Ramadan is the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. It marks a time when Muslims around the world fast from sunrise to sunset, abstaining from food, drink, and other physical needs as a means of purifying the body and soul. It’s a time of spiritual reflection and growth, a time to strengthen one’s faith and build deeper connections with one another.

One of the most precious aspects of Ramadan is the tradition of breaking the fast. This is also known as iftar. It’s a moment of celebration, where family and friends come together to enjoy a feast of delicious food and drinks, sharing stories, and laughter. Indeed, it’s a time of reflection, gratitude, and community. It’s Ramadan.

For the past month, we have been asking ourselves, our friends and colleagues about the meaning of Ramadan. Here’s what we have gathered.

SIX REASONS WHY WE LOVE RAMADAN

1. It Renews Our Optimism

Fasting helps in the improvement of one’s resilience and perseverance. Ramadan is a time for purifying the soul and recalibrating oneself. Time goes by so fast and we are always occupied and blinded by the daily rigors of our own lives. Ramadan is a time when we could finally find our footing, take a breather, slow down, and reflect.

Sometimes we are so engrossed in our own lives - what we don’t have, what we yearn for - that we forget to appreciate what we have. Ramadan is a powerful source of optimism.

It is during this time when we become more appreciative of what we have, and remember those who have less rather than those who have more. Simply put, we show gratitude.

2. It Brings Us Closer to Our Family

Ramadan is family time, and family commitment is essential. Due to our busy work schedules and social lives, we often schedule others before our family. Ramadan reinforces the importance of observing a ritual with family. One of our colleagues, Iswati, recommends the following schedule during Ramadan.

Family Story & Sharing Session

Allocate 15 minutes. Everyone gathers in the living room and takes turns reading short Islamic stories and having an informal discussion on the values the stories try to convey.

Blessing Session at Home

It takes less than 20 minutes to recite a prayer. Choose a prayer to be offered together and encourage everyone in the family to participate.

Eat Iftar Together

Eating and spending time together without the interference of mobile phones and apps is precious. Eating together as a family unit subconsciously satisfies the spiritual and emotional need for companionship. It allows time for us to form and nurture bonds with one another adequately.

Making Origami or Ramadan Craft

Art and craft are chicken soup to the soul. Search for “easy crafts” on Google to come up with good ideas that can be easily implemented. Include everyone - adults and kids in some Ramadan crafting. It makes for good laughs and an enjoyable time.

Enjoy Splendid Desserts Together

Desserts are a great finish to the day. Our favorite desserts for Ramadan are Almond London, Badak Berendam, Sticky Date Pudding, and Ondeh Ondeh.

Our team at Momolato has curated Coconut Pandan Mochi halal gelato ice cream. Badak Berendam is a popular traditional dessert in Asia. It’s made up of glutinous rice balls loaded with grated coconut that has been delicately cooked with palm sugar and submerged in coconut sauce.

Our source of inspiration for Coconut Pandan Mochi  gelato ice cream came from Badak Berendam. This halal gelato ice cream handcrafted using rich coconut cream infused with Hokkaido milk and topped with loads of homemade pandan mochi balls. It’s chewy and an absolutely delightful halal gelato ice cream.

At Momolato, we are huge chocolate lovers. We are so in love with Almond London that we made our own rendition of Chocolate Almond London. This halal gelato ice cream flavor is made using chocolate-infused Hokkaido milk and topped with chunks of chocolate-coated almond pieces.

Our absolute Ramadan halal “creme de la creme“ gelato ice cream is our Sticky Date Pudding. We churned thick and rich cookie butter gelato ice cream and filled it with a chock full of homemade chocolate brownies and drizzled with ribbons of sticky date sea salt butterscotch sauce.

If you are mad about Ondeh Ondeh, then our Aidilfitri Halal Gelato Ice Cream Cake will be a perfect evening dessert to be enjoyed with your friends and family. We just cannot stop eating this halal gelato ice cream cake! This cake consists of a layer of sea salt gula melaka halal gelato ice cream, which is encased with pandan coconut gelato ice cream. It is sprinkled generously and covered with desiccated coconut for that additional “oomph”.

3. We Love Ramadan Decorations & Bakes

Putting up Ramadan and Eid decor in the house is an obvious and effective way to get everyone involved. We love to decorate our homes to remind us of the spirit of Ramadan. It is a period of love, forgiveness, mercy, and bonding. 

