This past week has seen Matariki, Swedish Midsummer and some world events that don’t belong in a small pleasures post. It is getting harder to look at the news, and so looking out for the things that make us smile becomes more important in these times. Here are some of the good things I enjoyed from last week.
Mornings
I am a morning person, and there have been some great starts to the day this week. Rising early and hearing the call of a morepork or ruru (an owl), making a pot of tea on Friday morning instead of dunking a tea bag into a mug, and just enjoying the morning skies like this one below from Tuesday morning taken at 7:20am.
Restaurant time – again
On Thursday evening, we had dinner at Floriditas, one of my favourite lunch places in town but where I had never actually eaten dinner. The food was fantastic, service just right, and we will definitely have dinner there again. Bread was automatically brought to the table, nice and warm with good butter. I started with a Jerusalem artichoke salad with pickled radish, mandarin, wakame and herb aioli, and then had the fish (which was tarakihi) with chorizo, salsa verde, orzo and lots of dill. Karl opted for the venison carpaccio with goats cheese and pickled chioggia to start and the Scotch fillet with yams (ie oca), rocket chipotle and mushroom jus. We shared some broccolini, and enjoyed a glass of sauvignon blanc with the main course and Côtes du Rhône with our mains.
More good eatings
In the shopping baskets this week were kumara, broccolini and collard greens, a little piece of camembert, a tube of harissa, a smoked salmon spread and some feta. On Saturday, we picked up carrots and onions because they are always needed, tangerines, passion fruit, mushrooms, kale, fennel (to make a salad with orange) and more glossy, red yams (oca).
On Wednesday I headed over to one of my favourite cafes for lunch, enjoying one of their smoked salmon toasts, which always come piled high with microgreens. They recently won a prize for the best avocado toast in town, which, having enjoyed it on many an occasion, am not surprise.
Watching
On Saturday afternoon, we went to another film on the French Film Festival, Employee of the Month, a comedy about Vincent, a long-time civil servant who doesn’t want to give up his job. At home we watched the biographical film from 2020 Tove about Tove Jansson, author and illustrator of the Moomin books. The movie centres on her early life, from before the World War II to the mid-1950s, highlighting her personal relationships and the creation of the Moomins. If you like her work, or are just interested in female writers, this is a really good film to catch.
We are also rewatching the Australian comedy about an imaginary government department, Utopia, which remains fresh and still funny and pertinent. We also started the documentary series Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey on Netflix about an extreme Mormon sect, which is both horrific and fascinating.
I’ve also, of course, been looking at the sky as I mentioned above. The featured image was the sky at 7:20 this morning – no filters or any change to the colour.
So, 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 over at Fashioned for Joy has a wonderful way of describing kayaks as little jellybeans and shares some stunning photos. Always a joy!
- Ju Lyn at Touring my Backyard runs in the rain and has fun with family.
- Natalie the Explorer shares pictures of the wonderful Music Garden in Toronto.
- Anne over at Something Over Tea shows us winter flowers in South Africa.
- Deb’s World writes about her Word of the Year – Gift.
- Have a coffee with Trent over at Trent’s World.
- Check the Monday Motivation from Popsicle Society – always inspirational.
- The Annoyed Thyroid updates us on moving back to the UK.
- And Anyways also checks in on her Word of the Year, something I have been very poor at doing and promise to improve for July!
- Laurie over at Notes From the Hinterland is taking a staycation, but not before sharing beauties from her garden.
Also entered in the weekly coffee share hosted by Natalie.
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 
I enjoyed the flush of red in the eastern sky as I drove down the hill to purchase my weekly groceries at half past six this morning. Load-shedding meant that the whole town was in darkness – fortunately the supermarket has its own generator. Venus was shining brightly and I could see the slither of the waning crescent of the moon just above the horizon.
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How lovely to see the sky so clearly….dare I say thanks to load-shedding?
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Indeed – one has to look on the plus side of such a calamity 🙂
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The yummy food 😋
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Mornings are wonderful!
I’ve been thinking about watching that mormon series on Netflix. I might. Scary and fascinating at the same time.
I hope your new week are filled with many small pleasures. The small pleasures are the most significant in my world. Have a great week!
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The Mormon series is scary, but also interesting.
Thank you Maria – hope you have a good week too!
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What a lovely week of magnificent skies and delicious food. I admire your restaurant outings and the keen choices you and Karl make. I also appreciate getting ideas for TV watching. My dear mother-in-law (a reading teacher) introduced our family to the Moomins. They were enchanting. I’ll find the documentary and Utopia too! (And thank you for mentioning my blog!)
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Thanks Carol Ann! I loved the Moomin books as a child. Have you read some of her short stories for adults? Worth keeping an eye open for.
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Ooh, that’s good to know. I’ve started reading more short stories. I’ll look for them!
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Your fresh ingredients look lovely as always. We have successfully grown broccoli this year, however there were a few tiny bugs on them when we picked them … maybe easier to buy them from a good green grocer!
We enjoyed Utopia … as we live in Canberra it is just like real life! I’m sure you would have seen the series Borgen many years ago .. we recently watched a new series made by Netflix.. very good!
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If you can find a good greengrocer might be worth it! As a civil servant, I can appreciate ‘Utopia’!
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I 100% agree about limiting the news and increasing our view of small pleasures. That’s one of the many reasons that I love and subscribe to your posts. They always make me smile!
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Thank you!
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Now I am waiting a series ” The Affair” so whenever I get time I watch it! It’s a small pleasure now! Well shared thanks 😊👍
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That sky is amazing! Any type of smoked salmon dish would get my pick if I was eating out but I do like avo toast as well. Great post 🙂
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Yummy-looking sandwich. Your movies sound interesting, especially the Mormon one. I wonder if we get exposed to different movies than you do on Netflix. I’ve never seen any of those titles.
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I think Netflix does vary from place to place.
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Thank you for the mention and for your weekend coffee share. The sky colours and your food photos look beautiful and delicious. I loved Tove Jansson’s ‘The Summer Book”. The film about her sounds interesting.
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I loved ‘The Summer Book’ too and have also read some of her other short stories. The film is worth seeing.
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Great to see an Aussie show getting some laughs these days…gosh we need them! Denyse
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Looks like you’ve had some good times in restaurants and cafes this week! The most yummy-looking photo to me is the salmon toast. The film about Tove Jansson sounds like something I would enjoy!
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The film about Tove Jansson is worth seeing.
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Sounds like you had some good food! Loved the sky pics too.
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Oh my….your food always makes me drool. I love fish, but think I might have gotten the venison too.
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