Quickies Noodle Challenge Update : I am pleased to announce that we've now received  6  very interesting entries! Thank you very much and remember this is open to everyone, worldwide, so keep them coming! As this may be the last Quickies Challenge for a while,  we really hope there will be a fantastic turnout. Of course, if you really want more challenges, let us know and we'll do our best to oblige! Send in as many entries as you like, just remember to get them in by midnight of  December 14...

Prunes really get a bum rap.  Who doesn't associate them with dentition-challenged grandmas and grandpas who can't chew much except pudding and.... stewed prunes? They're also unfortunately stuck with the unglamarous but very true reputation of being an ace laxative. Sorry, needed saying. Last week, out of the blue, I was hit by an inexplicable craving for this dark, sticky, chewy treat. Yes, I said treat.

Forget everything you thought you knew about them and start thinking of them as dri...

I hate talking about the weather -  the final destination for any conversation on its last legs, drawing it's last, choking, rasping... breath. I can hardly believe though, how crazed the weather here has been. In the last 3 weeks, I've felt like a jetsetter, going through 2 or even 3 countries in the space of a day. Scorching afternoons have given way to blustery evenings, followed by torrential 30-second downpours that have finally settled into muggy, sweat-soaked restless nights. Would y...