The weather in Singapore has been unbearably hot recently and I have been pulling out all the stops in trying to beat the heat, from hiding out in air-conditioned areas to downing cold drinks by the dozen. Another trusty method would be enjoying iced desserts, from local delights such as Chendol and Ice Kacang, to more fancy options like Gelato ice cream. Thus, I decided to finally try Blackball, a taiwanese dessert chain that has landed on our shores.

They have an outlet at the relatively new Star Vista mall, which has a small seating area great to sit, eat and chill with friends. I tried the Blackball signature icy, which is featured as the "Best" on their website and retails for $4.90. It is easy to see why this is considered their signature treat since it's generously laden with various toppings such as golden sweet potato, yam balls, grass jelly and red bean just to name a few. It also comes with evaporated milk for you to pour over the dessert. While I loved the icy base which made the dessert such a treat to savour on a warm day, only the grass jelly and red beans impressed me as I felt that the rest of the toppings were much too starchy and I could hardly taste what they were supposed to be made from, such as the yam and sweet potato. The grass jelly though is a winner as it is probably the silkiest and smoothest grass jelly that I've ever eaten in my life! Thus, I doubt I will be repurchasing this treat as I did not like most of the toppings. That said, you can customize your own cup of blackball so I will definitely be back to try it out!

Food fads come and go, but the recent cupcake craze is one that I’m hoping will not just be a fad. With numerous cupcakes shops popping up here and there, one of the more established ones is “Twelve Cupcakes”, which was founded by local celebrity couple Daniel and Jaime Teo and has successfully expanded overseas to Indonesia, with more outlets in Malaysia and Taiwan in the works.

They carry a wide variety of cupcakes flavors, such as the usual fare of Peanut butter and Chocolate, Strawberry Vanilla and also more exotic flavors such as Salted caramel and Nutella. The flavor that I will be reviewing today is the “Red velvet” one which is both aesthetically pleasing with the adorable heart-shaped candy atop the cream cheese frosting and the deep red coloring of the cake. The cupcake base is moist yet light while the cream cheese frosting complements the cake as it is sweet enough to add more flavor but not too cloying as can be the case with some frostings. If only the market price was a little lower, I would be a much happier camper. But as of now, I’m satisfied with cupcakes from Twelvecupcakes and the fact that they are plenty of outlets around Singapore to fuel my cupcake craving. The hot pink box also helps to make happier carting them around.

When I used to work in a boutique in Orchard road being paid $7.50/hr as a part-time staff, I initially despaired over my lunch options because dining in town is usually on the more expensive side and I needed to figure out a way to eat good food at a price easy on my (slim) wallet. Thankfully, my co-workers brought me to Lucky Food Centre, located in Lucky Plaza (yes, a place that we usually don't venture into), that has a food court with reasonably priced dishes from about $3-6 a pop.

One of favourite stalls is the River Valley Nasi Lemak, which sells, Nasi lemak with the various condiments from fried chicken wings to fish and curry vegetables. A plate of Nasi lemak costs $3.50, and includes fragrant coconut rice, fried fish, egg omelette, otah, cucumber and the most important part, the chili sauce. I always make it a point to ask for extra chili sauce because it’s sweet and spicy and makes the dish so much more satisfying. The portions are also just enough but maybe a too little for those with larger appetites.

On the whole, I highly recommend this for an affordable and delicious meal in Town.

My family friday dinner tradition is to take a break from cooking at home, which can be such a hassle, to dine at one of my favourite hawker centers in Singapore, the East Coast Lagoon Food Village. Situated right next to East Coast Park, it boasts of the usual fare of Singapore hawker delights such as chicken rice, rojak and also BBQ seafood. This allows us to sate our hawker food craving and then go for a nice evening stroll by the beach afterwards to digest the meal and enjoy the evening sea breeze.

One of the dishes that I always order every time we go there is the LAgoon Leng Kee Beef Kway Teow, which is one of the more popular stalls in the hawker centre as it almost always has a queue. But as the Singapore mentality goes, if there is a queue, the food must be pretty damn good. It comes in both $4/$5 portions but I usually just get the $4 one and order it with just beef and Kway Teow noodles, while they do offer other types of noodles such as mifen and mian and also a mix of beef and innards.

The best part of the dish would have to be the beef broth, which is flavorful and yet not overly salty such that every mouthful has to be accompanied by a gulp of water. The noodles are also cooked with the right amount of bite and are not mushy while the beef slices are generous and go well with the chili sauce.

If you are ever in East Coast Park, do pop by this hawker centre and try the Beef Kway Teow!

One of my favourite things to snack upon when I'm on town is Auntie Anne's Pretzels! They come in a variety of flavors from savory to sweet to suit every type of tastebuds and some even had dipping sauces too! This time, I'm going to share my all-time favorite pretzel, which is the cinnamon sugar pretzel!
Cinnamon sugar seems to make anything taste x10 better and so you can expect that cinnamon sugar on a pretzel is going to blow your mind, or at least, tastebuds.

At only $3 for a large pretzel, I would say the price is right for a sugary treat that is bound to sweeten your day! The warm pretzel is generously coated with cinnamon sugar and is nice and crispy on the outside, while soft and chewy on the inside. Do note that it is a messy treat as the sugar always seems to go everywhere whenever I eat one of these and especially when I try to reach all the leftover bits of sugar left inside the paper bag (which you will also want to do!).

If you pass by a Auntie Anne's, definitely try a cinnamon sugar pretzel, it sure won't disappoint!