The book is written from the perspectives of each character.
I could quote so many passages from the book, but I would probably end up re-writing the whole thing. Â So I will restrain myself and only quote a few. Â The first one is from the opening page of the book.
Most days I wish I was a British pound coin instead of an African girl. Â Everyone would be please to see my coming. Maybe I would visit with you for the weekend and then suddenly, because I am fickle like that, I would visit with the man from the corner shop instead – but you would not be sad because you would be eating a cinnamon bun or drinking a cold Coca Cola from the can, and you would never think of me again. Â Little Bee
Horror is your country is something you take a dose of to remind yourself that you are not suffering from it. Â For me and the other girls from my village, horror is a disease and we are sick with it. Â Little Bee
That is how we lived, happily and without hope. I was very young then, and I did not miss having a future because I did not know I was entitled to one. Â Little Bee
I can’t wait to see what you talented women have crafting.  Don’t forget to check out a giveaway I have going at the moment too.  It’s for a Christmas stocking, handmade by me.  Here is the link. It’s open until next Monday 21st November.
Jacinta x
So it seems this blog has made it’s first trip around the sun. Â I have enjoy my blogging journey thus far. Â My favourite part though, has been ‘meeting’ all you beautiful bloggers out there, who I’d otherwise never have connected with. Â I love visting your blogs and seeing what you have all been up to. Â Thank you to all those who visit here and your lovely comments. Â It’s what inspires me to keep at it.
Now for the giveaway! Â It seems that Christmas is just around the corner and what better item to offer than a Christmas stocking made by yours truly. (I made one each for my kids last year and they loved them).
This giveaway is open to ALL. Â Feel free to let others know about this giveaway. Â The more the merrier. Â Good luck and I will draw the winner Monday 21 November (in Australia).
Christmas Stocking Giveaway
A close up of the fabric
How sweet is this gingerbread house fabric
Please ensure I can contact you, should you win, as I will need to post out the Christmas stocking ASAP so you will hopefully receive it before Christmas.
Jacinta x
What a busy weekend. Â The kids and I escaped to Ballarat so Greg could get to work on putting the flooring down in the kitchen.
The weather on Saturday was glorious and we decided to head to Daylesford. Â I had intended to do some Christmas shopping at a store I have been dying to visit. Â I went in to the store all excited (like a kid-in-a-lolly-shop excited), only to find I couldn’t get anything on my list! Â I was so disappointed. Â I do believe I walked out with a pout on my face as did the woman who walked out behind me. She too had made a special trip to the shop, only to find she couldn’t get what she wanted either (I know, boo-hoo!).
The kids meanwhile, went to an op/thrift shop with my mum and all came out happy with their new found treasures. Â Made me realise that I don’t need to purchase those more expensive items I couldn’t get and that I may as well shop for their Christmas presents at the op shop. Â They would be just as happy.
We enjoyed our picnic lunch in a beautiful park. Â Right next to the picnic table was a lovely gently sloping hill, which called to Tenneille to roll down it grassy banks.
 
We found a lovely pond by chance on Sunday, where the girls played for nearly an hour while I watched dragonflies dance across the pond’s surface. Â Of course the dragonflies wouldn’t stay still long enough to capture.
We wondered a bit further and happend across some beautiful roses. Â They were so heady in scent, I think I nearly passed out from their beautiful fragrance. Â I love roses and I’m sure you would spot me a mile away as the woman who stops a every bloom and breaths in their beauty.
A spot of plumbing took place in the afternoon (I was the one who broke the bathroom tap, whoops!). Â Thank goodness my mum is handy and she had an apprentice at hand.
We were meant to go home Sunday afternoon, but Greg needed a bit more time to finish the floor, so we came home Monday instead. I am happy to say the floor has come up beautifully. Â The kitchen is so close to being finished. Â Just need to get the kick boards put on, the drawers (that finally showed up last week) need to be installed and the splash back needs to be put up (still deciding on the colour).
I must say, I have had to really embrace this journey, as it has taken a lot longer than I had anticipated and tested my ability to ’embrace it all’ so to speak! Â I have had to do a lot of deep breathing, to the point if you have felt light-headed over these last few weeks, it’s because I have used more than my fair share of oxygen.
So for now, my dear, patient readers, here is a little sneak peek of the floor. Â Of course we are tossing up whether to pull up those couple of lighter boards and redistribute them amongst the darker boards. Â Hmm, will sit with it a few days before we commit.
Jacinta x
From Soulemama {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, savour and remember.
I love your moments too. Â So feel free to leave a link in the comment section for us all to see. Â Have a beautiful weekend. Â Jacinta x
As promised, the recipe for Greg’s birthday cake. Â It’s seriously good. Â Very chocolatey, but not overly sweet. Â Don’t be alarmed at how it looks before decorating, this cake is not about looks, but about taste! Â The recipe originally came from a magazine clipping, but I do not remember which magazine as it was a few years ago. Â I believe the recipe comes from a book called Sharing Plates, by Jared Ingersoll. Â The name of the cake from the magazine clipping was, The Best Chocolate Cake I know (I assume that is what it was called in the book too).
For those who use imperial measurement, I have done conversions for you. Â I hope it’s right.
Ingredients:
10 eggs
250gm (8.8oz) butter
500gm (17.6oz) good quality dark chocolate
1/4 (2oz) cup plain flour
1/4 (2oz) cup castor sugar
extra flour and butter for greasing and dusting cake tin
A dash of your favourite liqueur if desired (I used Cointreau)
Method:
Preheat oven to 205 (401F) degrees celsius. Â Grease a springform tin (approx. 22cm, or approx. 8in) with butter and dust lightly with flour. Â Grease an oven proof dinner plate that is big enough to sit over the edge of the tin.
Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and melt. Â Take off heat and allow melted chocolate to cool slightly.
Separate the eggs, placing the egg yolks in a small bowl and the egg whites in a large bowl.
Beat egg whites until soft peaks form, add sugar, a little at a time, until sugar has dissolved.
Add the flour to the egg yolks and mix through until well combined.
In a large bowl, pour chocolate mixture and add egg yolk and flour mix and whisk until combined.
Using your hands, fold the beaten egg white mixture, a third at a time. Â You will need to work quickly. Â Pour mixture into prepared tin and place into preheated oven.
After 15 mins, gently place the plate, greased side down, on top of the cake, while it remains in the tin. Â Put the tin back in the oven for another 12 minutes.
Remove from oven and place the cake, still in the tin and covered with plate, on a rack for 24 hours.
The next day, remove dinner plate. Â Now don’t be alarmed at the look of the cake, it will have sunken in the middle (that’s a good thing). Â Remove the springform tin.
To serve, I usually fill the middle with seasonal berries, or if you wish, whipped cream. Â To slice, you may want to use a knife that has been heated in hot water to get nice smooth slices. Don’t cut the pieces too big, as it is quite rich and it would be sinful to waste it!
Enjoy!
