This week’s small pleasures #270

What a week here in Wellington. Weather wise, there was sunshine and then, at the weekend, the tail end of cyclone Dovi which gave us the second wettest day since records began. The winds weren’t as strong as predicted at least, but the rain just poured and poured. Unfortunately the protestors were not deterred by the weather or Barry Manilow and James Blunt being played at full volume, and are still camped out in mud and muck around Parliament and the Pipitea campus of Victoria University of Wellington. I could go on but I won’t as I want to talk about this week’s small pleasures…..

When the sun was shining on Tuesday, I took a walk through the Botanic Gardens after finishing work. I happened to meet both cats that seem to frequent the gardens. There was a little bit of a standoff between them, with the grey cat used me as a ‘shield’ while he moved into position. I left them, staring at each other.

And so to food…and on Saturday, a friend and I braved the rain and went to an Egyptian cooking event held at Basbousa Egyptian Street Food and organised by Savour Cooking School. It was a mix of demonstration, lots of handy hints and a little hands on, such as folding and filling the sambousek (top left below), lovely little parcels of cream cheese and herbs. The hummus that was amazing – so creamy and probably the best I have ever had. There was a different form of baba ganoush, (chunky rather than smooth), an Egyptian rice dish, some wonderful, juicy falafel (ta’ameia), ful medames (a bean stew) and for dessert a pistachio and rosewater om ali, made from filo pastry and a sort of custard. We made salads from heirloom tomatoes from the organiser’s garden, drank peppermint tea and tried all the excellent food.

Elsewhere, in the basket this week were aubergines for a moussaka on Sunday evening (and leftovers tonight), a crispy capsicum, flat peaches, nectarines and apricots, lemons and garlic. We had croissants for a Sunday breakfast, a sort of pre- St Valentine’s Day treat, and I enjoyed a slice of lemon loaf after my trip to the dentist and dental hygienist on Wednesday.

Other small pleasures of the week were Pilates, lying on the sofa reading and drinking tea as the rain poured down on Sunday, and seeing the sun come out this afternoon and brightening up our lives.

What were your small pleasures this week? Here are some other blog posts from a few fellow bloggers looking at the good things in life. 

• Carol Ann of Fashioned for Joy shares so many wonderful things, including an amazing looking quilt and a trip to an historic town.
• Ju Lyn at Touring my Backyard makes some interesting looking donuts.
• Natalie the Explorer shares wonderful pictures from the Nordic Lights Festival in Toronto.
• Anne over at  Something Over Tea meats a duiker on the road – a new animal to me!
• Jo at And Anyways gives us an update on her writing and admits to being addicted to Wordle like so many of us are. I agree about the frustration of US spellings – can make it extra hard.
• Deb’s World’s has some Tumbatrek Therapy.
• Laurie at Notes from the Hinterland shows us the path through the snow to her house.
• Trent over at Trent’s World shares a coffee and we meet his dog and cat (a really lovely picture of these two creatures).
• Scribble and Scran shares Grannie’s recipe box.

You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram @thistlesandkiwis.  As for Twitter….am totally inactive these days.  If you want to get in touch, email me on thistlesandkiwis@gmail.com