Joanna Biddolph enjoys the playful juxtaposition of the thoroughly contemporary one-off Meatballs in the unique Grade II listed Quality Chop House then eats her way through most of the menu (and drinks most of the restaurant’s Blueberry G&T).

Not usually a fan of lamb – when it’s good it’s great but when it’s not it’s repellent – I needed a good reason to go out to eat some. That reason was an invite to join Annabel Langbein in the basement of Caravan in Exmouth Market to try recipes from her book The Free Range Cook.

As a mother, lover of food and terminally challenged for time, I was keen to try out the new range of Schwartz Slow Cookers seasonings. Just as the weather is cooling down and appetites are yearning for comfort food, Schwartz has come to the rescue just in time.

Anita Pati heads to the home of the Bard, not to brush up her sonnet skills but to get all Falstaff on the food on offer at the 2011 Food Festival

Qin Xie heads to Patara to learn and shuck oysters for the first time… and wins a box of oysters!

Held at the Cinnamon Kitchen, Vivek Singh’s Masterclass demonstrated how to prepare and cook his favourite dish from the BritDish menu Fish & Chips, a spiced halibut with mustard peas and tandoori wedges.

As well as being the vodka of choice for P Diddy and other incomprehensibly monikered rappers,Grey Goose regularly turns its hand to philanthropy. The latest event is their annual Winter Ball. The partner for the event is the Elton John AIDS Foundation, whose mission is to “to support innovative HIV prevention programs, efforts to eliminate stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS, and direct care and support services for people living with HIV/AIDS.” Grey Goose have raised over £1.8 million for the Foundation to date. This year they have managed to bag El Bulli for the catering.

Yet what makes a good gin? Try to describe the flavour of your favourite tipple and the words dance on your tongue whilst never quite finding their rhythm. The folks at Bombay Sapphire invited me along to the St Pancras hotel to try out something that might get the words dancing to the right tune: An Aroma Kit, designed to get your nose trained up and sniffing with the best of them.

The day before this year’s two-day festival of food and drink at Aldeburgh a spirited conference focused on Suffolk and the Sea…

Farmison.com, we were told as we munched their sausages on sticks as canapés (very good too) is backed by former ASDA chief executive Andy Bond and represents over 75 of the best independent British suppliers across butchery, fruit and vegetables, and farmhouse cheese – more than 60% of which are not available anywhere else online.