This week’s small pleasures #471

The holidays have begun, and there is only one more day to go to Christmas Eve when we will feast on all sorts of things from smoked salmon to strawberries (probably not together….). We are pretty organised – some wrapping to do, ice-cream to buy and bread to collect, but the crackers are bought, the fridge is full and…very important…there is a bottle of snaps in the freezer. We lit the fourth candle on Sunday too which really made Christmas seem real.

A lovely surprise was this card from Tilly and Spark, my friend’s very clever dogs who also curate an Instagram account (@tilly_and_spark_bolt). The message inside needs to be kept secret from their owner mum (they admit to something she doesn’t know), but suffice to say, it was lovely, and the tea that came with it was very much appreciated. Sitting next to it is a new Christmas decoration – yes a Christmas tree soft toy – and why not?

In the basket

The first sweet corn is appearing, and I also picked up strawberries, blueberries, oranges, cucumber and a fennel bulb to make the salad with watercress I tried a couple of weeks ago to add to the Christmas table. I picked up some apricots, two types of smoked salmon (the third we will collect on Monday) and these pretty colourful potatoes along with dill and some cherries.

Out and about

On Friday night to celebrate the start of the summer holidays, we went out for dinner to Cicio Cacio Osteria in the Newtown part of the city. I had been recommended this place by a colleague and thought it sounded like a good place to try. Bread is brought to the table automatically, and we ordered a half carafe of the house red to have with our meal. I started with the fish tartare, baccalà mantecato, patate which was a bed of mashed potato, topped with salt cod cream and of course the fish tartare which was excellent. Karl had the bruschetta topped with broad beans and ricotta which looked (and tasted apparently) very good. I had the ravioli, stuffed with ricotta and Karl the tagliatelle al ragú alla Bolognese. We also ordered some asparagus, which came with goat’s cheese and lemon. It was a really lovely meal, accompanied by these two guitarists, playing sort of 1960s jazz/Django Reinhardt inspired music which added to the atmosphere of this very busy and popular place.

I went to favourite The Bond Street Deli on Friday for lunch and one of their excellent bagels, this time going for the egg salad for a change. Once again, there was a massive amount of filling. Today I met a friend for lunch at August, and enjoyed a pearl couscous and chicken salad with tons of fresh herbs, washed down with Six Barrel Soda raspberry and and lemon, while my friend enjoyed a watermelon and mozzarella salad, with lots of mint.

Staying in

We’ve been watching the new series of Australian drama Newsreader, Wake Up Dead Man, the latest of the Knives Out franchise and the final parts of Under the Bridge, the Canadian crime drama based on a true story. There was also a white chocolate and cranberry biscuit from our local deli to have with tea on Saturday afternoon as a necessary treat.

Putting up the Christmas tree

On Saturday we put up our tree, bringing out all the old favourites such as the little drummer boy, bought in Paris in 1970, the silver maple leaf, a gift from one of my nieces, lots of little people, a few baubles, a yellow crested bird from Australia, flags of several nations, and the pohutukawa flower fairy on the top of the tree. Our julbock is also out, watching over all the festivities.

Simple things

• Celebrating the end of the working year over lunch with colleagues.
• Sipping on a negroni before dinner on Sunday.
• Finding a nice sky blue linen dress.
• Hearing from people over the festive season.
• Coming 2nd in the Christmas music quiz for our team at work – a bit of fun!
• Enjoying the flowers of the season

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. 

• There is a wonderful guest post about the delights of French hot chocolate over at Travels Through My Lens .
• Meanwhile read about the life and times of Christmas trees over at Platypus Man of Now I’m 64.
• And The Travel Sketcher  celebrates the week in The Pearl.
• Meanwhile Fred the French Gardener  finds six things in his garden in winter.
• Mr Tootlepedal goes for a short ride on the shortest day in the northern hemisphere.
• And the Glasgow Gallivanter continues her tour of North Wales.
• Deb shares what has been on her bookshelf.
• Maria of Green Dreams takes us to her allotment in Sweden.
• Melissa of Under the Elderberry Tree shares a cup of tea and talks about the weather.
• While Natalie takes us to Nice.
• And Still Reslessjo wishes us season’s greetings from Tavira.
• I’ve been really interested to read about Hamburg in The Life of B’s recent posts.
• And finally…Jo also shares her recent reading.
• ..…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.