Category title in blog post heading

Hello,

I am wondering if anyone can help me put the category title into each of my blog posts. For example, if I create a blog post called “Big Changes!” in the category “Site Updates“, I would like the title on the blog page to read “Site Updates: Big Changes!“. Ideally, that line would link to the blog entry’s single page with comments.

Here is what I’ve tried for coding in the loop:
<a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php _e('Permanent Link to', 'default'); ?><?php the_title_attribute(); ?>"><?php single_cat_title(); ?>: <?php the_title(); ?></a>

In essence, I’m looking for the_category without the link – just the text.

Can anyone help?