Friday favourites

Festive Favourites

Hey there friends it’s time to share some festive favourites today.

Staff Christmas Lunch

This past week has been a real whirlwind! We kicked things off with our staff Christmas lunch last weekend at a restaurant called Nola’s in Barangaroo. This was my first time going to this part of the city, here’s a pic of The Crown Casino in Barangaroo which is right near the restaurant where we ate. Isn’t it tall and shiny?

Barangaroo-festive favourites

I don’t know why but I didn’t think I was going to love the food as much as I did. Sometimes restaurants that are located near the water are very expensive as well as fancy. But they don’t always serve the most dazzling food. The restaurant we went to last year for our staff Christmas lunch was very beautiful but the food was just ok. I think that I still haven’t gotten over the fact that I ordered the steak which cost probably as much as a whole cow. Then I had to choose between chips and salad as a side. I wasn’t allowed to have both!!

Nola’s

But Nola’s was a completely different story. Nola’s is a Loisiana-inspired smokehouse and their dishes contain flavours from Cajun and Creole cuisines and Southern BBQ. I’m not at all familiar with these cuisines but I loved every single dish and there was so much food. Yum! I want to go back. Here are pics of some of the delicious dishes.

chicken-festive favourites

salad-festive favourites

prawns-festive favourites

whipped feta-festive favourites

lamb-festive favourites

salad=festive favourites

See what I mean by so much food! These are only some of the dishes as I didn’t get a pic of all of them. I was too busy eating! We finished off with some sensational brownies. I was glad that the dessert was small because I’m pretty sure that none of us would have been able to eat more than that.

brownies-festive favourites

After lunch, some of us kicked on at a pop-up bar.

pop-up bar for festive favourites post

Aperol spritz-incredibly refreshing especially on a hot day and after eating such a hearty meal!

Aperol spritz-festive favourites

Sunday Night Burgers

Luke came over on Sunday night and we went to eat burgers at a nearby food truck called Chebbo’s. Sam had been wanting us to try out these burgers for ages. He kept telling us that they were the best he had ever tasted. Even better than the turkey burgers I make I asked him. Haha! He kindly said no but after tasting these burgers I’m not so sure as they were pretty amazing!

burgers-festive favourites post

After burgers, we came home and we watched The Vicar Of Dibley Christmas Special. So funny! I say this every year and I’ll say it again…you have to watch it!!

The Vicar of Dibley Christmas special

Preschool Concerts and Celebrations

This week we had two Christmas concerts and parties at preschool throughout the week. Everyone is feeling hyped up and giddy because of all the fun festivities. That’s exactly why this is my favourite time of the year!

Christmas Presents

Here are some of the presents I received from our little students. The families are so kind and generous!

presents

candle

Inside this cute apple is a candle that smells like apple and cinnamon. I love it!

candle and diffuser

At the preschool Christmas parties, the parents kindly brought plates of food to share. I took a photo of one of the Christmas cupcakes because it was so pretty and delicious too!

cupcake

Christmas Doormat

My last festive favourite for today is this Christmas doormat. Hehe, I wrote the sign on the doormat quite a few years ago so it’s a bit worn out now.

Christmas doormat

 

Now that this week is over the children have finished preschool for the year, leaving us with just two more days at preschool for 2023. On Monday we have a staff development day and Tuesday will be dedicated to cleaning and packing up for the year. Two days! Only two more days left and I’m so excited!

Thank you so much for being here today and I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Friday everyone!

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Linking up with Andrea and Erika

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10 thoughts on “Festive Favourites”

  1. Oh that meal does sound fabulous! I hate high priced restaurants that don’t live up to the price tag. We have a few near us that just seem to think this means combine weird foods together in an arty way and who cares what it tastes like? Needless to say we’ve never been back to any of them! Enjoy your break. Those gifts are wonderful and well deserved.

  2. Alexandra Hurbis-Oshima

    Hurray for the holidays!!!!I can not wait too-the last week with the children is physically and emotionally draining and just seems to go on forever!
    I see you mention the vicar of dibley every year-I need to try it out.
    Happy holidays and Merry Christmas Ruth-to you and your family…and greetings to the girls at J&J xxx

    1. Ruth(playworkeatrepeat)

      Thanks so much, Alex! Much love and Merry Christmas to you and your gorgeous boys. I’m sure I’ll bump into you around Westfields over the holidays-two work days to go!!!! xxxx

  3. Ruth, you got such cute gifts from your students! That apple candle is just darling. And that sounds like quite a meal! The architecture from that part of the city is really beautiful.

  4. Oh wow! The Crown Casino looks an amazing building! It sounds like you had a wonderful meal, the food looks amazing!
    I watch the Vicar Of Dibley Christmas Special every year! It is part of Christmas now. hehehe So funny!
    What lovely gifts from the little one’s.

  5. Definitely a big shiny building. I’m glad the food was so nice. I honestly don’t know how you stay so slim when your blog is full of so much delicious food. I love your gifts. I had a memory pop up on my Facebook page today about the time I made 12 boxes of 4 cupcakes for the kids school. By the time you read this you’ll only have one day left at work!

    1. Ruth(playworkeatrepeat)

      Wow! That’s a lot of cupcakes!! Yes, it’s 7.15 am and I’ll be heading in to work soon for my last day! Woohoo!!

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