I have a confession to make. I have been a deliquent blogger for the last couple of months. But I need not enumerate and rant all the causes for being so. I'd rather rejoice for finding the time to get back to the usual :-). I can already smell the scent of the festive season. The lights, ornaments and holiday trees have started to adorn the streets, different establishments and houses. Although I've yet to put up mine at home, I'm beginning to feel strongly the wind of merriment. Oh Christmas, I'm so glad you're finally here!

During this period, aside from decoratives, we also often times get busy with delicacies and treats hunting. This early, I've started my hunt for sweet goodies to add up to my holiday food list. Cookie Man (found in the basement level of Takashimaya Shopping Centre) fits perfectly for a cookie burger recipe. I'm so glad to find another alternative (aside from Famous Amos) for a not so sweet, finger licking good cookies. The Cookie Man makes a very good ingredient for a cookie burger for it's slightly crunchy yet gooey texture. It can hold a spread filling well upon refrigeration. I'll share the recipe on my next post. I'm still trying on different spread and cookie combinations. Meanwhile, you can also binge on the cookies as is. In fact, my children feasted on a whole pack and there was nothing left for my dessert item.

After the September hiatus (last month was pretty tight for me), I'm finally back online. Incidentally, I'm welcoming the October with a new face for the blog. Just in time to mark the official start of the merry months (a.k.a. holiday season), I decided to dress up the blog anew. I hope you'll all like it. =)

And whenever the holiday season arrives, isn't food always the star of the feast? Timely, Singapore Culinary Journey 2010 gives us a good season sampler with its October Highlights. This might be a good jumpstart to excite our appetite.

I recently attended an all female - bloggers only event at the posh Heaven's Loft restaurant in Orchard Central. The event was organized by Kotex and OMY for the former's launch of its breakthrough product - Luxe. It's a party definitely filled with mouthwatering sweet treats. An assortment of specialty cakes, fruit tarts, cup cakes, mousse, brownies, ice cream and other finger licking good savoury bites entertained the meandering palate of every guest. It was an afternoon of sugar rush which is just right for the high spirit ambiance at the launch party.

There was a "Design your own Cupcakes" table by Sweetest Moments that really hooked my interest. My daughter and I had a wonderful bonding time in creating our own cute little cupcake versions. Other than the design, there's nothing spectacular to rave about the taste. I was apparently craving for a more gooey, decadent mouthfeel rather than the crumbly, dry texture that it has. However, I would commend the level of sweetness as it's just right, not too sweet nor too bland.

Just like its other asian neighbors, Singapore share the same eating habit for rice and noodles. The local diet is largely comprised of these two major staples with the latter as the most common choice for a meal. From its very affluent culinary pot, noodles definitely stands out as a food category. You normally see it in all forms and variations in the local food centres and Kopitiams. In fact, the range of choices is so diverse that sampling its taste equates to being a cultural attraction. It's typically slurpped and enjoyed piping hot either in soup or stir-fry. Many of these dishes are adaptations or inter-cultural fusions of the multiple ethnic groups who migrated to the country. This gave birth to the Chinese-Singaporean, Indian-Singaporean, Malay-Singaporean, Indo-Singaporean and other mix and matches of multi-racial cuisines. Likewise, by and large, this makes the noodle dishes in this country far from being lifeless and boring. As such, it is a culinary pride. Here are my top picks for the must try.

Prawn Hokkien Mee - a dish brought to Singapore by immigrants from Fujian (Hokkien) Province in China; it's rice vermicelli and round yellow noodles fried with prawns, cuttle fish and bits of pork fat; creamy, oily yet pleasingly tasty!



Char Kway Teow - "char kway teow" means stir-fried ricecake strips which generally refers to flat rice noodles; usually stir-fried in very high heat with chinese sausage, beaten egg, fish cakes, bean sprouts, green chives, chillies and some vegetables; tales had it that this is the most fatty noodle dish since it's fried in pork fat (no wonder it is very oily in mouthfeel) nonetheless, the wok taste is something to crave for