On Saturday night, the government announced that all of New Zealand, except Auckland, is going back up to Covid-alert Level 2. Auckland is now at Level 3, after more community outbreaks in the south of the city. This is of course not good, but at least an immediate decision was made. So my planned afternoon outing to see some dance has been postponed to next Sunday, when we all hope we can go back to normal.
Meanwhile, I am having some time off work, which has given me some time to rest and recuperate. It has also meant that I was able to get to my favourite cafe, Squirrel, for some of their lovely salmon toast. What a small pleasure that was!
Sticking with food, for the pantry there was a new tube of harissa for when I make lamb meatballs, more of my favourite band of sauerkraut, some ready made polenta to have on hand, a jar of ras el hanout to add to my spice cupboard and an interesting looking bar of hot cross bun chocolate, which I will save for when we have friends round at Easter. Also in my shopping bag were aubergines (eggplants), broccoli, oranges, nectarines, more baby carrots and green chilli.
And one final food item! Being at home means lunch at home means time to get out the trusty egg coddler which I know I have featured in the blog before. It really is a small pleasure to get out and use an item you have had since a child to make something light and tasty for lunch.
And I finished the jigsaw! Which also happens to be of food…a picnic in the sun….well, this post will just have to be about the small pleasure of eating!
So those are my small pleasures this week. What were yours? Here are some other bloggers with their favourites from the past week. Please free to join in!
- Ju Lyn introduces us to her new blog in this week’s happy place, happy space.
- Laurie has some lovely Friday Favourites to share with us.
- Deb celebrates a first birthday and meets old friends.
- Little Pieces of Me is grateful for 5 things on Friday.
- Natalie the Explorer shares some snowy pictures from Canada and what she is grateful for in February. She also shares the link to the weekend coffee share blog party.
- Over at Trent’s World‘s The Weekly Smile: runs again after a month.
- Sanch writes her Weekly Gratitude to share with us.
I am going to add this post over at Natalie’s coffee share this week. I had no time to write anything yesterday as we were over at friends eating pizza (food again!).
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
Thistles and Kiwis 
I agree with that sign wholeheartedly!
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Me too!
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Doing more of what makes us happy is the only way to beat the pandemic blues, mind you all those whitish tablecloth pieces of your jigsaw puzzle must have required a lot of patience and perseverance! Our president announced tonight that we are moving to Alert Level 1 – a marked changed from Alert Level 3 we have been experiencing. This still means masks, social distancing and so on but some restrictions on gatherings have been lifted.
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You must be relieved that some restrictions are being lifted. Yes…the white was a bit of a pain…but I left it to the end and it all fell in to place quite rapidly.
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As always, wonderful, wonderful food! Hope that things soon return to normal for you. Just shows how easily that darned virus spreads. Sigh.
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And it looks like the virus has spread because someone who was supposed to be in isolation went to the gym…
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What. The. Heck.
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I know…Jacinda is not best pleased…
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Great sign, great reminder we so often need. Great food love the jigsaw. I had never heard of an egg coddler till a year ago so I ordered one on line with a pretty bird on it, I love it’s simplicity & a little fancy. I think that’s my small pleasure to start the week a home grown egg cooked in my sweet little egg coddler. Have a sweet week & hope all goes back to a great normal for you soon.
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I hope you enjoyed your egg! How lovely to have your own eggs too. I love that sign – a good reminder.
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I agree with that sign. Lovely food you have and well done with your jigsaw puzzle. We’ve been in lockdown since November until at least March 8. I hope things soon return to normal for you. Thank you for the mention and for linking with #WeekendCoffeeShare.
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I love the puzzle, and such a joy to get it finished. I have not had much luck with polenta, so I’ll be interested to see what you cook. Enjoy your time off.
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This is already made up polenta so cheating a bit but hopefully it should be good…we will see!
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Your flatlay of food photos look lovely! I also love the final product of the puzzle. It looks like something I would frame.
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Love the sign! I’m grateful that we didn’t go back into Level 3 until Sunday; my son’s girlfriend organised a surprise party for him on Saturday night and he had a wonderful time.
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Oh so glad the party happened! Let’s hope the current situation doesn’t last more than a week.
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Fingers crossed. We were meant to be going away next weekend ☹️
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There was so much goodness in this post, especially considering the new lockdowns. I love the pictures too. And you had me at salmon toast!
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Thank you! That toast is quite special.
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Loving the look of those salmon toasts. How yum! 🤪
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They are really good!
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Wonderful food, we get hungry!
Thanks for sharing.
All the best, have a happy week
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Wow, love the egg coddler. To be honest, I have never seen one. Enjoy your time off work.
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Well fingers crossed life will go back to normal next week.
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Love the Picnic jigsaw – the folds on the picnic mat must have been sooooo challenging!
Hope you are ok in lockdown, and are keeping safe and well.
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It i s good to see some normality returning. I looked up a bus time table yesterday and even contemplated taking the bus soon!
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