No activity is more effective than putting up lights and banners, and crafting the Eid countdown calendar. We love setting up itikaf tents for kids to play in. 

One of the activities we enjoy doing with the family is to bake crescent and moon-shaped Ramadan and Eid date cookies for us to send to our family and friends. This is how we’d make it.

Ingredients

Dough
350g semolina flour
50g fine caster sugar
120g of unsalted butter
1g active dry yeast
60g all-purpose flour
10g orange blossom water
10g rose water

Fillings
400g of pitted dates
10g of cinnamon powder
60g of melted unsalted butter

1. Mix semolina flour with fine caster sugar, all-purpose flour, yeast, rose water and orange blossom water.
2. Add butter slowly until fully incorporated.
3. Use food processor to blend pitted dates with cinnamon powder and melted unsalted butter until it becomes a consistent date paste.
4. Mix date paste with dough mix evenly.
5. Pinch off the resulting dough combination and roll into a small walnut-sized ball, press down.
6. Put into oven at 190C and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Leave to cool before storing into an airtight container.

4. We Learn How To Be More Generous & Giving

Giving generously and regularly is a part of the essence of the Ramadan period. Alongside the rituals of prayer and fasting, giving is a natural element of this auspicious month.

A prophet once said, “Give each other gifts and you will love one another”. Indeed, gift-giving is a way of strengthening relationships and building bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood. It is a way of being more generous and kind. It is important to choose gifts that are appropriate and thoughtful. 

There isn’t one gift that is the most appropriate. Whatever gift for Ramadan you choose, ensure it is something that the recipient will appreciate and enjoy. We are sure that you will surely make someone absolutely delighted this Ramadan.

For kids

Ramadan Calendar

Courtesy of Anna Khokha, Etsy

Make your Ramadan more exciting for your children by helping them to feel the importance of Ramadan. Children's Ramadan Calendar can be a good way to help your child get the most out of the month by doing the 30-day challenges.

Ramadan Around The World

Courtesy of Wardah Books

Ramadan Around The World is a book written by Ndaa Hassan. It showcases how various cultures celebrate the Islamic holiday. The purpose of this book is to illustrate the diversity of the global Muslim community. Children from various nationalities and abilities are represented throughout the book. It makes for good reading before bedtime or during Iftar.

Cotton Candy Bubblegum Halal Gelato Ice Cream

The cotton candy bubblegum halal gelato ice cream is a party flavor that’s always a hit with kids. The distinct and colorful rippling of cotton candy gelato and bubble gum gelato is a delight to the eyes. It’s perfect for celebrations with children and also for the child in you. We also have cotton candy bubblegum halal gelato ice cream cake for your consideration.

Milo Dinosaur with Marshmallows Halal Gelato Ice Cream

Milo is our childhood. It’s probably Singapore’s favorite childhood chocolate-flavored drink. And, this is our take on this old-school local delight. This Milo Dinosaur with Marshmallows halal gelato and ice cream is silky smooth, tastes absolutely malty with bits of marshmallows and a dose of milo powder for a bite to remember. Grab a pint and pop it onto your favorite cold milo or milk!

For adults

Dates Gift Box

Courtesy of Bateel

Dates are a traditional food in Islam, and they are usually eaten during Ramadan. It’s part of the sunnah to break fast with water and dates. A luxurious date gift box with a world map is perfect for sharing with friends, family, and colleagues. In addition, the dates are cultivated using sustainable farming practices with an inimitable taste and flavor profile.

Ramadan Raya Halal Gelato Ice Cream Gift Set

We are psyched to offer you our specially-curated Ramadan Raya Festive Halal Gelato Ice Cream Bundle. This unique Ramadan halal gelato ice cream gift set comprises Sticky Date Pudding, Chocolate Almond London, Coconut Pandan Mochi, and 2 Rose Coconut Attap Seed designer fruit popsicles. With an order of S$75 and above, we’d deliver your order at no additional cost.

5. We Eat Healthier

During Ramadan, we eat healthier. Fasting during Ramadan is very similar to intermittent fasting. It restricts the time of eating and gives our guts ample rest for a minimum of 14 hours.

For the health-conscious, we would recommend our keto halal gelato ice cream to break your fast. Our favorite halal keto gelato ice cream flavor is Keto Nama Chocolate. This Keto Nama chocolate gelato ice cream is made with serious chocolate & keto lovers in mind, and is our number one best-selling keto & diabetic-friendly gelato ice cream flavor. It is halal, keto, diabetic-friendly, sugar-free.

