Hazy and hot

Kamarul Dzaman Ajimain @Marul69 presenting a Dining Privilege Card to one of the followers of @Bruneifoodies. Image courtesy of Norliha Din of The Brunei Times.

For their love of food, lucky followers of a local blog dedicated to gastronomic delights each recently won a dining privilege card, worth $88, from Royal Brunei Catering (RBC).

The food lovers were the first 50 to submit their names and details at the Brunei Foodies’ App as part of an RBC Dining Privilege Card (DPC) give away competition.

Presenting the prizes to the winners at Seasons Restaurant was the Assistant Manager for RBC Corporate Sales and Marketing, Ivy Chong and on behalf Brunei Foodies was Kamarul Dzaman Ajimain or Marul. Also present to witness the event were the management of RBC and the restaurant.

The Give Away competition was in conjunction with the food bloggers’ achievements in reaching more than 11, 700 followers on Instagram as well a way of thanking their loyal fans for their support for their Instagram account and the Brunei Foodie Mobile App.

Aside from prizes, guests and winners were treated to dinner at Seasons Restaurant. Text courtesy of Norliha Din of The Brunei Times.

Group photo of the winners

 

Pierre Imhof, CEO of Baiduri Bank Group with the senior management

Pierre Imhof presented red packets to underprivileged students

In celebration of Chinese New Year 2015,  Baiduri Bank Group belatedly held a lavish eight-course dinner at Indera Samudra Grand Hall, The Empire Hotel & Country Club recently. Standing in the front line was CEO of the group Pierre Imhof as well as the management committee and senior executives who greeted 1,500 guests who are based in Brunei-Muara and Tutong districts.

Present too was Yang Berhormat Pehin Kapitan Lela Diraja Dato Paduka Goh King Chin along with foreign dignitaries, prominent businessmen, customers, business partners and associates of the group.

The evening began with a cultural performance by talented students from the Chung Hwa Middle School Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB). Imhof then proceeded to deliver his opening speech, welcoming attendees and highlighting the major progresses and achievements of the group during the past year. He applauded Baiduri Bank in achieving three awards – Domestic Retail Bank for Brunei 2014, for the second time from Asian Banking and Finance; Best Banking Group for Brunei 2014 for the sixth time from World Finance; and Brunei’s Safest Bank 2014 from Global Finance, New York.

In addition, Baiduri Bank became the only bank in the Sultanate to receive Standard & Poor’s credit rating of BBB+/A-2 by an international rating agency.

In keeping up with the Chinese New Year tradition, Baiduri Bank Group donated ‘red packets’ to underprivileged students in order to provide financial support. The donations were presented by Imhof and received by respective principals and students from St Andrew’s, St George’s, Chung Hwa Middle School and Seri Mulia Sarjana School. The night was further painted red with a line-up of local performances and lucky draw prizes as well as best wishes toast by the management to the guests.

Performances

Entertainment during the event

The winner of the singing competition

A night full of red

 

Fitness Zone, in collaboration with Shooting Stars Basketball and The Energy Kitchen, will be hosting the first ever Fitness Zone Holiday Basketball Camp for 5 days from 30 March 2015 to 3 April 2015, during the school holiday week.

Shooting Stars has been conducting weekly basketball clinics for kids of all skill levels from age 7 to 17 with the aim of promoting a healthy lifestyle for kids and learning teamwork skills through the game of basketball.

This camp will focus on intensive basketball drills and exercises but what is really interesting is that there is a focus on nutrition and healthy eating for the participants. Lunch will be provided each day by The Energy Kitchen and there will be a Fitness Zone Dietician to provide nutrition information.

So to the parents, this is ideal for your children to balance out between studies and extra curriculum activities. This is a great avenue for kids to interact with one another and also with young adults.

