Well, lets warm things up a bit and have a party!

The Fabiola & Sing Sing Christmas party will take place in Oxford, UK, on Wednesday 2 December 5-10pm.

Celebrate with us and enjoy a fabulous 15% discount on every item in our shop, as well as complimentary drinks and nibbles!

Email us if you would like to come and celebrate with us, and help us get through the champagne and cocktails!

Looking forward to seeing you! Merry Christmas!

These creative ideas can turn even the humblest cake into something special, making for an inspired celebration!

Check out some of the designs in the gallery below, or view them in further detail in the Cake Decorations section of our online store.

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He’s a food photographer who is completely obsessed with anything food and drink related and anything in between. What’s not to love!

I found his blog whilst looking for great Halloween recipes.

These Candied Apples are so striking have such a depth of colour you would think you’d served up the dark heart of Medusa and the blood of a thousand virgins.

Matt has graciously allowed me to use his gorgeous photography and recipe below. Enjoy!!

Red & Black Candy Apples

8-10 medium sized apples
8-10 wooden twigs, twimmed
3 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 cup of water
several drops of cinnamon flavored oil
1/4 teaspoon of red food coloring
1/4 teaspoon of black food coloring

Clean and dry the apples. Try to remove as much of the wax as possible. If you purchase them from your local farmer’s market then chances are they have not been treated with the food grade wax that makes then shine. Remove any stems or leaves and insert a twig into the end of each apple. To facilitate easier twig entry you can carefully sharpen the end of the twig or use a candy stick to create a guide hole. Set apples aside.

Heat and stir sugar, corn syrup and water in a saucepan until sugar has dissolved. Boil until the syrup reaches 300 degrees on a candy thermometer. Don’t go over 310 degrees or your candy burns and then you’ll be sad.

Remove from heat and stir in flavored oil and food coloring.

Dip one apple completely in the syrup and swirl it so that it becomes coated with the melted sugar candy. Hold the apple above the saucepan to drain off excess. Place apple, with the stick facing up, onto a baking sheet that’s greased or lined with a silpat. Repeat the process with the remaining apples. If your syrup thickens or cools too much, simply reheat briefly before proceeding. Let the apples cool completely before serving.

A note about the black apples: Lighter colored apples (Granny Smith, Golden Delicious) work well in making the red appear bright and glassy; darker apples like red delicious help the black candy appear as dark as possible. Muy spooky!

Also, Adam made one batch with red food coloring and after he had a few red apples he reheated the candy mixture and added black food coloring. Adding black to red will make it darker. He repeated the dipping process. Black food coloring can be found online or at specialty baking stores.

A short tubby Frenchman is coming London. But not any old short tubby Frenchman. No, for the man who it seems is planning descend on our capital city is no less than Pierre Hermé, the man Vogue calls “The Picasso of Pastry”.

Pierre Hermé is a phenomenon in France, where he is undoubtedly the country’s most famous gastronomic celebrity. And it looks like Great Britain may be the next country he hopes to conquer – having already opened four boutiques in Paris, and eight in Tokyo.

That’s good news for macaroon lovers. By the way, Pierre’s newest flavour is pamplemousse and wasabi – can you imagine?

According to the Times, 47-year-old Hermé said at a book signing by the Champs Elysee that “[he] would love to open a shop in London..” and that he was “looking for the right place.”

Personally, I don’t think I can wait – which is why I might just be ordering some delicacies from his Paris store’s online shop Yes, they’ll deliver to the UK!

For instance, in Japan many women are obliged to give chocolates to all of their male co-workers on February 14th. This is known as giri-choko (the word giri means “obligation” in Japanese and and choko.. well, you can guess what that means).

There is also honmei-choko, which is chocolate given to a loved one and tomo-choko, which is when friends (usually female) give chocolate to each other.

But what’s interesting about the February 14th habit of giving chocolate to male co-workers is that it is followed on March 14th by another event, White Day, where men are expected to return the favour and give chocolates back to their female colleagues who gave them chocolates a month before.

