Whether you spend Thanksgiving in the bosom of bickering family life or stranded here in the large, grey isle of Britain, Thursday 24th of November can be a cracking good time no matter where you are. Don’t go anywhere else for London’s top 5 Thanksgiving parties. From fine dining and old favourites to some new ideas and a home-style approach, there will be something for every expat in London this year.

Taste of Christmas is celebrating its best restaurant and chef line-up to date, with award winning establishments and top culinary names set to add to this year’s festivities across three days at London’s ExCeL between 2^nd and 4^th December.

Iberica Food and Culture, one of the most stylish Spanish restaurants in London and one of the best, is to open in Canary Wharf on November 21st. Good news indeed for the suits marooned out there in a sea of money. Ahead of opening we chatted to Cesar Garcia, head chef at the Great Portland Street mother ship to hear a bit more about the new restaurant and taste some of his favourite dishes from the menu

In these austere times, when we’re all going back to fundamental principles, what a brilliant idea from this well established wine merchant and producer to get us baking using this so well known home brand of sherry, Harvey’s Bristol Cream.

Pastry chef Liz offers advice to help us home-bakers get better results in our kitchens. From room temperature eggs whites to the dangers of over-mixing, we’ll not only learn the golden rules of baking but we’ll find out why these pearls of kitchen wisdom work. Read on to win a Lurpak Christmas Baking Kit.

A five course Indian lunch at Quilon with a specially designed beer tasting menu gave beer and curry a new meaning. Over a gourmet meal we met the man who literally wrote the book on beer, Garrett Oliver.

Pierre Herme is a 4th generation pastry chef with a weakness for sweet things and the skill and imagination to make his wildest sugar-coated dreams come true. He is launching the release of his macaron bible called simply MACARONS. While it is not new in France, it has taken four years to translate this tome into English.

I don’t know who’s been sleeping in my bed; it could have been Ernest Shackleton, possibly Hailie Salassie or even Winston Churchill. It wasn’t Liam Gallagher anyway because I know for a fact he was in the suite next door along with George Michael, although not at the same time of course.

Scotch Angus is the big name in Beef but Church View’s English Angus is hoping to change all that. Edward Crowley went along to Allens of Mayfair to investigate.