Friday Favourites

Hi friends! I hope you’ve all had an amazing week. I’m excited to be back to share some of my favourites from October. It’s an October Favourites edition! Which feels just right, since (can you believe it?) it’s the last day of the month. Oh, and by the way, Happy Halloween! I’m pretty sure I say this all the time, but whoa, didn’t the month go by so fast! We said cheers to the first day of October with a yummy snack of salami, crackers and halloumi. Spring School Holidays In  October, I had a relaxing school holiday break and enjoyed the gorgeous spring weather. First on the holiday agenda was a fun catch-up with friends for lunch. The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney I also did a day trip to the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, where my funny friend and I admitted we do not have a great sense of direction. To be fair, the garden is huge! We ended up using my phone to guide us to where we wanted to go. My iPhone has this feature where you hold it up and giant blue arrows appear to show you which way to walk. They reminded me of the arrows in a Mario Kart game, hehe. Here are a few pics of the beautiful gardens. Pamela Allen Exhibition After the Botanic Gardens, we went to see The Pamela Allen Exhibition. Pamela Allen is a children’s author from New Zealand who made her name in Australia. She wrote Who Sank the Boat? and Alexander’s Outing. We read her books to the children at preschool all the time. Such classics! After a big day out, you really can’t go wrong with a chicken and leek pie. It was so nice to sit down, eat, and chat. Cousin Connect In October, my aunt hosted Cousin Connect. Most of us managed to get together before some of our travelling cousins went overseas. October is Birthday Month Our younger son turned 21! We got lucky, and all five of us, the three of us plus my older son and his fiancée, had time off work during the day. At the birthday boy’s request, we went to see a movie and then had burgers and chips for dinner at a place called Mister Gee. We saw the Leonardo DiCaprio movie One Battle After Another, and it was so good I didn’t fall asleep once! In October, my eldest son turned 32. He came over our way with his fiancée, and we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant, Lilong. Then it was back to our house for cake. Let me tell you about the funny cake incident. Since Luke moved out, he’s always come over for his birthday dinner — but this year, we were all less than amazing at communicating. I didn’t want to assume he was coming in case he had other plans, and he figured I’d automatically know he was coming over. So when he rang me while I was at work and said, “Hey Mum, I’ll be coming over at 7,” I was of course super excited… but we hadn’t actually planned dinner or a cake. I rang my husband and he came up with a plan: we’d go out for dinner, and he would ice and decorate a banana bread he’d baked and pass it off as a birthday cake. No one would ever know. Well… everyone figured it out immediately. At the very first bite: “Hey, isn’t this Dad’s usual banana bread? He’s just put lollies and choc chips on top!” Hahahahaha!!! “He thought we wouldn’t notice!!” It was very funny, and now we’ve made it official, Luke will be coming over for his birthday dinner every year, and next time he’s getting a spectacular birthday cake! A Day of Action In October, some of my work colleagues and I went to a day of action in the city. We’re standing up for fair pay for preschool staff and against the Premier of NSW, Chris Minns’s proposal to turn community preschools like the one I work in into long‑day care centres. If it goes ahead, I know I’d seriously be looking at my options. Community preschools are different to long day care centres. They mostly run during school hours and only during term time, focusing on the year or two before school. They offer more structured play-based learning, are not-for-profit, usually run by a parent committee, and have smaller groups with long-standing staff. One