KARA - OK? OR NOT OK?

Karaoke'ing is a very popular pasttime in the East, where people will happily pick up the mike and croon along to their favourite oldie without hesitation or restraint, even amongst total strangers. In fact I think that's sometimes the problem to be honest - it's OK when someone has a musical ear or a good voice, and can hold their tune. But when they can't, it's quite an assault on your ear drums!

Take last night for example. We had a good meal at our local club with a group of close friends, then all set off for the Karaoke Room to sing out to our hearts' content. It was fun, but some of the party (who will remain nameless) just couldn't enter at the right key and that's one thing about karaoke - once you do that, you are forever at odds with the background music!

It was so funny that I spent half the time in tears cos I was laughing so hard yet trying to be discreet about it. My stomach hurts today! And btw it wasn't just them who were out of tune - I was too!!

God knows what the people in the neighbouring rooms thought of our group. Often they are seeerioouus singers who fancy themselves to be Frank Sinatra or Agnetha, and heaven help you if you criticise or interrupt their singing! Lighten up!!!

Which brings to mind someone near my mother's place who used to sing along in his front room with all the windows wide open, sharing his tuneless hits with all and sundry. Until one night from the opposite house a long-suffering neighbour, who'd probably had enough, shouted out at the top of his voice, "SHUUUUT UUUUUP!" There was a stunned, hurt silence ... and he hasn't done it since!!

So fellow karaoke singers - a bit of consideration for others please!

Still, that's all part of the fun eh!

Farewell Worthy Friend

Last night I said goodbye to a friend who has been around for a while. And I although I shan't weep, I was feeling rather sad as I walked away for the last time. Yes, Peppino's Italian Restaurant at the Golden Sands Resort is closing its doors. I've just been told that due to popular demand (and mother's day, of course), they have deferred closing by one day and so Sunday 10th will be the finale, as they call it, for this stalwart of Batu Ferringhi.

I've had many meals in there - some excellent - their salad buffet was the talk of the town, and the lasagna was great, and at one point the Pasta with Prawns was mmmmm ... with a bit of added chilli (must lah!) it was DEEElishus; their pizzas were cooked in the special oven.

Some, well shall we say, were OK. I've done food reviews there for The Star and The Expat, and had a great time chatting with Chef Bok, who's been there since it started nearly 20 years ago. Their staff are all attentive and friendly without being irritatingly sycophantic, and I'm glad that they will be at the new place when it opens.

However, one thing was for sure - it was a lovely place and had great ambiance, especially when the strollers accompanied your meal with a few favourite renditions. It's a bit old-fashioned, and like a friend said, its decor is exactly like what a London Italian restaurant looked like in the 70s. That's as it may be, but it was cosy and the smells of oregano and thyme that assaulted your nose as you stepped in were enough to transport me straight back to that time!

It was a very pleasant evening with another two couples who were quite voluble, especially as the night wore on and the freeflow wine made known its presence. One couldn't get a word in edgeways sometimes they talked so much! That was a good sign though that they were enjoying themselves ... wine, women and song. What more could a good hostess provide!

Come August or September, Peppino's will be replaced by Bocce, which will be located in the old Sigi's by the Sea. Some of the more popular items on the menu will be back, but it will have a more seafoody theme, I'm told.

I can't wait, but fare thee well Peppino's. Thanks for the memories!

BAD OUTLETS

OK so sorry but so much has been happening I haven't known what to write about - so ended up writing NOTHING!

It was interesting meeting up with Penangtuapui and exchanging the different facets of being a food writer. One thing was clear though - unlike me, they started off with the pure intention of telling people their honest opinion of the particular outlet they were visiting. And interestingly enough, found that they just could not do it. Maybe it's not in their character (they are really quite nice people whose main interest is in places which serve good food, not lambasting those who don't); maybe it's also not a very Malaysian thing - telling the truth. Not because we are an untruthful people but because we have been brought up to not criticise so succinctly.

In the UK there are a few food critics (and in this case they really are CRITICS) who take pride on being as nasty to the restaurant or outlet they are reviewing as possible. And the more people who write in to disagree with them the better. Their interest is in being read and not helping the restaurant. Like I always say, Penang is too small. I would like to be welcomed when I go to an outlet, not have the door slammed on my face ... or worse!

Still, I was interested to receive an email about a website called:

http://not2eat.blogspot.com/

which encourages people to write in about places they were not satisfied with. Personally, I think this is not a bad idea, as I have sometimes felt the need to point out certain shortfalls in some outlets but have refrained from for the reasons mentioned above. HOWEVER a site like this can be misused, and therefore must be strictly policed. ANYONE could write in with false information about a competitor's outlet - what is there to stop this sort of thing from happening?

So please, much as I know it's bad for your blood pressure, take the entries that you read about with a big pinch of salt.

Bloggers Meet Up

One day last week I had a very pleasant outing: to meet up with fellow bloggers Penangtuapui. Our small inaugural get-together was held at the delightful Saigon Kitchen (formerly known as Com Viet) in Lintang Burmah, Pulau Tikus.









It was certainly a pleasure meeting with them, and we had many interesting anecdotes to exchange with each other. More about that another time (or place), but it was good to know that we are equally passionate about eating and Penang, and all face similar problems when we write about food. However, what made it even better was tucking into the Vietnamese street and home-cooked food that proprietor Lesley Loh and sister Louis had organised for us.







There was an unusual and colourful "Vietnamese Platter" of fresh julienned vegetables wrapped in rice paper with some lai fun (laksa noodles) and a "fragrant" belacan and chili padi sauce. Although a spring roll of sorts, it reminded me of our sour laksa, probably because of the noodles, mint and belacan.

