CRIZ BON APPETITE

The 13th Penang International Salon Gastronomique or commonly known as the “Battle of the Chefs (BOTC)” is currently held at Straits Quay Penang from 3rd June 2011 until 5th June 2011. Ever since the inaugural event was held in July 1988 at the Shangri-La Hotel, Penang with only 60 chefs from major hotels in Penang, today it had attracted more than 750 participants from over 20 countries. Organized by the Malaysian Association of Hotels Penang chapter (MAH) and the Chef Association of Malaysia Penang chapter, this event has seen more and more promising talents walk away with many prestigious awards. The event was officiated by Tuan Haji Abdul Malik Kassim, Penang State Executive Councillor, in charge of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Committee, on behalf of the Chief Minister, YB Mr. Lim Guan Eng. The organizing of the event is led by Chef William Thong, Organizing Chairman for BOTC 2011, who is also the Executive Chef of Holiday Inn Resort Penang and Chef Marco Battistotti, Organizing Chairman for the 1st MAH Penang Chapter Hospitality Challenge 2011.

There are many awards up for grab by the hotels, associations, organizations, institutions or competitors such as the most prestigious Penang Governor’s Challenge Trophy, Nestle Overall Best Chef Award, Most Outstanding Patissier, Most Outstanding Apprentice and more.

There were all together 3 sites for the competition participants to show off their culinary skills. There were over hundreds of dishes prepared on the first day and I would share with you some of those rather nicely presented ones here.

As for the exhibition sections, there were many categories to be challenged. Firstly, there were sections on Bread Showpiece, Dummy Wedding Cake, Chocolate Work, Butter Sculpture, Roselle Supreme Dress The Cake (2-tier) as well as Fruit & Vegetable Carving (Theme: Fairy Tale). Let’s have a peep at those attractive ones here.

It was also a privilege to be invited by Mr. Thomas See, PR Manager/Exhibition Booth Liaison, BOTC 2011, to be one of the judges for their Modern Western Cuisine Restaurant (3 chefs, 1 waiter & 1 bartender) Competition. There were 4 tables and each table was handled by a different hotel/institution. I had the opportunity to try out the Renaissance Melaka Hotel’s fine Western course dinner by judging them on presentation, taste, ingenuity and innovation. We were first served with Malacca Moon Rise, a mocktail with a concoction of orange juice, pineapple juice and grenadine, blended with ice cubes and served with cincau (herbal jelly), There was not much of a distinctive flavor here as the beverage tasted just like a normal glass of mixed fruit juice. It lacked that little touch of sourness to boost up the appetite on any meal. The starter was the Cold Medley, with Tuna on Cauliflower Mousse, Beetroot with Roasted Pumpkin Salad and Duck Broccoli Stack. This dish was rather unique as the cauliflower mousse was wonderfully prepared and the broccoli stack was just right with some mild seasoning. Unfortunately, the beetroot lacked in flavor although the combination was truly special. The Ocean Consomme was just right without the overpowering fishy taste. It had a crispy deep fried prawn with saffron with a hint of mild turmeric being used in the broth. The Chicken Roulade which had spinach and goat cheese (feta cheese) stuffed within a chicken fillet, actually blended in real well with the fruity persimmon reduction. Somehow, the chef did not provide the moist within the dish and a bit too much of herbs were used on the outer later. I wondered if they are aware that a bit of pumpkin paste added in would solve the problem of dryness. The next dish had lots of praises as the Rosemary Lamb served with garlic lemon vegetables was almost perfect if not for the slightly undercooked vegetables. The baby lamb racks had the texture, tenderness and taste just right for everyone. The Classic Chocolate Fondant with Crème Anglaise tasted great. If not for the malfunction of the oven, the chocolate fondant would be in a better shape rather than in a big clump. The crème anglaise would blend in better if it was not as concentrated as served. Overall, it was a pleasant dinner for all of us judges. Due to the problem with the Chicken Roulade, the hotel only secured a Diploma. The rest of the 3 competitors, namely Thailand Culinary Academy (Table 1), Sandy Bay Beach Resort (Table 2) and Eastin Hotel (Table 4) all secured Silver medals.

There would be many stalls, scattered at the Straits Quay entrance, on the lower level as well as within the inside and outside of the conference hall for you to patronize. Some of them would be selling items while others would be given out free food samples.

