This week’s small pleasures #305

We have been lucky with a couple of days of sunshine and blue skies – always a small pleasure that lifts the spirits. Otherwise, the week just seems to have flown past, and here we are again at Monday and time to think about some of the highlights from the past 7 days.

I make no apologies about the many references to food this week, because we have been lucky enough to enjoy a lot of good things. After Pilates on Thursday, we headed out for dinner at Mariluca Ristoro. We are real creatures of habit, and so started as we have before at this restaurant with the bruschetta, this time topped with asparagus and goat cheese and a vegetable and feta topping. I predictably went for the Linguine ai Gamberoni and Karl the Fettuccini alla Bolognese. The food was delicious, the service excellent, and we left content.

In the shopping basket this week could be found more asparagus, spinach, onions, broccolini, oranges, another grapefruit, some shiitake mushrooms, a couple of Angélys pears (hidden under the asparagus) and rhubarb and Granny Smith apples that went into a crumble for Saturday’s dessert. We enjoyed snapper with a butter, lemon, caper and dill sauce and some of the fine stemmed asparagus I bought earlier in the week before the crumble. It was a also real small pleasure to enjoy that Swedish iconic paste, Kalles Kaviar, with a boiled egg for Sunday breakfast.

On Sunday, we made the most of the weather and headed off over the Remutaka Hills, stopping for lunch at Brac and Bow, where yet again I stuck with a favourite, the chowder, which was full of pieces of fish and topped with prawns. The restaurant can be found in the The Royal Hotel, built in 1868 in the centre of Featherstone, and is called after the owners two dogs (hence the logo).

After lunch, we drove over to Martinborough, picking up some local wine, olives and this lovely little mustard pot I found in Mint At Martinborough (the shop at the end in the picture below). This is one of my favourite places to browse, with a lovely collection of new, vintage and antique homeware. Clearly inspired by Clarice Cliff, the pot is a such a bright and cheerful object. I actually had a mustard spoon at home, which now has a pot to sit in. The featured image at the top of the post was taken in Martinborough’s main square.

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 shares her delights and art.
• Ju Lyn at Touring my Backyard shares some wildlife pictures – take a closer look.
• Natalie the Explorer celebrates 6 years of blogging – congratulations!
• Anne over at Something Over Tea goes for a walk in Kronenzicht Estate.
• Share a coffee over at Trent’s World and hear about his week.
• Laurie over at Notes from the Hinterland enjoys Friday in the park.
• And Popsicle Society motivates us for Monday.
• Green Dreams shares her harvest with us.
• Southern Patches shares her Friday Favourites.
• And Deb notes that time is fleeting…..

Thistles and Kiwis is a Wellington, New Zealand based blog written by Barbara, who likes cats, summer, good food and pretends to garden.

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