Hot tip

Cooking for Kids with Rachel Allen. Half day course at Ballymaloe Cookery School — 2pm on Friday April 13, tel [phone].

* Chinese New Year 2007 is The Year of the Pig. To expand your repertoire have a look at some new Chinese cookbooks:

Simple Chinese Cooking by Kylie Kwong – Penguin Using the simplest cooking techniques and step-by-step photographs, the 14 chapters containing over 100 recipes are each devoted to one main ingredient – be it chicken, rice, stocks or seafood.

The Chinese Kitchen by Deh-ta-Hsiung Originally published in 1999 this classic has recently been reissued by Kyle Cathie – a wonderful overview of Chinese ingredients and useful sources.

China Modern by Ching-He Huang – also by Kyle Cathie One hundred cutting-edge, fusion-style recipes for the 21st century. Ching-He Huang explores new influences from the rest of the Far East as well as the West.