of the reasons we have less staff turnover is because we get term breaks. There’s no way I could work in such a demanding environment without those precious term breaks. I really don’t understand why the Premier wants to mess with something that works so well. Some of the signs I saw at the rally were very clever! Mochi Ran Away Last weekend, Mochi, our indoor cat, ran away! She got out into the courtyard and hid behind some pot plants. We didn’t notice and accidentally left her out there, which gave her the perfect opportunity to jump onto the neighbour’s garage and disappear into the neighbourhood. We walked up and down our street, knocking on doors, but she was gone, and we were so sad. I Googled “how to get your runaway cat back”, and it suggested going out late at night or early in the morning when everything is quiet and calling her name. So at 2 am, I went outside and did exactly that, and she appeared. I waited until she came to me and then gently picked her up. Well, I may have gently-ish grabbed her because my heart was pounding! Phew, what a relief to have her back home again. And that was a glimpse at a few of the things from our October. Thank you so much for stopping by today. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Friday, friends! We made it through another week, yay! I’m already so excited to sleep in tomorrow. This morning I woke up before my alarm went off, and for a split second I thought it was Saturday. Then I realised I was very much mistaken. Don’t you hate it when that happens? Haha! Anyway, I’m here to share a few things that made me smile this week. Thanks so much for stopping by. 😊 Last weekend, we went back to the Opera Bar, but this time with some friends. Sparkling wine, delicious food, and plenty of funny stories made it such a great Saturday, and it was so much warmer than I expected. I still took a thick jacket just in case I got cold. It’s that time of year when one minute you’re boiling hot and the next it’s freezing again. I carried my jacket around for most of the day, but when I needed it, I really needed it! That first gust of chilly wind made me very glad I hadn’t trusted the weather app too much. On Monday, I worked from home like a grown-up. When you work in early childhood, you don’t get to be in a city office, dress up for work, or even drink your coffee while it’s still warm. Working remotely doesn’t really exist for us, just one day a term to do developmental summaries, and I’m happy to take it. After a full day on the computer and feeling like my eyes had gone square, I organised some of my song visuals into my pretty pink binder. The summaries were mostly done, so this was my little reward. I haven’t changed much since high school, even though it’s been umpteen years since I finished. I’ve always preferred making my binder pretty over doing schoolwork. I nearly forgot to show you my Monday lunch. Steve made a cheesy omelette with ham, tomato, and avocado, and we had half each. Yup, I definitely enjoyed my work-from-home day a whole lot. Look at these bright yellow flowers. They’re right outside my front door, and every time I walk past, I get so happy to see them. Hello, pretty flowers! It was R U OK? Day on Thursday, and some of the staff brought treats. I convinced Steve to watch Breaking Bad! He didn’t need much convincing since we’re all enjoying Better Call Saul. Breaking Bad is such a good show, and it’s my second time watching it. It’s been about 10 years since I first saw it, so I remember some parts but not everything. I did remember the bathtub incident, though! Oh my goodness!! We went back to Lilong because we just can’t get enough of their delicious Chinese food. My work buddy supplied me with some yummy snacks. And those were a few of my favourite things about this week. How was your week? I hope it was a good one. I’ll be back on Monday and really want to get back into blogging a bit more regularly. I’ve been in a bit of a funk, and I’d like to shake it off. That’s the goal. Wishing you a very happy weekend!