For your information, those who had not heard of Foodsion, a bilingual food and lifestyle magazine, you can now get a set of 5 recent issues, 5 mini recipe books, Heritage Coffee 10% discount cards, Raiya toothpaste, Penang White Coffee and Nyonya fish curry paste, all in a recycle bag for just RM25. Normal price is RM12 per book.

A new trade program that would inspire trade partners to excel in their field was launched at Hard Rock Hotel, Penang yesterday. The program, known as the “A” Class Experience (ACE) Program, which was specially designed by Carlsberg Malaysia in collaboration with Taylor’s University, aims to provide supportive trade partners and F&B operators a series of educational and practical training in raising the bar to meet the growing expectations of customers in today’s competitive industry. Those who attended the launch included some of the top brewmasters for some of the leading brands in Malaysia, namely Mr. George Frank Reisch, Brewmaster for A-B InBev (Hoegaarden, Stella Artois, Budweiser & Leffe), Mr. Sean Soh, Commercial Manager of Luen Heng F&B Sdn. Bhd. (leading supplier in the distribution of premium consumer beer, wine and spirits throughout East and West Malaysia), Mr. Lim Eng Wah, Penang Regional Manager, Carlsberg Manager, Mr. Eduardo G. Manas, Jr., Area Manager of Jagermeister Mast, representatives from leading brands such as Kronenbourg 1664, Corona Extra, Danish Royal Stout, Skol, Carlsberg Green Label Draught, etc and many participants as far as Langkawi. The ACE Program was officiated with the hand prints and signatures of the leading masters in the related F&B industry. Some cool items were given out to the media as well.

ACE Program syllabus consist of both off-site and classroom training that will equip Carlsberg Malaysia’s trade partners with a better understanding of the brands under Carlsberg Malaysia as well as day-to-day bar operation skills and customer service excellence. In addition to that, participants will also be able to experience exclusive training with World Class Brewers.

Carlsberg Malaysia will reward the best performing participant of this ACE Program with a fully paid 14-day trip cum practical training to the Jacobsen Brewery and Visitor’s Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark in the year 2012. This winning participant will get the chance to gain exclusive experiences at the Carlsberg headquarters that brewed the first ever Carlsberg beer.

As for the lst and 2nd runner up, both will also be rewarded with a fully paid trip to one of the Luen Heng F&B top vineyards in Victoria, Australia. Luen Heng F&B Sdn. Bhd. is the leading supplier in the distribution of premium consumer Beer, Wine and Spirits throughout East and West Malaysia.

“Carlsberg is a brand that strongly believes in ‘Doing The Right Thing`. With that in mind, our partnership with Taylor’s University in this ACE Program aims to provide a rewarding and beneficial experience to our valued trade partners,” says Soren Ravn, Managing Director of Carlsberg Malaysia.

All of these training are made at no cost to the trade partners as Carlsberg Malaysia would like to ensure that this training will benefit the trade partners’ business. This is to showcase that Carlsberg Malaysia is 100% behind its trade partners that made Carlsberg Malaysia the preferred beer brand among its trade partners in Malaysia. “It is a privilege for Taylor’s to be a part of Carlsberg Malaysia’s ACE Program. We are positive that this collaboration will bring about favorable outcomes for all participants,” says Mr. Haresh Singh Gill, Associate Dean of Enterprise, School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts, Taylor’s University.

Off-site Training
Carlsberg Malaysia hosted an off-site training, which consist of a series of practical and contemporary training modules conducted by World Class Brewmasters and expert partners. This training session will be conducted in 3 regions i.e. Penang, Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur to allow exposure to various participants from different geographic regions. All these sessions include concise brand knowledge; technical and practical training that is aimed at providing a better understanding of the brands that their outlets represent.

