Keep taking the tablets -the QOOQ on test

Are you taking your tablet to the kitchen to cook with? Then the QOOQ could be your next kitchen treat. Packed with recipes and professional videos and built to take the knocks, this dedicated tablet from France looks good. Nick Harman goes to meet the makers in Paris.

La Porte des Indes cookery afternoons

You wouldn’t think that behind Oxford Street’s Christmas huffers and sharp elbows is an oasis of south Indian charm, but that’s La Porte des Inde’s secret. Now,on the final Friday of every month, they host a master class and Anita Pati got stuck in.

Annual Old Ale Festival at The White Horse

The White Horse held their Annual Old Ale Festival for the thirtieth time last weekend, an event that sees the pub meticulously clean their cellar and lines to bring in around 80 different beers, from old ales, porters, stouts and barley wines, to strong ales and milds.

French festivities at Champagne+Fromage

Champagne goes hand in hand with Christmas, so put the fizz into this year’s festivities with Champagne + Fromage. The Covent Garden shop and bistro has a whole host of Christmassy gift boxes, bottles of beautiful grower Champagne, cheese and foodie favourites.

Asda and Leiths Stir Up Sunday 2012

Stir Up Sunday, the last Sunday before Advent, kickstarts preparations for Christmas over-indulgence – it’s traditionally the day the Christmas pudding mixture is made and cooked. It’s extraordinarily easy to make, as Joanna Biddolph discovered at a Stir Up Sunday event with Asda and Leiths School of Food and Wine.