This week’s small pleasures #124

It’s Monday, it’s a new week…and it’s time to think about the small pleasures of the past week. It is still sunny, still warm and still summer. And what is not to like about that?

Wednesday was Waitangi Day, the national day of New Zealand, which commemorates the signing, on 6 February 1840, of the Treaty of Waitangi. So we had a day off mid week – which was lovely.

I enjoy cooking and food (and eating) and this week had a couple of successes, from the very simple toasted cherry tomatoes (with garlic and pizza thyme), stirred through pasta with lots of basil and parmesan cheese to Ottolenghi’s roast chicken and rosemary potatoes with yoghurt gravy, which was excellent (especially the cold chicken for lunch today). No picture of this as we were too busy eating it! The yoghurt really makes the chicken soft, tender and juicy, and the meat was full of flavour.

On Sunday we drove out to Makara, and walked up to the gun emplacement at Fort Opau which was garrisoned by 100 soldiers during World War II. The sky was so clear, and we had such a fantastic view of the South Island. You can see how dry the grass is as well in the picture below.

Finally, there are so many things to look forward to in the diary. How about you?

And that’s it for this week. What were your small pleasures of the past week?

Thanks to Mani over at A New Life Wandering for the original idea.

You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram@thistleandkiwis.  As for Twitter….am totally inactive these days.  If you want to get in touch, email me on thistlesandkiwis@gmail.com