FARM SHOPS — we need many more all around the country so farmers can sell and add value to their produce and local people can buy directly from the farm.

I FIND myself dreaming of Mexican breakfasts weeks before I travel.

If by any chance you have a few book tokens left over from Christmas presents, I’ve got some brilliant suggestions for worthwhile cookbooks to track down. For the growing number of cake-makers, Annie Bells Baking Bible published by Kyle books is a real gem. Recipes are triple tested so really work which can’t be said for every book.

PHEW! That’s Christmas over again for another year.

BY now the Christmas frenzy is building up. Hopefully the cake and plum pudding are made and you’ve decided whether it’s turkey or goose. Maybe you’ve plumped for a fine roast chicken, maybe a pheasant or a nice glazed ham. One way or the other you’ll probably have some little scraps left over that can be added to salads, a gratin or even a bubbly ‘mac and cheese’. The latter is delicious cooked in tiny muffin tins lined with parchment till the edges get crispy — serve with drinks.

I'M just back from the 2012 edition of the international Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre, Slow Food’s biannual event which brings together small-scale farmers, artisan producers, fishermen, experts, academics, chefs and young people from over 160 countries.

THE wild game season is well and truly underway again.

Before you go running for the hills at the mention of a veggie burger, at least taste this one before you make any judgments.

YIPPEE, another book from Stevie Parle, one of the New Young Voices in food who is now really going into orbit.

MIDWAY through every 12-week certificate course at the Ballymaloe Cookery School, we all pile onto a bus and go on a foodie tour.