This week’s small pleasures #208

Mark Twain said: In the spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours. Well, he wasn’t wrong. We’ve had wind, heavy rain, glorious sunshine and everything in between this week as befits the season. It was a week with ups and downs, good news and bad news, and lots of good food. In fact, I had so many pictures of food, I have had to seriously have a think about what to do with them!

Eating out

Anyway, let’s start with food and dinner on Thursday at perennial favourite Field & Green. With other events cancelled, this was our treat to ourselves instead. I started with a sherry and a really nicely presented and very tasty smoked eel, apple, hazelnut and celery salad, followed by a butternut squash, maple and thyme tart satin topped with goat cheese and salsa verde. Karl had the twice-baked smoked fish soufflé and the sirloin steak with a celeriac gratin and garlic crisps. We shared a rocket salad topped with thinly sliced pear and Parmesan, and we each had a good glass of merlot. There was no room for dessert, so we just had an espresso before we headed home.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Food shopping and bread delivery

It was lovely to see the first asparagus on sale. We ate our first on Saturday, and there will no doubt be more to come as the season goes on. There was celeriac to add to potato to make mash just a little more interesting, some little purple carrots and half a Savoy cabbage, and rhubarb and oranges to make a compote. We are still getting bread delivered on Saturday mornings – this week there were croissants for breakfast, ciabatta, and bread for weekday breakfasts and lunch. I love opening the box and seeing all the freshly baked goods.

A walk...and part of a poem

Rather than sit on a bus with a facemask, and because the sun was shining, I walked to Pilates on Saturday morning, enjoying the fresh air and morning light along the waterfront. There will be more pictures on Wednesday, but here is another of the poems which form part of the Wellington Writers Walk.

The harbour is an ironing board;
Flat iron tugs dash smoothing toward
Any shirt of a ship, any pillowslip
Of a freighter they decree
Must be ironed flat as washing from the sea.

(Denis Glover from ‘Wellington Harbour is a Laundry’ in Come High Water, 1977)

Another walk and signs of spring

And as I am working at home today, I took a walk in the Botanic Gardens, stopping to admire the blossom and other flowers of the season. The picture at the top of the post is of some of the stunning magnolia.

Anyway, that is my quick round up on some of this week’s small pleasures. Check out the Friday Favourites from  Notes from the Hinterland and thanks to Mani over at A New Life Wandering for the original idea.

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

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