It’s a similar story in South Korea, but with one difference. On April 14th (the so-called Black Day), men and women who did not receive any chocolates on the 14th of February or March go to a Chinese restaurant to eat black noodles and “mourn” their single life!

Completely bonkers of course, like many of these traditions. But I kind-of like it.

And I think maybe we should introduce something over here in the UK. So how about it?

You know the sort – he’s settled down in life and has bought himself most of things that he could possibly need, or is so deeply into gadgets that trying to buy him any kind of technology would be doomed to failure because you would surely not get him exactly what he wanted.

Well, never mind – because help is at hand. Here’s a list of seven wonderful Valentine’s gifts that any man would find it impossible to turn his nose up at.

1. The Flip Video Ultra Camcorder
I think a simple, easy to use gadget like this will bring a smile to any man’s face!

It is quite simply the smallest, cheapest and most user friendly gadget of its kind on the market – and takes surprisingly good video footage!

It has a flip-out USB stick that plugs right into your computer and runs on just two AA batteries – meaning that you never have to worry about not having packed the right cable. Furthermore, because it has no moving parts, it’s much sturdier and less likely to go wrong than a conventional camcorder.

The Flip comes in an array of gorgeous designs and colours too, but my guess is that most men will resist the temptations of the hot pink edition and go for the traditional black or Apple-like white instead.

Learn more at www.flipvideo.co.uk.

2. Guns Glory Game Box
A meaty banquet of pheasant and other wild game. A feast that arrives part-prepared and easy to cook, a perfect present for your favourite gourmand, now that the hunting season has finished!

Each box contains one Game Roulade, four Pheasant Fillets, one Boneless Pheasant with Apple, and six mixed Game Sausages.

Throw in a Made in England Apron and he will be all kitted out for making you a romantic Valentine’s meal.

Discover more about the Guns Glory Game Box at www.formanandfield.com.

3. Staunton chess set
I have it on good authority that if you are a serious chess player, nothing else will do except for a luxurious chess set with pieces in the classic Staunton design.

Carved by the world’s finest chess makers from the finest ebony and boxwood, a beautiful chess set should be double weighted and perfectly felted.

You could even let him win, once.

Visit our friends at www.regencychess.co.uk for more top chess gift ideas.

4. Wet Shave
Treat your gentleman to a traditional wet-shave and give him a luxurious experience he’s unlikely to forget in a long time.

Your man would love a close shave at your local barber or – for your true practising metrosexual – a men’s spa such as Truefitt and Hill.

They are offering a Valentine’s Day Grooming Experience for £75.00. This package includes a traditional Hot Towel Wet Shave, Haircut and Shampoo and Manicure.

And the beauty of all this is that you’ll get to appreciate it when he kisses you and doesn’t turn your cheek into a stubble-scratched battlezone!

So, what are you waiting for? Give your man a Valentine’s gift that will be a cut above the rest with help from www.truefittandhill.co.uk.

5. Swiss army knife
Give the Macgyver in your life the quintessential tool – a Swiss Army Knife.

But this isn’t the kind of basic Swiss Army Knife your man might have cherished when he was a twelve year old boy. Oh no, this is in a whole different league of coolness.

You see, the Victorinox Swiss Army Knife Rescue Tool glows in the dark, has a multitude of knives and screwdrivers, as well as a window smasher, tweezers and toothpick.

All of these can be opened using a single hand, just in case your hero needs to rescue you while hanging from a precipice.

Grab one while you can at www.iwantoneofthose.com.

6. Chocolate
How about sharing a hot chocolate fondue a deux with him in a ceramic pot?

These 70% Dark Chocolate Fondue Pots come in a variety of natural flavours, and use only the very best gourmet French chocolate.

Just imagine dipping pieces of fresh fruit, biscuits, croissants or – my favourite breakfast treat – brioche into the warm melting chocolate.

You never know what dark, chocolatey passion may be ignited this Valentine’s…

Learn more if you dare in our very own online store at www.fabiolaandsingsing.com.

7. Scent
I have a friend who has a penchant for Penhaligon’s LP No.9 Eau de Toilette for Men. And my nose has to agree with him!

