This week’s small pleasures 504

Thistles and Kiwis

Each week I sit down to review the good things that have happened. Sometimes they are really little things like catching a pear just when it is perfectly ripe (oh joy!), sometimes it is the sheer joy of actually completing the New York Times Connections puzzle without any help (today!).

The big news here this week was snow in Wellington’s CBD for the first time in 15 years. OK – it was wet snow, that wasn’t really snow, but it still caused quite a stir to see a little white stuff fall from the sky for about half an hour. Down south in Dunedin, someone decided to ski down the world’s steepest street. You can tell that this snow fall was an unusual event – the weather even hit The Guardian. It was the coldest morning in 46 years across the country on Friday, but Wellington was the warmest city at 4C in the early hours of the morning (hoorah!).

This was the view from my husband’s office on Thursday. If you look very carefully you can see a little snow on the hills. The weather is getting back to normal now, and yesterday and today I almost felt too warm in my winter coat. Yes, our weather is changeable!

Wellington on a Plate

The month long Wellington on a Plate celebration of food has started, with events, workshops and the Burger Wellington competition. While we are not going to have a burger, or even two, a day like some influencers out there, we are going to enjoy a few. We started with the offering at Pickle & Pie, a very juicy mashed beef patty, with to quote the website “Mangaroa Farms butter crunch lettuce, Pickle & Pie dill pickles, and chilli butter in a Dough Bakery brioche bun“. Very good it was too.

On Saturday, we headed over to Jano Bistro for their burger, spookily called ‘The Silence of the Lambs’. This was a lamb patty with baby spinach, pickled red onion, a brie slice, and fermented apricot ketchup and chilli crisp in with dauphine potato and lamb gravy on the side. This was fantastic, and the potatoes were like like little soft pillows. We treated ourselves to a glass of wine too, as after all it was the weekend. Below you can see the entrance to the restaurant, with their newly acquired Michelin star on view. You can read about when we dined there last year here and how much we enjoyed their burger last year here.

In the basket

The Wonky Box delivered up a kumara, more broccoli and bok choy, a large fennel bulb, mushrooms and not shown, a lovely bag of spinach and a lettuce. I added on a jar of Fix & Fogg’s fruit toast peanut butter to the order for a treat. I didn’t buy much more this week, just a grapefruit, oranges, gold kiwi fruit, rangpur limes, a tin of butter beans (because you can’t always find them) and some smoked salmon. We had pasta on Sunday using the spinach, will have a spicy chicken of some sort with the bok choy today and I’ll do pork filet with the mushrooms and broccoli for tomorrow.

A workshop

On Sunday afternoon, I went to a writing workshop organised by The Local and presented by Leah McFall and Dan Keane. It was quite interesting and I always enjoy the exercises as they make you look at writing in a different way. Drinks and nibbles were also supplied which was a nice added touch.

Simple things

  • Seeing sun after a lot of grey skies.
  • Enjoying that first cup of tea of the day.
  • Finding that a very old pair of boots are still comfortable.
  • Watching a little polar bear in a Japanese zoo playing with traffic cones. Google it if you haven’t seen it.
  • Treating myself to a new lipstick.
  • Having a lunch time walk by the waterfront, but too early to see the visiting whale who appeared later on.

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.

  • Carol Ann shares her many wonderful delights of the week.
  • And Laurie celebrates a time of crickets and warm nights.
  • Anne shares some beautiful handmade things.
  • The Glasgow Gallivanter goes, well, gallivanting in Glasgow and beyond.
  • While Jo gets to the top.
  • Meanwhile Travels Through My Lens takes us to Aix-en-Provence
  • The Travel Sketcher shares the week in The Pearl.
  • Mr Tootlepedal is singing in the rain.
  • While Ilze is looking for the perfect spot to watch the eclipse.
  • Maria makes us some coffee and shows her the fruits of her labour in the garden.
  • Fleur appreciates a garlic press – a small pleasure.
  • And Neal has a silent Sunday.
  • Ju Lyn shares some wonderful looking fruit.
  • And Natalie finds some very attractive utility boxes.
  • It is lovely to see Deb back blogging after her long trip.
  • Finally….Mr Platypus visits Sulgrave Manor
  • ..…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 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

44 Comments

  1. It doesn’t take a lot to make a great day, does it? A blue sky and a burger! Silence of the lambs is a terrible name. I’d have to have a vegetarian option, Barbara. What a world of extremes we live in! Have a great week, and thanks for linking xx

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  2. Haha I agree about Silence of the Lambs! Lovely blue skies you’re having. Something we’re missing at the moment in Perth. Love that you can always find something joyful.

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  3. I battle with Connections and so was really chuffed to get it this morning! We’re having a public holiday today: I had to purchase our week’s groceries and plan to bake later. The writing workshop sounds like fun!

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  7. I followed the link…there wasn’t much snow on that steep road but he got up a good speed! Do people really go out and eat two hamburgers a day?? Wowsers.

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  12. It really is the little things that add up, isn’t it? And I have been told finding the right lipstick (I can’t use makeup due to allergies) is a really big deal!

    Snow, even if it is just flurries, is such a delight! We have only encountered this in London a few times, but it always is such an excitement!

    I love your Still Lifes, as always. Your Shopping still life is so interesting – I want to call it monochrome … can I? when it is not black and white.

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    1. Yes it is! I hate snow…but then it is not something exciting to see for me. I know what you mean about the shopping basket colours – I appear to use colour palates!

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      1. Art in life! You do it so well
        I hear you on the snow. I think we are enchanted by an idea as opposed to reality – I have never experienced snow beyond a few flurries in London, so I remain naively enamoured 🤣

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  14. Oh yes, I know what you mean about that puzzle. Sometimes it’s so easy and other days the word groups are so abstract. I’m always pleased when I solve it too. And I saw the video of the man skiing down Baldwin online – incredible.

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