What is it about the smell of a cup of coffee and a freshly toasted slice of bread spread with butter? It's hunger inducing and what's worse...the smell is all in my mind. I haven't had breakfast yet, and I just suddenly caught a phantom whiff of this enticing aroma.

The monsoon has begun. Perfect weather to stay indoors with a good book and a hot cup of tea. For those people I know in the US who'll scoff at this, believe you me...when temps get to around 23 Celsius or a few degrees below, it IS cold for those of us here in the tropics.

Now that the tarts are safely frozen away till Christmas, spring cleaning has begun...in earnest. And this is when my allergies go into hyperdrive. This morning, thanks to my Mom's diligence at attacking her Bohemian crystal collection and other doodads in the hall and dining room, I'm sniffing and my left eye has become severely irritated and swollen. Usually I'm at work when all this cleaning is going on but because of a rushed timetable as the parental units are leaving for a one month holiday in the US, everything (ie, spring cleaning, baking etc,) has been moved up. So yours truly has to put up with all this for a little while longer. Just hope the swelling goes before work tomorrow.

We do this every year, my mom and me...and swear that this will be the last. But whenever Christmas rolls around, the previous year has been forgotten, and we start planning another marathon session. I'm pooped!

I remember that the count used to be a lot higher, especially when my grandma was still alive. Imagine 3 generations of the women in my family toiling over pineapple tarts from 8 in the morning till almost 8 at night. We each had to manage different stations. My mom did the rolling, my grandma did the pinching and filling and I placed the tiny pastry florets on each finished tart. As I got older, I graduated to the pinching and the filling stations, while my grandma, bless her! was quite content to put the finishing touches of the egg wash and the pastry florets. Where was my sister during all this? Somehow, a headache always managed to crop up and she'd disappear into her room for the whole day, only venturing out to sample the baked goods when everything was quite done. LOL!!

I really hope that the immigration officials in the US will let a box of pineapple tarts through for one desperately homesick girl in Memphis.

Yup! The fruitcake has been baked, and we've started the pineapple tarts today. Well, at least it was the jam, all ready for a major tart-making session next weekend. We partially bake them and freeze them till just before Christmas when we bake and serve them fresh from the oven. Scrumptious!

Although there is no snow, temps are hovering around the 30's and it's humid as heck, Christmas for me begins with the first whiff of my Mom's fruitcake, laden with brandy and molasses. Pineapple tarts, fresh out of the oven is also another smell that calls to mind my favourite time of year. All those years I lived in the US, Christmas was never really Christmas despite the snow, icy walkways and frost on the window. Something was always missing. I used to wish that I could bottle the smell of baking pineapple tarts and fruitcake, and spray it around my apartment for that much missed smell of home.

I know everyone of us has a special smell memory of home that we carry around safe in our hearts and mind. And no matter where we are, a whiff of that scent stirs memories, longing and probably a long phone call home. Care to share yours?

See that button under my links...right at the bottom in the left-hand column? The one that says "Hottest Blogs"? Well, ahem! *blush*...it would be ever so kind of you to vote for this site if you like what you see here. Your clicks would be greatly appreciated.

It's a week since my last posting. Ack!! Last week sorta just flew by before I realised that I didn't post anything to my blog. It's been a hectic 5 days at work but I've enjoyed every single minute of it. Friday was the pits though with nearly 50 things pulling me in different directions. Thank goodness for a yoga class that had me calming down and relaxed after 90 mins. But with so many interruptions, I had no choice but to go back to office on Saturday afternoon to get some paperwork done.

Gripe of the Week - Sometimes I wonder at people who seek solutions to a problem, and when one or two is offered, they resist and offer their alternative that has no merits. SO WHY ASK IN THE FIRST PLACE!!??!! If you don't want to listen, go fail on your time and leave me out of it.

My parents are toasting belachan (a patti made up of dried shrimp, chillis and onions) in the backyard and yours truly with a sensitive nose is now sneezing her head off! They usually make this once a month, and when I'm not at home. Aaacchooo!! The smell is so pungent and it tickles!

Finally...eggs and chickes from Malaysia have made a prodigal return to Singapore. The scene at the Causeway checkpoint was like a celebratory visiting Singapore with the number of media people present. And when the eggs and chickens hit the shelves the following day, they didn't last long. Eggs are not back to their usual price but the new price of 35cents an egg is a LOT cheaper then when they were going for 70cents just a week ago!! Pass me that 2 minute boiled egg, will you?

It's pouring now...the monsoon is back again this year, and the days and nights are finally cooler. But that also means more people are falling sick with colds and flu. While it's tropical outside, working or living in an air-con environment, sometimes with Artic reaching temperatures tend to make us more prone to changes to weather temperatures. People think I've got the flu when I get my sneezing fits (aka rhinitis) but I can assure you, it's NOT contagious! However, it does leave me exhausted and terribly dehydrated the next day.

Oh...can you believe it? We're in the last 3 months to the end of the year. In about 90 days, we'll see the end of 2004 and welcome 2005. The last 4 years of the new century were quite eventful and I doubt if the next five are going to get any quieter.