This week’s small pleasures #402

Thistles and Kiwis,

I managed, through some very bad luck, to catch a really horrible bug that has resulted in a sore throat, blocked sinuses and zero energy. A lot of napping, reading cosy crime and going down rabbit holes on YouTube has gone on as a result. Despite feeling under the weather, there were several small pleasures this week, including spotting this cone on top of the bucket fountain on Cuba Street.

More Wellington on a Plate

One of my favourite restaurants in Wellington is Floriditas on Cuba Street, so I thought I would try their Burger Wellington burger this year. The Good Morning was a beef and pork sausage patty, Flo’s classic egg scramble, smoked cheese, bacon marmalade, parmesan crisp and pickle mayonnaise in an Arobake bun. It was a bit of a disappointment to be honest, or rather, I wasn’t keen on the pickle mayonnaise. It was a huge eat, so I left part of the bun and some of the chips.

We also treated ourselved to the Double Happiness burgers at Apache on Friday. There were two small burgers served in bao buns with a few prawn crackers (normal size though they look giant in the picture!). Les Poules Epicees was crispy fried chicken with spicy and salty caramel, makrut lime mayonnaise, iceberg, Vietnamese herbs, and house pickles, the other Banh Mi Pork was smashed beef and pork patty with grilled pork belly, housemade pâté, hot sauce, iceberg, Vietnamese herbs, and house pickles. Both were really delicious, but I preferred the chicken one, which was bursting with flavour.

In the basket (and some of what I ate apart from burgers)

Friday’s Wonky Box delivery arrived and I was pleased to see a lettuce and – the great surprise at this time of year of an aubergine (eggplant). There was also broccoli, onions, potatoes, more avocados (!), a celeriac and two giant fennel. I also picked up a bag of oranges (see top of the post) and this huge bunch of kale from our local greengrocer. In the shopping bag for the week ahead there was lamb mince, tofu, halloumi, feta, mushrooms (not pictured), Greek yoghurt, smoked salmon, strong cheddar cheese, rainbow chard, hummus, a pot of pesto, rainbow chard, lemons and tamarillos. With Karl heading off to Europe next week, this was me stocking up before his departure hence the tofu!

I made Ottolenghi’s spiced lentil soup on Wednesday, and roasted up a parsnip, a carrot, half a red capsicum and a small fennel bulb, topped it with hazlenuts and pumpkin seeds, and had that for lunch on Thursday. After a trip to the pharmacy on Friday, I went to the cafe next to the library for lunch and had a BLAT (bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato) and pot of tea. This was really excellent and nicely presented by friendly staff.

Beervana

Saturday was a day of huge contrasts, starting with a memorial service for a former colleague of Karl’s who I also knew from academic days back in Europe. It was a very sad affair (she was only 56) and all rather moving. I guess it was kind of fortunate that we had tickets for the annual Wellington beer festival, Beervana, for Saturday afternoon to lift our spirits. Below you can see a peanut butter stout from Bacon Brothers set against the view from the stadium where the event was held, Garage Project’s always popular stall, Abandoned Brewery’s teddy bear pyramid, pierogi from Little Polish Kiosk and, of course, oysters.

Simple things

  • Thinking about my favourite month of the year after finding this amusing piece, most relevant to the Southern Hemisphere. Mine is July because that is my birthday month and as a child, the start of school summer holidays in the northern hemisphere – what is yours?
  • Enjoying signs of spring.
  • Hearing that one of my oldest friends had a great holiday visiting family in Canada and that another friend sold her mother’s house quickly.
  • Eating so much good food.
  • Listening to the tūī enjoying the fact that the kōwhai are all in flower.
  • Seeing these ducks on the neighbours’ roof

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 included in the weekend coffee share hosted by Natalie.

  • Anne of Something Over Tea has a veritable tower of books.
  • Enjoy a coffee in the garden with Maria of Green Dreams.
  • Laurie is thankful for chocolate and other things.
  • What do you have in your wardrobe? Some wonderful colours can be found in Deb’s over at Deb’s World.
  • Catch another edition of Sue’s podcast.
  • I always love seeing Fred’s garden in France.
  • Say hello to the Sunday Schnauzer over at The Widow Badass.
  • There are raindrops and roses over at Tootlepedal’s Blog.
  • There is another beautiful garden over at Cornwall in Colours .
  • Natalie sends us a postcard from Copenhagen – fun to see as I lived there for eight and a half years before moving to New Zealand.
  • There is always a good cup of coffee over at Trent’s World.
  • And such a pleasure to welcome back Carol Ann to our little corner of the blogosphere.
  • .…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.

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Published by Thistles and Kiwis

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

59 Comments

  1. We too have received a  celeriac  in our wonky box and really enjoy them. Along with the eggplant. One of the joys of the wonky box is introducing you to different vegetables. Though I am not a fan of fennel, nor brussels sprouts, however, my dislike of the latter may be due to how my mother cooked them.

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  2. Life looks wonderful in Wellington, and I love oysters as well. Hope you are recovering from your nasty bug.

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  3. My favourite month would have to be May – my birthday – yet my favourite day of the week has to be Sunday, for that is when my scattered children usually phone me 🙂

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  4. I agree about Brussel sprouts, my Mum used to boil them, and when I went to school they boiled them until the Brussel sprouts was soft and smelly! Once I started cooking my own, I realised how nice they were!

    Good luck with your nasty bug, it seems to have been a long winter in Canberra with lots of bugs for kids and adults.

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  5. So glad you could celebrate small pleasures despite feeling so poorly. I hope you are soon feeling better.

    Also very sorry about the death of Karl’s colleague. Fifty-six is far too young.

    As for my favorite month…can’t decide. However, September, my birthday month, is pretty darned nice in Maine. Warm, but not too hot, with a nice little chill in the air. I wonder if we have a tendency to like our birthday months? 😉

    As always, thanks for the mention.

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    1. I think we do have a tendency to like our birthday months – maybe memories from childhood or just that is is ‘our’ special month.

      The memorial was a very sad affair, but it was nice to see the warmth and love for her.

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    1. Yes! And The Polish Sausage company also had a stall. It was quite funny….I overheard someone say ‘oh you should try the Polish dumplings (ie pierogi) – they are much nicer than the Asian ones’ 🙂

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  8. The old adage “feed a cold, starve a fever” seems to have worked for you, despite it being an old wives tale!

    Favourite month for me is probably April.. or May. I just love spring.

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  9. My birthday is in July also and I love that it’s usually a pretty quiet summer month with lots of sun and sunshine and time for reading… and perhaps even a small trip! That makes it one of my favorite months of the year too.

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  12. So much to love in this post. I’m struck in particular by the ducks on the roof (!) and a BLAT — I love BLTs and I love avocados on anything. Why didn’t I think of that?! And, more seriously, I offer condolences on the death of your friend; too soon.

    p.s. thanks for the welcome home!

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  14. Hi Barbara, I loved that monthly review you shared! My favourite month is December which was #1 on the list too, as it’s my birthday month. A great list of small pleasures and how cute are those ducks? Hope you’re feeling better by now, not fun at all being sick!

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  21. Hope you are feeling much better Barbara; these bugs seem to be particularly nasty.

    How did that cone get all the way up there? a curiousity indeed!

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  24. I hope you’re feeling much better. My favourite months are October (beautiful leaf colours) and June (beautiful spring time) where I live. The bowl of citrus fruit looks so healthy. Thank you for the mention and for your weekend coffee share.

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  25. I hope you recovered completely by now, even though I know how those bugs can linger longer than they should. It’s wonderful to read about the small pleasures you still enjoyed. ❤

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