This week’s small pleasures #174

It was my first day back at work today after the holidays, and it was pouring with rain this morning too. What a Monday! Anyway, I ended the working day with an barre class, something I haven’t done for at least 18 months. I expect I will feel it in the morning, but it was fun, and I am going to try to make it a regular Monday thing. And so to the small pleasures of this week….

Flowers

Now, these are only supermarket roses, but they still look so lovely and just add that pop of colour to brighten up a room. One of the things I want to learn more about in 2020 is flower arranging. Ask me in December if that happened, as it was also a goal for last year which went nowhere!

A bowl

A few months ago, I saw a really lovely ceramic bowl at an exhibition, and instantly fell in love with it. The one one display had already been sold, so I contacted the artist, Kathy Juriss, and ordered one up for myself after the Christmas rush. It was delivered on Friday, and here it is. Spot the native birds and plants.

Food

For lunch this past week I’ve been enjoying the cheeses I bought on our return journey last week from Over the Moon, and, of course this season’s fruits and vegetables. We went for dinner to perennial favourite Field & Green on Friday, where I enjoyed courgette flowers stuffed with ricotta, basil and lemon, served with tomato, green beans and rocket, followed by a dark chocolate and cherry clafoutis, which you can see below. On Saturday I made ostkaka, a Swedish curd cake from the region of Småland. You can find the recipe here if you want to try it yourself. Ideally, you should make your own curd cheese, but cottage cheese works fine. The cake is surprisingly light, and should be served lukewarm with a berry compote such as raspberry.

Still on food, there are aubergines (eggplants), courgettes (zucchini), sweet corn and of course, tomatoes in abundance. Such a small pleasure!

Reading

One thing I have done a lot of this holiday is read. The things I have read have ranged from the delightfully dated to the fun to a book with the most ridiculous plot line ever. I am now enjoying Ruth Reichl’s memoirs about her time as editor of the American food magazine, Gourmet. It has been a real pleasure to find the time to sit down with cups of tea and read.

Charlie

It was, of course, lovely to have Charlie home from his stay at the boarding kennels. I think he was happy to be home as well.

What were your small pleasures this 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