Marks and Spencer Truly Chocolate Belgian chocolate trufle torte- gluten free and delicious

Wow!  These little flourless puddings are amazing.  Heated for 40 seconds in the microwave you get a smooth intense chocolate pudding.  One between two people looks stingy but is enough.

Food photography is difficult at the best of times, but I simply couldn't take a shot of this that looked anything but weird.

These puddings were in the chilled section at Marks and Spencer, and actually have an orange 'gluten free' logo on the front as well as the helpful allergen box at the back.  Excellent as an indulgent treat or a desert for  dinner party.

You can eat them cold too.

Contain cows milk, eggs and soya.  Not suitable for those allergic to nuts due to manufacturing process.

Carluccio's - I have forgotten how to make menu choices! Lots of gold stars

We went to a concert at Birmingham Town Hall on Friday - Aker Bilk and Chris Barber.  Rod had seen both decades ago, and it seemed an amusing way to spend and evening and see how the refurbishment of this building had worked out. They have reduced the seating and made it light and airy - much better than when we used to go every week to see the CBSO and Simon Rattle nearly thirty years ago.

We ate at Carluccio's before the concert.  I said I was gluten intolerant..expecting to have to give explanations, but no, the chap whisked off and came back with an extensive gluten free menu.  It took me ages to chose what to eat.  I noticed that the rosemary potatoes Rod was having weren't on the gf menu so asked why.  They fry them in oil which has been used to fry other things - but they could do some in a separate frying pan if I wanted them.  It is usually quite difficult to get across the notion of cross contamination in a deep fat fryer so it was refreshing that the explanation came without having to do any form of interrogation.

The meal was quite expensive £55 for two), but we had several drinks and both had desert (mine was a gooey chocolate cake/pudding made with almonds).  I would definitely recommend this as a special event restaurant...and no doubt we could have eaten cheaper if we hadn't been so delightedly piggy.