The sessions are:
• Carlsberg Beer Portfolio bg Ms. Teh Chui Hoon, Marketing Manager of Carlsberg Brands
• Kronenbourg 1664, Corona Extra, Danish Royal Stout and Skol by Mr. Edwin Yeo, Marketing Manager of Portfolio Brands
• Art of Brewing by Mr. Gunnar Hepp, Brewmaster of Carlsberg Malaysia
• Imported Beer Segment (Hoegaarden, Stella Artois, Budweiser & Leffe) by Mr. George Frank Reisch, Brewmaster for A-B InBev
• Wine segment by Mr. Sean Soh, Commercial Manager of Luen Heng F&B Sdn. Bhd.
• Jagermeister, Germany by Mr. Eduardo G. Manas, Jr., Area Manager of Jagermeister Mast
• Carlsberg Green Label Draught Excellence by Mr. Alvin Yap, Draught Beer Services Manager of Carlsberg Malaysia

Classroom Training
Carlsberg Malaysia aims to offer value-added knowledge to its trade partners via its collaboration with Taylor`s University. The recognized Bar & Beverage Management course by Taylor’s University is a 3-day course that will kick off in Penang on the 4th of July 2011 at the Equatorial Hotel, Penang.

Apart from that, there will also be a half day session on customer service excellence. This module will provide participants the techniques to improve service standards in their outlets. The ultimate objective is to uplift service standards that will result in customer loyalty, increased outlet traffic and enhance business profitability.

ACE Program Activities

Among the activities that will be implemented in line with this ACE Program are:

• Mystery Shopper Program — Carlsberg Malaysia will deploy a group of mystery shoppers to rove into participating outlets and evaluate the implementation of trainings provided. If the bar staff meets the pre-set standards, RM50 cash will be rewarded on the spot. This is to motivate participating bar staff to deliver constant good performance in their daily work life.

• Outlet Evaluation — Carlsberg Malaysia will deploy a special taskforce to go around participating outlets and collect feedback from consumers on their preferred bar team /bar outlet. These feedbacks will be translated into an inter-outlet challenge whereby the top preferred outlet will walk away with a RM30000 event sponsorship. In addition to that, this special taskforce will educate consumers on the appreciation of the perfect Carlsberg draught beer and promote upcoming Carlsberg promotions.

• Digital Activation — A dedicated Facebook application that allows Carlsberg Malaysia trade partners to constantly monitor their outlets preferential ratings by consumers on real time basis. On top of that, this application will assist outlets to understand their customers better and facilitate improvements.

Carlsberg Malaysia brand new ACE program will end its semester in August 2011 and all participating trade partners will be rewarded with a fun-filled outdoor celebration cum graduation party.

The media were also briefed by Mr. George Frank Reisch (Brewmaster for A-B InBev such as Hoegaarden, Stella Artois, Budweiser & Leffe) on the ingredients used to make all the alcoholic drinks in the world. Basically, those ingredients consist of chocolate malt, black malt, wheat malt, rice, hops, caramel malt and pale malt. Most of the beers around would use wheat malt or pale malt. Mr. Eduardo G. Manas, Jr. (Area Manager of Jagermeister Mast) briefed that there were actually many secret ingredients used in the preparation of Jagermeister from Germany but he could only disclose some of the common ones such as ginger, cinnamon, star anise, cardamom and orange peel. Resulting from the consumers’ preferences, Jagermeister had recently overtaken famous brand such as the Bailey’s.

When there’s an event by any of the F&B companies, there would surely be beautiful models to represent the brand. Two of our food representatives, Sam Ong and Jacgy Chan, took the opportunity to have some shots with them.

Lunch was served after the briefing and the buffet spread at Hard Rock Hotel was rather enjoyable as some of the dishes were uniquely prepared. We had different salads at the appetizer section, some South Western minestrone soup with dinner rolls, entrees such as seasonal vegetables, sautéed potatoes, slow cooked beef with smoked onion & thyme, risotto of roasted pepper & garlic, crab cakes with mango & green tomato salsa, cornmeal crusted fish with green tomato chutney and jerk chicken with pineapple mole sauce. The last two dishes were rather uniquely prepared. The fish fillet blended in real well with the mild sweet and sour chutney. The jerk chicken was full of spice enhanced flavors just by itself but with the chocolate mole (pronounced as mo-lay) sauce and the sweetness from some canned pineapples, it was totally a different taste with the richness from the dark chocolate and some hints of herbs and spices. On the dessert spread, there were the New York style cheese cake (my favorite), apple pie, devil’s food cake, mini lemon meringue pie, savarin with citrus syrup, strawberry short cake, chocolate mud cake and fresh fruit cuts.

