Cheesecake

You are probably wondering why the subject of cheesecake deserves a post of its own. Unless you are my sister, of course, who will understand perfectly. She and I are big fans of cheesecake - the New York, baked variety, so imagine our surprise - and delight - when we arrived in Singapore to find that it is ubiquitous - and occurs in so many different varieties that it could almost be thought of as the national dessert (unless durian pudding has already claimed that title).

So where is it to be found? Well, for a start, most of the big hotels have a patisserie which both serves cake and sells it on a takeaway basis. You can buy a single slice, or a whole cake, and you can choose from plain, Oreo, chocolate, chocolate walnut, chocolate chip, chocolate mocha marble, blueberry, orange macadamia, apple nut, strawberry, mango almond, tutti frutti, toffee, to name but a few - honestly!

My favourite so far is a seasonal cheesecake - made only for Chinese New Year. It is tangerine flavoured, as tangerines and oranges play a big part in the new year celebrations and are passed out freely during the festival ( because the words for tangerine and orange sound like luck and wealth, respectively). It is decorated with mini tangerines, made - I think - of white chocolate and both looks and tastes gorgeous.

The availability and variety of cheesecake in Singapore stand in sharp contrast to my early experiences. I spent almost 17 years in Aberdeen during the 70s and 80s, and it was not possible to get some of the foods that we now take for granted - pitta bread and cheesecake to name but two. Having fallen in love with pitta bread on a holiday in Greece, I found a recipe and made it at home. Tasted fine, but a bit of a palaver, quite frankly. My friend Lins and I were gutted when M&S stopped making their American cheesecake, and spent some of the best years of our twenties in pursuit of the ultimate cheesecake recipe, and the ultimate pair of black trousers. Because we had very limited success with the former, we were able to fit into the latter when we managed to locate them!

I'm still composing the review of the Oktoberfest, so keep reading.......