Precious advice

Working near Spitalfields market gives me access to a great range of shops and restaurants that you wouldn't necessarily find on your local high street. A dream for finding quirky gifts, international foods and also some fab clothes.

My absolute favourite find in Spitalfields, and in fact favourite shop full stop, is Precious (http://www.precious-london.com/) who sell the most divine clothes in the city combined with really fabulous staff. Personal service and reliable fashion advice are a rarity in most clothes stores these days but extremely valuable if, like me, you're not a natural fashionista but can't bear to stick to the city uniform of drab suits and shirts.

But what has this got to do with Nutrition ... well being a Precious fan I read their excellent blog (http://preciouspearlsofwisdom.wordpress.com) and along with last weeks indispensable advice on holiday packing (which I will be following in my efforts to try and pack for a week in France in a carry on wheelie!) they also mentioned the arrival of another new shop in the Spitalfields area ... Hummingbird Bakery.

For anyone who somehow missed the cupcake craze that swept the capital last year, Hummingbird is THE place to go for fairy light sponge and delicious butter cream icing. Great for a treat, not so great for the digestively impaired like myself!!

Still on further investigation it turns out they've started selling gluten free cupcakes, which made a great gift for a fellow gluten-intolerant last week and continued evidence of the increased demand for gluten free foods. Sadly, even minus the gluten, they're still total sugar hits ... but for when you're having your '20% of the time treats' I really do think you should go for the best of whatever you fancy ... and if it's cupcakes Hummingbird is the place.

I'm just holding out for them to start making gluten and dairy free cupcakes, although then I may struggle to stick to the 20% restriction!!