This week’s small pleasures #178

This week’s small pleasures is coming to you on Sunday evening, New Zealand time, as tomorrow evening I am off to see Margaret Atwood ‘in conversation’. I hope she talks about her writing over the years and not just about the follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale. Anyway, will report on that later!

Reading and listening

First up, Thursday was Waitangi Day and so a holiday here. It was a lovely sunny day, and we ended up doing nothing, just reading, relaxing and making raspberry and coconut scones (pictured below). I also listened to an episode of the podcast This American Life entitled The Show of Delights. It was indeed a such a show, and fitting for the theme of this blog. Catch it if you can.

Flowers

There are lots of things to stop and admire in the Botanic Gardens on the way to work at the moment, such as the continuing display of hydrangeas of all hues. These ones caught my eye on Friday walking to work, brightening up the morning.

Food, cooking and other things

As usual, Saturday morning was a small pleasure in itself, starting with a piled high avocado toast at Squirrel. I bought another Bonnie and Neil table runner in shades of blue from Small Acorns, which I hope to feature on here soon. Add in Pilates and you have a morning of small pleasures. Below you can see the toast and also some of the scones from Thursday.

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Toast and scones

Sticking with food, I made a rather good plum clafoutis, using Rachel Khoo’s recipe from The Little Paris Kitchen. This dish always reminds me of childhood summers in Paris, when my brother would make this for dessert. I roasted some aubergine, scallopini and miniature purple carrots on Sunday to use as the basis for my packed lunches this coming week, and cooked from Diana Henry’s latest book From the Oven to the Table for Sunday’s dinner (a tray bake with chicken, spicy sausages, red capsicum and red onion). There are so many good things to eat right now, from sweet corn to greengages to aubergines, that it is hard not to buy a little bit of everything when out food shopping (which for me is a small pleasure).

Weekend cooking

A new week approaches….but what were your small pleasures of the week past? Do tell me.

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

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