meemalee

When I was at college, one of the most exciting things to happen to me apart from bumping into Craig Charles was the opening of a Lakeland store. Because Lakeland really is the closest thing to a real-life Innovations catalogue, and you know how much I loved those. Of course, like an Innovations catalogue, 50% of the stuff is brilliant, inspired and useful, and 50% is utter bobbins. Bobbins, however, is in the eye of the beholder and whilst it's hard to dispute that this has no earthly point , I'm sure some of you will adore the gadgets which make me squint and say, " Really? I mean, really? ". Take these two items. Literally take them from me. Because the lovely folk at Lakeland have sent me stuff that implies they think I like baking and I don't. I really don't . Kransekake Cake Pan Set (rrp £9.99) A kransekake is a traditional Norwegian dessert made of stacking concentric rings of marzipan cake that's eaten at weddings, Christmas, or New Year...

I used to have this recurring dream that I was at the most glorious buffet. I knew it was a dream as the food looked more beautiful, more luscious, more tempting than anything you could possibly imagine. I'd pile my plate high, and return to my seat, and just as I was about to dig in, I'd abruptly wake up. I don't think this means anything more profound than the fact that I am a pathetically greedy person. But the only thing I can think of that would be better than a buffet ( apart from this one ) is an all-you-can-eat that comes to me. And what an all-you-can-eat - men with meat - wielding huge whacking swords of the stuff (and we're back to the psycho-analysis). Rodizio -style churrascarias are a real dream; at these Brazilian steakhouses, an endless procession of butch, barbecued meat is brought straight to your table by the dashing passadores and carved onto your plate until you admit defeat. Rodizio Rico is such an establishment - unlimited 'prime cuts...

Japanese beer brand Kirin has launched a pop-up yatai aka street food stand with Yasuhiro Mineno (ex head chef of Nobu) and Shinya Ikeda, joint owners and Head Chef of London’s fabled Yashin Sushi restaurant. Kirin Ichiban is being dished up with a menu of kushiage and other snacks to offer Londoners a taste of what will be served at the Yashin founders' full-blown kushiage restaurant set to launch in 2012 (learn more about my beloved kushiage here ). The Kirin Ichiban Yatai is around for just one week from 3-8 August in the open-air Dray Walk gallery near Brick Lane and is serving up a selection of the traditional Japanese pankoed and deep-fried skewer snacks. The short menu offers three sticks for £5, six plus edamame for £10, or nine plus ice cream for £15, with a free bottle of Kirin Ichiban for every diner who has booked online. Kirin Ichiban is a beer made by the unique “Ichiban Shibori" Process which translates as “first press”. Bottles of Kirin are £3 & a pint ...

There's been a lot of hoo-ha in the blog world recently about the Fairy Hobmother. This benevolent being has been flitting about granting wishes and no-one really knows why. Behind it all is a company called Appliances Online which as the name suggests sells all manner of electrical goods for your home. Obviously, they're wanting to spread their name and gain a good reputation, but they've been sending lucky people items that they don't even stock themselves. What gives, Appliances Online? WHY ARE YOU SO NICE? Anyway, I made a wish a while back on the very excellent blog A Rather Unusual Chinaman for some accessories to pimp my Kitchenaid trophy Bertie Branning (named after Max Branning of Eastenders fame) and lo and behold, the Fairy Hobmother sent me: a rather secksy glass bowl which I'd been lusting after since I'd seen Lorraine Pascale use one on Baking Made Easy . a meat grinder which came in a box with the words "Fleisch Wolf" on it. FLE...

When I was growing up, I loved shopping almost as much as I do now. My dad (affectionately, I hope) called me the "ultimate consumer", and I had various brand prejudices which were probably based on very little evidence. For instance, I thought Sony was the best for tellies, Tefal was the kettle maker, Breville made the perfect sandwich toaster, and Hoover made the best, erm, hoover. Morphy Richards was familiar to me as a good all-rounder - far from super-exciting, but reliable and somehow comforting, the fluffy slippers of the appliance world. So I wasn't that surprised to hear that this year is the 75th Anniversary of Morphy Richards. As part of their celebrations which will include events and giveaways, Morphy Richards picked a group of bloggers (including me) to become Home of the House Proud Innovators , which basically means they would send us their products and ask us to put them through their paces and then share our thoughts. I warned them I'd be brutal...

Before my husband and I spent our days arsing around at food and music festivals, our favourite place to go for larks was a dingy room off the Royal Mile. Specifically the Edinburgh Festival (or rather the Fringe part of it), where we'd deliberately sit in the front row to heckle and be heckled by people like Stewart Lee and Richard Herring, Paul Foot and Dan Antopolski, Daniel Kitson and Simon Munnery, Chris Addison and Greg Davis (aka Fat Rik Mayall aka the teacher from the Inbetweeners). As slightly arrogant comedy purists, we only went for stand-up gigs, the dark stage lit by a microphone and a sardonic grin. Unfortunately, this stupid policy saw us pass up the opportunity to see the first UK shows of both Flight of the Conchords and The Mighty Boosh, reluctant to spend a tenner on something as shonky-sounding as "musical comedy". Such hubris meant we ended up spending a great deal more on their recent tours. Though all the venues looked much the same inside, the outs...

Some "luxury" foods have always been a bit out of my reach for reasons of penury. Caviar is one of them - I think I've tried it twice in my life (once at a tasting at Selfridges and the second time at Bob Bob Ricard ). The other that springs to mind is the truffle - your average specimen costs about £80. I've bought truffle oil before, and even preserved ones in a jar, but the only time I'd had fresh truffles was at my birthday meal at Launceston Place last year (oh, and there was this one dish I had from Dolada , but let's not go into that). So when I found out about Mister Truffle , a business that imports the best seasonal truffles and sells them by the GRAM, I thought, "Oooooh". Because it meant I could even afford to cook with truffles myself - to make that silky truffled pasta, to shave wispy slices over my scrambled eggs, to pimp my steak sauce - bringing a taste of luxury to my home without having to mortgage my house in the process. But bef...

Today is our seventh wedding anniversary. They say the traditional gift for seven years is wool or copper. We're going for bacon. Real bacon - proper dry-cured stuff that won't shrink or exude white goo. Fried till crisp around the edges, and slapped in a buttered floury bap, toasted on the inside only to give it secret, unexpected crunch. Our condiment of choice has always been ketchup, but today we will fancy it up with Heinz Balsamic Vinegar Ketchup - a fruitier, tangier version, not unlike tonkatsu sauce. We will sit in bed with our bacon butties and mugs of builder's tea, and we will feast, and we will not worry about crumbs. Thank you to I Love Real Bacon for sending the premium British bacon http://www.facebook.com/realbacon Thank you to Heinz for sending the Heinz Tomato Ketchup blended with Balsamic Vinegar http://www.facebook.com/HeinzKetchupUk