It has been crazy busy here at the moment. I just don't seem to have a minute to myself any more, but I guess that is to be expected with my life at the moment.
Fathers Day was quiet, but I made this picture and put it in a frame for Greg. He loved it! (it was VERY hard to get these pictures, let me tell you).
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| DAD picture for Fathers Day 2012 |
I did manage to get away for the weekend - it was Greg's cousin's Hens Weekend. A bunch of girls went to the Hunter Valley. We stayed in Broke, which was lovely. We had dinner on Friday night at Margan Restaurant (nice), a wine tour on Saturday, with lunch at a very "french" inspired Tallavera Grove Restaurant and chilling out on Saturday night. I headed off early on Sunday to save Greg from the kids, but they were very good so he didn't really need saving - but it is very hard work having them all on your own.
Of course I forgot my camera as I was racing out the door on Friday afternoon, but it was a great weekend away. Although those fancy restaurants are nice, they are a tad pretentious in my opinion but I guess I'm a what you see is what you get kinda girl, so I don't really fit that sort of scene..... oh and last time I checked I wasn't absolutely loaded $$$$$$$$ wise either, so may cringe a little at the verrrrrrrry expensive price tags! However, the views and decor at both restaurants and the wineries was wonderful and made for a fantastic weekend.
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| Outside Tallavera Grove Restaurant - gorgeous views of the vines here |
Other than that, life has been chugging along as normal as it can be - ups and downs etc.
Ben has finally got some teeth - the top two have come though last week YAY. We also had to give him a haircut as his hair was getting long and he likes to rub his head on the floor and it was going into dreadlocks!! Also, everyone used to ask me if he was a girl because he had lovely golden curls LOL.
I took the kids to the park on Sunday afternoon to give Greg a break.
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| Ben, with his new hair - he looks like a little boy now |
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| Michael having fun on the slide |
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| Jemma sitting on the baby swing |
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| Rhys having a swing |
Both Ben and Rhys eat a lot of vanilla yoghurt. In fact Rhys won't eat anything else. I have been going through yoghurt like crazy and it gets expensive, especially since I can go through a litre a day, and at $4 per tub it adds up quickly.
Anyway, I have an Easiyo yoghurt maker and started using that, but even their packs were $3.50 or so a pack, so that was getting expensive. So I decided to buy some live yoghurt culture from Green Living Australia and try my luck at yoghurt making.
My first attempt was a disaster! Not because it didn't set, but because it absolutely tasted DISGUSTING. The reason? I didn't put any sweetness into the yoghurt. I actually am amazed at just how sweet our normal yoghurt from the supermarket is against normal unsweetened yoghurt.
After much trial and error, I now have our vanilla yoghurt down pat & I think it tastes yummy. Here is how to do it:
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| Yummy home made vanilla yoghurt (very thick as we love it this way) |
What you need
- Easiyo yoghurt maker & container
- Yoghurt starter OR some plain yoghurt from the supermarket (small tub)
- 1 litre UHT long life full cream milk (I buy Aldi brand)
- 1/3 cup heaped Powdered milk full cream (I buy Aldi brand) - this makes THICK yoghurt... nom nom nom
- 3 tablespoons of sugar
- 2 tablespoons of vanilla essence
Method
- In the Easiyo container, pour some long life milk into it
- Put in the yoghurt starter (few grains) or 2 heaped tablespoons plain yoghurt
- Put in the sugar, vanilla essence and powdered milk and shake it up
- Put in the remainder of the UHT milk and shake again (try and get the sugar to dissolve a bit)
- Place into the Easiyo with the boiling water and leave for at least 6 hours
Then, when you take it out of the fridge, make another batch using 2 heaped tablespoons from the container. It goes on and on and on. SO easy!!! SO cheap!!
I will take step by step pictures next time I make it and put it in another blog!
Enjoy
Rach
xxxxxxx
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