This week’s small pleasures #349

Thistles and Kiwis

Can someone tell me why we have so much stuff? How can I take 4 bags of books to a second hand book shop, give some more away and still have more to get rid of? How did I manage to fill a whole rubbish bag of things from the bathroom? I keep telling myself we will get there…..anyway, let’s move on to the small pleasures this week.

More birds of Wellington

Last week I started my Small Pleasures post with some good news about native birds in our region. There was more good news this week about kiwis which are slowly being reintroduced to parts of the city and reclaiming their territory. It just goes to show what can be done.

While these ornamental ducks are not an endangered species, it was lovely to stop and say hello to them in the Botanic Gardens, even though they totally ignored me.

Edibles

I treated myself to a cheese and rocket scone and hot chocolate on a particularly cold day in the office, and enjoyed this smoked salmon and avocado stack sandwich when having lunch with a friend on Wednesday. There was also a good mushroom and brie sandwich for lunch today in the cafe at the library (it is on a small plate in case you are wondering!).

In the basket this week was a leek, a grapefruit, oranges, pears, a fennel bulb, a little bunch of purple sprouting broccoli and these gorgeous looking purple Brussels sprouts.

Out and about

We escaped the clutter clearing on Saturday afternoon and after dropping off two large bags at a charity shop, had lunch at Chimichurri cafe (formerly Brooklyn Deli), enjoying great sandwiches (Karl had one with beef, me one with pork which is not what I would normally chose but it was good – the picture makes it look huge but it was also on a small plate!). Well fed, we went next door to the Penthouse Cinema to see our second film on the NZ International Film Festival, Merkel. This excellent documentary about Angela Merkel is definitely worth seeing, a fascinating portrait of the former German chancellor. She came across as not only highly intelligent and astute, but also someone with a great sense of humour. If I was ever asked to make up a fantasy dinner party guest list, she would be on it.

After a morning of packing books and stuff for the tip, we headed out to Liberty for our first burger on the Burger Wellington part of Wellington on a Plate. Their burger this year is called Jamaicaneme Crazy and was a “grilled chicken breast with Smoke & Oakum Gunpowder Rum pineapple, Harrington’s bacon, chicken crackling, cheddar, Unloved Vegetables pickle, and BBQ sauce”. It was really good – sweet, salty, crispy and juicy and just a bit different. I opted for the Garage Project beer pairing to have with it, with the great name of The Devil’s Lettuce, which is one of their IPAs. It certainly fortified us for the rest of the day!

Simple things

  • Having a lovely young man come round and take away all (over 200) the DVDs. He was so knowledgable about films and TV and a delight to chat to.
  • Reading about bringing sparkle into life over on Sue’s blog. Do check it out.
  • Going to Pilates – always makes me feel good.
  • Seeing Sweden get through to the quarter finals of the women’s football world cup.
  • Enjoying blue skies and sunshine making me feel like spring can’t be far away – as well as another lovely sunset tonight.
  • Realising that clearing clutter can be a good thing.

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. 

  • Ju-Lyn shares food encounters in Ipoh over at Touring My Backyard
  • Courgettes, flowers and birds can be found over at Tootlepedal’s Blog.
  • Laurie over at Notes From the Hinterland enjoys August and poetry.
  • Nigella Eats Everything shares her recommendations for the 5 best budget restaurants in Toulouse.
  • Deb rightly celebrates The Matildas victory (and if you don’t know what I am talking about, read her post!).
  • Trent has been busy in Cape Cod, but not too busy to share a cup of coffee
  • Carol Ann of Fashioned for Joy had a week full of so many wonderful things – books, art, mushrooms….and a donut.
  • Anne at Something Over Tea shares 5 purple flowers.
  • …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

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Published by Thistles and Kiwis

Loves summer, sunshine and cats. Beginner gardener, likes eating, cooking and reading about food

34 Comments

  3. We did some clearing earlier in the year, and I couldn’t get over how many books we took to charity and still have more!
    By the way, one of the books Paul really enjoyed recently was a biography of Angela Merkel and it is called “The Chancellor”
    We’ll look out for the Merkel documentary.

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    1. Our little local community library closed down after the bus shelter it was in had to be repaired otherwise I would have taken a lot there. I have now joined one of the second hand book shops credit scheme so I can take back books I have bought from them and use the credit to get new ones.

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  6. It is amazing how much we accumulate over the years. We have been doing some decluttering, and after all that we have hauled away, we still have so much left. So I sure do understand.

    The Angela Merkel doc sounds interesting. I will be looking for it.

    Thank you, thank you for the mention.

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  7. Books are so easy to aquire. I rarely buy them anymore (sure, now that I finally own a house and will not likely be moving in the foreseeable future). I recall putting several boxes of sci-fi paperbacks next to the dumpster and a neighbor told me that someone put BOXES of GREAT BOOKS but the dumpster so I should look. Haha! Under my bathroom sink is a similar story to yours. Who knows how it happens? The Clutter fairies drop it off in the night perhaps…

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  8. Your lunches sound divine. As for clearing out the bathroom, I’m always amazed at some of the (out of) dates on medical products. I obviously don’t clear the drawers and cabinet often enough! 😂

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    1. I found some sticking plasters with ‘funny’ Danish messages on them which must be at least 12 years old….why did we even have them in the first place never mind cart half way round the world? I obviously don’t clear our bathroom storage often enough either!

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  9. I have recently had the same thing with books, my problem is that I don’t read as much as I’d like and they end up wasted with me! But on the same vein, I can’t bare to part with them!

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  12. Now we know how the Devil makes his salad! I also appreciated your reassurance about your pork sandwich. It reminds me of the classic Midwestern pork tenderloin sandwich, which is basically a pork tonkatsu on a hamburger bun. The tenderloin — pounded very thin — is about the size of a normal plate, sticking out from the bun by inches on all sides. Crazy, but delicious! (And hurray for the young man who took your DVDs. I’m sure he was delighted!)

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    1. Love that expression – about the Devil and salads….to be used at a later date! The sandwich sounds both intriguing and delicious. And yes that young man was a true angel!

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  14. I feel you on the clearing up & out – it is a rather daunting task when one keeps filling bags & boxes with more and more things (a bit of wonder for me is how a bookshelf contains sooooooo many books, as compared to a box or bag). My turn soon – we are moving next summer into a smaller apartment, so …

    Cheese & rocket in a scone – that is new to me, and very exciting! We usually just put in chives. Definitely going to try it out!

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      1. You are not the first with this advice (couple of friends recently moved or in the process of moving). We have begun clearing out cupboards hoarding goodness knows what!!!

        Thank you.

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