Overall, the experience was a great one as it’s the beginning of a new frontier where a product company, such as Carlsberg Malaysia has taken the initiative to ensure that their trade partners get the best out of their products while maintaining the quality of the products. I do hope that more product companies would come forward with such a great program in the near future.

Penangites finally have the opportunity to lead a healthier lifestyle with the opening of You Shan Fine Soup House, located at Auto World Complex, Penang. The restaurant was officially opened on 14 May 2011 by our YB Ms. Betty Chew, wife of the Penang Chief Minister, YB Mr. Lim Guan Eng. The one and only of such restaurant in Penang, would help diners to balance their Yin and Yang Qi, two hidden forces that would cause illness if found to be out of balance. This is something that most of us ignored with our hectic lifestyles as we find the lack of time in spending hours brewing nutritious soup for our own health. Leave it to the experts to help you in your food therapy as the restaurant has the strong backup of their advisor, Mr. Chew Hock Eam, a Chinese Physician, who has over 3 decades of experience in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medication), to help you in seeking out the healing powers from their selected soups.

There will be over 60 types of soups, whether savory or sweet, available at this restaurant, ranging from as low as RM5 to as high as RM68. Most of the soup would need to be preordered at least 24 hours before dining. This would enable the kitchen to slowly select the best herbs to brew up your personalized bowl of nutritious soup. You don’t have to worry too if you missed out ordering your favorite soup as they would also be having 3 different types of soups available each day. To avoid the disappointment, I have attached below the full menu of the soups. Please do click on the individual photo for a clearer view of your PREORDERS.

Two soups were served during the opening day. One of them was the Fine Soup King which contained sea cucumber, fish maw and scallop. This soup would help in relaxing the body muscles, promote blood circulation and delay the process of aging. It would be suitable for those with bone degradation and high blood pressure. The other soup was the Yang Xin Ning Shen Soup. The rejuvenating soup has the citrus flavor of tangerine to strengthen the stomach and lily bulbs to reduce the body heat.

You might think that this is just a soup house from the name but you are wrong as they do serve dishes just like any other Chinese restaurants. There would be options such as fish, crabs, frogs, prawns, squids, pork, chicken, venison, vegetables, tofu to general soups. The price, depending on serving size, would range from RM8 to RM 30 or based on market rate for some seafood dishes.

If you think the items from the ala carte would be a bit too much for a small group, you should also check out their daily set lunch and set dinner deals. Each set would come with individual portion of 3 dishes, a soup plus a drink, ranging from RM12 to RM19.

If you are coming from Penang Bridge towards the North-South Highway, you would see the Juru Rest Area on your left. Drive further a bit and you would see an overhead bridge which would lead you to the Juru Interchange. Do not drive up the overhead bridge but turn left instead until you see a traffic light. Turn right into Jalan Kebun Nenas. Drive on until you see the second traffic lights at a T-junction (Jalan Kebun Nenas/Jalan Perusahaan). At the traffic light, turn right into Jalan Perusahaan. A few meters away, keep a look out for Maybank at Kompleks Auto World on your right. The restaurant is just on the left of the bank.

Name: YOU SHAN FINE SOUP HOUSE
Address:
1797-G-12, (Beside Maybank), Kompleks Auto World,
Jalan Perusahaan, Juru Interchange, 13600 Perai, Penang, Malaysia.
Business Hours:
11.00am-2.00am (Lunch), 2.00pm-5.00pm (Tea), 5.00pm-9.30pm (Dinner)
Contact: 017-488 3400
GPS: 5.33994, 100.429605

RATING:
Ambience: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 8/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 7.5/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Yesterday marked another great journey for Tropical Spice Garden (TSG) with the launching of their cooking school – the Tropical Spice Garden Cooking School (TSGCS), by none other than our Food Ambassador of Malaysia and celebrity chef, Datuk Redzuawan Ismail or better known as Chef Wan. With Chef Wan’s vast experience in the usage of herbs and spices, TSG remained one of the chef’s favorite destinations to show the world the wonders of using garden fresh items of different colors, shapes and forms to present the best culinary flavors. With a tropical climate for great herbs and spices plantation, Malaysia has been charted as one of the best place in the World’s Spice Trail, with Penang producing the top quality nutmegs and Sarawak having the best black peppers.