Romantic, whimsical and just a little bit eccentric in that English-sort-of-way, Penhaligon’s is one of the few true perfume houses in the world – they design and make their own scents.

This little decadence in a bottle could be your new love potion number 9!

If you want your man to smell delicious, visit www.penhaligons.co.uk.

The snow will make it all seem even more magical.

This weekend at Temple Guiting, I am on Friday night supper duty and in my recipe search, I discovered this fab foodie-blog, Gastronomy Domine.

I have settled on chicken with cardamom and preserved lemons. It just looks warm and colourful, the kind of comfort food to eat in our wintry snowy weather!

I hope we all manage to make it safely out there, us Brits usually panic at the sight of a few snow flurries.

In my teens and early twenties, I drove many times up snowy, precarious mountains to Broken River Ski Field, near Christchurch, New Zealand.

Hopefully, the experience I gained then should prepare me for the driving conditions this weekend.

Fingers crossed!

Paris always makes me yearn for macaroons, oh… lovely, lovely macaroons (or macarons, as the the French like to call them).

I cannot resist passing by a patisserie without buying one. Just one you see. It’s part of my quest to find the perfect ONE. The perfect combination of egg white, almond powder (sieved deux fois, bien sûr) and sugar stuck together with buttercream ganache.

But, I can let you in on a not-so-well-kept secret.

The very, very best macaroons IN THE WORLD are those made by Pierre Hermé. To know him is to love his creations. They are so pretty. They are beautiful works-of-art that you can eat! You will see how popular he is by the long queue outside, consisting largely of Parisians (I can’t believe every visitor to Paris doesn’t go here).

Pierre Hermé , the man Vogue calls “the Picasso of Pastry” works like a fashion designer, creating collections by season. Every season brings new flavours.

His boutique on 72, rue Bonapart, was designed by Yann Pennor, to resemble a jewelry box filled with pastry gems and they really do taste as good as they look.

If you can’t be in Paris, you can still get your fix at the online shop at Pierre Hermé and have them delivered to your doorstep! Yes, he’ll even deliver to the UK!

Take this gorgeous Mathilde cake stand for instance.

I don’t know how Graham managed to avoid snaffling one of those meringues when he took the photograph. Me? I think the cake stand looks good enough to eat too!

When we have goods as beautiful as this mercurised glass cake stand in our store we always have to set one aside for ourselves. Then it’s not quite as traumatic to send them on to our happy customers.

We hope our customers get as much pleasure out of these objects of desire as we do.

So, the party is looming, and I have the perfect Christmas cocktail to invoke the warm sand without ignoring Christmas. It’s the Christmas Caipirinha!

(It took me forever to get over the Cosmopolitan, thanks Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda, and kept on ordering them long after they had gone out of fashion. But, alas, the time had to come and I have moved on.)

Anyway, my fave-du-jour is the Caipirinha. So, I’m serving a winter version for this year’s festivities.

For one serving, mix as follows. Or make in large batches, without the ice and store in the refrigerator, ready to serve guests as they arrive. Add the ice to each tumbler, when you pour the pre-made cocktail mix.

• 50ml Sagatiba Pura Cachaça
• 2 lime wedges
• 5ml Sugar syrup
• 2 Blackberries
• 3 Raspberries
• 3 Blueberries
• A pinch of ground Allspice

Squeeze the lime wedges and drop into a tumbler
Add berries, sugar syrup and allspice. Mix and squish around.
Fill with ice cubes.
Add the Sagatiba Pura Cachaça.
Mix.

I will also be serving Champagne (of course!) and this year I decided that as I am invoking hot sand and sunkissed skin, I will be offering up Tsarine Brut Rosé NV Champagne.

It tastes of summer fruits and cream, and comes in a gorgeously stylish twisted-glass bottle.

Both Sagatiba Pura Cachaça and the Tsarine Brut Rosé NV Champagne are both available from your local Waitrose, but you can probably get them from other supermarkets or wine merchants if you don’t a branch close to you.