This week’s small pleasures #240

This week began cold and wet, and ended sunny and bright – still chilly, but the sort of weather a warm coat means you don’t notice it. It was a week that saw my birthday, a new bright red sweater found in a sale, a lovely dinner out at Noble Rot Wine Bar and just being at home and cosy with Charlie the cat and my dear husband.

I stepped outside on Saturday morning to see this beautiful blue sky, with the moon still visible. What a beautiful sight to gladden the heart and wish me a happy birthday.

And so to food, because no Small Pleasures post would be complete without. On Wednesday, I had lunch at Floriditas, which closed for a few days after it had been identified as a place that had been visited by the man from Sydney who was found to be Covid positive. After a real deep clean, they were able to open up again, and so to support one of my favourite places, I ate lunch there. I had the crispy polenta cakes with mushrooms, parmesan and two poached eggs which I really enjoy as it has two of my favourite foods – mushrooms and eggs!

In the shopping basket this week there were parsnips to add to a mash later in the week, apples for a cake (see the forthcoming post on Wednesday), that cooking essential, garlic, some more feta which is such a favourite in this house, a packet of linguine to have with meatballs, seasonal persimmons and Brussel sprouts and these gorgeous dark purple-red yams (oca). We enjoyed a couple of little shortbread biscuits from Arobake with a cup of tea on Saturday afternoon, and my birthday breakfast was a bagel with cream cheese, smoked salmon and my home made pickled nasturtium seeds.

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Finally, it has been a while since we have seen Charlie here…so here he is engrossed in a video for cats. He can sit and watch for about 10 to 15 minutes before he gets bored. Cold weather isn’t his thing, and likes to curl up on his furry bed instead, or wake us up at 5am demanding a cuddle to get warm.

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.

• There has been hot weather in Maine says Laurie over at Notes from the Hinterland 
• Carol Ann of Fashioned for Joy shares her delights of the week including a wonderful painting.
• Enjoy, virtually, hawker food over at Ju Lyn’s Touring my Backyard.
• Deb reports on her #BOLD challenge.
• Natalie the Explorer shares pictures of summer in Canada.
• Anne at Something Over Tea takes us on a lovely trip
• Finally, Sanch Writes in Sydney finds good things in a tough week.

The featured image at the top of the post is of one of the bushes at the side of the house, currently covered in these glorious red berries.

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