I had these enormous sloes in the freezer. I picked them at the beginning of september but didn't have the jars to fit them in. They looked really nice as they defrosted. Now there are 4 litres of Sloe Gin getting themselves ready for Christmas.

I knew that I wanted to have our new shop on Golborne road from about a year ago - it's such a great mix of people and shops and feels so busy all the time. We opened a week ago and all the neighbours have been in to introduce themselves and give their opinions as to whether we're needed there or not. Mostly it's been super friendly and we're looking forward to making some great friends.

Yesterday I took a walk with Leila to look at the food on offer - she was in charge, and purposefully marched into each place and pointed out the stuff she loved and the things I might have missed. Here are a few of the things we saw, all displayed in such a way as to get us properly excited. I bought these for Hamish, hope they fix his throat.

I've grown a mammoth tomato plant from a seed in the compost heap. It's dwarfing a little apple tree and now the squirrels have begun to eat the little fruit, so I'm going to have to pick them to keep ownership. Shame.

I've got a bit behind with this recently, it's been so busy being 30. I will put some of the back ground to that up here soon and a down loadable virtual tour of the exhibition and other activities.

Meanwhile - back to sustenance.........There's a book of recipes being put together for the centenary of Arnold Circus at the end of the road. I'm entering my pie made of leftovers from the weekend, it was my parents 80th birthday and there were plenty of remains. hope the recipe gets into the book.  Recipe poster1 It's leek, salmon, feta and dill quiche. Had it for lunch today and it was good.Here is a picture of the compost heap cake that Aggs made for my parents. It's their passion.

Aggie made me an amazing red Frank birthday cake. Thanks Aggs.

We ate ready made Smorrebrod at lunchtime and then went again for dinner. The combinations of ingredients make your head spin a bit, but in a good way. A spread made of lard, lemon, salt and horseradish and a goats cheese ice cream with beetroot kind of granita stuff have stuck in my mind. All of it delicious. Give it a go if you're in Copenhagen. Aamanns, but I think it's pronounced oomans

I've had a bit of blogger's block, or maybe I've just been taking it easy.

So far 2010 has been very foody, and as a follow on from my fishy experiences in Japan I've tackled a couple of fish fresh out of the sea at Suffolk. Mr Sea Bass was delicious with lemon salt and oil and Mr Lobster slipped into the boiling water without so much of a squeak. I did feel a bit mean, but he was very tasty and the cat had fish head and lobster for sups for 3 days.

Also I'm trying some sourdough - inspired by Momoko. So far doesn't look too appealing!!!!!

If you've been to our shop on Calvert Avenue then no doubt you've already been to Leila's shop. Now there are 2 of them, cafe and shop.

Her display skills are on top form at the moment - the windows look lovely.

Last night Momoko and I went for some sushi to celebrate our last evening in Tokyo. We went to Naka-Meguro in a small riverside place where we sat at the bar and the clientele smoked a lot. There were a dozen or so of the fishy little bricks on a wooden block in front of us and we were working our way through them with a couple of beers.

Gradually, my attention was taken by a new dish that was being prepared in front of us. The chef had got a live fish and cut the fillets off it. Then he skewered it and sat it upon a pile of grated radish and arranged the cut up pieces of its own fillets around it. There was a nice little pile of ginger on the side. It looked spectacular, but the poor fish was still gasping for life after 5 minutes of preparation.

Momoko's reaction was "wow - that is truly fresh fish",  whereas mine was to dissolve into tears and not be able to finish my sushi. I was too upset to take a picture,  so here's a drawing of the last moments of poor Mr. Fish.