<preform>Food & Drink notes</preform>

Ahead of the curve; Thai break; use your loaf; best baa none

Ahead of the curve

Ahead of the curve

Nigella and Jamie are among the cooks whose hands rock the mezzaluna. Both rate the half-moon blades for chopping without too much elbow grease. Richardson Sheffield, this country's kitchen-knife leader (half the knives we buy come from them) makes a natty twin-bladed mezzaluna which can be used to chop herbs with one hand or two. Cheaper than many kitchen knives at £15. 0114-241 9200 or www.richardson-sheffield.co.uk for stockists.

Thai break

Soak up the atmosphere of Thailand tomorrow without having to take a long-haul flight. Thai New Year, or Songkran Water Festival, lasts from 13-15 April, but the UK's first Buddhist temple, Wat Buddhapadipa, 14 Calonne Avenue, London SW19, holds its celebration tomorrow. Stalls selling Thai food, groceries and ingredients make it the closest you'll come to the aromas and tastes of Thailand inside the M25. Admission is free. For more information visit www.buddhapadipa.org

Use your loaf

Ready to replace that old wheatsheaf-motif bread bin? If you plan to change it for a Poilâne bread box, start saving now. The bread board has detachable glass sides through which you can slot the knife for slicing straight, and a linen roof. And the cost: £177, though the price includes the bread knife (£28 on its own) and they generously throw in a whole loaf of Poilâne sourdough (normally around £7) when you buy it from the Poilâne bakery, 46 Elizabeth Street, London SW1 (020-7808 4910).

Best baa none

Follow the flock by switching to sheep's milk - it has more calcium and protein than cow's, more of the fat is mono or polyunsaturated, and it suits some sufferers of lactose or dairy intolerance.

Plain organic sheep's milk yoghurt from Dorset's Woodlands Park Dairy is a familiar sight in supermarket aisles. Now it comes with tangy fruit flavours: apricot, cranberry and raspberry, blackcurrant and strawberry made by adding nothing but organic fruit and organic sugar. Woodlands Dairy's 150g fruit yoghurt tubs are sold in health food shops, independent delis and grocers - though they're not in the supermarkets just yet - for 89p. www.woodlands-park.co.uk for stockists.