Due to the popularity of the gift pen set in this design of succulent lemons, oranges and citrus flowers and leaves against a blue and white Andalusian tiled background, we have chosen now from our friends at The Gifted Stationery Company their new Meal Planner. A4 sized, the tear off sheets have a grid for breakfast, lunch, and snacks from Monday to Sunday and along the righthand side a tear-off shopping list. The whole product has two sturdy magnets on either side so as it can be attached easily onto the fridge. Brand new and keenly priced.

Sub-titled 'Eating at Home: From Long Lazy Lunches to Fast Family Fixes', from casual Friday night dinners to brunch with friends, light lunches and garden feasts to celebratory gatherings and the classic Sunday lunch, all bases are covered here. Matt Tebbutt is never short of a fast meal idea or a menu for guests that will impress. Rustle up fabulous outdoor and barbecue dishes plus indulgent family feasts with his 100 inspiring recipes all beautifully photographed. Make the humble potato more interesting by being crispy on the outside and soft in the middle, using butter, goose or duck fat or even thin strips of lardon or pork fat, a drizzle of olive oil and chopped chives and seasoning. There is a Five-Spice Roast Goose, a Roast Rib of Beef with Yorkshire Pudding, Onion Gravy and Chive and Black Pepper Butter, French Onion Soup with Gruyère and Ham Croutons, Chicken, Ham Hock and Jerusalem Artichoke Pithivier which is essentially a puff-pastry pie and a real showstopper, Grilled Veg with Crispy Egg and Almond and Yoghurt Dressing, Roasted Red Mullet with Basil and Sun-Dried Tomato and Chilli Toast with a strong distinctive flavour and an interesting texture which stands up well to punchy herbs. Or try a very healthy looking Toasted Quinoa Salad and Piri-Piri dressing to ruin the reputation that quinoa has for being a bit dull! Plus Coconut Bread and Raspberry Cream, Spiced Lamb Flatbread, Spicy Crisp-Fried Cauliflower, Seared Tuna with Ginger and Soy Dressing, Portuguese Chicken, Coriander and Garlic Soup, and we could go on. Full page colour photos, 224pp, 20 x 25.4cm.

The Siamese, a British Blue, a Turkish Van with ginger ears, spot on its back and ginger tail, Sasha a young black cat stretching after a long sleep, a rather grumpy looking Buster, these characterful cats are models made with white fondant sugar paste and sugar pearls. Mark two holes for the eyes using the Dresden tool and insert the black sugar pearl eyes. Make two ears, the cheeks and chin and a tiny piece of black fondant sugar paste for the nose. Shape the back and front legs into sausages marking three toes on each foot with a knife and lengthen the body by rolling it in the palm of your hand to about 4" or 10cm long. Dampen and attach the legs and head and stand your new kitty on her legs, keeping them apart while drying. Sugar cats and kittens in a variety of poses are made with clear step-by-step instructions and are easy and fun to make as gifts or to keep - and eat! 48 page colour softback.

The frank and forthright wine critic is a renowned expert on organic and biodynamic techniques. Monty Waldin knows what he likes to drink, and knows how he likes it to be made, yet as his 40th birthday loomed, he found himself increasingly satisfied with just writing about wine. It was time he realised to put his money where his mouth is and produce bottles of his very own. Renting a vineyard in the foothills of the French Pyrenees, Monty has just 12 months to put his beliefs into practice and make a decent tasting organic wine. It could have ended in career suicide, and Monty faced that possibility with only a four-legged companion at his side, his ever-faithful dog, Harry. There in the notoriously unpredictable weather of the Pyrenees, as well as how equally unpredictable locals will react to having an English wine novice hanging around, Monty with his second-hand van purchased for just one euro which had only one gear and an aversion to roads began his adventure. It begins with a car crash which left Monty with a sort of back injury that his doctors ordered him to stay in bed with, just when he should begin digging. Published to accompany the major Channel Four TV series, whether you have dreamt of owning your own vineyard or just enjoy a glass or two of decent red, Monty is a wonderfully warm and witty companion who has clearly made lots of friends and learned all about chickens and geese and irrigation canals and has a lot to be proud of. With many sections of both colour and black and white photographs, 298pp.

