This week’s small pleasures #341

This week has been about enjoying summer – long days of sunshine and blue skies, catching up with friends, eating good food and having long conversations about all and sundry. Our trip to Europe so far has been one big round of wonderful little things, and it was hard to know what to include in this post, and what to save for later, because the whole week has been one big pleasure. So for today’s small pleasures I am going to pick a few things and then share some more about our trip during the week because otherwise this post would go on and on….

Last days in Copenhagen

I’ll start with our last couple of days in Copenhagen which were spent meeting friends for coffee, lunch and dinner and spending our final evening with my step-son, Anton. All of these were small pleasures and often meetings were too short.

Going to Kalmar

On Wednesday morning, we took the train over the Øresund or Öresund Bridge to Malmö. If you have seen the TV drama The Bridge you may know what I am talking about! It is the longest bridge in Europe, and can carry both rail and road transport. The picture below was taken waiting for the train in Copenhagen.

In Malmö we hired a car and drove up to my husband’s home town of Kalmar, a city in the south-east of Sweden. Kalmar is an old, historic town, with one of its most famous buildings being the castle. The castle origins can be found in the 12th century, while the current building has its roots in the 16th century. After checking into the hotel, we headed over there for a walk and to enjoy the warm, sunny sun.

If you have a look at the two pictures below, you will see that the one on the right looks like it is made of bricks. This is in fact a trompe l’oeil effect and was apparently how the building looked in the 17th century. The other wall was about to be painted the same. Fascinating stuff!

Below are some more pictures from the other side of the castle, including these cannons, some of which were salvaged from ships which sank near Kalmar during the war in 1679. Should you be in this part of Sweden, it is definitely worth visiting the castle. It is also possible to go inside, though we didn’t do so this time.

Some of what we ate…

Of course no Small Pleasures post would be complete without food. For our last night in Copenhagen, we went to the branch of Madklubben on Vesterbrogade. We all opted for the three course menu with accompanying wines. Anton and I swapped starters, as he really wanted the steak tartar and I was happy to have the ceviche. Both were good – I made sure I tasted the tartar, which was served with raspberries. I had the seabass, served with fennel, for my main course, and a rhubarb compote with a yoghurt based ice-cream and crunchy topping. A good way to end our stay in the city.

For lunch on Tuesday, we visited The American Pie Company just to see what it was like. They mostly do sweet pies, but we were after lunch, so Karl had a potato topped beef pie and I had a cauliflower, broccoli and cheese one. It was tasty, and the pastry tasted homemade. It was a pie, but not as good as ones in New Zealand.

Driving up to Kalmar, we stopped for lunch at a branch of the ubiquitous local burger chain, Max. It is Swedish, it is fast food, it is just the thing when you are on the road. Plus I really wanted one of their burgers on the trip – don’t ask me why, just believe me! After all the walking around in the sun around the castle, we stopped for a nice, cold beer from local brewery Ängöl.

For dinner that evening, we went to Ernesto, a well known local Italian restaurant. I had the panciotti con finferli e fontina, a filled pasta with chanterelles and fontina cheese, in a sage sauce with chives and parsley. It was honestly one of the best pasta dishes I have had in ages. Karl had a pizza which also got an excellent review.

One good thing about staying in hotels in Sweden is the breakfasts – at least for me as I can enjoy my usual assortment of things (bread, cheese, eggs) and get Kalles Kaviar.

Simple things

• Hearing that water at least has been restored to the house back in Wellington
• Enjoying dinner out at a friend’s allotment in Kalmar (see Saturday’s post).
• Catching up with friends after 5 years
• Enjoying a wonderful, sunny Swedish summer.
• Forgetting all the stresses of daily life
• Spotting this cat to say hello to.

I am posting this on Sunday morning Swedish time. We are now in Malmö on our way to London, but there will be at least two more posts about our time in Sweden to come during the week.

Anyway, 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. 

• Deb at Deb’s World goes to Cornwall.
• Jo over at And Anyways shares a book post.
• Natalie the Explorer shares more wonderful murals in Toronto.
• Ju-Lyn shares 5 prescious moments at Touring My Backyard.
• Tootlepedal’s Blog shares a dog day.
• Laurie over at Notes From the Hinterland keeps out of the smoke and watches her garden grow.
• Anne over at  Something Over Tea watches a butterfly while packing
• Nigella Eats Everything makes summer food.
• Trent had a busy week but always has time for a good cup of coffee.
• …and all the other lovely bloggers out there. Sorry if I have missed anyone…

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. If you want to get in touch, email me on thistlesandkiwis@gmail.com or lofgren@thistlesandkiwis.com