A few recent photos with Sakino and Islay, a few featuring our friends’ three month old son Tomo. It’s nice to be able to meet people and do things again, hopefully this will be a more regular occurrence from now on.

A Japanese woman with short hair wearing a denim jacket, kneeling with a three year old Scottish and Japanese girl who is holding a new born Japanese baby. A Japanese woman holding a large lily pad above her head with a small girl in a blue dress doing the same. A greying middle-aged, bearded man wearing sunglasses,a beige cap and green jacket, crouched whilst holding a takeaway coffee cup. young daughter in a white cardigan leaning on his lap. A bearded guy, wearing a checked blue and green shirt, beige cap and sunglasses cradling a three monrh old baby in his arms. it's a sunny day with a residential garden view in the background.

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I’ll have to wait for a few more days before conditioning is complete but this is my first cold-crashed beer and I am very impressed with its clarity.

A plastic measuring vessel containing a very clear pale ale in the foreground. in the background is a brown wooden window sill, a double window with blurred view and a large kitchen sink tap surrounded by coiled chrome.

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It occurred to me today that I hadn’t had a baked 🥔 for a very long time and set out to fix that..

Baked potato and homemade baked beans, a ginger glazed Scottish flat mushroom and some grilled asparagus.. It was pretty tasty!

A large baked potato with crispy skin, loaded with homemade baked beans. Behind sits a glazed Scottish flat mushroom and some grilled asparagus spears.

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Yesterday, for the first time in many years, I took a whole one hour for lunch break and, again for the first time in many years, my newly re-wheeled bike out for a ride.

Naturally, once home I looked for a free and open source fitness tracker in order to record my progress.. on the advice of a friend in the designers, I found FitoTrack and it is perfect for my needs.

Today, despite the stormy winds, I went out for a second bike ride and refined my circuit. Don’t judge me, I am very unfit and this is the start of my journey back to fitness! Anyway, I hope to build up to two then three circuits in a lunch hour but for now one is enough of a challenge.

Export of the FitoTrack workout session summary with openstreetmap routing and some unimportant stats

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Photos of today’s cooking efforts

A Scotch broth like soup, maybe the best I’ve made so far (imho)

Chilli, salsa, guacamole (with whole coriander leafs because someone - me - forgot to chop them) and nachos with way too little chilli or cheese (alternative).

All #vegan and all delicious!

Eating this whilst thinking about my friend in Hidaka-mura who would almost certainly make a version that would put these to shame!

close up shot of a brownish soup with various root vegetables, barley, spinach and some fresh parsley Vegan chilli "non" carne, kidney and black beans, vegetables, vegan mince in a brown, spicy sauce with some coriander A yellow, green salsa with specks of red chillies, pretty moist looking. guacamole, a green avocado dish with red chillies, cherry tomatoes, peppers and fresh coriander baked nachos, topped with the vegan chilli, some jalapenos and a miserly portion of grated vegan cheese close up of the nachos, salsa and guacamole from previous photos on a small side plate.

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To the Shaft theme tune:

Who is a guy who dislikes xmas but loves cooking for any occasion? this guy! you’re damn right

Who is a guy who makes pigs in blankets, without pigs but better than just blankets? This guy’s wife! not a guy

(Tune bit which inconveniently splits the lines)

Who is a guy who most likely doesn’t remember the theme tune to Shaft! This guy? you’re almost certainly right!

….

“Giant sausage roll” - chestnut mushroom and nut roast with cranberry, cinnamon and nutmeg flavours in pastry

“Sprouts n stuff” - sticky, crunchy woodland mushrooms and shallots

“Crunchy spuds” - thyme, rosemary & garlic roasted tatties

“Sausage and bacongine” - vegan sausage wrapped in smokey marinated aubergine slices!

All from the the Bish Bash BOSH! Cookbook

Cooked pastry containing a nut & mushroom filling, brown, shiny and crispy looking Same pastry dish from before but sliced open revealing the nut and mushroom filling Brussel sprouts with stick mushrooms, shallots and covered with a sprinkling of toasted almond flakes A bit plate, one half covered in very crunchy roasted potatoes, the other with vegan sausage and aubergine bacon on cocktail sticks

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