I can't remember anything by The Cranberries

I can't be alone in my cranberry sadness. Every time I open the kitchen cupboard in January (sometimes even February and March) I look glumly at a languishing half-full jar of cranberry sauce, collecting dust.

I can't not buy it for Christmas dinner - roast turkey just wouldn't be the same with one trimming missing - but what does one do with it afterwards?

Well, never fear: I've discovered the delights of a brie, bacon and cranberry panini. Slice up some brie, add small pieces of cooked smoked bacon and smear on a dollop of cranberry sauce. Toast the whole thing in a sandwich or panini toaster and chomp it up! If you don't have a sandwich toaster, you could have the same filling in a baked ciabatta or just a sandwich.

And if you haven't got any leftover cranberry sauce? Make your own - it's incredibly simple. Put two handfuls of fresh or frozen cranberries into a saucepan with the juice of half an orange and one dessert spoonful of caster sugar. Heat it until the cranberries burst and it starts to look 'saucy'. Let it cool down a bit, then have a taste and add as many squirts of honey you need to make it sweet enough.

In fact this whole blog post has been a sham: I made my own cranberry sauce last Christmas and I don't even have an abandoned jar in the cupboard. But I can still sympathise with my former, cranberry-sad self.

What about Sweet Pea?

I saw a thing in a Spanish supermarket I've been dreaming of for quite some time but never seen before. They sell teeny tiny bottles of olive oil.

I'm rubbish at quantities, but these are 'dinky' little (technical term) bottles sold in packs of five, each with a cute little screw-on lid. Each contains just enough for dressing your salad, dipping your bread or frying a few portions of onions.

All those times I've eaten a dressing-less salad for lunch because I didn't want it to wilt before it reached the office. All the picnics with no oil for my ham and bread. All the camping holidays (well, just one ... ) where I've had the chance to fry, but not wanted to take a big bottle of oil.

Do British supermarkets sell such a thing? And if not, dammit, why not?

Ready to bleat

There's been a bit of fuss lately in the free London 'newspapers' because some Pret a Manger sandwiches aren't made on the shop premises. They're put together at a larger branch and transported to smaller ones.

So? Does that make a difference? I mean, how fresh do you need?! They taste the same, you were oblivious two weeks ago and it's not as if they are stale or mouldy when they reach you. Really - just get over yourselves!

I don't care where they are made: I quite enjoy a nice Pret picnic somewhere nice in the warmer weather. What you want to worry about is when smokers come along and ruin your cosy spot!

Picnic heaven

First things first: the pork pie. I visited our local deli and was confronted by 'the perfect pork pie', as reviewed by Giles Coren in The Times and Tony Turnbull on Times Online. It's made by Bray's Cottage in Norfolk and also won the title of 'best pork pie', awarded by BBC's Olive magazine.

So, of course, I bought two. The high praise is certainly richly deserved: this is a top-quality pie. It's clear straight away that the meat used is far superior to the cuts found in your average pork pie and the slight hint of bacon and onion enriches the taste. We think we also detected a hint of rosemary ('sausagey-tasting' was the phrase that came to mind). The pastry was perhaps a little bit crumbly for cutting into wedges with a picnic-grade knife, but I'd imagine it's a little bit better directly out of the oven (I bought them freshly cooked beforehand and refridgerated them). All in all, though, they made a good addition to our lunch.

I went a bit meat-crazy in general when planning this picnic. As well as the pork pies par excellence we also had some mini pork, cheese and pickle pies, serrano ham and a platter of Italian cured meats. Oh, and some chicken pieces although they never made it to my side of the rug!

We gave the Swiss cheese industry a bit of a boost too, trying out some Emmental, Gruyere and Jarlsberg. The Fine Cheese Co. make some nice walnutty oat biscuits to accompany cheese, although I think they'd have been better matched with something softer (brie would be my preference). A bit of coleslaw and potato salad completed the perfect picnic experience - I'd love to say I made them myself but I'm not Nigella.

I managed to plan the perfect weather too - hurrah for that! Now if we could sort out the boat situation so that we get to have a good pre-picnic row rather than a punt-based slalom, everything would be just right.

A perfect summer picnic

Things I need to buy for our picnic on Sunday:

1. Serrano ham
2. Potato salad (Tesco Finest)
3. A nice, good quality pork pie (from the rather good delicatessen down the road, probably)
4. Emmental cheese
5. Chutney
6. Biscuits for cheese (perhaps the rosemary ones from the Fine Cheese Co.)
7. Sabai wine spritzers with hibiscus - my new summer drink!
8. Some kind of crisps or maize snacks (probably Skips or similar)
9. A carrot cake
10. ... and indigestion tablets.

I think you'll find that constitutes a near-perfect picnic.