Heng Kee Lor Mee @ Bendemeer Market

This stall in the Bendemeer market serves one of the nicest lor mee.

You might be wondering what made their lor mee tastier than others. The answer lies not in any secret recipe but simply in the addition of those wonderful fried pork bits. It provides that much needed crunch to the otherwise gluey bowl of noodles and it is especially yummy even when the fried pork bits are soaked in the lor mee gravy.

Hence, I always like to save the best for last!

Priced at $2.50 for a regular bowl, it is a definite must-try! But be prepared for a long queue on weekends where the stall normally closes as early as 10am!

And a word of caution to those with special requests such as doing away with certain ingredients like egg or braised pork etc, you would most certainly be frowned upon by the less-than-courteous hawker. :)

The Hand Burger

The only novelty in this new restaurant in Singapore lies only in the name - at least it is to me.

Having seen queues forming outside the restaurant at 313@somerset on numerous occasions, I was quite keen to get my hands on one of their burgers.

So when the second restaurant opened at the Raffles City Shopping Centre, we got take-aways to dine in peace at home.

The burgers were nicely packaged in cylindrical paper containers before being handed out to the customers in a nice take-away plastic bag. Kudos to the packaging team but naturally, the packaging cost is surely passed down to us, the customers.

The first thing that caught my eyes were the thick slab of meat smacked right in the middle of the burger stack-up. They were not as huge as their American counterparts but still, to be able to bite into all layers - buns, vegetables and meat - would require quite a feat with the mouth.

While THE husband couldn't recall the exact names of the burgers he ordered, one tasted very much like a tandoori chicken burger (in the background) while the other tasted quite extraordinary! It tasted like chicken in otak paste. Hmmm....interesting....

Honestly, I would rather queue up for a KFC Zinger burger which tastes much better at half the price!

Baumkuchen - The Hungarian Version

Just when I thought I had seen and tasted THE Baumkuchen, I found an entirely different version in Villach, a little town located at the southern part of Austria. And to make things a little complicated, it's the Hungarian version known as Kürtőskalács which were sold there.

It was a much simpler version consisting of only one ring unlike the Singapore version which was made up of numerous bark-like rings. Also, unlike it's Singapore counterpart which has numerous flavors and fanciful decorations to choose from, the Hungarian version tasted more like a bread (rather than a cake) with plain sugar and cinnamon powder coated all around it.

Nevertheless, the freshly baked, piping hot baumkuchen was quickly devoured amongst the few of us as we wandered along the snow-covered Christmas market on a cold and windy winter afternoon.

Philip's First Snowman!

What better ways to kick-off Philip's first Christmas celebration than a little snowman, 'freshly' built in the garden! :)