Hi friends, it’s that time again to share a few favourites from my week. I’m linking up with Andrea and Erika for Friday Favourites, and I’m so happy you’re here 😊 Getting my shopping delivered and not having to do the weekly grocery run in-store is such a favourite. We have about three Woolworths nearby, so getting a delivery time slot is never a problem. I paid the yearly subscription fee for Delivery Unlimited, so as long as I spend over $70 (which is not hard with grocery prices), there’s no delivery fee. Woop woop! Our first Monday-of-the-month catch-up with friends at our local RSL for dinner was fun. I always used to order the steamed barramundi with broccoli and rice when the previous team ran the bistro, but now the menu has completely changed. It’s mainly all burgers, pizzas, steaks, and fish. The grilled fish with chips and salad was delicious, and I liked that they gave me a decent amount of tartare sauce. I love my sauces, well, most of them. Not BBQ sauce; it’s too sweet. I wore this to dinner on Monday night. Look, no socks! It was cool, so I still needed a coat, but not cold enough for my usual woolly socks. I almost felt naked! I made this chicken dish the other night. It was a hit! And yes, Steve has been really happy to cook dinner a couple of nights this week on his nights off. Last week, I shared that I sometimes have trouble letting go of control in the kitchen. My friends always tease me when they find out I have a chef husband and don’t let him cook. Times are a changing, friends! Another sign that spring is slowly coming along. This lonely yellow rose is growing in my front garden, and I can’t wait to see more pop up soon. God keeps growing these every year, because I have no green thumb. I had to pop out of work for an hour for a follow-up doctor’s appointment. I was so anxious leading up to it that I couldn’t eat a thing. Yikes — I really need to do something about this doctor anxiety before I give myself a heart attack. I felt dizzy and faint all morning. When I finished with the doctor, I felt my soul re-enter my body and, suddenly, I was starving. As a reward for surviving the dreaded appointment, I treated myself to sushi and ate it in the car before I went back to work. Thursday night was date night at Ikea, haha! Hot dogs for two, followed by chips and gravy. For dessert, we had soft serves–cheers! This time, Steve waited for me at the cafeteria while I walked the Ikea maze after we had our fancy dinner. It’s funny how you can always find things you didn’t know you needed—like this high pillow I got just for me. Steve asked, “I didn’t know you needed a pillow,” and I said, “Well, no, I really didn’t… but you weren’t there to convince me.” Lucky for him, I passed on the small Bluetooth speaker, brown glass vase, floor lamp, and footstool. And that’s a wrap for a few of my favourite things this week. Oh, it’s been a week! I wish I could share everything, but I can’t because it’s all work-related, and I’d like to stay employed. Some days have felt like living in a crazy sitcom. I’m grateful I can call it a sitcom and not a horror movie of a week, thanks to some of my amazing work colleagues. They’re a mix of personalities, sweet, kind, funny, supportive, and full of ideas they’re happy to share. And there’s one who is just downright hilarious. She can make even the worst days feel like the best days. How good is that? It would be so great to introduce them to you so you’d see exactly what I mean. I’m lucky to call them not just colleagues, but friends, and that’s my favourite thing of all. Hooray for Friday! I hope you have a wonderful weekend.  

Hi friends, welcome to Friday Favourites. When I sat down to write this post, I could almost hear crickets chirping, because that just about sums up my week. I don’t want to be a downer, but I think my only favourite this week is that today is finally Friday. But in the spirit of keeping things positive and chipper, I’m going to dig deep and find some more favourites. I’m usually a glass-half-full kind of person… after I’ve had a little panic first. I guess that’s why I like this link-up—it makes me look for the favourite parts of what’s sometimes a week you’d rather forget. More Rain And speaking of weeks you’d rather forget—let’s start with the weather. It rained all week. All. Week. I tell you!! And yes, that’s annoying: the washing can’t dry on the line, the house feels damp, and it’s just generally gloomy. But when you work in childcare, wet weeks are a whole other level of misery. I don’t think we got to play outside at all this week. And this year, we have a bunch of lively children (read between the lines, my educator friends) who need about 50 hectares to burn off all that energy. On the upside, even though it was a tough week with wild weather and wilder children, I work with some genuinely lovely people, and I’m lucky enough to call some of them my friends. They’re the ones I can roll my eyes at and laugh with when we’re in the trenches. Soup So, what’s another favourite? …thinking…thinking… Oh yes! I finally pulled out the leftover leg bone from our Christmas ham that had been taking up space in the freezer and decided to make split pea and ham soup. I had to do it before we hit summer—otherwise, what’s the point, right? At first I was annoyed because the bone didn’t fit into the pot, so it was sticking out. And I’d started making the soup at 8 pm on Monday night. Who does that?? Me, I guess—once I get my mind set on something. Anyway, in the end, the soft bits from the end of the bone came away, and the whole bone slid snugly into the pot. It simmered away for a couple of hours. After I pulled out the bone, I blitzed it and ended up with the creamiest soup. I’ve been eating it for lunch all week, and although it’s not the prettiest soup, it sure tastes good! You could also call it my farewell-to-winter meal. In a few weeks, I can say, “Goodbye winter, see you later—don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” Aldi Favourites Another favourite this week? My husband went to Aldi to buy more of the porcini mushroom Trangioli that I talked about last Friday. It was that good—he went grocery shopping! I took the chance to add a few more things to his list, and even slipped night-time face cream on there. The wonderful thing about Aldi is that they don’t stock major choices. So I was pretty sure he’d get it right. He came home with the regular cream instead of the one labelled “mature” (so yes, technically me). I actually prefer the regular cream because it’s lighter, and when I told him I was proud he got it right, he admitted he was scared of buying the “older ladies” cream! Haha! And that’s a few things that made this week a bit brighter. It’s supposed to be sunny and warm tomorrow—hard to imagine when it’s pouring right now. Anyway, fingers crossed the weather bureau has got it right. Wishing you (and me) a bright and sunny weekend!

