This week’s small pleasures #399

Thistles and Kiwis

After lots of rain and wind at the start of the week, we had lovely sunshine at the weekend and also today. Yes it is cold (the roof opposite was white with frost on Sunday morning), but so nice to see blue skies. The featured image was taken today, Monday, at lunch time.

A nice surprise

A cactus that has never flowered, flowered…in winter….but it does sit on a very sunny windowsill. The bright pink certainly brightened up our lives and the second cactus to flower in as many weeks.

In the basket…

The Wonky Box delivered yet more avocados (I do like them…but you can have too many), white kumara, parsnips, a bunch of carrots, broccoli, more bok choy (such a boring vegetable), onions and a lovely little bunch of rocket that formed the base of Friday evening’s salad (eaten with an excellent steak from our local butcher).

I topped it up with cavolo nero and spinach for more greens, a couple of grapefruit, tamarillos which I am really enjoying at the moment, a piece of ginger, pasta and smoked salmon, cured by the butcher, part of which went into a fish pie (forthcoming post on Wednesday).

Eating!

Well, we ate a fantastic lunch on Wednesday (you can read about it here), but I also enjoyed a chicken, salad and pesto sandwich from a local cafe and eaten at my desk on Friday. As I mentioned, I am enjoying tamarillos as a breakfast fruit just now (top right below), and roasted the butternut squash from last week to have for lunch today and tomorrow (along with feta, walnuts, seeds and some salad leaves).

Out and about

On Saturday, a friend and I went to see the triple bill performed by the Royal New Zealand Ballet. The first piece, Infra, was by the great choreographer, Wayne McGregor. A moving piece about city life (its loneliness, the possibilities of connections), it was accompanied by a back drop of anonymous figures walking across a screen. You can see bits of the piece see here. The middle piece was my least favourite, a new work by Kiwi choreographer Sarah Foster-Sproull. I am not a fan of her work and this new piece did nothing to change my mind. Far too repetitive and also a bit derivative (for ballet fans, I was reminded in one part of a bit of Nijinska’s Les Noces). The final piece was High Tide, an origninal work for the company by the resident choreographer at the Australian Ballet, Alice Topp. The set was a wonderful blend of light and shape that enhanced the dancing. A good evening all round.

Simple things

  • Crisp, dry, winter days (forget the wind and rain on other days….).
  • Enjoying that first cup of tea of the day.
  • Appreciating the blogging community.
  • Ordering seeds and pickled herring – but not at the same time!
  • Hearing that my brother has safely arrived in Washington DC.
  • Spotting these little fungi – before the grass was cut – 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 into the weekend coffee share hosted by Natalie.

  • Anne of Something Over Tea shares six indigenous flowers.
  • Sanch takes us through her July reading.
  • Share a coffee with Maria of Green Dreams  and her wonderful green fingers.
  • Laurie celebrates the arrival of a new car.
  • Meanwhile, there is a great tour of the diverse nature Great Dixter over at Now I Am 64.
  • There is a Friday Free for All over at Deb’s World.
  • Mr Tootlepedal takes a new approach to route finding over at Tootlepedal’s Blog.
  • Jude over at Cornwall in Colours shares a wonderful picture of the North Cliffs in Cornwall,
  • Natalie shares her July highlights in 12 photos.
  • There is always a good cup of coffee over at Trent’s World.
  • .…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 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

39 Comments

  3. I love your Wonky Box. It is always full of surprises. IT certainly makes you think … or at least it would me … what to ddo with some of the furit/veg. I also love advocados. I like your idea for the roasted BNSquash with feta etc. Do you eat it hot or as a cold salad? I am always looking for ideas

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    1. Yes it quite often makes me think too I must admit – and sometimes there are new vegetables to me as well. I had the pumpkin cold as a salad for my work lunch, but I would eat it warm too. I added some salad leaves and walnuts too.

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  4. Oh I love roasted butternut squash; in fact it’s on our menu for the week. I am starting to feel the same way about zucchini that you feel about avocados… I don’t know what to do with the pile of zucchini we were given in our farm box this week!

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  7. I have to disagree: I don’t think I’ve ever had too many avocados! If I did I’d make a huge batch of guacamole and throw a party! I hope your brother is enjoying Washington. Having lived there, I would not recommend August as the best time to be there! Very, very humid! Now April is another story, when everything is blooming.

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    1. When there are two of you in the house and only one of you really eats avocados (the other only if served as part of a Tex Mex type dish) you can have too many avos! I took a few to work for anyone in the office to take.

      My brother used to live in DC and there are family and friends there so he knows the city. I remember my first trip there when I was 18, end of June beginning of July, and I had never experienced humidity like it. I was used to walking everywhere so it came as a shock!

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  8. Hi, Barbara – I love it when plants that don’t often flower finally do so. It is such an uplift.

    And yup, I’m still envious of your wonky boxes. We still don’t have that kind of thing in Central Vancouver Island. 😦

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  9. I read in the papers today that the Greeks may be having real problems in producing feta because of disease. I don’t know whether you were eating Greek feta but if you were, enjoy it while you can. I will miss it if it becomes scarce.

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  10. I look forward to seeing what is in your wonky box! I agree with the bok choy, seems quite tasteless to me, but I love avocados and could easily eat one every day. In fact there was a time when I probably did! And what’s not to like about roasted BNS, I especially like it roasted with chicken thighs, red onion wedges and lemons and rosemary (with a honey, olive oil and garlic marinade). One of my favourite winter dishes.

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    1. Your idea for BNS sounds great and really full of flavour. I feel I have had too many avocados but someone in the office just suggested a way of storing them so they last – keeping them in a storage box in water in the fridge. I will try it.

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  11. What a lovely week filled with many many small pleasures! What type of seed did you order? For the garden?

    The flowering cactus is so pretty! My daughter loves cactuses. She has three in her room, we recently made an arrangement with all three of them in a bigger pot, they seem to like it and have grown a lot.

    Have a wonderful week!

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    1. There are I think three of those big yellow things, and no I don’t know what they are – but they look fun being so bright! A nod to Wellington being a port perhaps?

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      1. in Australia all primary school kids dress up as a book character to parade around the playground (but on the walk to school also basically parade thru the streets)

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  17. I love roasted butternut squash, and your photo made me drool. Actually your food photos are all moth watering as usual. I always enjoy seeing what’s in your wonky box. One of my highlights of the week has been late nights watching the olympics

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  18. You’ve had a lovely week full of simple pleasures. That unexpected bright pink cactus flower and the yummy roasted butternut squash made me smile. Thank you for your weekend coffee share.

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