Lemon Cooks

This is an Ottolenghi recipe, and is really some kind of crustless quiche than a cake, but it is excellent. light, tasty, with pops of flavour from the cumin. As demonstrated, it's also robust enough to stack inside a lunch box and gallop off up the hills for a picnic. Recommended with warm tomatoes, peppery rocket salad, and as many cans of pimms you can fit in your pockets.

Despite the name, it's usually no longer made with treacle (mollasses). English Treacle is usually lighter and slightly less sweet than American Molasses, and varies in flavour from slightly bitter to just plain syrupy. As a result, treacle tart also varies. Sometimes it's too sugary for my taste, but this was a really excellent one, lightened with a bit of lemon. Not so sure about the fennel garnish, mind you.

Anyway, the sweets were nice, with a bouncey crepey dough surrounding a red bean paste filling.

I'm kind of sad it's not more readily available and eyeing the trees in the park...

At the amusingly named Tanya restaurant in Sendai - we had to wait for an hour and honestly, I'm sure we could have gone elsewhere and had equally good beef tongue with less of a wait, but hunger is the best seasoning and we did enjoy it. The soup is oxtail, which was a bit chewy.

Chilled green sencha tea

I hadn't come across this before - rather rich but it was very tasty and just what was needed after a long morning touring the Iwate Art Museum.

I love warabi mochi. Made of bracken starch, it's soft and slightly chewy, mildly sweet, and I can't say it has a huge deal of substance by itself but for some reason it really clicks the button.

Flat Peaches - Summer 2026

Uncle Fish and I were on a soy sauce quest in Ueno, which failed spectacularly, and therefore we ended up resuming the chase in Ginza - still not a success but good soy sauce and shrimp crackers were both acquired in Mitsukoshi, which ticked the box. By that point, we were starving, and as the Mitsukoshi eel shop was full, we marched down the road to this one. It's not Unagi, it's Anago, which is smaller, more easily farmed and less muddy, so I like it better. The 4 ways were steamed, grilled, turned into a meatball, and soup. Overall, I liked them all, but Uncle Fish was only truly impressed by the grilled, so I cannot make any recommendations as to which was best. I'd go back though. Especially as the whole shebang only cost 1,300 JPY.

A sushi bowl eaten somewhere, some time. Decently well stuffed, wasn't it?

Some of the best pastries I've ever eaten

I say 'Aomori Apple Pie' like there's just the one. There isn't. There are at least 44 official ones, and probably a whole range of unofficial ones as well. In any case, over 3 days, we managed to eat 8, which I think was a good effort, but only 4 each, so still a great many left to go...

Garlic Marinaded Rose Veal Chop, mixed grilled veggies

Simply salt grill the fish and let the tasty fats in the collar bring the flavour. A simple and luxurious meal!

Skipjack tuna - it's the same stuff used to make bonito flakes. This is a seasonal special at my favourite sushi restaurant, cut chirashi style, lightly seasoned and served with fine herbs. A delicious and refreshing treat that goes well with sake.

Devoured after quite a long ramble around in the New Forest (which is not the kind of forest you are envisioning). Should you put jam or cream on the scone first? Various arguments but I usually decided based on how hot the scone is and how long I can wait to eat it. If the scone is too hot, cream put first will melt and be pointless. But you don't want a cold scone either. I therefore like cold jam on the hot scone (provides a barrier for the cream, and takes the edge of cold off the jam), then the cream.