Hi friends! I hope you’ve had an amazing week. It’s been a very rainy one here, and somehow that makes the days feel even longer. So yes, I’m beyond happy that Friday’s finally here — hello weekend, phew! I know I shouldn’t wish time away, but I’m definitely ready to enjoy it. I’m joining Andrea and Erika to share some of my favourites. Thanks so much for stopping by! Counting Down To Spring It’s that time of year when winter feels like it’s been dragging on and on. I know spring is on the horizon, and I can’t wait for it to get here already. And that’s exactly what everyone I’ve spoken to this week is saying: “I can’t wait for spring!” I one hundred per cent agree — I almost feel like I should get a T-shirt printed in big neon 80s-style letters that says it! With it being so rainy and the sky grey most days, seeing this sunny sky on my way to work the other day was such a mood lifter. Of course, it rained a short while later… but we won’t talk about that. Family Catch-Up Ooops, I almost forgot to share that we had Cousin Connect last Sunday. I linked up on Monday to talk about how we take a break, so I didn’t recap the weekend. This month, we caught up on a Sunday night — the one evening that suited almost everyone. One of our cousins was heading overseas, so it was our last chance to see her before she left for the rest of the month. It was such a fun night, and catching up with everyone is always the highlight of my month! We enjoyed a delicious cheeseboard that my aunt brought. Then we had Mexican for dinner — nachos, fajitas, street corn salad, green leaf salad, and rice. After dinner, we watched the travel video, and I was happy that everyone enjoyed it. The outtakes were very funny, and I think the music landed really well. I threw in a few old-school hits from the ’80s, along with tracks from Coldplay, Empire of the Sun, Shaboozey, and The Weeknd. You can’t go wrong with classics! Then we started talking about our next possible Cousin adventure in January 2026. I’ll share more once it’s definite — that is, once we’ve bought our airline tickets and there’s no turning back. Yay! (Gulp — another plane ride!) Star Wars and Coke Have you seen the Star Wars collectible Coke cans — wow! I don’t buy Coke very often, so I hadn’t seen these before, but I picked some up for Cousin Connect. I thought about keeping one unopened, but then I remembered a lesson from my teen years. I once kept a limited-edition Coke can in my parents’ cabinet, and when I finally went to get it — who knows how long later — the bottom had almost completely dissolved. I lifted the can, and out came a sticky blobby mess. Bleh — so gross! Delicious Pasta Night This Aldi pasta is our favourite, and I hadn’t bought any in forever. I used to shop at Aldi a lot, but now I mostly use the Delivery Unlimited subscription from Woolworths to order my groceries online. I popped into Aldi the other day and bought a couple of boxes, and made it for dinner on Thursday. I kept it simple — a tomato-based sauce with canned Mutti tomatoes, garlic, and oregano — and it tasted so good. I seriously recommend this pasta; it tastes like it’s from a restaurant. Not even exaggerating! Snack Time Favourite Most of this week’s favourites are all about food! Haha — food is definitely my favourite topic. My kind friend dropped over a Baby Ruth the other day. These aren’t sold much around here, so it was such a treat. Would you believe I didn’t see any while we were in the U.S. this year? I looked in Target and Walmart, but couldn’t find any. So strange. I did manage to grab some bars of PayDay, though. I love them too, and I’m rationing them to myself. I’ll be so sad when they’re finished. That’s a wrap on this week’s favourites. On a special note, it’s my husband’s birthday this Sunday. He’s working this weekend, so we’re keeping it low-key and celebrating just the four of us tomorrow with a special lunch and cake. Hopefully, we’ll also squeeze in breakfast or brunch on Sunday, depending on how late he gets home from each shift and how he’s feeling. Other than tomorrow’s lunch, we’re just going with the flow and fitting in celebrations around work — that’s life when he’s in the hospitality industry! Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Hi friends, welcome to Friday favourites! It’s time to link up with Andrea and Erika and share some of this week’s favourite moments. First Day Back Monday was our first day back at work, starting with a staff development session followed by a staff meeting. It was so good to see my work buddies again—even if it was tough saying goodbye to those lazy school holiday days at home. Two hours into the day, I turned to one of my lovely coworkers and said, “I’m tired.” She laughed and said, “I want to read that in your blog.” So here it is—gotta keep it real. Was I complaining? Yep, I sure was! It’s funny how tired you can feel just sitting down all day. On most days when I’m on my feet a lot, I can hardly wait for a chance to sit. But there I was at the development day, wishing I could move around—my legs were so restless, and my back was stiff. Ooops, five days later and I’m still complaining—time to stop now. 😅 Morning tea and lunch were provided, and food always makes everything better, right? Dinner and a Movie Tuesday night, Steve and I went out for dinner and a movie. We can’t stop going back to Lilong – an amazing Chinese restaurant conveniently located near the movie theatre. The food is just too good! Pork buns, Singaporean noodles and beef with oyster sauce. We went to see Superman, and even though I was excited to go and see it after watching the trailer, I can’t say I loved it. I don’t think any of the remakes have topped the 1980s version with Christopher Reeve. A Sweet Surprise On our walk home, we stopped at McDonald’s for a soft serve with a Flake, and I got the nicest surprise—I was served by a former preschooler who’s now well and truly a teenager. I recognised her huge smile straight away—it’s exactly the same as when she was a little girl. She remembered me, too, and I was proud of myself for remembering her name, which is impressive considering I often forget what I walked into a room for. Evening Tea Routine We always end the evening with a cup of tea and watch something on TV. Instead of the usual teabags, I made tea in a teapot using English Breakfast leaves. I brewed it extra strong—just how I like it—and it felt quite fancy pouring it from my not-so-fancy IKEA teapot. Haha! We enjoyed our tea with some homemade biscuits—macadamia with lemon zest, and they were amazing. Thank you, Chef Steve! It’s so nice to have something to look forward to each day—even little things like our evening tea and TV show routine. Currently Watching We’ve started a new series called The Agency: Central Intelligence on Paramount. It started slow but is building up with just the right amount of intrigue, and now we’re hooked. I think it’s hard to find a good limited series these days. Any recommendations?   Oh gosh, the first week back has me feeling all kinds of tired—and confused! Today, I told one of my coworkers, “I’m glad week two is over.” Then I remembered—it’s only week one! No weekend plans for me, so it looks like it’s going to be a quiet one. Hope you all have a relaxing weekend. Thanks so much for stopping by! 😊  

Hello friends, and welcome to Friday Favourites! I’m sharing some of the highlights from my first week of the school holidays—it was a fun one that flew by way too fast! Dinner With Friends We had a nice evening catching up with friends for our monthly get-together at the local RSL. The bistro is usually quiet on a Monday night, but this time it was buzzing with a big crowd celebrating someone’s special occasion. They’d taken our usual table, so we ended up sitting at a long one, which made it harder to chat with everyone. I sat next to the friend I’m closest to in the group, and we caught up on life. Time had flown by, and I realised we hadn’t had a proper conversation