In what appears to be one of the most expensive towns in the region we are looking for lunch. The Cafe CouCou has a window full of fab cakes and we can see some home-made quiches so we take a seat. After a bit of confused waitressing about whether the falafel had been made there or not, and if there was any leek and bacon quiche left or not, and if the pear and frangipani tart was still on the menu or not, we order the falafel which came with flat bread, tzaziki and lots and lots of leaves, and a goats cheese and beetroot flan with olives and lots and lots of leaves. Both were fresh, home-made and really nice. A more interesting choice of accompanying salads would have taken it to the £10 per dish level it was, and although slates to serve it on are clearly still fashionable in Essex, give me a plate that the food doesn't fall off and a well informed waitress every time. 

According to the Independent this weekend - everything Putin needs arrives by plane - Russian cooks, Russian waiters, Russian ingredients - and teams of diplomats who negotiate what he will be eating with the host country. He cannot be served milk products but no-one (except him?) knows why. He might be lactose intolerant but could just be terrified of poisoning. He cannot consume any foreigh foodstuffs that haven't been cleared by the Kremlin, and the cooking of any of his (Russian) ingredients by local cooks has to be supervised and approved by his 'Special Services'.

And I thought asking for a large espresso with hot milk on the side was fussy!?

Want to learn how to prepare and cook fish? Billingsgate Market staff are running a Summer Seafood School for families with children aged 7 to 13 on mornings and afternoons in August. But they do all kinds of other events and training too...I feel a SuffolkFoodie outing coming on...

Royston - for lunch - I wasn't optimistic. A trawl through the streets only produced a Turkish restaurant (a kebab shop with chairs) and a couple of cafes with baked potatoes and not much else. But then I asked a man where I could find home-made food and he said the Green Man was ok. So I went there. It was more than ok, it was very nice. I had a two small dishes - a black pudding scotch egg and a haddock and mackerel fish cake, with chunky tartare sauce, salad and half a shandy. It was freshly cooked and just over a tenner altogether. But it wasn't very busy... go there Royston. The chef was at a festival - so rest assured chef, that the rest of the team can cope while you're away!

On Brick Lane - where else? Wake up Suffolk.

...we have lost 48 feta and pepperdew muffins...! Did we sell them by mistake thinking they were cornmeal (but they had great big pieces of feta sticking out...hard to miss) Or are they still in Granny's freezer? We have no idea where they went. If you think you saw them - or even ate one, let us know. Unless of course you took the whole lot (we did have one teenager breaking into camp-kitchen looking for a 3am cheese scone) in which case - we hope you liked them.

We really need to post the recipe up for these because it's soooooo good, easy, cheap and very impressive. Here are some we are making for PettaFiesta. We put a shake of smoked paprika on the bottom and some grated cheese, then changed our minds and on the next bake put it on the top. Great with soup instead of bread - we will be serving them with the chili - and maybe for breakfast too.

So obvious really, mini-fish and chips (I know they do it at parties...) but I've only seen it once here on the street, and it was VERY popular. Why? Because you really really want some but you don't want to throw half of it away. Brilliant - and it won an award.  The best ideas are the obvious ones.

Back to sunny-sun after lots of sunny-sun in the Caribbean. Just in time for Inspector X's fab birthday party - afternoon tea, treasure hunt, four-course supper - and she still had the energy to make scrambled eggs for everyone who stayed the night!

...especially the one in Elmswell who we promised to mention a long time ago and only just got round to doing it. Why? Because it's on our doorstep, has lots of great value choice, couldn't be more helpful if you want to learn about meat - and why would you drive all that way to buy meat from a supermarket if you could get it here?