Our tomato farming friends gave us a big bag of tomatoes which were not pretty enough for sale.

My cooking skills levelled up so much when becoming vegan re-inspired me to return to the kitchen, but since moving to rural Japan they continue to grow.

Rustling up some pumpkin and barley stew for dinner using ingredients (including the barley) primarily grown in this village or our family veggie garden.

I made my favourite tofu dish this evening (Vegan Richa’s Black Pepper Tofu) and I think it might be the first time that I ate it with non-oxidated, home-brewed beer on draught.

My favourite brewery will be in attendance at tomorrow’s craft beer festival in Edinburgh and they are bringing a sour chilli beer made with purple naga viper chillies .

Spent a few hours cooking for pleasure today, it’s a bit of a rarity as I try to compress as much brewing into the year as I can but happy with results so far!

Just cooked a roasted butternut squash, brussel sprouts and mushroom dish based on the recipe at the bottom but I used chestnut mushrooms, had only (slightly insufficient) fresh flat leaf parsley and cooked freekeh (for the first time) rather than hard red wheat.