This week’s small pleasures #403

Thistles and Kiwis

Today’s post comes from Hawke’s Bay where I am for a work trip. Meanwhile, Karl got to Europe safely, and has been catching up with friends and Anton in Malmö and Copenhagen. Meanwhile, I’ve been to work, French class, Pilates, reading, enjoying some good food and going on a new walk.

This week’s weather has been…interesting…from gorgeous sunny days, to heavy rain to a thunderstorm on Saturday night, all part of the transition from winter to spring. I spotted these beautiful rhododendron flowers on Wednesday, that are just a perfect small pleasure of the week.

In the basket

OK – I make no apologies for my small pleasures being about food this week, but you will see why, This week’s delivery saw a lovely bunch of cheerful radishes, kumara, broccoli, another aubergine or eggplant…and yes…avocados! There was also bok choy, mushrooms and a bag of miniature silverbeet which is great to add to things in the same way you would use baby spinach. I didn’t bother to top it up as Karl is away and I will be off on a work trip for a couple of days myself.

Out and about – Saturday lunch

With Karl away in Europe, I decided to treat myself to lunch on Saturday after Pilates at new restaurant Supra. Tucked away up a flight of stairs on the cusp of Dixon Street and Eva Street, this small restaurant has a great view, great decor and superb food. It was hard to decide what to go for, but in the end I went for the pickled mussels with an amazing dip served with – yes – a small can of Pringles to scoop it all up with. The mussels themselves were served in an old anchovy tin lined with greaseproof paper – such fun and extremely good. I opted for the chorizo sando with chimichurri and aioli which was rich and bursting with all sorts of flavours. I had a glass of sauvignon blanc and a black coffee (which was served in this very pretty handle-less cup).

Out and about – The Food Show

On Sunday, a friend and I went to The Food Show, and annual event showcasing produce, cookware and related things. I ended up buying: some lemon scented extra virgin olive oil from The Olive Press, a box with caramelised fig balsamic and fig vincotto from Te Mata Figs, some chai honey and butter chicken spice blend from Mons Flavors, a jar of the new allmite, a tahini based yeast spread with three seeds, a bag of black garlic products from Neudorf, some crackers, cheese and a new variety of my favourite taramasalata with truffles from Elysian Foods, some coffee beans for Karl from People’s Coffee, a bag of freeze dried raspberries and some herbs. Yes…that was quite a haul…but some of the things were planned ahead.

Simple things

  • Spending time in a picture framer discussing the reframing of two items – isn’t it lovely to talk to people who are passionate and knowledgable about their craft?
  • Being challenged at Pilates – I certainly felt it on Sunday morning!
  • Hearing the bird song heralding the start of spring.
  • Getting through a few things on my to do list.
  • Walking in the sun on Wednesday.
  • Enjoying a coffee and biscotti.

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.

  • Anne of Something Over Tea shares some little creatures.
  • Enjoy a coffee at the end of August in the garden with Maria of Green Dreams.
  • Sanch shares her August reading wrap up.
  • Basil and a new leaf blower are among the things Laurie is thankful for over at Notes From The Hinterland.
  • Deb has been thriving in August over at Deb’s World.
  • Sue leads the weekend traffic jam reboot.
  • Pop over and see Fred’s garden in France.
  • Finally there are butterflies and sunshine over at Tootlepedal’s Blog.
  • Jude says farewell to August from her garden at Cornwall in Colours .
  • Natalie shares her August highlights.
  • Trent has a near miss with a tree, but there are also some amazing photos of the night sky over at Trent’s World.
  • Carol Ann shares her delights including an afternoon tea.
  • .…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.

Unknown's avatar

Published by Thistles and Kiwis

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

39 Comments

  2. The greatest way for us to cheer the arrival of spring is to head to the Mountain Zebra National Park tomorrow. The coffee and biscotti look enticing.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. Hi, Barbara – Your simple pleasures always reasonate with me. Although I only keep a to-do list in my head (and not on paper), I absolutely love ticking it off as I go along. And  I always appreciate talking to people who are passionate and knowledgable about what they do. I always try to tell them so. One waitress actually cried because she said she “so needed to hear that”. ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. I agree with you about getting help from people who know, We used to use a picture framer who was brilliant at finding and fitting the right frames that enhanced our work.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. A lovely post from your part of the world. You are a busy lady. Food is always my priority too. Cheers from Pauline at Happy Retirees Kitchen.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. Small pleasures – a book arriving in the mail first thing monday morning, making some delicious pickled cucumbers and some tasty beef patties for dinner. A walk in the sunshine, and a walk again today in some freezy wind – well, freezy for brisbane :=) And knowing that winter has come back after some boiling hot days for the end of spring!

    cheers

    sherry https://sherryspickings.blogspot.com/

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. I love all of your small pleasures and I am not one bit disappointed that your post is mainly about food. I have to admit I have never heard of some of the foods you mention. It all looks interesting and delicious. If I make it to Australia, and that is a plan for me and hubs in a year or so, I will have a lot of things to try.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  13. So much fun here! The vegetable basket looks so promising — I think I might have bok choy in my future too. And I loved the splendid pickled mussel dip (!) with Pringles (!!) in an old anchovy tin (!!!). I do appreciate inventive presentations.

    I, like you, also appreciate the folks who work in my framing store. I have so much fun pondering mats and frames, textures and colors. And such a relief to have the experts make it work!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. The restaurant’s presentation was such fun – and very tasty too of course. I loved the framing store – he took such care offering up ideas and really listening to my likes an dislikes too. I wish I had something else to take…. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Hee hee. I expressed exactly that sentiment to the owner of our Frame store. I go so often I have a frequent-framer discount. But happily I remembered a framing mistake that lives in the attic. Maybe….

        Like

        Reply
  14. Pingback: window – Touring My Backyard
  15. Pingback: Thankful Thursday: Mexican Food, Corn, and the Return of Interlibrary Loan | Notes From the Hinterland

  16. Lovely pleasures for you this week. As usual your photos are fabulous. My small pleasure for the week happened just today, when I was walking and saw that the tulips in the park had opened up and were flowering. It really made me smile.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  17. My small pleasure is planting heather in the high planter in our back garden as we transition into autumn in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands 🇳🇱 and as always the back door open and listening to the birds!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  18. My food and spice share today is about popcorn. I love popcorn and dressing it up with flavour. I found a spice mix called “Brown Sugar Bourbon” and I tried it on my popcorn for Friday night movie night. It was tasty. I also bought a “Chipolte Mango” and flavoured my chicken with it—another hit.

    Great post. Thanks for sharing.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  19. It’s definitely OK to make the small pleasures to be about food 🙂 It’s sounds like you are enjoying a good week with some interesting weather. It’s been a very warm week in Sweden.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  21. Beautiful pleasures for you this week. I love the red rhodos, the creative food presentation at Supra, your haul from the Food Show and would say yes to a coffee and biscotti. My pleasures this week were a canoe outing, bird spotting and a garden walk. Thank you for the mention and your weekend coffee share.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a reply to Thistles and Kiwis Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.