TSGCS lies within the spice garden sanctuary overseeing the panoramic view of the Teluk Bahang bay. A step into the air-conditioned building will bring back many fond memories of the good old days of your grandmother’s aromatic cooking. The kitchen is equipped with 10 cooking stovetops with double hobs each, one oven, two large refrigerators, an outdoor grinding stone and grilling station each, not forgetting the coffee and tea facilities too. The kitchen can accommodate up to 10 persons per class. With the experience of resident chefs such Pearly Kee (Nyonya & Indian Cuisine), Lily Tan (Chinese & Hawker Cuisine) and Azizah Othman (Malay Cuisine), you can be assured of fun-filled hands on experiences in bringing back great recipes to please your families. There will also be some guest chefs popping in once in awhile to further provide you with the knowledge and skills in other international or fusion cuisines. After sweating it out, lunch would be served at the Pavilion, a large outdoor gazebo, fitted with picnic benches and tables under a cool, breezy and fresh environment. Private classes for up to 6 persons can also be arranged upon request. We had such good time watching for the very first time, Chef Wan together with the Penang State Exco for Tourism & Development, Mr. Danny Law, TSG Managing Director, Ms. Katharine Chua, the resident chefs and guest chefs put on their aprons during the official opening.

Of course, the best part of joining in the classes would be the advantage of getting all your fresh herbs and spices, just a stone throw away from the doorsteps. TSG boasts over 500 species of tropical flora and fauna with an emphasis on herbs and spices on 4.5 acres of landscaped garden (spread over 8 acres of secondary jungle). A large amount of the herbs and spices found growing abundantly here, have amazing medicinal and therapeutic properties. Some of the major herbs needed in our famous Penang Nyonya Laksa such as the torch ginger flower (bunga kantan), galangal (lengkuas), polygonum leaves (daun kesom), lemongrass (serai), and so on can be found here. Chef Wan did a food demonstration on Nasi Ulam (Jungle Herbs Rice Salad) and most of the finely sliced ingredients such as the wild betel leaves (daun kaduk), galangal leaves (daun cekur), kaffir lime leaves (daun limau purut), turmeric leaves (daun kunyit), basil leaves (daun selasih), turmeric (kunyit), black pepper (lada hitam) were obtained fresh from the garden. There are also the cardamoms, star anise, cloves, nutmeg and many spices, normally used in curries and Nyonya cooking found here.

At a minimal cost, there will be trained guides to take you around to introduce you to the many usages and medicinal benefits of the herbs and spices found there. You could even see the many types of flora and fauna as well as the insects and creatures that had made the garden as their natural habitat. For more information, you can always check out www.tropicalspicegarden.com (email: info@tropicalspicegarden.com) or www.my-island-penang.com (email: spkee@my-island-penang.com).

Getting to TSGCS would not be hard as it’s located within the TSG premises. Just drive all the way up to Teluk Bahang but do watch out for some nooks and corners as you might just miss the place. Here’s a simple map to guide you to your destination. Upon seeing Hard Rock Café (Map A), drive pass Bayview Beach Resort until you see a housing estate on your left (Map B). Drive further on and round a corner, you would see a hilltop Chinese cemetery (Map C) on your left. Before you reach the next corner (Map D), slow down as Tropical Spice Garden is barely 50m away on your left (Map E). There would be ample parking space in front and opposite the restaurant. You can also park your car along the hawker area diagonally opposite the restaurant (Map F). Do click on the map for a clearer view.

Name: TROPICAL SPICE GARDEN COOKING SCHOOL
Address: Lone Craig Villa, Lot 595, Mukim 2, Jalan Teluk Bahang, 11100 Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 604-881 1797 (Cik Azimah)
Opening Hours:
Please check the TSGCS program for the month (under the top photos).
A minimum of 24 hours in advance booking is required for each scheduled class.
GPS: 5.463599, 100.229199

Chinese New Year 2011 would be here barely 2 weeks from now. Have you ever wondered if you should let your loving mother go on vacation during this festive period since she has been slogging all these years in the kitchen? Well you should. It’s about time you pamper her to some of the great restaurants in town for all the sacrifices she had given to you all these years. It’s also ideal to hold a company dinner during this time to appreciate the hard work your staff had put in throughout the year. Let’s look at some of the possible venues in Penang. Please ensure that you call up to the respective restaurant to make a reservation as it could be rather packed during this season. (Do click on the menus attached for a clearer view or you can download and print on A3 paper)

If you love food just like the way your Mother or Grandmother would cook them, why don’t you try out Ivy’s Kitchen? They do serve one of the tastiest Nyonya cuisines in town. The food served here are more towards home cooked style and I’m sure your family members, friends and colleagues would be impressed.

