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!

FOOD FORUM

YESTERDAY was my birthday proper, so had dinner with family members at a place I have not frequented for a while, partly because the last time we were there the food was, if I'm frank, not that brill.

THE FORUM CHINESE RESTAURANT on the 3rd floor of Island Plaza in Tg Tokong was full that night because they had a wedding on. That made it quite lau juak but rather noisy, even despite the fact that we had a private room. But as it was mainly because of the fact that we were able to book a private room, as you will understand from my previous oft-heard lament, that we were there in the first place. However, it actually added a bit of free background music except for a few terrible moments when some young kids had appropriated the mike and were hollering "Dancing Queen" and other songs into it at the top of their voices. Thankfully, the professional singer (I think anyway, she was quite good but maybe it was only in comparison to the god-awful kids) managed to grab it back.

ANYWAY I digress. This time round, I was delighted to say, the food was mostly very good - and despite having to cater for a wedding dinner outside, they delivered it hot. BUT I had to go out and throw a bit of a wobbly cos I'd told them to HOLD the food halfway through as we wanted to play a game (that's another reason I like having a private room) and they said, "Yes, yes, yes," and continued serving the food. They soon stopped, and only served up when I gave them the nod. One of my biggest problems about dining in Malaysia is dinner can start at 730pm and finish by 8.30 - hey! I'm paying all this money and I'd like to enjoy it slowly and at my leisure! We're also with friends and family we may not have seen for a while so it's nice to be able to chat to them and not have our mouths stuffed full all the time as they keep bringing course after course before we've even finished what's on the table!!

THE Four Seasons was very tasty, great Salad Prawns, Kerabu and Taufu but I didn't actually try the Spring Rolls.

The Tau Tay was cooked two ways: fins and other extremities including the head deep-fried to such crispiness not one bit remained, and the flesh stir-fried: very fresh. I also liked the Spare Ribs and Mixed Veg which was sort of in a soup there was so much gravy! Of course being a BIRTHDAY dinner had to have LAM MEE which was OK - but have to say it was not as good as MINE as I would have used a lot more crab meat and pee hu (dried plaice). Still, the sambal was delish.

Finally we each had a piece of Strawberry and Mandarin Cheesecake from Traders Hotel - it was very good, but I could only have a teeny piece cos much much too full by then!

It was an excellent night; thanks everyone for coming. One of course has a reputation to upkeep, so the place I choose to not just eat at but invite others to partake of food with me must really live up to a standard, so thank you too to The Forum for doing me proud. Citibank cardholders get a 10% discount btw - although sadly this did not apply to the drinks which cost an arm and a leg!

SISTERS, SORORITY, SOROPTIMISTS

THERE IS A SMALL BUT GROWING team of professional women in town who are trying, quietly but not completely so, to make a difference to those who are less fortunate than them.

They are the Soroptimists, a sisterhood of women who have united to do good causes. The word is from "soror" meaning sister, and "optime" meaning the best, and the group started in the early 1920s in Oakland, California. There are hundreds of branches all over the world.

The Penang Chapter recently rebanded after a few years of inactivity, but has now come back, small but strong, and is now under the leadership of current president Dr Datin Shuba. They have been organising various charity events to raise funds for several deserving charities in Penang.

HOWEVER last Saturday was a night for themselves, the sisterhood who work hard and without profit for themselves (except fun that night!), and I was lucky enough to be asked to join them for their annual do at a private function at Traders Hotel's The Brasserie in town.

It was a great night, and the hotel did us proud: the theme being FLOWER POWER, they went to town decking the place out in colourful, bright and beautiful flowers! Everyone got in the spirit of things as well, wearing flowers in their hair - it was like going to San Francisco! The food was excellent, and the wine really did flow quite freely.

Congrats to Melvin, who won a prize for being the man who took the most trouble - he came as a beatnik, down to the leather sandals and flowery trousers - and to the two women who got the ladies' equivalent.

Highlight of the evening was undoubtedly the BAND who did a terrific job with their cover versions of etro 60s/70s/80s music - we are, after all, ladies of that era! Everyone really enjoyed the good old bop and letting their hair down, moi included, much to my husband's horror - apart from his bad back, he typically shies away from such exhibitionism! However, after nearly 3 decades together, he's used to this crazy wife by now ... I think.

I really wish more hotels in town would offer this sort of service - somewhere a group of us can go to, with spouses, for a decent night out: have a good meal and a drink, a bip-bop-a-lula but not too expensively. It should be somewhere we can go at any time, not just for a SPECIAL night out, but for any night out. We don't really have it in Penang - it's all eat eat eat or drink drink drink only. Why can't we combine both? PLEASE MR HOTELIERS, I'M WAITING TO WRITE ABOUT IT!!

Well done everyone, and thanks. It was a terrific night. If you want to know more about this very philanthropic group, let me know.

WHAT A BRASS!

WHEN OUR VISITORS LEFT LAST WEEK I THOUGHT we were going to have a quiet few days chilling out ... boy, was I wrong!

