This week’s small pleasures #389

Thistles and Kiwis

Talofa lava! Yes – this week is Samoan Language Week here in New Zealand. Samoan is the third most spoken language in New Zealand (and interestingly, second in Auckland), and this week is one of 11 official Pacific language weeks held throughout the year. Monday began with Samoan prayers and song at the morning’s karakia which was a lovely way to start the week.

It is really feeling autumnal now, with golden leaves, dark evenings and much cooler days. It is also a good excuse to make tea, rug up (as they say in these parts) and generally get cosy, a few small pleasures.

Out and about

Last Monday, I went to hear the author Trent Dalton in conversation with Bret McKenzie (Oscar winner and one half of Flight of the Conchords). Unfortunately, the event started over 10 minutes late, and after the opening welcome by Wellington City Mission, the interview did not begin until 20 minutes after the advertised time, which caused a few people to leave at the times 7pm finish time even though the conversation was in full flow. Dalton though was very entertaining, and full of stories about his life and books.

The cold weather and drizzle stopped us going to the light show in the Botanic gardens on Thursday in the end. However, on Friday evening, we went to see Pax Assadi, the New Zealand comedian, who was in Wellington as part of the New Zealand Comedy Festival. He was entertaining, and the hour passed very quickly.

In the basket

The Wonky Box presented me with a whole red cabbage which I braised with apple, onion, spices and a few raisins. We had some of it with sausages and mash on Saturday evening, freezing the rest for later as there was a lot (and I mean a lot) of it. There was also spinach, a cucumber, a little pumpkin, potatoes, carrots and broccoli. I added some tangerines for the lunch box, tamarillos, probably the last tomatoes for the season, and some rainbow chard, just because it looked so pretty. There was also halloumi and Portobello mushrooms to make burgers during the week.

Nibbles and bites

I roasted the pumpkin with a left over parsnip, carrot and pumpkin seeds and topping the dish with creamy peas (dish from Peter Gordon’s Savour) which we had with chicken on Sunday. There was a treat of a very good bacon and egg pie from our local bakery for a quick Sunday lunch after a spot of gardening and this chicken pesto sandwich from newly opened Super Deli on Featherston Street.

Simple things

  • Seeing all the wonderful seasonal produce – the pumpkins, the kumara and leafy greens.
  • Enjoying my food filled Wednesday.
  • Planting the bulbs I had purchased – fingers crossed!
  • Going to my French class on a chilly evening – something nice about that.
  • Thinking of places to go for our birthday dinners – even though they are still weeks away.
  • Finding this little fungus in the garden.

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. Also entered in the weekend coffee share hosted by Natalie.

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 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

33 Comments

  1. Coffee & tea are every week’s small pleasure. My crops were last few weeks pleasures 💚🤎🩷 Enjoy your week 💛

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  2. The photographs of the yellow leaves are lovely – and I am glad you found a fungus in your garden. I always regard that as rather special – a small pleasure indeed!

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  5. We did a little planting over the weekend too; my mother in law insists that the starter plant (that she thinks is zucchini) will grow anywhere… but I’m not so sure. I usually have no luck with any sort of food planting but I’m hopeful! We worked in a few of our flower gardens too since it seems like summer might be just around the corner.

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  9. How nice to do French lessons in the evening, I haven’t done any lessons since school days.

    A pity that Trent Dalton’s talk was late, I’ve heard he is an entertaining speaker..

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  13. I saw beautiful poppies in four different colours today (red, pink, light orange and salmon) so that was my simple pleasure to start June. Thank you for the mention and for your weekend coffee share.

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  15. I’m glad you enjoyed Trent’s interview despite the bad timing of it all Barbara, every time I’ve seen an interview, he gives it his all and is an intense sort of guy. The weather has certainly changed over here with winter skies and thankfully some much needed rain has fallen. Thanks again for the mention and I’m spending the weekend away with my sister and brother-in-law so it’s a fun change of scenery giving me lots of pleasure!

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