I could be about the secure a competition prize for a lucky Birmingham Mail reader that will appeal to any true foodie - the chance to attend a cookery class led by Heston Blumenthal, the godfather of contemporary British cookery.

He's linked up with a manufacturer of dishwater tablets to offer a number of places at his cookery school down in Berkshire and I'm currently in talks about getting a place set aside for a Mail reader.

If/when it happens, the competition will be in our Food + Drink section. Watch this space for more info.

Lunch deals at restaurants can be disappointing affairs. All too often the choice is limited and the dishes unimpressive.

But I sampled the £9.95 lunch at Malmaison yesterday which comprises a main course and a glass of wine and I have to say I walked away a happy man. The rump steak I ordered was a generous chunk of properly cooked beef. There were good chips and a pleasant sauce. There were other dishes on the menu that appealed, too.

We've linked up with the hotel to offer five free lunches as competition prizes in this Thursday's Food + Drink section of the Mail. Well worth entering, I reckon.

Anyone explain this mystery?

A couple of weeks ago I followed a recipe from Andrea Antona's excellent Modern French Cookery book that combines shallots, red wine, fish stock, double cream and butter to make a fabulous (though I say so myself) full-flavoured sauce.

This weekend I followed the same recipe, but (before adding the cream) tasted the liquid and it was so metallic it ended up in the sink.

The only difference was that I used a wine made from syrah first time and a pinot noir the second.

I've been taken to task by various surfers for not naming restaurants when I post critical blogs - most recently when I had a good old moan about over-cooked meat and offal.

Here's the rationale. First the critcism was meant to be general and I believe it would be unfair to single out specific restaurants when I've encountered similar shortcomings elsewhere. If I encounter a problem that's peculiar to be particular restaurant, maybe that's different.

Secondly, I'm not sure that a site like this is the correct medium to direct criticism at a business. It would be good to think every waiter, chef, bar tender and restaurant owner in the city regularly reads my blogs but that's not the case. I worry, therefore, that they might be unaware of criticism and be denied - by their own ignorance, true enough - the chance to reply.

Is there a worse cookery programme on television than Come Dine With Me?

I slumped in front of Channel 4 News and couldn't be bothered to get up to change channels when CDWM started.

It seems to me to be based on a collection of people who know little about food and who have limited ability as cooks but possess an endless (yet unfathomable) belief in their own importance and an endless desire to win the £1,000 prize.

Their dishes made the offerings of Ready Steady Cook seem like haute cuisine. Absolute rubbish.

In tomorrow's Food + Drink section of the Mail, Simpson's head chef Luke Tipping offers some great advice for barbecues. Plus there's a recipe for home-made beef burgers which would be ideal on the BBQ.

All of which is appealing with the weather forecasters promising a weekend of sun and warmth.

Trouble is, I'm not much of a barbecue user and, right now, don't even have an outside grill since mine was demolished during building work that recently took place.

Wonder how much one of those brick-built outdoor ovens would cost? I'll need something to eat while enjoying a cold beer in the sweltering months ahead (fingers crossed).

Harvey Nichols has started stocking a range of flavoured olive oils made by the Spanish firm Borges and based on recipes created at the famous El Bulli restaurant.

I've been sent two bottles - a basil infused version which I've yet to try and a really well balanced and zingy soy and ginger oil which I've splashed on a couple of salads.

This weekend I'm using it at dinner party with prawns, wild rice popcorn, sprouts (the young shoots, not Xmas veg) and, if I can find it, a little Japanese dried seaweed.

I hope the flavours and textures work together. It would be a shame to waste such a fine oil.

Some great prizes on offer in the Birmingham Mail this week as part of our Cut the Cost promotion, which, unsurpisingly, is aiming to cut the cost of living.

Check out Thursday's paper, for instance, for the chance to win a meal a week for a year at a well known pub chain.

Separately, there's also the opportunity in that day's Food + Drink section to win a meal at Hotel du Vin.

Driving my son to New Street Station this afternoon, I spotted near Holloway Circus a new Lebanese restaurant called Beiruit.

I didn't have time (or inclination in the heavy traffic) to stop to check out the menu, but the place looked more fast food than high-end.

Nothing wrong with that if what's served is good quality. I'll let you know after I've paid a visit.

I like the food from that part of the world so fingers crossed Beiruit delivers.

Hot on the hooves of the news that beef produced abroad can be sold over here as British comes another disturbing revelation.

EU officials are considering allowing pig remains to be fed to chickens because the price of grain - the birds' usual diet - has risen.

Didn't we go down this route before BSE? Haven't those in favour considered the sensibilities of Muslims and Jews whose religions forbid the consumption of pork?

I like to think of myself as a good European, but sometimes I despair. This plan cannot go ahead. Give animals their natural diets!