This week’s small pleasures #443

Thistles and Kiwis

I’m sitting here feeling awful again – is it the previous bug still hanging around or is it a new one? Who knows – all I know is that I have no energy, a scratchy throat and sinuses full of what feels like cotton wool. To say I am fed up is an understatement…and while it was nice to spend part of Sunday reading and drinking tea, I would like to start doing more walking now my foot is on the mend. Ah well…not a lot I can do really except drink lots of fluids, rest and keep cosy.

In the basket

Well, there were more parsnips in the Wonky Box this week – could they be this season’s avocados? Regular readers will get that reference….anyway, here was also a bunch of carrots, potatoes, onions, broccoli, a pumpkin (last week’s piece went mouldy before I had a chance to roast it….not good!), a small bag of Brussels sprouts and a tiny cos lettuce. If you want to know what I did with some of my parsnips, check out my latest Substack post.

We got some sausages and pork for this dish from The Guardian from our local butcher (see below), and then some chicken mince, rainbow chard, pears, mushrooms, satsumas, a tube of tomato puree, chickpeas for the store cupboard, a Boursin as I always buy one when I see it (not always available here), a piece of sheep’s milk gouda, and I could not resist a few of these shiny red yams (oca).

Eating

No fancy meals out this week, but we did join friends at our local pub for food on Friday evening, and I enjoyed mushrooms on toast when I had lunch with a friend on Wednesday at Urban. At home, as mentioned, made a rather good pork dish for Sunday dinner with lots left over for tonight.

Out and about

On Thursday evening, a friend and I went to an excellent book event at Karori library. The Ngaio Marsh Awards in association with Wellington City Libraries were behind this conversation featuring five award-winning Kiwi writers and one newly published one. Author Brannavan Gnanalingam introduced fellow Ngaio Marsh Awards winners Claire Baylis, Dame Fiona Kidman, filmmaker/ true crime writer David White and debut novelist Jennifer Trevelyan (A Beautiful Family was published on 3 June). It was a great discussion and our local book shop was selling signed copies of some of the books too.

Simple things

  • Reading this great piece on AI and the humanities gap
  • Going to the hairdresser for a tidy up.
  • Seeing lots of sunshine over the weekend after the storm of Wednesday.
  • Finding this lovely slow living series on YouTube – introvert & dog.
  • Spotting a silver eye or tauhou hopping about the herbs in the garden.
  • Celebrating my great nephew graduating from McGill in Montreal.

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. This week’s little fungi in the garden is in the featured image. 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.

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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

  1. Mmm … mushrooms on toast … I haven’t enjoyed that for a while! In this strange beginning-of-winter weather, I hope you will feel well very soon so that you can take advantage of sunny days. Books are comforting when one is off-colour and the weather is grim!

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  3. It’s so lovely you managed to get to the book event. Not many in my part of the world these days, but being an ex-librarian I even organised a few. Love ’em. I know it’s rough when you seem to constantly feel crook. It will pass, but Winter is the season to be afflicted I s’pose, and you are colder down there than we are in the tropics although it is chilly here too. Lots of honey, lemon, and a dash of rum or whisky if you indulge, works wonders at night. You have wonderful Manuka honey where you live, very therapeutic. Take care, hope to get back to Wellington again one day, loved NZ when I visited many moons ago.

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  4. Last comment was from Pauline at Happy Retirees Kitchen, I always forget to add that. Cheers, Pauline

    (https;//happyretireeskitchen.blogspot.com)

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  5. I hope you feel better soon. That goulash recipe looks tempting – I might try it at the weekend unless the weather warms up over here. I would finish cooking it in the slow cooker rather than the oven, and serve with mash.

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  11. Pingback: slow down – Touring My Backyard

  12. Hope you are feeling much better – it really is miserable to be ill, but to be out with wave after wave must be agonizing.

    I guess I am not the only one who suffers from produce going mouldy. I thought is was a humidity issue, but I guess even in your drier climate, it happens too.

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      1. Ah yes! The bane of the plastic wrap!

        Glad to hear you are on the mend. I just read your latest post and I am very glad to hear you are generally feeling better.

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  14. Sorry to hear you’re still unwell. I hope you feel better soon. Mushrooms on toast looks healthy and yummy. Did it come with shaved cheese on top? Thank you for the mention and for your weekend coffee share.

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  15. I find myself experiencing waves of sickness as well… just when I think I’ve kicked something, the next something comes up on its tail! I do hope it’s all passed by now and you’re enjoying a gentle, healthy slide into the new week.

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