Firstly, there was the "hairy" if interesting experience at the Eq's Golden Phoenix ... then, the very next day, Traders Hotel's The Brasserie invited me and a whole load of other Penang bloggers to preview their Christmas menu, courtesy of newly-joined Executive Chef Siva. It was good to see some familiar faces, some new too, but all with one thing in common: FOOD. Especially Penang food. There was much "flashing" about the place as everyone had their camera out to snap pictures of all the delish food on offer. There's Comms Mgr Eileen in discussions with old friend blogger "Penangtuapui".

I like the place; there's an air of intimacy about it, a sort of trendy elegance which few other places in Penang manage to achieve - must be something to do with the wood-panelled walls and low ceiling. It was a shame when they closed down, and it's great that they have reopened albeit just for lunch.

The semi-buffet concept is also a great idea as it means one isn't stuck with just one starter and one dessert ... variety, as we know, is the spice of life! The ones on offer are good offer: a home-made soup (pumpkin in this case), lots of sashimi and salads with dressings including freshly-made Caesar should you so wish, and a variety of breads and buns to go with them.

For the entire month of December their choice of mains (beef, pastas, fish) will include yuletide flavours: Roast Turkey complete with stuffing and cranberry sauce. Mmmmm ... although having said that I decided to opt for the tenderloin instead - if I start with turkey now I'll be gobbling by the end of the year! That's on the assumption that I will be invited to many other turkey meals of course!

I'm always very impressed by their desserts: there is a good selection - complete with Ginger Bread House; it's all delicious, but what's even better is they come in tiny portions: perfect after a filling meal ... one wants just a tad of EVERYTHING - the cookies are excellent, and so are some of the creamy puddings. And here's a hint: the moulten chocolate goes with EVERYTHING, not just the marshmallows on stick.

Unfortunately I had to rush as we were leaving town that day ... but that's another story!

RUBBING SHOULDERS WITH TOP BRASS

I'm of course referring to one of Penang's stalwarts, Traders Hotel's Brasserie Restaurant in Magazine Road. It was an icon in its time, and one of the few places which served good food in elegant yet not too posh surroundings, its dark wood panelling automatically inspiring a hushed, almost reverent conduct. Service was always excellent, and it was certainly somewhere I used to take good friends if I wanted to celebrate their birthdays in style. (Added advantage is one can always go shopping in KOMTAR or Prangin Mall prior to, and of course one should always have a relaxed stroll after to aid digestion.)

Unfortunately it closed down a few years ago, but reopened again a while back but for weekday lunches only. Now, under forward-thinking GM Karl Karlsson, it has gone one further: he has introduced a one-night a week BYO Wine Dinner every Friday evening, courtesy of his new Executive Chef Chew who joined from Grand Hyatt Shanghai. That chain of hotels has always had a reputation for good food, so I was looking forward to trying it when we were there last week.

It is a semi-buffet concept: a good selection of starters (great sashimi and salads, and I've had some excellent soups there), and a whole host of desserts, including their yummy fried round doughnuts on a stick which go BEAUTIFULLY with the melted chocolate (mmm, I could gorge that by the TABLESPOONFUL), and a choice of appetising mains. The price of the meal depends on what you choose. I went for the beef, and although it was a tad too underdone for me (Chinese lah) it was very tasty. To be honest can't remember what the other choices were BUT as we are going back there again very soon, will be able to find out more.

It appeared all the other diners had a good time too, if the merriment coming from the table next to us was anything to go by. Or could it be the no-corkage wine?!! The good news is that we now have yet another place to choose from when we want to go out for a civilised evening meal in Penang.

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

One hotel which appears to be taking its corporate and social responsibilities seriously is Traders in Penang, to the extent that they are holding a two-day fair which will be opened by Dato' Kee Phaik Cheen today.

As we were there for the first of The Brasserie's Wine Dinners (they are planning to do this once a week only but more of that next time) we were afforded a sneak preview of one of the exhibitions: Royal Terengganu Songket, the cloth with gold or silver threads handwoven into it which only royalty could wear previously.

There will also be other things on display: art, books and get this - a Penang Hokkien Dictionary written by, of all things, a Dutchman Luc de Gijzel. That should be interesting. After all, even as a native Hokkien speaker I have difficulty thinking up words in the dialect. Like can you imagine the word for "the bit at the top of your mouth between the lip and the nose" - I can't even think what it is in ENGLISH let alone Hokkien!! And I wonder how he will get on with the intonations. I am told Hokkien has at least SEVEN if not EIGHT, and even I struggle with some and get them wrong.

Khoo Salma Nasution, our eminent historian, will also be launching her new book "Heritage Houses of Penang". I look forward to that too, as she is an admirable writer who is passionate about preserving everything about this island and state.

Anyway back to the songket: patronised by HM The Queen of Malaysia, there will be a magnificent display of the cloths and products made using it. According to Roslan Wilkinson, who's in charge of the project, they are trying to revive the industry, once solely an East Coast female occupation which earned them pittance, and striving to bring it up to date and the patterns now reflect the times. Get the gorgeous peacock dress in the pix. You'll see it there in pride of place.