EDDIE'S BACK

LAST YEAR WHEN FORMER FORMULA 1 RACER EDDIE JORDAN VISITED Penang, I was one of the media members invited to attend a dinner held at the Rasa Sayang's Feringgi Grill to welcome him.

Last night he was back again, but this time as the draw for a charity dinner held at Traders Hotel's enormous ballroom; performing with his band The Robbers doing some well-known covers for about thirty minutes. They were good but the acoustics were not brilliant so it was a bit of an ear-bash.

The dinner was to raise funds for Penang's Lighthouse Programme, a community service for the poor. A short film was played to tell everyone present about the charity, which provides valuable services for the poor and elderly. It was very moving, and to me, it was so incredibly sad that there are so many people out there who, having gone through life, find themselves suddenly without money, food or shelter.

Shangri-La's three properties in town (Traders, Rasa Sayang and Golden Sands) take turns to sponsor daily dinners every month for a year as part of their CSR programmes (Corporate Social Responsibility). Apparently every day at least 120 people come in to shower before their dinner, which is served by volunteers and schools. The hotels also donate used clothes, linen and towels. It's a very noble gesture, and I do hope that they continue to do so.

The dinner was launched by the Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng who gave a short speech, commending the hotels for their great efforts. I stopped by his table to have a quick chat, and asked him if he would write the foreword for the next edition of my restaurant guide and he said, "Consider it done!" which was nice of him.

There were various performances from local artistes, some dressed in very elaborate outfits.

I found myself thinking about my father, who at 87 is looked after by a full-time maid, his every need seen to. My brother, who is a businessman, still makes sure he has dinner with Dad every week, despite his hectic business commitments. I try and go to KL to see him regularly, and he comes up here too (this weekend in fact, for our annual Cheng Beng trip to Taiping). He's a very lucky man, and I hope that one day my own children will look after me like that! (If I live that long that is).

Well done to Shangri-La for taking their Corporate Social Responsibilities so seriously, and for choosing such a worthwhile charity. They make such a difference to those people.

BTW hope you survive the morning - it's April Fool's Day of course!

It was quite exciting to be invited to meet Eddie Jordan and The Robbers, who were performing at the Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa's posh Feringgi Grill last night.

I would have loved to interview him about his short stay in Penang, but unfortunately there wasn't time, although he did give some entertaining insight into his life in the fast lane during his time in Formula 1 racing.

The dinner was a simple 3-course meal consisting of good basic ingredients: their famous home-made tomato soup came with a dribble of pandan oil, which gave it a subtle quite [Photo]fragrant aftertaste, although it wasn't a "sweet" flavour as one would expect.

This was followed by lamb or cod (I chose the latter) which was served on a wooden chopping board (hence the name "Wood Plank Cod, although to be frank I didn't see what difference that made to it!), and a Chocolate Volcano without the lava - it was a bit dry, and would have made a world of difference if served with a molten centre or a dollop of vanilla ice cream. Still, one can't complain too much as I was an invited guest!

In between courses, Eddie kept diners entertained with some anecdotes and trivia about the famous race, and after that we adjourned to the Feringgi Lounge where we were treated to a loud but good bit of music from his four piece band, of which he is the drummer. For geriatric rockers they weren't bad at all. However, it's pretty sad but oldies like me found it a bit much (on top of the fact that I wasn't feeling too good and still aren't brill now) so I left at that point. They are off to KL today to perform at the Hard Rock Cafe for the next 2 nights, so do catch them if you can.