It's Very Jolly to Shop at Oli's!

Here's the interesting food I bought in Oli's shop in the Walworth Road. I did enjoy myself!

First up, some tahini so that I can make my own hummus. Liz assures me this will keep for ages in the fridge. She says it is also good thinned down with a little natural yogurt or olive oil, and drizzled over a salad.

I shall whizz up a can of chickpeas, with a spoonful of this, some garlic and some oil, and see what it tastes like.

The jams are cherry and blueberry and in very prettily shaped jars. They were on offer at two-for-a-pound.

I just loved the Arabic script on the creme caramel packet!

The other side is in English and not as pretty! I made this up for dessert and it tasted very good.

Manti is Turkish ravioli, and again, Liz tells me it is quick and easy to prepare and very good with a tomato sauce.

This comes dried in a packet. It apparently tastes as if meat filled, but it is vegetarian and filled with soy protein.

Looks like a good store cupboard standby.

I cannot eat regular cheese, but I do enjoy mild spreads like low-fat Dairylea triangles.

So this 'Puck' spread looked worth investigating. It is milk based - but without cheese.

Again, I adore the simplicity of the packaging. The flower is wonderfully retro, and the screw on lid is metal not plastic!

Bob and I were discussing pierogi [Polish Dumplings] recently, so I bought a pack of them too. Liz was concerned that Jon might return in our absence and find them in the fridge and eat them, so she labelled them

Repeatedly!!! Jon was quite amused by this.

Quite why they are called "Virtu" is beyond me - they seem to be the sort of wonderfully filling carb-laden rib-sticking dumplings which people like Rosemary Conley would despise.

They tasted great, and I shall definitely get these again when I am Walworth.

On a more healthy note, we went in Baldwins, the health shop on the opposite side of the road. I got a bag of oat groats. I have decided we should eat more grains. We often have rice, and couscous, and I have taken to throwing handfuls of barley into soups and casseroles - but I am not sure we have had groats.

Liz has sent me this recipe to try for Oat Groat Pilaff, but I may also try Groaty Dick Pudding which is allegedly a traditional Midlands Dish for Midsummer Eve or Guy Fawkes Night. I will check that one out with the folk at the Coffee Drop In tomorrow, and see if they have heard of it - but I suspect it may be more West than East Midlands in origin.

I don't think Liz has actually cooked with groats herself yet. The possibility of bad puns about Jon O Groats occurs to me. But it's slightly disappointing to realise that the place John O Groats gets its name not from the thrifty oat-laden diet of the Scots, but rather from a Dutchman called Jan De Groot who ran the ferry to Orkney in 1496.