Well while we are in London we might as well go out for breakfast too...so here we are at Albion, the cafe at Boundary - Terence Conran - for a full English and kidneys on toast. It was listed as £ rather than £££ in our guide but at £8.50 for kidneys (just kidneys, no sauce, on dry toast) it soon adds up. But couldn't fault the ingredients and we were asked if we prefer streaky or back bacon which is a nice touch as I always prefer streaky, given the choice. Apart from thinking the waiter was going to ask us for a pound to get a hot drink (strange uniforms...) it was a nice start to the day.

How about these if you came to my house for tea last Sunday?

In the Independent at the weekend - ' How realistic is the 'good life' dream? Can the seemingly insatiable public appetite for fancy foodstuffs offer hope to a legion of disillusioned city slickers seeking a way out of the rat race? And how many trendy niche food-stuffs can one economy sustain? Given global financial pressures and the sheer number of artisan products already on market, the luxury-food industry could be in real danger of eating itself...

Too late for my hand-fried crisps with hot sauce idea then? 

What to do on a weekend as miserable as this except cook? Last Sunday I went to Brick Lane and only had a fiver, although you can get a good meal for that I wanted to try more than one, so I was looking for the best bargains. I had two crispy filo pastry 'cigars' stuffed with feta and spinach for a £1 from one stall, and a box of four Vietnamese spring rolls for £3 from another. That left £1 for a  juice. As I was watching the lady make the spring rolls to order - they soak the paper in water, fill them with salad and satay sauce and roll up - I decided to try it myself, so have been to buy a pack of the papers.This is the quickest, easiest, cheapest, healthiest snack I have had in a long time. I used peanut butter with soy, honey and lime to make the satay sauce, and the sweet chili sauce that most of us have now for dipping. My spring rolls were not as good looking as hers, but tasted the same! if you can't get the papers let me know and i'll send you some.

...this time with a Food Revolution Day on 19th May. This is what he says ' It's a chance for people who love food to come together to share information, talents and resources; to pass on their knowledge and highlight the world’s food issues. All around the globe, people will work together to make a difference. Food Revolution Day is about connecting with your community through events at schools, restaurants, local businesses, dinner parties and farmers' markets. We want to inspire change in people’s food habits and to promote the mission for better food and education for everyone.'  Look here for an event near you, or if you're in Russia, there are some there too - shame - there aren't any in the Caribbean.

...my control freakery about coffee is well known. I went to the restaurant show one year and decided to ask the experts there what my kind of coffee is called - an espresso with the same amount of hot milk - and a barista said 'a bloody awkward'. I don't like froth, it has to be hot milk, I hate too much milk, I want it strong... I thought I had it when the Flat White arrived but they are still just too big and milky in most places. I had it in Cuba in a Cafe con leche - you don't have to ask for hot milk there.

Coffee has a long history - longer, perhaps, than most of us originally realised. Rumour has it that the first person to understand the effects of the coffee bean was a goat herder in Ethiopia in the ninth century. Apparently he noticed the effect of coffee beans on the goats in his care which consumed them. However, others argue that the real beginning of coffee drinking began in the middle of the 1400s in the Yemen by monks in a Sufi monastery. These monks are said to have recognised the properties of caffeine which they found useful to keep themselves awake during nocturnal devotions.

The consumption of the drink spread to the northern African countries and by the 1500s, the practice of drinking coffee had spread throughout the Middle East and also travelled to Turkey and Persia. The first coffee house was said to have opened in Istanbul in 1554. At first, there was some suspicion about the effects of caffeine but the popularity of the bean eventually overcame these objections. From here, it was not long before the beverage was consumed in Italy. This was probably because of the strong trade at the time between Venice in Italy and the North African countries. As in the Arabic world, there was initially some concern about the stimulating effects of the drink within the Catholic church, but also as with the Arabic world, these objections were overcome.From Italy, coffee spread across Europe. One of the first coffee houses opened in Venice in the mid-seventeenth century. Franco Anglo, an Italian farmer, is said to be responsible for discovering many coffee beans in far flung countries. Thanks to the British East India Company and also the Dutch East India Company, England was introduced to the drink around the 1500s and the first English coffee house was said to be opened in the Cornhill. The word `coffee` probably comes from the Dutch word `koffie` which came from the Turkish `kahve` which comes from an Arabic phrase which translates as `wine of the bean`. Certainly it was said to be the Dutch who were responsible for taking the coffee drink out of Europe and across to America and the East Indies.

Of course, the modern day coffee industry is huge. There are many many varieties of coffee, blend of coffee and ways to serve the drink. Many countries in the world are being seduced by the caffeine elixir and markets are growing quickly in countries such as India and China (both traditionally associated with tea). There is also a celebration in the art of coffee preparation. Many nations now take part in the World Barista Championships and many competitions have already been held to try to find the national representatives for this years` global competition to find the world champion. Each barista will have to do his or her best to impress the judges about their skills in transforming humble coffee beans into a delicious and creative drink that is worthy of the title.

Allow three hours to make these hot cross buns include rising time. Makes 12 buns so well worth doubling up if like me, you'll eat four as soon as they come out of the oven.

Now that you can buy hot cross buns all year, everywhere, the only thing to do to make them special is make them yourself. I had a go and have eaten four so far and these are lovely. I should have spent more time getting the shape right but as usual I was rushing. I tried the recipe from my charity shop find, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Book -  the 'Cooks Classic Companion', which I use all the time although I have my own recipe here. Later on I'm going to make some fab Easter chocolates to give to the family (but don't tell them I've just melted down Lidl Dark Almond chocolate to do it...)