After that we had various dishes with rice: a tender fatty pork braised in coconut water, prawns with lemongrass and chilli (similar to prawn sambal but lighter); fried bitter gourd, and a "Chicken Pie". This was followed by a sweet home-made cinnamon ice cream with their famous apple pie, redolent with a light springkling of cinnamon powder.

All in all, an interesting and wonderful afternoon.

Service Without a Smile

The other day I was attracted by TM’s latest offer of unlimited local and nationwise calls for just RM10 a month if you have a Streamyx (broadband) line, and rushed to register my number, probably along with several thousand other subscribers. It is, after all, a pretty good offer, and will save me a significant sum monthly, as, despite the Internet, I still have to use the phone a lot in my job (if you can call it one).

Part of the offer included a free cordless phone, which the person I spoke to told me I had to collect from my nearest TM point. However, as the offer would only start from my next billing date, the phone would only be available then. All I had to do was to trot along and collect it any time after that date with proof of identity.

Obviously, no Penangite worth his salt, honorary or not, will turn down a free phone, so off I did trot, a few days after said date. No easy task as it involved driving all the way to town, parking the car, feeding the meter then walking under the blazing sun to the one in Burmah Road. Only to be asked, “Have you received a phone call to tell you to collect the phone?” No, I replied; I am only doing what I had been told to do. “Were you told by us?” No, I replied. “Ah then you were misinformed. There is no stock available, and you have to wait for a call.”

When I asked, quite reasonably I felt, why I hadn’t been told this on the phone, her response was basically “Nothing to do with us”. So much for customer service.

Annoying though the experience was, it was compounded by the fact that she did not even once apologise. Although it wasn’t her fault personally, she represents the company, and a simple, “I’m really sorry; you have been misinformed” would have defused the situation.

As it is, I am now blogging this to tell the entire world .. well my reader anyway(!) about their inept and incompetent service. About par for the course - their broadband service is about the same level - poor, and nobody seems to want to take responsibility for it.

What makes it even more irritating is that they are still advertising this offer, and of course more and more people will sign up for it, but all will be making that journey to their nearest TM point for nothing.

QUICK RENDANG PIZZA

As I've mentioned before, my boys love curry (which is strange as No2 wouldn't touch it as a child; then one day whilst on an Outward Bound course in Lumut, he had no choice but to eat it as the only meal available was tinned Chicken Curry - he's been hooked ever since!); in particular BEEF RENDANG.

Last week, whilst researching my (to be written) article for Star Sunday Metro's 2nd Anniversary in May, I was speaking to Eurasian cook Cora Capell whom I had featured before previously. Apparently after my article on her (and Lina) their business boomed (catch her at Little Penang Street Market last Sunday of every month). Anyway I digress - she was telling me her most popular dishes are Salt Fish Pickle (deaf coot that I am I thought she said "Sausage Pickle" and thought, "Hmm, sounds rather interesting. My kids may go for that!) and Beef Rendang. You know one of those occasions when a bell rings in your head? Well, it did in mine so I thought, "Why not save yourself some bother Helen - instead of cooking it, ORDER some from her?" So I did - two sort of 300-400gm containers for RM40. Not too cheap but not expensive either, considering the trouble of making the rempah, frying it then simmering it etc.

We had that for dinner last night after returning from Taiping, and No.1 Son cooked the rice (ya, it is after all just using rice cooker - but it does take some knack to add just the right amount of water!) and we all tucked in. Not bad at all, but not Malay Beef Rendang - after all, it's Eurasian! But delicious.

There was some left-over this morning and guess what No.2 son did? Toasted some sliced muffins, lined each with cheddar and piled the rendang on top. It doesn't look that great, but he absolutely adores the stuff, and in fact, it's really just like a quick Rendang Pizza! (Make it even more so by giving it a quick zap in the microwave oven.)

Chee Cheong Fun and Cheng Beng

It's that time of year again, when Chinese families gather from far and near, to remember our dear departed. And it is no different for me, hence the long silence, as my bro and Dad (who's 86 - long may he keep going) came up from KL to join us for a couple of nights before we headed back down to Taiping (where he's from) for the annual ritual. With guests and the boys, I've not had much chance to update this blog!

This morning we drove down without TOO much hassle waking the boys up (they're not too bad if warned with dire threats) and left the house just ten minutes later than our self-appointed time of 8, and arrived at my cuz's house in Taiping about 9.45am.

After a quick breakfast of Taiping Chee Cheong Fun (pix taken when I wrote about it for Star Sunday Metro a year or two ago) this is MY idea of nursery food - what I used to tuck into it from the same stall even as a child when visiting this very cousin's own mother), from the Hawker Centre, the soft steamed rice flour went down a treat with a good dose of chilli and tee cheow sauces, we headed for the cemetery.

As there were 8 of us it went quite fast, although admittedly we only "cheng benged" at grandparents' and one great-grandmother's graves and neither are we a particularly religious family, so we were done by noon! With so many of us, it's actually quite "lau juak", and not sad or depressing. The boys are used to it now - I've been insisting on their helping out every year and they don't moan. Although it's a simple ritual, I believe by observing it they "honour" their dead ancestors. And I also like to think that one day they might do the same for me and insist their own children come and pray at my plaque (probably no more space for me by then!).

HOWEVER enough of the macabre; after a quick wash and change, we headed for Ayer Kacang (Tau Chooi) in town, where we tucked into some of their great chicken rice (sorry no pix) - really "koot" (smooth). The Hokkien Mee was OK but I think we can better it here in Penang.

The drive back was uneventful, but traffic was quite heavy.