Alternatively, if you are looking for a light and thirst-quenching snack after a long day, try our Designer Fresh Fruit Assorted Popsicle Pack. Our designer fresh fruit halal ice cream popsicles are crafted using fresh fruits and premium ingredients.

6. We Love Ramadan Bazaars

We recall how disappointed we were back in 2020 when the Geylang Serai Bazzar was canceled. Therefore, for us, this year is truly exciting. 

The Ramadan Bazaar at Geylang Serai is finally back in full gear. This year, the market boasts 700 stalls. Of course, food is amongst the main attractions. Apart from normal bazaar food and traditional kueh, Geylang Serai food stretch also offers innovative waffles, pancakes, and many other delights that we can’t wait to try. After two years of hiatus, it is now time for us to dive right in!

Source: Mothership.sg

Also back in full swing is the Kampong Glam Ramadan Bazaar. This is the biggest-ever Raikan Cahaya Ramadan 2023. We absolutely love the Arabic bubble tea stall as well as deep fried churros.

If you happen to be around the Kampong Glam area, why not stop by our Momolato Cafe at 34 Haji Lane for a scoop of halal gelato ice cream? Pop by and have a taste of our special Ramadan halal gelato ice cream flavors. You can find Sticky Date Pudding, Coconut with Pandan Mochi as well as Chocolate Almond London halal gelato ice cream flavors at our cafe.

We also offer crispy and fragrant halal buttermilk waffles and croffles. Have them by themselves or with a scoop of halal gelato ice cream. We have 18 halal gelato ice cream flavors for you to choose from. Take a rest at our cafe before continuing your shopping around Arab Street.

THE BOTTOM LINE

We wish everyone a beautiful and blissful Ramadan, and hope you spend quality time with your family, friends, and loved ones.

Momolato is the best curator and supplier of halal-certified, fresh, gourmet gelato ice cream, gelato ice cream cakes, and halal-certified gelato ice cream popsicles in Singapore. Our gelato ice cream are made using only top quality and fresh ingredients. This makes your Ramadan & Hari Raya gifting more interesting and exciting than ever!

Christmas.

Every year we wait for that time of the year to celebrate one of our favorite holidays - Christmas. While we cherish the wonderful holiday activities our family and friends do, this Christmas, you may want to try a couple of new ways to celebrate the occasion and add to your fun. 

Do you love spending your Christmas with your traditional family dinner but want to try some new delicacies? Skip the turkey or move it to a Christmas Eve meal, and try new delicacies for Christmas Day. You may find some change, but with these new dishes, the push-back won’t last long.

If, at all this Christmas, you find yourself on a tight budget, try making a game out of exchanging lovely gifts and filling stockings. Before your family gathering, assign a budget e.g. $10 to each person for a Secret Santa gift exchange. Lifting tight budget strains could be the best gift your family and loved ones give each other.

We have learned in the past few years that there is nothing more important than maintaining good health and strong family ties. This year, instead of focusing on expensive gifts and the trendiest decor, try to spend more effort and attention on your family. Quality time and sweet little gestures triumph all gifts.

That being said, if you want to start a new tradition this Christmas, there’s no doubt that you’ll find perfect Christmas gift ideas from our list of winning ideas to celebrate the holidays.

TOP WAYS TO SPEND YOUR SINGAPORE SUMMER CHRISTMAS IN 2022

1. Binge Watch Christmas Movies

We all remember the Christmas movies we loved and watched growing up. Over the years, more and more movies have been released. Netflix has wholesome family classics such as Love Hard, Holidate, Last Christmas, Spencer, A California Christmas, and many more. The Christmas Chronicles 2 is another movie where Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn return to play Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus to take everyone on a Christmas adventure.

Hulu also has a bunch of LGBTQIA+ movies focused on holidays, with Happiest Season featuring a woman who has a partner to bring home for Christmas. There are also a few stories like The Man Who Invented Christmas that retell the story of Charles Dickens’ efforts to write A Christmas Carol.

Disney+ is another streaming service that airs all your favorite Christmas specials for the entire family to cherish. For example, LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special is exactly what its name suggests — Star Wars characters made of LEGO in a brilliant holiday adventure. Moreover, you must not forget High School Musical: The Musical: The Holiday Special, which is also available for streaming.