Sub-titled 'The Life and Times of Dorothy Peel OBE', the author is the great-great granddaughter of Mrs Peel who wrote many books on cookery and household management. Dorothy's recipes are featured in their original form such as the long forgotten Devilled Bananas and wartime Potato Gateau, Chicken en Casserole, Cheese Pufflets and delicious teatime treats such as Feather Tart and Candied Pears, Nursery Cake and Madeleines. From the Foreword: 'She was an enlightened woman, who lived long before her time. She wrote with great passion on other subjects too like Women's Suffrage, homosexuality in the Great War, the work carried on by women, the rationing of food during it and the heavy burden women carried with great stoicism and dedication to keep life going on as normal as possible. Soon I was asked to do Granny Dot's lunches, teas, dinners and given cake or biscuits to comment on... I was very pleasantly surprised at how delicious they were... simplicity and the very few ingredients they contain.' Apart from recipes, Mrs Peel in all her books gives advice and suggestions that are all very up to date. For instance she writes about fruit 'Fruit, if fresh, is better eaten raw, as in the cooking its value is destroyed.' She refers to bone stock, fried chopped onion and a little Worcestershire Sauce, well seasoned and spice 'excellent and when mixed with crumbs or cooked, rice can be made into croquettes or rissoles.' This is similar to how any contemporary thrifty cook will cook. Mrs Peel gives the recipe of an Italian Macaroni Pie which is her version of the many pasta pies made up and down the Italian peninsular using a little baking powder in the shortcrust pastry. The book explores the social and cultural history and how Dorothy played a key role and was awarded an OBE in 1918 for services to the Ministry of Food. Using extracts from her autobiography, her witty, poignant and informative comments reveal a woman with a genuine social conscience. The many original wartime recipes also include Scalloped Salmon, Maize Woodcock, Anchovy Butter and Ragout of Mutton. 200 splendid large pages, colour and archive photos.

First published in 1925, Hilda Leyel was acknowledged as a connoisseur of food and wine in London society, and her book is based on menus she served to her friends. It is a spirited, lively book full of ideas and recipes that were unlikely to be made by a conventional English cook of the time. The recipes are arranged in alphabetical order under the main ingredient because as she points out it is better to shop first, and buy what is best and then decide on dinner. Her recipes for vegetable and fruit cookery are imaginative and original and a chapter on children's cookery contains dishes that will still appeal today. Haricot beans are melted in brown butter, Brussel sprouts with lemon, fried beetroot, baked turnips, chestnuts braised with Maderia, broad beans stewed with wine, curried lentils and many soups and salads. She uses many herbs and is familiar with European and Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and North African cooking, and a menu for an exotic Arabian evening starts with a beautiful and simple salad of sliced oranges with finely chopped onions and black olives dressed with olive oil and red pepper. The Meat chapter focusses on smaller pieces - cutlets, minced meat and offal and she suggests the continental practice of serving meats with purees or compôtes. She suggests Cumberland Sauce and Stewed Prunes to accompany Braised Mutton and a rich Italian sauce of almonds and raisins to go with tongue. Apricot and Marrow Soup is intriguing and Lincoln's Inn Cherries are a perfect for a summer party. Her instructions vary from the detailed to the casual and occasionally frustrating, but this is a most imaginative and stimulating cookbook which Elizabeth David said was the first cookery book she ever owned and treated with 'affection, gratitude as well as respect.' This small classic of English culinary literature is a timeless understanding of good food and is now reprinted with all 750 original recipes and a new introduction in a very glamorous silver foil spined hardback of 431 pages with pagemarker and red page edges.

