Serves 4

Serves 6-8 as a starter

Don't cook all the goodness out of spring vegetables, says our chef.

Serves 4

What to do

When i was just a twinkle in its creator's eye, its sister paper The Independent moved offices from east London to west. Staff left behind a windswept waterfront and a long walk to buy lunch in favour of shops! Cafes! Restaurants! Marks & Spencer! All seconds away, which is great, although our wallets now take regular thrashings. But no one's ever content, right? So there is the occasional gentle whinge about what isn't perfect: mainly that the nearest branches of two old favourites, sandwich bar Eat and sushi chain Itsu, are too far away. (Oh, and that our diamond shoes are too tight).

Who said that salads had to be eaten during the summer months?

With a drought on the way, we need to start saving water now. In his bid to go from torrent to trickle, Simon Usborne dries out

In a deluge of paper and plastic, the spring catalogues arrive. With loud boasting, too: 40 kinds of tomato, posh ranges of six French salad potatoes, more vegetables than anyone else. This is gardening, 2012 style, its face all freshly scrubbed and ready to go.

What's on the menu for lunch today? A cheese and pickle sandwich? Quinoa salad? Chips? Will it be eaten at home, or in the pub, or al desko, scattering crumbs over your keyboard that will worm their way under the "S" key and make it ssssstick? Homemade or shop bought?

What to do

Nothing's ever been Mark E Smith's fault – not the punch-ups, not the break-ups; least of all his band's constantly changing line-ups. At least that's what the man with the most malevolent snarl in music tells Robert Chalmers

1. French Bull

Bring your salad to life with these psychedelic servers. Shatterproof and dishwasher safe, they are available in a multi-coloured ring pattern or paisley design.

£8, nellypepper.co.uk