CRIZ BON APPETITE

Gosh! I almost could not make it due to a month plus of office relocation and crashed hard disc 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!

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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!

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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.

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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! 🙂

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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!

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