I'm back... with lentils, yes, you did read it right - lentils

I have decided to embrace the pulse. Having hated beans, chickpeas and the like ever since I became aware of Heinz's most popular blue-tinned product, I thought I would never see the day when I would actually like eating pulses. However, I'm trying to learn to like them and with this in mind, made a lentil salad today. Olive magazine landed on my doorstep this morning with a big thud and as I idly flicked through the pages of a mini-Italian recipes supplement, a salad caught my eye. Usually I'd see 'lentils' in the ingredients and immediately move on, but this time I decided to try it. It's a really easy recipe - green lentils from a tin, drained and rinsed (they flop out of the tin like rotten catfood), mixed with a quick salsa verde, a bit of chopped chorizo, roughly chopped charcoal-grilled artichoke hearts, and sprinkled with crumbled feta, cherry tomatoes and a drizzle more salsa verde. Easy. It was a bit too garlicky, and I can't pretend I love lentils yet, but pretty good. And it would make a nice extra for a picnic, if the torrential rain ever lets up.

I've not blogged for the past few months and I have missed it. I just needed a break - and I started a new job where I work pretty long hours so I haven't had the inclination or the energy to open my computer when I get home. I hope to keep it up though - I've missed documenting my meals. And I've just come back from Glastonbury, where a friend said I should have photographed my meals (mostly good, some very good, some bland or rubbish) and I realised the thought hadn't even crossed my mind - what a shame and what a wasted opportunity. Maybe next year.

Grandad's Christmas 'hamper'

I gave my Grandad a pot of my homemade tomato and apple chutney, some Sainsbury's organic cheddar and his favourite biscuits for cheese - digestives - all in a wrapped-up shoebox. Who'd want a Harrod's hamper anyway?

The Barnsbury Grocer

The Barnsbury Grocer, which opened just this week, is causing much excitement at Food Slut Towers. My boyfriend seemed even more ADHD than me when we went in this morning to check it out. I think it might because it's next to his favourite film shop in London - so he can spend hours browsing in there while I spend all our money in the grocer next door.

It's more deli than grocer, with a fridge full of meats and cheeses, another fridge with organic juices and freshly made sandwiches, and shelves stocked with high-quality oils, chutneys, jams, mustards, crisps, biscuits and even (somehow classy looking) flavoured packet popcorn - it's a bit like Borough Market without the burger stalls. We bought a thick slice of somerset cheddar, which on sampling tastes as powerful as the stench of fresh manure piled in a farmyard - and that's a compliment. It's lovely, and shows how supermarket cheddar is an insult to the tastebuds.

I was delighted to see my favourite mustard - Pommery Moutarde de Meaux - which I've only previously been able to find in Waitrose. But while it has the same jar and label, it has a waxed top and the label is written in French, while the Waitrose version has a rubber stopper, the label's in English and it's imported through a company based in Oxfordshire (just something we noticed - I think the French version has a little more rustic charm). Try it if you see it. And the pot's good for storing wooden spoons etc when it's finished.

We also bought a jar of Suffolk Mud cider and horseradish mustard, which has no dodgy artificial ingredients and looks like it might pack a good punch, and some Ear to Ear salt and vinegar flavoured popcorn, made in Belsize Park Gardens, which has Innocent Smoothie style cheesy copy on the back saying you 'just have to smile' when you're eating their popcorn... I'll see if there's any truth in that later. And we bought a pot of mixed olives in lemon parsley and garlic marinade (I think) which looked good, and, of course, I had to try their chocolate brownie... more on that later.

It doesn't seem like it's fully stocked yet - I think they're waiting to see how different sections sell. They have a blackboard with a sign welcoming suggestions from customers and I'm already thinking of recommending my favourite products. It's that sort of shop - lovely and friendly and packed with a Food Slut's favourite things.

Some days you just need cheese

And today is one of those days. I had a knackering day yesterday and I am feeling it today. I knew that what I need for lunch is something, anything, with melted cheese. Too weary to leave the office before getting some calories down me, I went to the cafeteria, which has chicken and roasted peppers paninis on special at £2.25. Tempting. But I needed cheese, so, lacking inspiration, I got one of those with extra mozzarella. Yes! Cheesy! I held the warm plate in a bag in my hands as I came back up to my desk, the earthy smell of cheese and chicken wafting up on the steam.

On Thursdays they do a special - with a deli sandwich you get a free piece of fruit or packet of crisps. Normally I go for salt and vinegar hula hoops, but today the fruit looked quite nice, so I took a banana. Healthy. Well, kind of.

And... the panini is ok. It's certainly filling - I like the roasted peppers a lot, but I swear I get more if the sandwich is made in front of me (the specials are prepared and waiting to be cooked) and I love melted cheese in virtually any form, but while some of the chicken pieces are fine, most of it is pappy. Why is that? Why can't all places serve quality chicken? Is all chicken so intensively farmed and shoved full of drugs that it loses its texture and flavour? Perhaps I just want too much of the office cafeteria - they can't be expected to provide organic, free-range chicken all the time on the sort of budgets I assume they have. But I wish they did.

[photo to come]