May have solved the rhubarb problem - Nigella Lawson has a great recipe for rhubarb cake, which can be eaten hot or cold. Will try this later on in the week. If anyone knows how on earth to make gooseberries taste nice, however, please let me know...I don't think I'll ever be the world's greatest gooseberry fan.

The six qualities of a good diner. Makes it sound so exotic, compared to a greasy spoon caf. In fact, what should a good greasy spoon have? It should definitely involve cups of tea, an atmosphere of warming fug, and baked beans with everything...

Anyone have $7,500 to spare? You can be a co-producer of a Living Food film...

Today's pointless exercise: a Belgian fish and chip shop is trying to make the world's largest bag of chips - 1.5 tonnes of them, to be precise. Why? Everyone knows that the first 10 or so chips taste the best...after that they just go cold and soggy!

This is really weird - if you look up Le Manoir aux Quatre Saisons on Google, then this site comes top of the list. How the hell did that happen? For all those of you looking for Raymond Blanc's eaterie, you can find it on his website www.petit-blanc.com

If anyone's been, let me know - I'd love to find out what the food's like, and I'll post it here. As you'll find in the archives, I went to hear him talk at a cookery demonstration, and was bowled over by his food.

The rhubarb is still there in the fridge, along with some gooseberries, looking at me accusingly. So I ignored it and went out shopping for clothes. What's a girl to do?

This converting US cups into understandable weights and measures is a bit complicated. I need to get hold of some measuring cups, I think.

If you've never been, you need to visit the Biscuit Factory. It's an art store, exhibition space and studios. And even better, they have one of the best restaurants in Newcastle, Barn@the Biscuit. Fabulous food, gorgeous surroundings. Plus the toilets have some of the strangest sinks. Whatever - get yourselves down there, for the best baked cheesecake in the city. Their lemon tart's not bad either...

Why children are becoming allergic to kiwi fruit... Strange - kiwi fruit always look so innocent lurking in the salad compartment of the fridge. I never knew they could be a killer. Now something like ugly fruit I could understand, or pineapples (which are horrible, unless chopped up on sticks with cheese - I'm showing my 70s roots here, you understand).

I've a whole bunch of rhubarb from my mum and dad's garden, that I don't really know quite what to do with. Apart from stewing it and having it with yoghurt, but I thought I'd be a bit more adventurous. So I googled "rhubarb", and the top of my list was the Rhubarb Compendium. If it's rhubarb paintings, poetry or limericks you're after, this is the place....along with some good recipes. Now all I need is something that will translate US cups into European weights and measures, and I'll be well away.

The man behind www.nicecupofteandasitdown.com, Stuart Payne, makes it to the Daily Mail today. It's nice to see biscuits getting such publicity! The site seems to have (rightly) soared in popularity over the last few weeks, ever since BBC News Online picked up the story earlier this month. Apparently he's getting 4,000 hits a day, something the rest of us can only dream of...

I have wittered on (at extensive length, no doubt) about the delights of toast. I may have even bored you to tears with amazing tales of the perfect cheese on toast (must be wensleydale/lancashire cheese, or mature cheddar). Now I've finally found some people who share my (sad) obsession.

Dr Toast's Amazing World of Toast is well worth viewing. "I strongly believe that Toast is the very thread which holds together the uneasy seams of modern society", says the learned doctor. There's even toast haiku, for goodness sake.

And would you believe it, there's even a book about the stuff: Toast - homage to a superfood.

Now where did I put my toaster? And where do you stand on the grill or not to grill question? (personally, depends what I'm putting on the toast afterwards, kitchen facilities, and how desperate I am for toast...)

Ever wondered about how to get rid of all those old cookery books (apart from sending them to me, of course...)? Wonder no longer - you can now buy and sell old paperbacks online, at a rather unusual environmentally-friendly bookstore...

Of course it would be hopeless for me, as I adore buying cookery books, but very rarely, if ever, give away/sell a book. That might be the reason we had to move house, for the extra shelf space...

If anyone out there ever wants to buy me a present, then I'd love to spend some time at Bettys Cookery School, preferably on a bread baking or cake making course....

Bettys (and it's definitely without an apostrophe, grammar nitpickers...) is a world-famous tea room, in the picturesque town of Harrogate. Nice cups of tea, and fabulous cakes...can't beat it.

Well, rather a long absence, due to (a) too much work (b) too much DIY and (c) too much laziness.

We kick off with a quintessentially English website: www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com the definitive guide to biscuits. Allegedly.
They don't seem to have my alltime favourites, Pepperidge Farm soft baked cookies though. Now there's a biscuit...if you can call something non-crunchy a biscuit. I suspect there's a very large debate available about that point.

It's a close run thing by Oreos though
Strange, really. Biccies are such an English thing and yet the two I like best are American...