It’s Easter Monday, and time for a round up of some of this week’s small pleasures. We have had some lovely, sunny weather and it is still warm enough to sit outside and read. I have to say I have been extremely lazy today, reading, doing word puzzles, dozing…and a bit of weeding. It is so nice to be on holiday and not to feel the need to ‘have to do something – a small pleasure in itself.
Flowers were bought to brighten up the house and celebrate the season. The cheerful colours were just the thing in set up our downstairs space for Easter.
So to food…and of course with it being Easter, there had to be hot cross buns. We had some lovely, fresh ones delivered from Shelley Bay Bakery on Good Friday, enjoyed that afternoon with a cup of tea. In the shopping basket this week were apples, pears and feijoas in keeping with the season, some mushrooms, courgettes, tomatoes and broccolini. I made a batch of cranberry and coconut biscuits (cookies) to have as a dessert option on Easter Sunday.
As per tradition, we had a big feast with friends on Easter Sunday. The table was full of all sorts of things from Janssons frestelse to sausages to devilled eggs to meatballs to smoked salmon to herring and smoked mussels and so on and so forth. There was a wonderful pear cake made by my friend, which we had with ice cream for dessert, a cheese selection and of course little bits of chocolate. In case you are wondering what is in the little glasses, it is snaps or aquavit. This is a Danish one, the only one we could find in Wellington, and it has a distinct flavour of caraway seeds. Not something for every day, it is perfect with oily fish like herring and smoked salmon at Christmas, Easter and Swedish Midsummer.
With the good weather, walking through the Botanic Gardens is still on the agenda as you can see from the featured image at the top of the post. I have been enjoying these begonia over the past couple of months, which for some reason remind me of my mother, who always had a pot of them somewhere when I was growing up. I also managed to catch up with niece in Maryland in a video call, get some tidying up done, and of course, enjoy posts from my blogging friends.
So that is me for this week. 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 has bad luck with appliances, but looks on the bright side and made a whole wheat chocolate chip banana bread.
- Ju Lyn at Touring my Backyard contemplates Easter.
- Natalie the Explorer celebrates Easter and hosts the weekend coffee share.
- Deb’s World’s has an amazing trip to the zoo.
- Laurie at Notes from the Hinterland celebrates the early days of spring.
- Little Pieces of Me gives a talk at the universityl
- Share a coffee with Trent over at Trent’s World and celebrate spring.
- There is Monday motivation over at Popsicle Society
- The Annoyed Thyroid has had to spend time in ‘iso’ thanks to the ‘spicy cough’ or ‘the vid’. Eugh.
Also entered in Natalie’s weekend coffee share
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
Thistles and Kiwis 
Wonderful photos! The food looks so delicious 🙂
Happy Easter!
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Oh wow! The food is amazing, what a great selection! Paul’s boss (years ago) was Danish and her husband was from Norway, and they put on equally delicious plates of food. I’m sure the snaps would go well with the fish.
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Oh thank you!
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You win the prize for the most delicious Easter! It looks and sounds like you had the perfect long weekend!
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I am enchanted to relive Easter through your food, flowers and friends! And, as for Easter Monday, I had the same experience: the delight of being free to do nothing but simple fun things. And the begonias are an abundance of joy spilling everywhere. Thank you for these pleasures, and for mentioning mine!
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It was lovely just to do nothing and ‘go with the flow’ for a change – no work, no appointments.
I was lucky to catch the begonias. The flower beds are now being prepared for bulbs in anticipation of spring.
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What a lovely feast. I had to Google “feijoas” and “Janssons frestelse”, as I hadn’t heard of either of them before. Now, I must be on the lookout for them. Thank you.
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People here go mad for feijoas in autumn. Janssons frestelse is quite lovely.
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A small pleasure indeed being on holiday and not having to answer to anyone, so glad you got to enjoy it! Your Easter feast looks amazing. Thanks for sharing your small pleasure and linking to my zoo trip 🙂
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Oh I could totally get into that feast. I haven’t had Janssons fretelse for a number of years since my Swedish friend moved far away. Glad your Easter was nice and I notice quite a few familiar names in your list of bloggers.
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Happy Easter! Thank you for celebrating your very festive celebration … we didn’t do much this year, so I am glad to enjoy your beautiful feast vicariously.
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The feast looks AMAZING and the nature photos are just wonderful.
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Sounds like a delicious feast! The flowers are beautiful.
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Your Easter sounds and looks perfect with fresh flowers, friends, family video call, and delicious food. Enjoy your time off! Thank you for the mention and your weekend coffee share.
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Lovely to see how you celebrated Easter and being in Autumn as it is for us in Oz, lots of colourful flowers are about too. Denyse #weekendcoffeeshare
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I enjoy how you punctuate your post with so many great pictures. Thanks for the virtual coffee.
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Hi T&K,
I love your virtual visits to Wellington. It looks like a place I could walk for days and never be without something to marvel at and enjoy.
Then – I also enjoy the frequent visits to your table, where I’d be hugely tempted to undo all the work all that walking accomplished.
No matter, there’s always more to walk and see it while T&K sometimes goes on holiday and I’d have to fend for my own meals by other means.
thanks for another great visit.
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Hi Gary….you would be most welcome at our feast! And yes we have been away for a few days….more of that to come today (Monday).
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Your Easter meal sounds delicious with all the deviled eggs, meatballs, smoked salmon, etc. Your mention of aquavit got a Dutch (really Amsterdam dialect) song stuck in my head. Too bad the fun would be lost in translation.
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I love that bouquet and your meal sounds so good too. I love when there’s different things to try!
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Cranberry and coconut cookies sound delicious!
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