Was at the shops yesterday. Two note-worthy events are happening in Orchard Rd this weekend.

1. The Kyushu Food Fair at Isetan Scotts supermarket. Ends tomorrow. The sales staff were very generous in handing out the samples.

• Sweet potatoes: The produce section showcases the different varieties available, but for immediate gratification, try the various stalls selling them in caramelised form, rolled into elegant crepes or turned into pretty cakes.
• Fried seafood: shrimp, squid and soft-shelled crabs.
• Unagi. Regular or spicy. Cooked or vacuum packed.
• Honey. Clover, Renge etc. In the cute dispenser jugs.
• Mentaiko (spicy cod roe). On its own, and combined with either herring roe, squid or tiny white fish. I bought four tubs home, they freeze well.
• Miso paste. Mindboggling variety.
• Ramen. Freshly made Japanese style char-siu.

2. Takashimaya Cookware Fair, at Event Hall, Basement 1, Ngee Ann City SC. Henckel, WMF, Tiger, Staub, Le Creuset, Riedel et al. Generous discounts of up to 50%. Don't wait till Christmas.

Shh. If you have the Taka store card, you can go buy yourself that much-coveted Zojirushi rice cooker at bargain prices next weekend. That's what the saleslady told us, in lowered, conspiratorial ah-soh*-to-ah-soh voice.

(Ah-soh: stereotype of middle-aged aunties with no fashion sense, who compare prices like crazy because they are usually housewifes who control the family budget carefully. Not to be confused with tai-tais, mostly middle-aged aunties with loud fashion sense, who spend money like crazy in case their rich husbands divorce them in which case they can use their wild spending to validate their claims for huge alimony settlements)