Even though Christmas is the eve that dominates at this time of the year, the other occasions such as Thanksgiving and Hanukkah, are not forgotten. Movies such as The Night Before feature a Jewish Seth Rogen and loved ones celebrating Hanukkah, and airs on Amazon Prime.

With such a wide selection of Christmas-themed movies, it’d be a delight to curl up on your couch with a pint of Momolato’s Salted Caramel Popcorn and immerse yourself in the shows.

2. Exchange Christmas Cakes With Your Loved Ones

Sure, you can bake your own cake based on your family recipe and savor it as you participate in fun activities. But it’s even more fun to try our new cake flavors, which, you never know, might turn into your next Christmas favorite.

So, try indulging in Momolato’s range of marvelous Christmas gelato ice cream cakes to make your Christmas all the more special. We have something for everyone. That being said, let’s look at some of our gourmet Christmas ice cream cakes to make the best of your celebrations:

The Decadent Chocolate BlueForest Christmas Ice Cream Cake is the pizza of cakes - the cake everyone loves apart from the weird kid who hates chocolate. The cake is curated with intense couverture dark chocolate, blue pea, and ripe berries such as blueberries and raspberries.

The Decadent Chocolate BlueForest cake contains a calm pastel layer of blue pea blueberry gelato ice cream encapsulated within the triple chocolate gelato ice cream, and serves around 4-6 pax. Keeping sustainability at the core of our business, the gelato cakes are placed in recyclable paper boxes. You shouldn’t really miss out on the Decadent Chocolate BlueForest Christmas Ice Cream Cake.

Of all the types of ice cream cakes, this one is made especially for strawberry lovers and makes a stunning Christmas gift.

The Strawberry Shortcake Christmas Ice Cream Cake is a must-try flavor for everyone as it brings two of our favorite things together. It’s made using fresh Korean strawberries, and our homemade strawberry sauce. The cake contains a beautiful pink layer of sweet strawberry gelato ice cream with rich Hokkaido cheesecake gelato ice cream. Plus, who doesn’t love cheesecake ice cream?

Momolato’s Chocolate Hazelnut Ferrero Christmas Ice Cream Cake is to cake what cheese is to pizza and makes a luxurious Christmas gift for Nutella and Ferrero lovers. The cake contains a rich layer of hazelnut chocolate gelato ice cream and is wrapped with decadent dark chocolate gelato ice cream, which makes a marvelous stunner. It’s a great type of cake if you’re having a hard time choosing between Ferrero, Nutella, and Chocolate. With these tasty and beautiful cakes, consider this new way to celebrate Christmas 2022.

3. Pretty Designer Fruit Popsicle Gift Sets

It’s Singapore. If it gets too hot and humid this Christmas holiday season, what’s more exciting than biting into fresh fruit popsicles?

Momolato’s range of healthy fresh fruit designer ice cream popsicles would make beautiful Christmas gifts. Regardless of whether your celebration involves non-alcoholic sodas or champagnes, our designer ice cream popsicles make for amazing cocktail and mocktail additions. 

We also have customized gift options for individuals who prefer to have their own flavors. Let’s take a look at our wide range of ice cream popsicle flavors.

This assorted gift set is our curator and founder Chef Sharon’s personal favorite. It contains nine assorted fresh fruit popsicles that will give a pop of fresh and natural colors to events and parties.

1. Red Watermelon Kiwi (plant-based & vegan) x 03 pieces

2. Mango Coconut Swirl (plant-based & vegan) x 03 pieces

3. Hokkaido Milk Strawberry x 03 pieces

All our products are prepared in a production kitchen where nuts, gluten, and other known allergens may be present. Gelato and popsicles are packed with quality recyclable packaging, keeping sustainability at the core of the business.

Momolato’s Christmas Holiday Popsicle Gift Set consists of 9 pretty designer popsicles, which are specially curated to make the best Christmas gifts this holiday season.

The gift set contains the following:

1. Red watermelon strawberry (plant-based & vegan) x 03 pieces

2. Sea salt blue pea vanilla strawberry x 03 pieces

3. Hokkaido milk strawberry x 03 pieces

All of these products do not contain eggs, gluten, tree nuts, and nuts.

Alternatively, you may consider other ice cream popsicle flavors such as our popular Hokkaido Milk Strawberry Ice Cream Popsicle. This flavor is handcrafted using fresh and ripe Korean strawberries as well as creamy, imported Hokkaido milk. It does not contain eggs, gluten, tree nuts, and nuts.