Make a Millet Seed Puding, a Jelly of Rasberyes, Gingerbread, Pickled Kidney Beans, Presarve Damsons for Sweetmeats or tarts, make a good Beef Gravey or Minct Pyes with raisins stoned and chopped small or Puding for a Hare Roasted. Ralph 'Radolphus' Ayres was Head Cook at New College, Oxford in the early 18th century. He lived in the age of Parson Woodforde, the great diarist and fellow of New College. He recorded in his Diary the contents of a meal he ate in a college in 1756, where the first course included Cod with Oysters, Ham, Fowls, Boiled Beef, Rabbits Smothered with Onions, Mutton, Veal Collops, Pork Griskins, Minced Pies and Roots (vegetables). For the second course were Roast Turkey, Haunch of Venison, a Brace of Woodcock, Snipes, Veal Olives, Trifle, Blancmange, Stewed Pippins and Preserved Quinces. A few decades earlier, Ralph Ayres wrote down a book of his favourite recipes and these are reproduced in this exquisite book presented in Ayres' own handwriting with beautiful contemporary botanical drawings. The glossary explains cooking terms no longer in use as well as curiosities and oddities. 88 large pages, colour illus. First edition.

Securely wrapped in polystyrene are two pieces of quality cookware, a ceramic plate in the shape of a ruddy cheeked happy Santa Claus complete with holly berry and leaf, red Santa hat and in the main oval area of the plate the words COOKIES FOR SANTA. The second item is a 7" high mini milk churn with red trim, identical holly leaf design and Santa face and the words MILK FOR SANTA across the front. Glazed porcelain decorative set to leave something very special for Santa and his reindeer every Christmas. Limited stocks from liquidated items at The Book People.

'Fizzing with fruity stories and yeasty historical tales' - Alice Roberts, the sub-title of the book is 'How an Ancient Craft Became a Way of Life' and the book is enormously fun and a BBC Radio Four Food Programme Book of the Year. Join James Crowden as he embarks on a journey to distil the ancient origins of cider, uncovering a rich culture and philosophy that has united farmer, maker and drinker for millennia. It has been at the heart of country life for hundreds of years, but the fascinating story of how this drink came into existence and why it became so deeply rooted in the nation's psyche has never been told. Crowden traces an elusive history stretching back to the ancient, myth-infused civilisations of the Mediterranean and the wild apple forests of Kazakhstan. He meets cider experts, farmers and historians and we read about monks, pirates and politicians who formed a pioneering and evangelical fan base. The nation's love affair with cider didn't fully blossom until after the Reformation when the thirst for knowledge about the drink was at its peak. This infatuation with the experimentation would lead to remarkable innovations and the creation of a 'sparkling cider', a technique that predated Dom Pérignon's Champagne by 40 years. And today Crowden meets the next generation of cider makers and unearths a unique philosophy that has been shared through the ages and new ways to produce this golden drink enjoyed by so many. It is a story of our country through the culture, craft and consumption of our most iconic rural drink. 448 pages, paperback with fairly large print and illus.

While gin has gone cray and whiskey is looking to its laurels, rum is having a moment. No longer the poor relation of the spirit world, rum after years in the doldrums is once again in fashion. Do prefer your rum in the British, French or Spanish manner? Aged, spiced or both? Do you refer to it by colour? White, silver, gold or dark might be your marker. Where do you stand on the next question of added sugar - sweet benediction or the work of the Devil? Does rum ever have to come from the Caribbean and does Bacardi count? Look no further than this beautifully designed and illustrated guide for an entertaining, irreverent and informative survey of the very best - with not a pirate in sight. Gives brand owner, website and origin for example for the St. Aubin White Agricultural Rum 1819 or the Japanese Ryoma seven year old oak cask, the Monymusk Classic Gold from Jamaica, discount supermarket Aldi's Old Hopking White, one of our Annie's favourites Doorly's 12 year old from Barbados, and Mountgay 1703, and from England there is Matugga Golden Rum and from the USA Medford. Buxton brings his usual good taste and vast experience to this often confusing subject as we sink into a Caribbean reverie. Cheers! Beautifully illustrated in colour photographs, 224pp.