Test your knowledge on Penang herbs and spices by joining the Penang Passion contest and stand a chance to win yourself a copy of Penang Passion! Log onto mphonline.com (click on the logo below). Contest starts on 15th September 2007.

The Chef Association of Malaysia, Penang chapter, recently took part in The International Food and Hotel Society 2007 culinary challenge. Participating countries included teams from Malaysia , Germany , Switzerland , Hong Kong , Taiwan , Korea and Thailand . The chefs proudly wore Penang Passion aprons to showcase their culinary prowess and emerged Champions in the Asian Culinary and US Turkey Categories. They also claimed the Bronze medal in the Brown Rice Cooking Competition.

It's the high drama event of the year - the 28th International Dragon
Boat Festival. 70 teams vied for the championship at the Teluk Bahang dam.

Local favourite, Pacific West sent in a few teams and won some
races. Penang Passion won a few hearts by selling books to raise funds for Children Protection Centre .

Friday 25th May was a special day for Food Friends, the day started with a trip to the Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa . Our itinerary: a tour of the Rasa Wing, the gardens and Chi Spa and the renowned Feringgi Grill for a cookery demonstration followed by a three course lunch.

Our return to the red brick icon was long awaited. We had a full attendance of 35 food lovers. We will host another event at this venue later in the year. As we entered the Feringgi Grill, we were enveloped by the chic sophistication for which it is famed. Three chefs awaited our arrival. The setting perfect with a beautiful counter display for the cookery demonstration and a very comfortable theatre style seating. The newly appointed executive Chef, Franco Brodini, and his team of chefs were all very happy to share their cooking techniques with us. Many questions were asked and serious notes were taken. Food Friends proved to be a very attentive audience. Our taste buds were tantalized from the moment the cooking started and the aroma of the cooking whet our appetites for a scrumptious lunch.

Tze, author of Penang Passion, was amongst our guests that morning. She made a special book presentation to Chef Franco (see picture) with her autographed copy and he was very appreciative of the special gesture.

Beautiful tables were laid out for lunch with a fantastic view of the luxurious resort.  The food was superb, presentation fabulous and the succulent beef tartar and the freshly prepared cod fish with a delightful mousse dessert were the stuff that we were lavishly treated with.

The ambience was relaxing and time passed without our noticing. It was 4.30pm when we left. A very memorable event for the connoisseur of gourmet cuisine.

Many thanks to the team at the Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa for hosting this event. Apologies to the disappointed members on the waiting list.

For some of us it was a quick trip to the hairdressers, a shower, change of clothes and off to another fine dining experience - A New Zealand Wine Makers Dinner at 1885 at the Eastern and Oriental Hotel.

The night started with a champagne reception on the veranda while the diners assembled. On to 1885 where Montana Wines with their distinctive rich fruity flavours harmonized perfectly with 1885’s superb presentation of a five course dinner menu that exuded the essence of a complete dining experience. The usual quiet sobriety of 1885 was disrupted by the dancing couples at the end of the evening. Unforgettable!

A fabulous day and night, and to re-assure you that the art of fine dining is very much alive in Penang. Oh what a tough life we have!

Dear Ms Koh Tze Yin,

We have just completed our first fund raising event this year at the Alliance Francaise, yesterday evening.  It was a huge success and your books were a sell out.  Many guests were disappointed, including me, at not being able to buy a copy.  It is not surprising as ‘Penang Passion’ is a beautiful book and a ‘must’ for any food lover.  In this respect, on behalf of Soroptimist International Penang, I would like to thank you very much for your generosity at allowing us to retain 40 percent of the proceeds from the sale. You have our assurance that the money will go to support a worthy cause.

 I wish you every success and look forward to the sequel of ‘Penang Passion’. 

Yours sincerely,

Malicca Ratne

"What a lovely book including photographs of you!  They were
all pretty impressed here at Norton (Publishing House, North of
London). I shall definitely be trying out some of the recipes!"

"The book itself is an absolute work of art, not only as a publication but as an evocative reminder of the sights, smells and exotic tastes that come flooding back to us old gwai-lohs who once loved living in  Penang - the aprons are also fantastic."

Bill Russon, Australia

"Passion, the spice of life, if you lack it,
Tze Yin's Penang Passion is where you could find ingredients
to perk up your passionless life. "

Well, this is my thought of the day!

Paulina P'ng, Malaysia

"I had my second Haggis order confirmed from Port Klang yesterday, so another 18 and the multi coloured sapphire bracelet Max (my jeweller) has in his shop is mine !!!!!”

Davina Dunn, Malaysia

"Penang Passion has truly captured the essence of Penang,
not only it's food but also the history, background and culture
of its people.
The recipes that Mom has tried from Penang Passion are:
 
1) Stir fried chicken with lemongrass and turmeric leaves (pg 73)
2) Deep fried prawns in garlic and spicy sauce (pg 68)
 
She's looking forward to trying more!"

Mark Felix, Malaysia

"Your book takes pride of place in the kitchen and Willy got terribly brave last week and made Penang Laksa!! How about that - he had been threatening, or rather, promising, to start cooking some meals, but he was a bit ambitious to start off so rashly. However, it was delightful althought more chilies were needed - never thought I would say that!"

Margie Russon

"Penang Passion absolutely opens up my eyes to the whole art of eating. I now see sharing food with friends/ family as a time to share a special moment, a part of my life with them, and this has helped to take my relationships with them to a whole new level!"

Richard Tan, Malaysia

Wong Mun Kit, Singapore