Extra pleased that these arrived from Melt Chocolates in good time for Christmas. The reindeer box is the latest in a string of fuss-free collaborations. A pity it got a teensy bit damaged in the mail, but it's nothing compared to the carnage we'll make of the contents tomorrow.

Season's greetings y'all!

Happy Easter

Thought Claes Oldenburg's Fried Egg (1966-71) would make a suitable Easter post, but I hope your super-sized egg is made from something tastier than canvas, dyed cotton and expanded polystyrene this Sunday!

Image found here.

90g

If we have anything like a patron, it'll be Melt Chocolates in west London. It's a pretty straight forward working relationship, with mutual satisfaction assured. Right now we're hatching plans for Easter, but here's a promo shot for their current kids' bars featuring our characters. I wish I looked this cute with chocolate on my face… smeared sleepily round my chin of an evening, with a few errant flakes on my chest.

20-80

I could still see the 'All Books 20p' sign at the back of the RSPCA shop when the cashier charged me 80p for Growing Vegetable Soup last week. It was still a bargain.

A quick image search filled the shameful gaps in my knowledge of illustrator, Lois Ehlert. I also saw her penchant for crazy knitwear… now I really am a fan.

The blossom on our courgette plant is spectacular, but the bounty is nothing compared to our generous neighbours', who've put regular veg on our plates for two weeks now.

Bring on the soup!

• Lois Ehlert, Growing Vegetable Soup, 1987

I enjoyed hanging out in London so much for a few days last week that I can't tell you why I ever moved away. I'm not sure which bit was best, catching up with friends, seeing some shows, or eating/drinking our fill at HIX (yep, their vegetarian menu is tasty too). If fellow diner, John Cooper Clarke, fancied being left alone, then —oops— he picked the wrong night.

Featuring the fractured bodies of cubist guitars, the latest exhibition from Ricky Swallow at Stuart Shave/Modern Art, struck a quiet, thoughtful tone. Resembling painted maquettes of cardboard and tape, each work is precision cast in bronze. The new space swaps the concrete-cool modernity of Eastcastle St for the ornate charm of the Old World... and carrying buggies up two flights of stairs.

Then, like a true tourist, I finally found time to visit the hushed rotunda of Notre Dame de France on the otherwise bustling Leicester Place. I'd always planned to see Jean Cocteau's 1959 frescoes, and they were great, but Robert de Chaunac's alter tapestry was a revelation proper.

Easter Yummy

Whatever it was we did to get on the good side of Melt founder, Louise Nason, I'm sooo pleased we did it. I reckon this might be our fifth collaboration with London's most modern chocolatiers and, as the other vices of youth fall away, I cling ever more keenly to chocolate. Maybe that's why I'm unsure which aspect of receiving a Melt parcel I anticipate more excitedly, eyeing the beautiful packaging or devouring the contents!

Nestled in our Rita Rabbit box, Easter goodies are now available via their flagship store on Notting Hill's Ledbury Road; their concession in Selfridges or online.

C

The centennial birthday of 20th century giant of no-music (and mycology), John Cage, is a good reason to re-post this picture I've had sitting on my desktop for who-knows-how-long. As unassuming as ever, I'm guessing that carrier bag's just full of fungi.

Them Apples

One season is certainly insufficient for transformation into domestic gods and goddesses. I'm used to toil on the allotment so the unchecked plenitude of fruit trees was overwhelming. Too busy to bake, most of the apples rotted on the ground and gave my guilt a vinegary piquance.

This Lisa

Last week the British Library got in touch for a small biog, something to differentiate this Lisa Jones from all the others catalogued in their system. Seems they have copies of the books we illustrated for Joanna Skipwith's Silver Jungle, I Choose You! and I'd Chew You!

Above is a cheesy spread that never matured to selection.

Early Bird

I gave up on milk the day a Japanese friend explained that westerners famously smell of cheese! So, although those beautifully blank bottles no longer figure in my fridge, they do feature on the doorstep of Early Bird, our latest print.

With a lingering whiff of nostalgia, the traditional milk bottle has a look I still enjoy in umpteen applications, from the cast concrete bollards outside a dairy to the roughly drawn outlines emptied on Tom & Jerry. So ubiquitous is the symbol that it occasionally jolts my reality when I see one filled with orange juice!

For a portion of the planet's populace, it's that ultimate festival of flat food, Pancake Day. Bon Appetit!

• Martin Mayhew, endpaper illustration from Ursula Sedgwick's My Fun to Cook, Hamlyn, 1969

Melt Chocolates

I shouldn't really urge you to try anything from west London's award winning Melt, it'll ruin the pleasure of regular chocolate forever. I love the antiqued blue they've achieved on this, our second seasonally themed collaborative mug. And we're in good company too, there's Dinky and Beau, gorgeous chocolate lollipops from the wonderful Celia Birtwell.

Cake Lady

Not sure how long it'll be before there's any more picture-posts here, my camera bust over the weekend. One way or another I was feeling pretty glum when, somewhere near the centre of the Central Line, a commuter noticed me eyeing her crammed Ottolenghi bags. Turns out she was distributing surplus cake to the homeless on her own way home. As if that wasn't cool enough, she gave us two boxed-up passion fruit tarts for a treat in front of Wallander repeats. A pair of German tourists, with eager eyes like saucers, had blueberry cupcakes too. Danke schön, cake lady!

Parmex

Apparently, the New River was diverted from Herefordshire to supply London with clean water in 1613. Passing clear through to Islington, it filled tanks for Sadler's Wells' patriotic battle re-enactments and populist plays of the 1800s.

My allotment plot follows the riverbed of one section long since routed underground. I could make gargantuan mosaics with the variety and volume of broken pottery I find, but carrots just won't root straight in such craggy soil. Enter the Parmex; a cultivar that strives to regain in girth (and flavour) what it laughably lacks in length. And this is my first 'bumper' crop.

Allotment Excitement

Ever the city-dweller, Edward finds gardening Sisyphean yet never grumbles about a cache of organic veg. Okay, perhaps the excitement's not exactly instantaneous, but that's probably why I like it. I'm not even sure what goes through my mind when I'm at the allotment. Here's a few things making an appearance and, if they survive the bike journey, there's even some poppies for the home too.

Sweet Stuff

There's some contention over the spelling (sometimes they're Pastis other times it's Pasteis de Nata), but why should I care? Either way those little Portuguese Egg Custards are plain delicious. Hence, no contest when asked to join an illustrious list of contributors and illustrate something sweet for the amazing Dessert Girl.

Spring!

As spring becomes more promising with each passing day, my seasonal mug for Melt and their Selfridges concession should be available any moment. Here’s one of the rejected designs… which may or may not have been my favourite.