The weekend is here....finally.

Some weeks feel really really long....do you find that?

There are some weeks when Friday comes around so fast I wake up and it's midday before I even remember it's Friday.

Not this week.....

A large & very very sad milestone passed by in my family & friend's lives this week.

A lot of us felt very very heavy on the day and the days leading up to it.

The first anniversary of the death of my nephew.  He was only 6mths old.

His loss continues to be so hard- it always will.

He should be here.....and he isn't.

Nothing can change that.

Most anniversaries involve celebrating but how do you celebrate something so sad?

Celebrate is just the wrong word isn't it? 

Sadness makes your heart & soul hurt. 


On the day I spent some time with a lovely friend and distracted myself from the sadness.

We chatted about other stuff and laughed.

The sun was out....that helped too.

All day long I thought about him & how much I miss him.

And once again.......once again I was reminded of the loveliness of some people who sent thoughts, hugs & love.

To anyone who is dealing with grief...my thoughts are with you, it's a tough road.

Just when you think you are doing ok things fall apart a little, the wheels fall off.

That's the bit I find the hardest- it's the unexpected ways the grief gets me.

When that happens I remember some wise words from a lovely lovely friend.......go gently.

So this weekend which I am so glad is finally here.....I am going to do just that.

Go Gently.....

And of course for me that means a bit of slow cooking........and comfort food.

Some delicious pork (including some bacon bones) arrived for me today from mount Gnomon Farm in Tasmania.  We tried their products on our trip and LOVED them. Click here to visit their blog and read more about them and what they do. 

GOURMET GIRLFRIEND'S TRADITIONAL BAKED BEANS:
I love cooking this as it is super dooper easy. And is there any better comfort food than Baked beans??
Once you eat these you will never look back!
For my hubby it is the ULTIMATE  comfort food and he adds serious amounts of chilli & eats bowl after bowl.
Tonight I think I will eat it for dinner with a soft fried egg on top with some good crunchy sourdough toast. TOTAL COMFORT!
I have a friend who was vegetarian until she couldn't resist the temptation of the smell of Bacon anymore. It's soooo good isn't it?!!!


WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 2-3 bacon bones ( I used beautiful free range bacon bones- speck or a ham hock will also do)
• 300g dried white beans (today I used black eyed beans) if using dry soak overnight in water to reduce the cooking time. Rinse.
• 400g tinned tomatoes
• garlic (I used 5 cloves because I LOVE garlic), chopped finely
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 2 sprigs of thyme
• 2 carrots diced
• 1/2 sweet potato
• 1 leek sliced finely
• 1 stick celery, diced
• 2 onions, diced
• 3 tablespoons treacle
• water

 METHOD:

Heat the oven to 130C.

In a heavy ovenproof casserole dish on a medium heat fry the onion, leek, garlic, carrot, celery and bay until the onion is translucent.

Add the thyme,  sweet potato and treacle and stir through.


Add the bacon bones and tomatoes and enough water to cover. Bring to the boil on the stove before placing in the oven for 3-4 hours. (if using dried beans allow longer)

I check mine regularly to ensure it doesn't get to dry.  Add more water as needed- just to the top.


When the beans are nearly done I remove form the oven & check seasoning (I don't do this till the end as the bacon bones have a large amount of salt already).


Remove the lid and increase the oven temperature to 180C.


Place beans back in to brown and caramelize on top- for about 30 minutes.

Serve in bowls and eat as is....or with good bread.

And this is the tune of my week.......