Availability For booking: 2 February 2011 – 17 February 2011
Map & Review: http://www.crizfood.com/1003/home-cooked-meals-ivys-kitchen/

If you think your loved ones deserved to get the best there is in Penang, you can try out Chin Bee Tea Restaurant, my most recommended restaurant in Penang. You would surely not regret having dined in this personalized dining restaurant (私房餐廳). Not only are the ingredients the freshest and of high quality, you would experience dishes that are personally cooked in ways that you would not get elsewhere.

Availability For booking: 5 February 2011 – 17 February 2011
Map & Review: http://www.crizfood.com/1374/chin-bee-tea-cafe/

Since the above two restaurants have quite limited spaces for large gathering, you may consider Starview Restaurant at New World Park, Penang. This restaurant has been in establishment for decades and the food served here were of great consistence.

Availability For booking: 7 February 2011 – 17 February 2011
Fully Booked: 5 & 6 February 2011
Map & Review: http://www.crizfood.com/1341/starview-restaurant/

Another restaurant, Tianyi Restaurant, which started business at the last quarter of last year, can also cater for large crowds. Do check out their menu as well.

Availability For booking: 3 February 2011 – 17 February 2011
Fully Booked: 2 February 2011
Map & Review: http://www.crizfood.com/1473/tian-yi-restaurant/

Note:
These are some of the CNY 2011 menus I have gathered here to ease my readers. I do not have any ownership, directly or indirectly, over any of the establishments mentioned above. Reservation, cancellation, losses or embarrassment encountered, whatsoever, with whichever restaurant is solely the responsibility of the person’s action(s).

Gosh! I almost could not make it due to a month plus of office relocation and crashed hard backups, followed by the promised “2 weeks of delivery” of internet connectivity by Telekom Malaysia (still waiting since 23 October 2009 and still not fixed!!!). Alternatively, I had to borrow a P1W1max Broadband modem to go online, which was replaced with a new one yesterday due to some latest firmware upgrades. Due to some unforeseen technical setup error, the data was not properly updated and 24 hours were wasted unnecessarily. Let’s hope things would go smoother for Criz Bon Appetite with the beginning of another new year.

Today, the 4th of December 2009, marked my 2 years of food blogging, humbly started in two blogger.com accounts to the presently owned crizfood.com. To show my appreciation to my fellow readers, Criz Bon Appetite is giving away free food vouchers to anyone who would love to try out some of the best food around the Food Paradise of Malaysia – Penang. There are many options ranging from Midnight Dim Sum, Klang Bak Kut Teh, Pan Mee, Tom Yam/Clear Soup Fish Noodles, Nasi Lemak, Hainanese Chicken Rice to authentic dessert such and Glutinous Rice Ball Soup (Tang Yuan) from some of the notable stalls within the island and mainland Penang.

The procedure of claiming the vouchers is real simple. All you need to do is to email your particulars (name & mailing address) to crizfood@gmail.com and a randomly selected voucher would be sent to you in no time. The giveaway would be available until 17 December 2009 or until stocks last. Each person would be entitled to only one voucher. The voucher would be valid until 16 January 2010. Start emailing now to claim your voucher to avoid disappointment.

Do check out the website more often from now onwards for more hidden food treasures in Penang! Have a great meal everyone and a happy 2nd birthday to Criz Bon Appetite!

Although Valentine’s Day may happen only once a year; the love, passion and romance as described ought to be enjoyed every single day. Try to make a commitment by doing something romantic at least once a week and your love will appreciate the emotional gesture throughout his or her life.

Some say the roots of Valentine’s Day are with Saint Valentine, a Roman who was killed for his faith on February 14, 269 A.D. St. Valentine’s Day happened to fall on the Roman festival of Lupercalia, a Roman festival of wolves in which men and women would choose partners for the day and celebrate fertility. Over the centuries, February 14th has become firmly associated with love, romance and sweethearts in every country around the world.