in ages. The bistro is under new management, and this was my second time trying their updated menu. I’ve been impressed both times, even though I liked the food from the old menu. The portions were huge, and everything was fresh and full of flavour. I had the grilled fish with chips and salad. One of our friends brought a cake to share, which is one of the great things about eating at this RSL—you can bring your own dessert, and they don’t mind. RSLs aren’t exactly my favourite places, but for this kind of casual catch-up, it works perfectly. The food is nice and reliably good, we always get a table, and it’s never too noisy, so we can talk and hear each other. Shopping Day On Tuesday, I caught up with my fun shopping queen friend. Whenever we go shopping, we seem to have a mission. Sometimes it’s finding the perfect lipstick, sometimes hats, and other times clothes. This time, it was to find a new fragrance. Can you tell? This was us at lunch with all our sample cards. In the end, our noses got confused, and we aborted the mission for another time. Stay tuned! Lunch Lunch was so good! We tried a French brasserie called Manon, which a work friend had highly recommended. I ordered the tuna baguette, and it was so delicious, I didn’t expect it to be that good! I love tuna on sandwiches and rolls, etc., but this baguette was on another level. It had big flavours like anchovies, onion, sun-dried tomatoes, all drizzled with a zesty green dressing. The egg on top mellowed out those big flavours. Yum! I would have loved to pick up the baguette and eat it with my hands, but that was a no-no. So I ate it with a knife and fork instead, which wasn’t easy. I was trying to keep it classy, but I felt like George Costanza eating a Snickers bar with cutlery. Have you seen that Seinfeld episode? 😂 My friend ordered the escargot and kindly offered me one. I like to think I can eat almost anything—even rocks—but I’m not quite there yet when it comes to snails. I’ve heard they are very delicious, so maybe one day. Hot Chocolate Then I ordered the thick hot chocolate, which, according to Instagram, is the best hot chocolate ever. As in, “don’t leave Manon without trying it.”Umm… not for me. It was thick—like ganache-on-a-cake thick. I added a small dollop of cream… and I’m pretty sure my arteries started hardening the minute I tasted it. I might’ve risked a coronary if it had tasted amazing, but the Swiss Milk hot chocolate I have at home is way better. So I had a few sips and left the rest, which is totally unlike me. I usually polish off everything. That’s okay—the baguette was great, and I’m glad I gave the hot chocolate a try. A Sunny Walk Wednesday was a lazy day, and it was so sunny! After doing a few chores around the house, I went for a long walk. Oh my gosh, I can’t tell you how fun it is to do chores during the day instead of rushing around getting them done before or after work. I enjoyed it! I did a fast-paced, hour-long walk, and even though it was sunny, I didn’t feel warm until about 30 minutes in. On the way, I passed the fruit shop and picked up some apples because I suddenly started craving a smoothie. When I got home, I made a green smoothie. It kind of looked like split pea soup, and you should have seen my husband’s face when I offered him a taste. But it was delish! I laughed when I checked my step count after my walk—9999 steps! Just one step short of 10,000. Missed it by that much! I was meant to go out with another lovely friend today, but I woke up with a sore neck and a headache. So, we rescheduled for Sunday. We’re planning to visit the Kirribilli Markets, and the weather forecast is promising a sunny 20ºC. I can’t wait! And that’s a wrap for this week’s favourites. And just like that, the first week of the school holidays is over… waaaahhhh! I’m hoping next week goes by at a snail’s pace. Fingers crossed! Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you have a great weekend. See you on Monday! Linking up with Andrea and Erika