Food & Drink notes

Brush up; utterly Italy; oil's well; through a glass lightly

Brush up

Brush up

If your pastry brush isn't tough enough to cope with the stickiest barbecue marinades and sizzling sauces, Sili Gourmet has the solution. The four stainless steel and silicone brushes and basters are smart, more robust than most, heat resistant, and dishwasher safe. From £12 for this slender pastry brush, to £16.95 for the biggest baster and injector with a pump and hollow bristles for sucking and squirting juices back into food. 01603 488 019/ www.ictc.co.uk

Utterly Italy

The joy of 'River Cafe Cook Book Easy' was that many of the recipes involved no more cooking than making toast - aka bruschetta. With the same impeccable credentials 'River Cafe Two Easy' (£20, Ebury Press), follows it up with more brilliantly simply ideas for instant Italian. Expect every Tuscany-loving British home to subsist on little else this summer.

Oil's well

Forget a box of chocs; Australian olive oil in a box is the latest gourmet gift. Well, it is in Weybridge now another Oil & Vinegar shop has joined the 20 others across the country. Handmade pastas, oils and balsamics from Italy, olives stuffed with sun-dried tomatoes from Greece and ceramics from Portugal are just some of the foods and containers from sunny spots. Bring your own bottle to fill with oil, or buy the box - a UK first - for £19.95 a litre. 7-9 Church Street, Weybridge, 01932 856622/ www.oilvinegar.com

Through a glass lightly

Phwoar. It's a new bottle blonde. Better still, Discovery, a real ale made with Saaz hops for lager-like lightness but brewed like a bitter, is available on draught in most Fuller's pubs in London. It's the first new permanent cask beer for 20 years from the Fulham brewery whose brews make Londoners' hearts swell with pride. Malted wheat, Liberty as well as the Saaz hops, and Carapils and Pale Ale malts combine to give the new brew something lager and bitter drinkers can happily get their laughing gear round. Drunk chilled or at cellar temperature and only 3.9%, Discovery is deliciously refreshing. They're pulling pints for around £2.50 in Fuller's pubs and in some others as a guest ale. Next month select branches of Sainsbury's start selling 500ml bottles for £1.69.