We were invited along to Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen restaurant to hold a special Stitch and Bitch London meeting to promote Fifteen’s ever so fabulous limited edition Knitting Kits.

Fifteen is Jamie Oliver’s flagship restaurant in London’s Shoreditch. It’s the place where every year 15 disadvantaged young whippersnappers are shoved into the kitchen and turned into apprentice chefs, which changes their lives in all sorts of lovely ways. Their four restaurants around the world are also part of a mission to inspire global entrepreneurship in young people, as well as teaching them to rustle up some wicked grub.

We took five of our lucky members along for some pukka eats and a bit of a knit.

Lots of pukka yarn

Oooo, fancy!

"Go on! Knit me!" said the yarn

The Purple Purler's table

Gertrude greets new arrivals

Lovely jubbly!

Sliced pork and roast shallots? Go on then.

Roast figs with melted cheese and almonds? Don't mind if I do.

Roasted fennel in all kinds of herbs. Easy tiger!

Four sneaky Stitchettes up to no good

The very lovely knitting kits

A yarnstormed "Cheers, guvnor!"

Please note: there are no people pics as I was too busy troughing the lovely grub and having a good old knit. Also I didn’t like to stick a camera in people’s faces while they tucked in. A lovely, tasty time was had by all though. We promise.

You can also listen to the delicious knitting fun on Hoxton Handmade’s Electric Sheep podcast.

You can buy one of Fifteen’s ever so fabulous limited edition Knitting Kits on their website.

Thanks ever so much to the fine folks at Fifteen for having us along. We’d loved it.

*burps*

Hey, we’re just as excited as everyone else about President Barack Obama’s first trip to Europe as leader of the free world, and the G20 summit thing sounds cool and everything. But the big news in this household is who will be cooking for the Obamas in merry old England.

You guessed it, amigos…our favorite male UK chef, Jamie Oliver, will be doing the honors at this year’s G20 Summit meeting in London. And while the official menu has yet to be announced, rumor is that Oliver is gearing up to serve the President and First Lady a simple meal of Welsh lamb, asparagus and flat bread with a side of English herb (aka wild garlic). Yum…sounds good to me.

And lest you think Oliver will be toiling all alone in that big old kitchen, fear not. Oliver is going to be helped along by a team of his apprentices from his iconic Fifteen Restaurant in London.

For those of you who missed Oliver’s rocking reality series “Jamie’s Kitchen” a couple of years back, Fifteen takes in unemployed, disadvantaged young people from around the country and trains them to be professional chefs. Cool, huh?

No word yet on whether the Obamas will have time to stop by the restaurant proper, but here’s hoping they find some time to chill with Jamie between courses. And though Oliver’s wife, the very pregnant Jules Oliver, will reportedly miss the event as it is taking place on her due date, word on the street is that both she and her husband are huge fans of our new President.

That’s right…even the English loves them some Obama. Rock on, Jamie O!

Rockefeller backs ’social’ stock market

By Jonathan Guthrie, Enterprise Editor
Published: March 22 2008 02:00

A “social stock exchange” where ethical investors can trade shares in worthy enterprises could be set up under plans announced yesterday.

The exchange would aim to combine profitable trading with social or environmental missions. Clean technologies, health care, first world development projects and help for disadvantaged communuties would be included in the exchange.

The Rockefeller Foundation, one of the world’s best-known philanthropic organisations, is putting up $500,000 (£252,000) to pay for the feasibility study. If this identifies demand for a social stock exchange, the market would be launched next year.

Antony Bugg-Levine, managing director, said it chose the UK as the site for the feasibility study partly because of firm government support for social enterprise. “The government’s active approach to the third sector is creating a better environment than in some other countries,” he said.

Government initiatives have included the creation of a separate form of incorporation for social enterprises and plans for a social investment bank funded with unclaimed assets held by financial institutions. Well-known UK social enterprises include the Eden Project, the Cornish botanical visitor attraction, Fifteen, a restaurant chain that employs disadvantaged young people, and Big Issue magazine sold by homeless people.

Mr Bugg-Levine said the exchange could provide a handy investment forum for wealthy philanthropists. He said: “There is a new class of rich people unhappy with the old binary system of making money with one hand and giving it away with the other.”

Pradeep Jethi, formerly new product development manager at the London Stock Exchange, devised the idea of a UK social stock exchange and will lead the research. “I know of 150 social enterprises listed on the LSE, Plus Markets or on AIM but they are in the microcap category and are difficult for investors to find,” he said

The social stock exchange would resemble a junior market, accepting businesses with as little as £500,000 annual turnover and two years trading history. The key problem is to develop an ethical screening system that meets the bulk of investors’ approval. Mr Jethi favours recruiting ethical financial institutions, such as Triodos Bank, to vet companies seeking admission.

The type of business that might list is epitomised by The Ethical Property Company. This has invested £25m in properties it lets to charitable and campaigning groups, bringing turnover of £2.5m a year. Founder Jamie Hartzell said he would be keen to list on the exchange. He said: “It would be culturally difficult for us to list on Aim, which is really for people who want to cash out.”

The Rockefeller feasibility study will be formally announced on Thursday at the 2008 Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, an annual conference at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School. Rodney Schwartz, the social investor and former investment banker, launches a web portal at the event allowing ethical investors to identify social enterprises they are interested in backing.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008