Let me start by showing you one of the several sunrises you have missed out on since my last post. Frankly, with the busy days, a virus and not great sleep, I am quite amazed I am able to bring you this many :)
From orange to subtle and golden, I'm always amazed at the rapid transformation of each sunrise.
Now onto some adorable little leaf buddies. These guys were happy chillin' on a leaf together after I brutally pruned their vine. The intense heat and huge rainfall has caused and epic amount of growth this year. I pruned, then carefully rescued little froggies that stayed clinging to disconnected branches. It's a labour of love :)
This gorgeous guy was one of the many sharks my German teen encountered on Saturday during her 16th birthday present from us: a tropical reef snorkel at Seaworld.
Another glorious morning to wow you.
To break the scenery monotony, here is last night's dinner. My diet has been all over the place with birthdays, visitors, a hectic week and then viral yukiness. This dinner was my attempt to get back on track.
The fresh beans were steamed to leave a hint of crispness. The cauliflower and pumpkin was partially steamed prior to placing in a greased baking dish, dotted with cream cheese, butter and topped with a little breadcrumbs, seasoning, covered and baked. Simply delish!
The meat was needed, by my non teen and myself. Simple meatballs with gravy. Sooo good.
I also made a yummy caponata yesterday-someone had once again forgotten about the egg plant in the fridge and needed to cook it asap.
I didn't have capers, or olives, yet it still tastes soooo good. I don't use brown sugar with mine either. I feel that cooking it with butter then adding vinegar adds enough sweetness to the dish.
I enjoyed a serve for brekky topped with salmon this morn...satifying :)
I have just made this babies for brekkies during the week: coconut cream chia cups. The recipe will be at the end of this post.
Look at this morning's sunrise! Just beautiful! I love the gorgeous colours, and am so grateful I get to catch it at this stage before it fades to a less subtle greeting.
I am sure you may be wondering what has happened with our house hunting and my job interview. Wonder no more, dear readers, for I shall tell all...
Let's begin with the house hunting. I fell in love with the place. Hubby isn't as keen :( As it stands, it is, in essence, a share house. As the landlady's grandson is still occupying the largest bedroom, it's currently not suitable for our little family. By share house, I mean that, even though we have our own space, the bathroom does come off the laundry, meaning that we may run into the upstairs dwellers, or flat resident on occasion. Other than that, I really love the feel of the place. It has high, exposed timber beam ceilings, like my landlady's mother's house, which I originally rented. The floor space is huge, and would mean no annoying gates to keep bubby in. The yard, though shared, is lovely, and has an abundance of grass, trees-fruit ones as well, and chooks. Sigh. There is a vacant lot next door with a huge poinciana tree in it-my fave. And, it's opposite my older girls primary school- a smaller primary surrounded by farm land. For me, it's ticking all the boxes, even before telling you the rent is $70 less per week, includes power and we don't need to pay a bond! Ok, there are negatives, but the positives outweigh it for me.
Slight catch. The grandson is refusing to move into his nan's house- which is down the bottom of the double block, and its a huge, modern house with only 2 occupants. Plenty of room, but he just won't budge.
That means we have to wait. And that wait could take a year as he finishes his uni degree :( A lot can happen in a year. Including my teen moving out. These plans have already started. Slowly, but the process has been initiated. One way or another, our living circumstances are changing.
In the meantime, I am waiting to hear how my job interview went. I know it's not the end of the week yet, but I am busting to hear from them! Personally, I really enjoyed the actual interview. For the first time ever, I wasn't nervous, just my chatty, bubbly self. We talked for over 20 mins, with much laughter, and I left feeling confident. The more I think about it, the more I want this opportunity. If not, I will be happy with the knowledge that the right door will open, at the right time. Maybe I won't get the job but we move, which will save us money? Maybe we stay, and I get the job, and save money? Really, who knows, but I believe in knocking on every door until the right one opens. I shall keep you posted!
Chia Cups
Ingredients:
1 cup coconut cream
Half cup water
5 dried apricots
vanilla
4 tbsp chia seeds
Topping:
Juice of half a lemon
4 heaped tsp shredded coconut
8 drops stevia liquid
Method:
Blend coconut cream, water, apricots and cinnamon until smooth.
Add chia seeds and blend some more.
Spoon mixture into 4 cups.
Place 1 tsp of shredded coconut per cup.
Juice half a lemon, add to cups. Place 2 drops of stevia per cup.
Chill.
By making this recipe, I discovered that, if chilled correctly, coconut cream does go hard. Wished I had been more patient when making the vegan carrot cakes of my previous post.
I hope to enjoy these babies for brekkies over the coming days. They are small, but concentrated, low sugar goodness.
And there you have it, a bit to keep your curiosity satisfied for a little longer. Thanks for reading, and hopefully, I shall be back with more soon :)
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