Sardines, mackerel, herring, pilchards, sprats and anchovies ... canning only makes the umami flavour better. They’re my top choice for pasta

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I can’t find it, despite having spent the past 35 minutes looking, but somewhere in the house is The Crisis Cook Book. It’s a standard paperback, postbox-red with white writing on the cover, and full of recipes from chefs including Rowley Leigh, Heston Blumenthal and Jeremy Lee. Not having found it, I needed Amazon to tell me it was published in 2007 and compiled by Nick Lander, at the time the Financial Times’ restaurant correspondent. He asked 28 chefs to donate three recipes – their favourite starter, main course and dessert – and proceeds from the book went to the national homelessness charity Crisis.

The reason I needed (and still need – it is now a mission) to find the book is because inside it is Rowley’s recipe for pasta with tinned sardines, fennel, chilli and lemon zest. It’s a recipe that I have made so many times, and for so many years, that I don’t need to look at the book; but, equally, because I’ve made it so many times and so much time has passed, I have no idea how far I have drifted from the original, and want to check. I’ve even written about this recipe in my weekly Guardian column, without referring to the book or even mentioning Rowley! Not that a store-cupboard version of the Sicilian pasta con le sarde (pasta with sardines and wild fennel) is owned by anyone, although Rowley did teach me.

Whether they’re consumed as a considered glass for one or something to sip on a short trip, miniature wine bottles are back with a bang

In the 1920s, the London wine merchant Berry Bros & Rudd was asked to create a wine cellar for a doll’s house, commissioned by Queen Mary, to showcase the best of British craftsmanship. Designed by Edwin Lutyens, it had running water, electricity, a library of tiny books and, naturally, a wine cellar stocked with 1,200 miniature bottles, including vintage ports, an 1889 Montrachet and top-tier bordeaux. These days, the doll’s house resides in Windsor Castle, but Berry Bros has a replica of that cellar in its own Mayfair cellar, complete with 5ml bottles of those same wines.

It is fair to say that this is not representative of the calibre of wine one generally finds in miniature bottles, a format associated with air travel and what I once called “journey juice” – ie, a drop that would last me the six stops from home to London Victoria on a Friday night. Google “miniature bottles of wine” and you’ll overwhelmingly be served examples from the very biggest wine brands in the world. This is also true of canned wines, although I’d argue there’s more interesting wine going into cans than small bottles.

Including, to my surprise, a 100% cacao bar …

Although I’m un peu fatiguée of chocolates in bonbon shape with coloured cocoa-butter splashes atop, I appreciate this is the way many chocolates truffles are made. Overcoming that prejudice, I tucked into a box of Scoff chocolates. They were beautifully fresh tasting – they are made in batches throughout the year and the latest batch has just been let loose. I liked every one of the nine flavours I tested, from lemon to malted milk. But the ingredient list is long and a bit mainstream; a cleaner, more artisan approach and this would be a winning brand.

Marks & Spencer has brought out some 1980s classics in original packaging for those wanting to go full Rivals: look out for Now!, Jet, Sparks and Coconut Grove and see which chocolate classics they remind you of. My testers loved them.