THE last few weeks have witnessed a spike in Penang food blogging and iGT has been keeping tabs on the most interesting of the lot. This week's news roundup highlights some of blogs that depict Penang food and its outlets in the most informative, creative and tasty way. Read below some of the blogs that have been aggregated in our iGT NetBuzz section.

• Helen Ong: Tea for the senses For the connoisseur, tea is not the real deal if it is not prepared correctly. In Penang, the teahouses will do this for their customers...Sharing some ancient tales about tea, Ooi Gee Kiang, partner of the 0068 Restaurant and Tea House says: "Legend has it that many centuries ago, a monk who was meditating under a tree fell asleep. As an act of penance, he cut off his own eyelid, which fell on the ground and grew into a tree. That is why people who drink tea can’t fall asleep," he says with a laugh” (Star Online, 24.01.10). Read here
• Ho Chiak: Feasting in Penang -- Super Hokkien Mee The soup was wonderful...the stock was heavy, with the characteristic hard boiling (boiled for a long time) with pork bones, prawn heads, pork skin and fortified with rock sugar. It had a beautiful savoury taste and fragrance. The chilli was quite powerful, if you add the entire spoonful as it was served, giving quite a kick. The slices of hard boiled egg provided richness. And the deep fried shallots were capable accomplices to enhance the taste. Read here
• What2see: Penang Assam Laksa in Perak Road with Fish Ball Lately I came across a stall in Perak Road serving this delicacy. This is a slightly different version of laksa. It comes with add-on ingredients and a whole big piece of deboned fish which you can bite into. The slightly sweet brown and tangy sourish fish based soup is not too thick and neither too light. Read here
• Barry Teh: Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul You will be amazed by the daily crowd queuing for their chendul or ice kacang. And most people would be standing while enjoying their dessert. So what does chendul consist of? Strips of smooth green pandan noodles made from rice flour mixed together with red beans, coconut milk, and shaved ice, topped with fragrant gula melaka (black sugar syrup). These combination of ingredients simply blends in perfectly well. Every spoon of it makes you craving for more. Read here
• Maya Kirana: A Tale of 2 Laksa He started to regale us with his laksa lineage. The original laksa of Balik Pulau fame actually belonged to his family. His father started selling laksa in 1968 at the old market place. When the new market was built, the stall was shifted there (the Tan family has 2 stalls in the new market, Stall Number 30 and 37). Read here
• Gravy Train: Penang: Pull me a tea, toss me a bread One of our most exciting discoveries was a joint teh tarik and roti stall on the side of the road, just down the street from Toon Leong coffee shop, a place we'd visited on recommendation from EatingAsia's excellent blog on eats in Southeast Asia. Teh tarik means literally, "pulled tea," and it's made by pouring a mixture of black tea, cream and sugar back and forth between two containers until the repetitive motion forms a frothy foam on top. You can order it either hot or iced, and it's particularly popular in the morning with a hot roti canai. Read here
• Lingzie's Tummy Treats: Penang Special Samosa at Little India I had expected them to be tasty (since this was their speciality and I was in Little India after all). But what I didn’t expect was to bite into the hot and crispy skin, revealing the wonderfully fragrant filling of curried potatoes and chicken. Just the right amount of spices and heat. One bite… and I was, from that bite onwards, a fan. Read here

Dragon boat tragedy of Jan 17, 2010: There have been more developments and observations on this since our roundup last week (read here):

• Blogger Anil Netto weighs in on the situation by suggesting that if eye witness accounts were true, then the “authorities and rescue services should seriously look into their response times – especially the helicopter and marine (including divers) search-and-rescue teams.” Read here
• Blogger Sharon, from her blog Lost in Translation, describes the scene of the tragedy from a personal account and elaborates on what she witnessed very vividly. Read here
• The Penang state government has proposed to the federal government that a public inquiry be established to investigate the incident. Read here 

Other news

• Seagate starts recruitment drive: With economic prospects looking up once again, Penang Seagate Industries (M) Sdn Bhd has become one of the first companies to start a recruitment drive to fill vacancies across the board. Read here
• Syura Council to advise state on Islam: The newly-formed Penang Syura Council will act as a consultative and advisory platform for various Islamic-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs), institutions and associations in the state. Read here
• Nazri: Penang and FT can also use 'Allah': Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Aziz, who commented last week that non-Muslims in Sabah and Sarawak should be allowed to use the word Allah, said today that those in Penang and the Federal Territories could also use the word as there is no state enactment to prohibit its usage. Read here
• Penang and Chittagong in sister port talks: The ports in Penang and Chittagong in Bangladesh are currently in discussions to become sister ports in an effort to enhance co-operation between them. Read here
• Commission takes over some ops from Penang Port: A restructuring in the operations of one of Malaysia's oldest ports - Penang Port - may be under way, with the Penang Port Commission (PPC) taking over some of the port activities currently being operated by terminal operator Penang Port Sdn Bhd (PPSB). Read here

For more news on Penang from January 18 to 24, 2010, please click here

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