This week’s small pleasures #235

Some weeks are better than others, and what with not feeling particularly well at the start, and then some pretty miserable weather at the end, it wasn’t the best week. At least we are not living in Canterbury where a state of emergency has been declared following what is being called a once in a 100 year deluge. Wednesday was fun though, and following Pilates on Thursday, some nice Thai food. Both of these things brightened up the week.

I make no apologies for his week’s small pleasures post having a rather food focus. In the shopping bag this week there was a butternut squash to make an autumnal soup with on Wednesday, pears because they are so good right now, an aubergine and green chilli to be used in Monday’s dinner for an Ottolenghi recipe for pork with ginger, spring onion and aubergine. I also picked up a couple of tamarillos, which are lovely macerated in vanilla and brown sugar and served with a bit of Greek yoghurt.

There were also mushrooms – ordinary little white button ones, shiitake with their rich flavour and enoki golden needle mushrooms because they look so beautiful. I used this combination in Diana Henry’s take on vincisgrassi, a baked pasta dish with mushrooms and parma ham, from her lovely book How to Eat a Peach for Saturday’s dinner.

On Sunday morning, a friend and I visited The Food Show, with stalls selling all sorts of food, from cheese to dumplings to falafel. Having been before, I thought there was slightly less on offer this year, and there was a notable absence of the big food magazines stalls and a few other previous regulars. However, there was still lots to taste and test, and I brought home quite a big haul, including 4 cheeses, two jars of duck and chicken parfait, a jar of rosemary, orange and thyme salt, crackers from The Baked Dane, a herb mix to make chicken korma, and some rather luscious cocoa for winter hot chocolates. I also picked up a great combination of fish products – smoked mussels, sardines with lemon and basil, smoked Baltic sardines, a jar of smoked herring and one of salmon. I look forward to using these in the weeks and months to come.

Sunday afternoon was spent reading, drinking tea, listening to music and keeping out of the rain. A real small pleasure.

So those were my small pleasures this week – what were yours? As usual, I like to feature other bloggers who have made me smile, made me think or generally shared some interesting aspects of their lives.

• Laurie over at Notes from the Hinterland shares her garden, a lovely cat statue and the final episode of her podcast.
• Carol Ann of Fashioned for Joy enjoys the beach and that special noise of cicadas.
• Ju Lyn of Touring My Backyard runs in the empty street of Singapore as the lockdown tightens there. Hope for good news from there soon.
• Little Pieces of Me enjoys reconnecting with friends despite her broken toe (hope that heals soon).
• Natalie the Explorer takes us on a tour of the Distillery District in Toronto and also welcomes us to her Coffee Share
• Take some time to read Deb’s World’s thoughts on blogging.
• Trent enjoys Cape Cod with a new kitten (how adorable!)
• There is a sleepy cat over at Sanch Writes and some other good things in her week.

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