This week’s small pleasures #479

Thistles and Kiwis

After a very stormy night, with gale force winds of up to 130km/h, and lots of rain, peace returned for a few short hours, at least allowing us to get home before the heavens opened again. I read that Gisborne, Taupō, Waiouru, Wellington, Whanganui and Kaikōura have already exceeded the amount of rainfall they would typically expect to receive in February. Baring Head Wave Buoy in Wellington Harbour recorded a Significant Wave Height of 7.54 metres at 11:06 pm on Sunday (a Significant Wave Height is the average height of the highest one-third of waves – you learn something new every day) and Wellington Airport measured its strongest winds since June 2013. You can read more here. While we were not too badly affected, on the way to work we saw many uprooted trees, branches and other signs of the storm. A friend and I agreed that there seems to be an increasing number of these weather events.

Anyway, to the small pleasures of the past week which actually included some nice sunny days (yes our weather is rather changeable this summer).

A fine lunch

I came out of Pilates on Wednesday and saw a familiar figure…that of my husband. So we went to have lunch together at Pickle and Pie. I opted for toasted reuben on rye bread and Karl had the brisket, pilsner and smoked cheese pie served with gravy and crinkle chips (or fries if you must). A lovely treat for us both.

In the basket

No Wonky Box again this week…getting too close to The Big Trip. I picked up some of these little colourful potatoes. an aubergine to make pasta alla norma, a fennel bulb, a bunch of radishes, carrots and some heirloom tomatoes and burrata. There were more raspberries and blueberries, which are just so good just now, sausages, lamb mince and some lovely tarakihi (a fish) we had for Saturday’s dinner.

In the kitchen

I made a rather good salad on Saturday to have with the fish, home made tartare sauce and potatoes from cucumber, radishes, sweetcorn and lots of dill and a simple dressing. I also made courgettes pasta using the green and yellow ones I bought the week before, which was excellent (I made the mistake on taking the picture with a light on in the kitchen).

Sunday

A few months ago, I got in touch with my godfather’s son who had been at school with my brother Peter (who died in 2020). This is a long story…but briefly our parents were great friends and emigrated to Australia when I was a child. He now lives in Perth (the one in Western Australia) and decided to come over for a visit to New Zealand. The weather of course was pretty awful, but not too bad to stop us driving over the Remutaka Hills to Martinborough and for the platter lunch at Poppies, which was excellent. It was lovely to see some old photos and hear lots of news (and to get home before the storm hit).

Simple things

  • Going out for a fabulous pre-Valentine’s meal on Thursday which I wrote about here.
  • Being thankful we were not too impacted by the storms.
  • Sitting reading on Wednesday afternoon, ignoring the ironing.
  • Finding a perfect blue shirt that will definitely be going into the suitcase.
  • Booking tickets for the ballet in Hamburg.
  • Enjoying an Afghan biscuit with a cup of Earl Grey tea on Saturday afternoon.

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. 

Thistles and Kiwis is a Wellington, New Zealand based blog written by Barbara, who likes cats, summer and good food. Thistles and Kiwis can be found on Facebook and 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

31 Comments

  1. Rain … oh, we could do with some! Our town has been without a reliable water supply for six weeks already! As always, I enjoy the cheer these posts bring – and thank you for giving my story an airing 🙂

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        2. Too far north for me at this time of year, but it looks like a nice city. You might be lucky and if not there are museums. And nice places to eat xx

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  9. I’m with Dorothy. The food looks delicious. How nice to reconnect with your godfather’s son. But those storms! Same thing is happening in Maine. The bad storms are more frequent, knocking out power to a significant number of homes. I don’t remember such windstorms when I was a child, and I expect I would if we had had any number of them.

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    1. It was so nice to reconnect with someone whose family were very much a part of growing up, even though they moved to Australia when I was 6.

      We were talking about the weather at work, and while February storms are nothing new, they seem to be worse if that makes sense.

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      1. It sure does! Worse in Maine, too. We’ve always had a lot of snow. After all, this is northern New England. But the inland wind storms, fierce and destructive, are something new.

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  11. Those were some terrible winds you were having. I would have been scared.

    That Ruben sandwich on rye bread looks yummy!

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  13. I’m glad to hear you were not too impacted by the storm. How lovely to reconnect with your godfather’s son. The food looks delicious as usual. Thank you for your weekend coffee share.

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