If you are interested, please emailshootingstarsbn@gmail.com or contact +673 7290011 for more information and also follow them on instagram @shootingstarsbn

 

Chef Ben Wu doing some cooking demo for the guests at Fun Bee Park last Sunday

A great turn out last Sunday

A celebrity chef all the way from Malaysia hosted an exclusive cooking demonstration to the public of the Sultanate. Chef Ben Wu, a renowned chef originally from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia has been airing in the Malaysia’s local radio sharing food preparation and healthy eating habits. He has been followed by the local media during his cooking demo and expo shows due to his fun character and smooth flow of entertainment to his guests. He has been one of the in-house featured Chefs over “Y3K” magazines every edition whereby he has been sharing his winning recipes from rice and noodles to meats to desserts.

In cooperation with Fun Bee Park and IA Salon, a total of 42 guests enjoyed the cooking show which highlighted traditional recipes locally and infused dishes. Chef Ben titled his show: “The Lost Recipes” which featured mostly the local taste of past years dishes. Ten amazingly quick and easy recipes from soup, rice, cake, meat, juices, and ice cream were personally prepared by the chef for the attending guests.

Soup recipes such as ABC soup which chicken bones was boiled with cut potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes. Another mouth watering soup was the Tom Yam soup with chicken meat marinated with savory spices perfected to taste.

Ikan Asam was also a hit to the guests which were prepared and fully cooked in quick minutes. The fish dish was filled up with seasonings and organic spices to infused local taste with modern recipes.

Other lost recipes were popcorn, Kuih bakar, Kuih Ketayap, and Sos Chilli. Fruity juices were served to its freshest qualities, such as the creamy mango shake and Jus Vitamin King, a concoction of pineapple, honey, and sour plum.

The cooking demonstration ended up with food tasting of all traditional recipes that the hosting chef has prepared. In addition to the courses, Chef Ben’s team people cooked dishes that were local favorites such as Pumpkin chicken curry, Tom yam mee hoon, Patin fish with durian, and Nasi goreng with salted fish and pineapples. A group photo with Chef Ben, organizers, and invited guests sealed up the event and everyone was looking forward to the future demonstrations and cooking show.

Chef Ben Wu with some guests

Both of us were given ostrich eggs.. Unique…

The kitchen area at Fun Bee Park

The trademark pose of Chef Ben Wu

Guests trying out some food

 

There are no words to conveniently describe or do justice to the fabulous Showcase Concert at Jerudong International School (JIS) last weekend.

Held in the institution’s auditorium, the room reverberated with endless applause as philharmonic attendees enjoyed the spectacle performed by students and directed by Paul Edgeler and which covered a wide spectrum of popular music styles.

From lush, richly orchestrated Broadway numbers and beautiful acoustic ballads to catchy jazz standards and unapologetically loud, high-energy dance numbers, this year’s concert catered to everyone’s taste.

The audience was further enthralled by a gripping performance by violinist Shian Li Esther Chiam, who won the Junior World Champion Instrumentalist award for Brunei in the World Championships of Performing Arts in 2014.

Her solo performance of Smooth Criminal, accompanied by the orchestra, was simply dazzling.

Smiles further widened as JIS Year 11 pupil Aziz Harun took to the stage to perform Senyum, which was written and produced by Faizal Tahir and Mike Chan and received over 900,000 views on YouTube (amazing).

The concert was divided into two parts – the morning session for invited schools and members of Pusat Ehsan, while the nighttime performance was for guests who purchased tickets. Text by Ikhwan Salleh of The Brunei Times and images provided by Lily Chiam unless stated.

She can sing too. Thumbs up to you Shian Li

A special rendition of Smooth Criminal by Shian Li

Trio performance by Azemah Abdul Rahman, Eden Chiam and Yi Ping Sim. Image courtesy of James Kon of Borneo Bulletin.

Eden Chiam belting some notes

Aziz Harun with his popular song, “Senyum”. Image courtesy of James Kon of Borneo Bulletin.

Image courtesy of The Brunei Times.

The finale