There are many traditions involved with Valentine’s Day. In most countries it is a traditional day to become engaged. In Italy, it’s a day when men and women listen to music together and share poetry. In Victorian England, elaborate Valentine’s Day cards were shared with family and friends. In Germany, flowers were definitely expected!

The key to a tradition is that it comes from the heart as Valentine’s Day is not a day to spend lavishly on meals and expensive gifts. It’s about that connection between two people, a connection that money can’t buy. It is all about showing your love how much you care deep within your heart… Let’s say with a pot of your handmade heart-shaped steamboat! 🙂

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY EVERYONE!

The Year of the Ox looks rather promising for the future of CRIZ BON APPETITE as the website was mentioned in the local Chinese daily,  Kwong Wah Yit Poh today. I found out about the news last night through a friend and subsequently by a SMS from Carrie this morning. It was on an article I wrote in early December 2008 regarding the longest Chinese cruller in Malaysia. I did not expect my website to be mentioned as it was still a brand new site but I guessed all the hard work done to acquire a new domain surely did help a lot. At least now the public would be aware of the existence of http://crizfood.com/.

For those who can read in Chinese, here’s the special feature on Page C16 of Kwong Wah Yit Poh dated 28 January 2009.

You can also check it out at the daily’s Kwong Wah eNewspaper website in case you cannot get hold of the actual newspaper. This is how it was shown there.

To ease those who like to know what had been written in the newspaper, I had the article translated to English as accurate as I can. Here is how it goes.

Online Advertising

Moving towards the path of creativity and fusion, Te Chang You Tiao Wang had already gained the acceptance in flavors by the public. Local food blog, CRIZ BON APPETITE, had introduced Mr. Tan Teik Hin’s business for free to the world of internet.

Blog author, Criz Lai, introduced the extra long Chinese crullers in his December post. With English as a medium, the blog introduced on the products as well as posted up a road map to the location.

The blog also provided a score with 10 points as maximum for categories such as Ambience, Food Choices, Taste, Pricing and Service. Mr. Tan’s Chinese crullers scored a minimum of 6 points for some categories, with a maximum of 8 points for another.

The Te Chang You Tiao Wang article also received 15 comments from the public. If you are interested to view more, you may wish to visit http://crizfood.com/

I would like to thank Mr. Tan for his free publicity by printing and posting up my article at his stall as well as the staff of Kwong Wah Yit Poh for the publicity. Penang definitely has a lot of hidden treasures and together we shall make the food known to the world.

As the Year of the Rat from the Chinese Zodiac calendar would be coming to an end within the next few days and the Year of the Ox would follow, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my readers who would be celebrating the auspicious Chinese New Year a big GONG XI FA CAI! Don’t forget to pack all your goodies and courier some to me for food tasting. LOL!

Anyway, those born in the year of the Ox (1901: Metal Ox, 1913: Water Ox, 1925: Wood Ox, 1937: Fire Ox, 1949: Earth Ox, 1961: Metal Ox, 1973: Water Ox, 1985: Wood Ox, 1997: Fire Ox, 2009: Earth Ox, 2021: Metal Ox, 2033: Water Ox) are believed to be compassionate, conservative, hardworking, focused, patient and serious in their daily matters. This year would be the year where the stubborn Earth Ox would challenge the Feng Shui fire year. Moreover, the ox’s true nature is earth so this year is a double earth over fire year. Earth can resist change but would come around after there’s time to process and double earth will insistently resist.

This year is going to be a sociable and relaxing year as in the characteristic of the Ox. You would be expecting lots of social gatherings but do watch out on your budget. It’s better to be thrifty than to be sorry towards the end of the year. Well, I won’t touch more on the topic of predictions for the coming Ox year as everyone has his or her own belief. Anyway, I’ll be busy in the kitchen for the next few days preparing for my family reunion dinner. So, you won’t be seeing many postings within the next few days. Let’s hope fatigue won’t overcome me and I can still have the energy to slot in a few posts in between. See you all real soon! 🙂

Welcome to the all new CRIZ BON APPETITE. Thank you for all your supports that have made what the site is today. Do enjoy browsing through the more user-friendly features here to find out what’s the best in town. More new reviews and recipes will be up in no time.

Wishing everyone a prosperous year ahead!