This week’s small pleasures #192

Since last week’s small pleasures post I have gone shopping, eaten out and bought flowers. I know. 6 weeks ago these things seemed so far away, yet here we are slowly moving back to some sort of ‘normality’. Charlie and I had our flu vaccinations (not at the same time…and he has lost a little weight whereas…well, let’s not go there), I visited the chiropractor, went to Pilates, took time food shopping. This week I am going to the hairdresser and dental hygienist – well one of those is a small pleasure!

Monday began with very heavy rain and a 5.8 earthquake at Levin, 54km from Wellington. It was deep, but still was quite a jolt. Except for me. For some unknown reason, I didn’t feel it. Don’t ask me what I was doing at the time – I suspect walking upstairs with a cup of tea. The Prime Minister (who was being interviewed when the earthquake hit) announced that from Friday gatherings of 100 will be allowed. The country is still at Alert Level 2 for a few more weeks yet though.

Anyway, this past week saw me going to the florist for the first time in ages, picking up a lovely bunch of flowers including this gorgeous rose. Such a perfect small pleasure I am sure you agree.

On Thursday, we went out to dinner for the first time in weeks. There was suitable distancing between tables, checking in on entry and leaving, but otherwise it was just so nice to be out. Our first post lockdown dining was at one of our favourites, Field & Green. I started with the Jewish pickled fried fish with sweet and sour red onion and cabbage which was as tasty and tangy as it sounds. Karl had the spicy fish cakes to start which he also enjoyed. I opted for the mushroom stroganoff as I had enjoyed it when we did the takeaway from there. This time it was served served with Noodles Romanoff, sort of cheesy and delicious and perfect for autumn days. Karl had the chicken meatballs in white wine sauce and polenta and parmesan chips. A feast indeed!

As I am still working at home, lunch is important both as a break and to keep me going. I made some hummus earlier in the week, enjoying it on one day with a kale, sun-dried tomato and walnut salad. I couldn’t resist making scrambled eggs topped with lots of cheese one day too – such a treat when one is at home!

Hummus and kale salad, scrambled eggs with cheese on toast, fish and pickle, mushroom stroganoff and noodles (with polenta chips and meatballs in the distance).

We are still getting bread delivered on Saturdays from Arobake. This week’s delivery included this honey ciabatta and sunflower and rye sourdough. It is lovely to come home from shopping to find a big box of fresh bread.

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Still in the world of food, I spotted on Instagram the Swedish chocolate you can see below and thought it looked good. So I ordered some from The Chocolate Bar here in Wellington, fully expecting a few days for delivery. However, the owner spotted my address and dropped off the chocolate on his way home – now how about that for service? As well as the Swedish bar from Standout Chocolate (which I have to say was really gorgeous – dark chocolate with a hint of blueberry) I ordered a bar from Dunedin based Ocho and one from Wellington based Shirl and Moss. I’ll report on these in days to come.

Finally, we were visited by not only this lovely kererū, but two kākā decided that our camellia bush was a good place to be. It is always lovely to see these birds up close.

So that is it for this week. Wherever you are, take care and look out for those little things that bring you joy in these strange times. What were your small pleasures of the week past? 

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