If you're a normal person, and I like to think that most of our readers are (although I can vouch for a few of you not being, I must say – Man Who Once Sent Me a Lewd Cartoon, I'm looking at you here), then you've probably reached the point in the year when your good post-Christmas intentions have melted away and faded to nothing, just as the brandy butter did when you slathered it over your steaming-hot pudding all those many weeks ago.

Makes about 10-15

A lot of people are put off by the thought of ginger – maybe it's the powdered stuff that gives it a bad reputation. But fresh root ginger is quite another story and I always keep a piece in my fridge – it comes in useful for all sorts of things, from making a healing and refreshing tea to creating a fragrant Asian broth. Occasionally, you also see the fresh pink ginger in Asian supermarkets – this is very young ginger, before the skin forms, which is very tender and not too overpowering. This is the stuff that often gets pickled for serving with sushi and sashimi. Then there is crystallised ginger and preserved ginger in syrup, which have their uses in puddings and sweets.

Outlook George Osborne will doubtless point to fact thatgilt yields have fallen to all-time lows as evidence that his economic medicine is working, and also point out that Italy failed to complete its latest bond auction as Hungary teetered on the brink.

Serves 4

Evershot, in West Dorset, reeks with literary association. It turns up in Tess of the D'Urbevilles as "the small town or village of Evershead" where Tess pauses on her way to call on Angel Clare's parents: "She made a halt here and breakfasted a second time, heartily enough – not at the Sow and Acorn, for she avoided inns, but at a cottage by the church." The church is St Basil's (patron saint of hoteliers, I expect) and the poet George Crabbe was rector there. Had poor Ms D'Urbeville lived a century later, she could have had her breakfast at Summer Lodge, a former dower-house whose grounds were part-designed by Thomas Hardy, when he was the local architect.

Usually when you go to the theatre it's a bit embarrassing if you accidentally nod off in the middle of the show. At Lullaby, it's the exact opposite: the whole aim of the show is to send the audience to sleep.

Whether he thinks socks rock or is handy with the brandy, show your dad you dote on him this Sunday with one of these perfect presents.

How to light your Christmas pudding without burning your fingers