This week’s small pleasures #284

Phew! Monday evening, work done for the day, dinner has been eaten and now time to get this post out and relax. A friend and my Pilates teacher helped provide hot showers (regular readers will know the situation…), I found a great pair of dark purple jeans and we had some fantastic weather on Wednesday. It was even warm enough to walk along the waterfront without a jacket. In the featured image at the top of the post you can see Len Lye’s Water Whirler, and below Solace in the Wind, first installed in 2008. I don’t think one could ever tire of walking here.

And so to food….starting with a cinnamon morning bun at Squirrel on Wednesday morning following my waterfront walk. It was just the sweet treat I felt like that day. I baked a pear, ginger and pecan tray bake from Steffi Knowles-Dellner’s book Lagom, most of which went to a morning tea at work, and, no picture, I made a pot of Mormor’s curried fish soup from the same book. Both were really good, the cake full of pears and just enough ginger (love the idea of serving it warm as a dessert), and the soup…well it was excellent and I will definitely make it again, so simple and full of flavour and lots of fish and shrimp.

We went out for dinner on Thursday to Koji, an ‘Asian fusion’ restaurant in town. Unfortunately we were a bit stressed (just let me say the hot water situation and getting people out to fix things), so must go back for a more leisurely meal. We had pie tee with venison and star anise and Korean bbq beef toast with bechamel and Szechuan pickle, both of which were utterly divine and bursting with fresh flavours. There was a bowl of steaming noodles, runny and nestling in a flavourful broth, and beef cheek, so soft it melted in a moment. Gorgeous food and we will be back.

In the basket this week kumara (sweet potato) which went into a mash with potatoes on Saturday, some baby carrots of different hues which we had this evening, spinach and fennel for Tuesday’s dish, sprouts for Wednesday perhaps (though I also picked up a cauliflower and broccoli for NZ$5 for both of them), and some apples and passion fruit.

On Sunday morning, a friend and I headed over to Makara Beach Cafe for a craft fair that they have started hosting once a month. I picked up some new beeswax wraps and a catnip fish (which was not played with….) from the Feral Nation (non-profit foster-based cat rescue charity) stall, some delicious sounding raspberry and rhubarb jam and this gorgeous bunch of flowers for only NZ$15.

It was my parents’ birthdays on 20th May: both born on the same day a year apart. They would have been absolutely delighted to have known of little Niko, born 10 days before them many years later. We had the joy of meeting him on Sunday for the first time – my greatest small pleasure of the week.

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 made me laugh with her stories of being a substitute teacher and goes on an outing to the moonshine capital of the world.
• Ju Lyn at Touring my Backyard finds so many things to enjoy at the Gardens by the Bay (one of my favourite places ever).
•  Natalie the Explorer takes us to the Toronto Railway Museum.
• I love the posts from Anne over at Something Over Tea, introducing us to the wildlife of South Africa (and other things!).
• Deb’s World’s has a refreshing change.
• Little Pieces of Me introduces us to her chickens.
• Trent over at Trent’s World had a busy week at work but offers us some good coffee.
• There are words of Monday Motivation over at Popsicle Society 
• The Annoyed Thyroid makes peanut butter chip cookies.
• Joanne over at And Anyways shares what is on her bookshelf (and you can too each month too)
• Scribble and Scran goes Munro Bagging and plans some delicious sounding food.

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