Short orders
Jill Dupleix's new book Simple Food (Quadrille, £19.99 hardback, £12.99 paperback) is for most of us who have neither the time nor inclination for fussy recipes, and there are lots of little one-paragraph tips. Being Australian, she does share their strange affection for beetroot - maybe one day I'll give the beetroot burgers a go. And the clever woman took the photographs too.
Leiths Techniques Bible by Susan Spaull and Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne (Bloomsbury, £35) is an expanded version of the textbook given to students doing the Leiths diploma course. This 779-pager for more serious cooks is a sort of up-to-date Mrs Beeton.
Whitstable Natives is a lovely book to kick off the oyster season, a history, recipe and gloriously photographed book written by Michael Cable and photographed by Brian Aris (Live Wire Books, £20 from www.oysterfishery.co.uk). Did you know the Romans so loved our oysters they sent them back home?
Clever Guzzini has come up with the Feeling mug, made of white ceramic with an acrylic handle in various colours that remains cool. From John Lewis, £6.95 (08456 049 049).
The Observer's Jay Rayner who regularly thrashes his tastebuds for OFM's Testing pages, hosts Radio 4's Food Quiz starting 17 September. Guests will include our columnist Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
We like Jules and Sharpie's Hot Pepper Jellies (£3.95 each), made in the two former fashion girls' Suffolk kitchen. They've extended to six flavours and won a gold medal at the Great Taste Awards for their hot cranberry. Details: info@julesandsharpie.com.
We love Innocent drinks, and it was good of them to host a free weekend festival in London's Regent's Park last month. They started the company after their success at a festival in 1998, so it was a fitting payback.
Two fine old Paris restaurants, Lasserre and La Perouse, feature in Merchant Ivory's new film, Le Divorce, out this week. Book your table fast.
Apologies to John Julian Design (020 7249 6969) for wrongly crediting your lovely pestle and mortar last month.
