Long Weekend

What a busy weekend. It went way too fast.

Jason headed off on a boys weekend up on the Murray River. The boys were going for the entire long weekend but J had to come back earlier as on Sunday night we had tickets to see Lee Kernaghan. J left late Friday afternoon and he came home late Sunday afternoon.

I worked all day Friday, Saturday night and all day Sunday. I took Kady and Leah over to Jason's Mum's on Saturday afternoon and they stayed the night. As always they had a great time there. Wendy, Daryl and Megan also stayed over. They headed across to Daylesford on Sunday to check out the market etc The girls got some cute socks and lovely beads. Megan loved her book I made her. Jason and I picked them up on the way to see Lee Kernaghan.

By Sunday evening the last thing either of us felt like doing was going out to a concert. I was tired from work and J was tired from his boys weekend. It ended up being a fantastic evening. The McClymont Sisters were first up and they were unbelievable. Their voices are amazing. It's the first time we have seen them in concert and we can't wait to see them at Deni again later in the year. Lee was the best we have ever seen him. His song lineup was fab. Kady and Leah had a ball. There were heaps of kids at the concert.

Yesterday we took it easy and pottered around the house. Jason washed the cars (our tanks have been overflowing due to recent rain so we can finally do this) and I burnt off a heap of daisy bushes we pulled out of the front garden the week before. The daisies were getting too big and woody. We are going to put a fish pond in the front section and some decking for a small table and chairs.

Yesterday I noticed the septic leaking. Jason checked it all out and found the pump in the third chamber wasn't working. Today we are $300 poorer. I suppose we can't complain as we figure the pump is the original one put in when the house was built about 15 years ago. Jason has spent his RDO installing the new pump.

It is freezing here today. You can really feel snow in the air. Snow is predicted to 800 metres tomorrow. We might be lucky and get a few snow showers. The fire is roaring so it's toasty warm inside. I have a pot of Pea and Ham Soup on the stove simmering away. Smells so yummy. Can't wait for dinner tonight. I bought a crusty french stick to eat with it. Love winter foods.

Here is the recipe.

Pea & Ham Soup (makes a huge pot full)

2 Bacon Hocks
40grams butter
4 small onions
4 sticks celery
4 medium carrots
2 tablespoons parsley (use half for garnish)
garlic (I used three cloves)
black pepper
1kg green dried split peas (rinsed and drained)
4 bay leaves
1.5 litres of water
2 litres of vegetable stock
3 teaspoons of thyme leaves

Dice onion, celery and carrot. Melt butter and add onion, celery and carrot. Cook over low heat until soft.

Add parsley, thyme, hocks, split peas, bay leaves, pepper, garlic, water and stock.

Simmer covered for an hour. Remove the lid and simmer for a further 1.5 hours or until bacon has fallen off the hock. Remove the hock from the soup and cut off any remaining meat. Add meat back into soup.

Stir remaining parsley back into soup and serve with crusty french stick.

The girls are getting excited. It will be a big day next Sunday, Leah is doing her Holy Communion and Confirmation and Kady is doing her Confirmation. They have been busy choosing a name. Kady loves Daniella and Gabriella (but hasn't fully decided) and Leah wants to have Mary. They have been reading up on all the Saints names and biblical names. All the family will be coming over. Jason and I have spent today working out what yummy food we will cook for everyone.

I hope everyone had a great long weekend.