If you are into citrus flavors, then Mango Passionfruit Strawberry Ice Cream Popsicle is made with you in mind. The flavor is made using juicy and ripe Australian mangoes, tangy Vietnamese passionfruit, and decorated with slices of fresh Korean strawberries. It does not contain eggs, gluten, tree nuts, and nuts.

One of our favorites was a flavor curated for Chinese New Year 2022. It quickly became a mainstay in our online shop. The Young Coconut Mandarin Orange Ice Cream Popsicle is made using sweet, refreshing young Thai coconut water and adorned with slices of fresh mandarin orange. It is plant-based, vegan, and kind. It does not contain eggs, gluten, tree nuts, and nuts.

To browse Momolato’s exclusive and entire range of gelato ice cream flavors, click here.

4. Make an Early Morning Christmas Breakfast

Opening up all your Secret Santa and Christmas gifts would certainly whip up quite an appetite.

But, if you can distract everyone away from their new presents for some time, you won’t have to make breakfast in the kitchen alone on a Christmas morning. Do you have a simple waffle maker or a pan at home? In the spirit of Christmas, make yourself a nice waffle or pancake. We have just the recipe for you.

Ingredients

1 large egg
200g plain flour
15g caster sugar
250g fresh full-fat milk
60g butter (melted and cooled)
9g of vanilla bean extract (optional)
10g coconut oil
Maple syrup (optional)
Chocolate sauce (optional)
Rainbow sprinkles (optional)

Step 1

Melt the butter using a microwave. Crack the large egg into a bowl and whip the egg using a handheld blender (or any other blender). Put in plain flour, sugar, a pinch of salt, fresh milk, melted butter, coconut oil, and vanilla bean extract, and blend to make a smooth batter. Put the batter into the fridge to be chilled for 30 minutes to 2 hours.

Step 2

Heat up your waffle maker or pan. Coat the waffle maker or pan with melted butter. Pour in enough batter to cover your waffle maker. Or if you wish to make a pancake, pour in enough batter for your desired pancake size. Cook for approximately 4 to 5 minutes until the waffles or pancakes look golden-brown in color. Drizzle the waffles or pancakes with either maple syrup, thick chocolate sauce, rainbow sprinkles or all of them. You can also add a scoop of our popular Milo Dinosaur with Marshmallows gelato ice cream or our specially-curated Christmas specials such as Sour Cherry Vanilla Bean or Sea Salt Butterscotch Brownies.

5. Take a Family Christmas Photo to Cherish Forever

Sure, we all walk around with portable cameras in the form of smartphones in our pockets and take photographs of the most random things every now and then — but how often do you actually stop to make sure you capture a photograph with everyone in it, all energized and looking at the camera with smiles at the same time? Probably once or twice every few months?

Jump on the joyous Christmas bandwagon and take this opportunity to take many family Christmas photographs that you’d cherish forever. There are so many places for amazing photos. Check out Orchard Road’s iconic festive Christmas lights and the Great Bay Fiesta at Bayfront as well as the glittering light display at Marina Bay Sands. Go to these places in matching costumes or apparel to make that perfect shot. If you love hanging out in groups, have your good mates over for Christmas Eve slumber parties so you can take more pictures in matching pajamas and props. Get some of our lovely designer popsicles - we know they’d make good props - the sky’s the limit!

6. Send Christmas Gifts to Your Extended Family & Friends

Your Christmas cards might be the only kind of postal mail you send all year, so make sure they’re a little extra this year!

This year, Christmas falls on a Sunday. Most people in Singapore are returning to work on December 27. For your extended family and friends that you may not visit in time, you can send Christmas gifts to convey your love and thoughts. Choose from Momolato’s wide range of extensive cakes, ice cream popsicles, and gelato ice cream flavors along with a DIY greeting card. At Momolato, we have designed a small sticker card just for you. Let us help you pass along a personal note for you.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Rather than playing the guessing game or wondering what your loved ones will use, ask them directly to make a wish list of practical gifts. Gift them gourmet gelato ice cream and designer ice cream cakes or subscribe to a meal kit service to narrow kitchen expenses, or ask them for household tools that need to be replaced to save money and time.

Momolato is the best curator and supplier of fresh, gourmet ice cream Christmas cakes and popsicles in Singapore. Our gelato ice cream flavors are made using only top-notch and fresh ingredients. This makes your Christmas gifts more interesting and exciting than ever!