It’s like a cloak of solemnity has draped itself over Christmas celebrations and preparations in Sydney this year.  With flags at half mast to honour the victims of the Sydney siege and the news of 140 children and teachers being shot dead in a military school in Pakistan, it’s been difficult to know when the right time was to allow the festivities of the season back into our lives.  But ‘carry on as usual’ we have been advised so carry on as usual I guess we should.

For me, Christmas preparations have begun in earnest over the last couple of days.

Presents have been wrapped and are currently safe from prying hands on the floor under my desk in the office.  I’m going to begin hauling them home tonight.

Shopping lists for the three C’s in my life have been completed, I’ve been to all of them except Chatswood.  Desserts have been planned, their recipes stuck onto the kitchen cupboards and I’m setting my alarm for an early start at the Westfield in Chatswood tomorrow. I’ve even made restaurant reservations for every long weekend meal that we won’t be eating at home.

The official drink of Christmas was bought on the Costco run.

And the infamous work Christmas lunch has been consumed.  My contribution was a large dish of tiramisu using my favourite recipe from Kidspot.

Don’t you love it when Aldi had the key ingredients as special buys a few weeks back?

Folding the cream and Kahlua flavoured mascarpone together always makes it feel like Christmas to me.

And then there’s the fun of fitting together the sponge finger biscuits in a kind of tiramisu tetris.

There was a slight hiccup when one batch of Kahlua cream and mascarpone wasn’t quite enough for my assembled tray but some quick thinking with my spare tub of mascarpone saved the day.

Day saved, it was some quick work with two crumbled flakes before putting the whole lot into the fridge overnight.  The pyrex dish and lid were another Aldi special buy (suprise, surprise).

The set comes with an ice/heat pack and an easy to carry insulated carrying case.  All for only $39.99.  It made transporting the tiramisu to work less stressful than usual.  Nothing broke, leaked or exploded en route and I even had time for a last coffee from my favourite cafe before the girls shut up shop for the holiday break.  Before I forget…. $9 Havianas are this Saturday’s special buy for men, women and children.  You’re welcome.

Christmas lunch was a great success.  The tiramisu was well recieved and Toddler SSG had a wonderful afternoon as one of a select group of nappy wearing special guests.

From the glass panelled over railway pedestrian bridge

to the heavy duty roll of sticky tape on my desk, there was something new for him to explore everywhere we went.  Flights of stairs were climbed repeatedly with gusto and without fear.  Lift buttons were pressed with delight and the highly polished lino floored corridors devoid of anything breakable were just asking to be run along.

Chilling out in the garden with some Subway and a message for anyone caught in his tail wind.  I love this T from Cotton On Kids.

I was a little concerned that he wouldn’t eat anything at lunch so we shared a pre lunch ham and cheese roll from Subway, just in case.

I needn’t have worried because Toddler SSG found a new favourite food in the form of briyani which he devoured in between his crowd pleasing acts of swimming along the carpet, playing peek a boo and using my legs as stilts as I walked.  No wonder he fell asleep the moment we hit the road for home and slept soundly until I pulled into the garage.

Today’s been a little less hectic at work but being the last Friday before Christmas, casual was key in the work outfit stakes and fancy was the word for lunch.

For weeks now, I’ve been eyeing this construction site in the food court around the corner from Oliver Brown (home of my Friday morning coffees) and next to Maccas (home of my hump day fix of ice loaded post mix coke zero).  An entire eatery devoted to all things schnitzel?  How could I not drop in for lunch one day? Especially as the schnitzel house down the road at home had recently closed down before I’d even had a chance to try it.

The thing I have with schnitzel is that I think about it more often than I eat it.  I’m no good with a fry pan at home so buying a schnitzel for dinner from the supermarket is never an option.  And while I know it’s the pub meal, it’s been a while since my social life allowed for a quiet one down at the pub.  I mean I can have one these days it’s just that it’s bound to be noisy and highly likely to be spilt down my jeans.

Enter Schnitz an import from Victoria.  They serve a variety of schnitzel rolls or wraps as well as the old fashioned schnitz on a plate along side the world’s most addictive food court beer battered chips.  I won’t lie.  I ate at least a quarter of a family sized serve of chips on my own.  My three workmates and I figured we could get away with ordering a family serve between us because after all we’ve been through together this year, we’d definitely bonded enough to consider ourselves as family to each other.

The schnitzel wraps all have the coolest names.  I splashed out with the Parmageddon wrap ($13.50) and wolfed it down before I got an Instagram photo of it.  So perhaps technically it didn’t happen so perhaps I won’t need to hit the treadmill tomorrow.  But it was an impressive food court experience all the same.  Freshly cooked mushrooms, sun dried capsicum and a rich tomato sauce together with the lightest crumb on a schnitzel I’ve ever tasted.  What more could you ask for on a Friday afternoon?

Anyway, I’d best be off now.  I’ve suddenly remembered more things I need to do for Christmas.

Have a lovely weekend everyone and I plan to be back next week to officially say Merry Christmas!!