Meet Biren, from the Roti-n-Rice blog, who is a top commenter for the month of October. Biren has been an active commenter since our Pandan Spiral Mooncake post, which inspired her to make some beautiful Butternut Squash Mooncakes of her own.
Just like the previous two top commenters, I want to thank Biren for being a top commenter by introducing her site to you. She recently completed a move from Blogspot to Wodpress, and her site looks great! At less than a year old, Roti-n-Rice is an impressive recipe site with a large and active following.
Here’s our fun little “interview”.
HA: What school you went?
B: That was a long time ago. I grew up in Malaysia and attended secondary school which was middle school and high school combined. The motto of the high school I attended is Sapientia et Caritas.
HA: How did you end up in Minnesota?
B: Our moves were mostly job related. My hubby, Ro-Ri San works in the Twin Cities.
HA: Tell me what Roti n Rice is about – what does it mean to you / what do you get out of it?
B: The name Roti n Rice describes the fusion of my Malaysian heritage which is largely based on rice and my life in the West with its bread culture. Roti is a convenient word that means bread with a somewhat Malaysian context. I have always been interested in food and cooking and was a silent follower of some food blogs for a while. Then some 10 months back, I decided to jump into the fray and start my own food blog. I do enjoy working with computers and had been a “techie” before and so I thought that it may be a fun way for me to record some of those family recipes that were fast fading in the memory of elders. I see it as an outlet for my creative side and most importantly a culinary diary and resource for my children.
HA: What’s the most fun thing that happened to you because of your blog?
B: The most fun and rewarding thing about blogging is the social networking that comes with it. Little did I realize when I started that some of the many visitors to the blog would eventually become friends. Through mutual visitation and comments, friendships develop and grow. This past summer during my vacation to parts of Asia I had the opportunity to meet up with two of my fellow food bloggers. It was a strange but good feeling to meet the person behind those words. The blogs came to life!
HA: What’s the one kitchen item / tool you can’t live without?
B: There are several kitchen tools that I absolutely must have but if I have to name one, it must surely be the Santoku knife. Back in the old country, the cleaver was that great utility knife. Over here in US, the chef’s knife was the standard. A few years back, the Santoku made its appearance in the stores and I picked up a set which I still use daily. It is a very well balanced knife that combines the features of the cleaver and the chef’s knife. It has the straight edge of the cleaver and the size of a chef’s knife which is perfect for me. I recently started upgrading my knives and am absolutely impressed with the Shun Nakiri and Ultimate Utility Knife. I believe every kitchen should have a good set of knives.
HA: Thanks, Biren, for being a good sport and sharing a little of yourself!
Hi Annie and Nate,
Thank you so much for featuring me. I am glad to have met you both here. Hopefully one day we can all meet in person. I do enjoy coming here to read your posts and hope to try some more of your recipes in the coming days.
Cheers,
Biren
Biren,
whether here in Malaysia, there in Minnesota, somewhere in between, or somewhere above, we will meet! 🙂
Biren didn’t answer your first question about the school(s) she attended, but a Google search on the motto she gave yields the La Salle School in Petaling Jaya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Salle_School,_Petaling_Jaya).
(I also went to a Christian Brothers’ high school, but in Washington, D.C.) 🙂
— Mike
Mike,
I wasn’t sure if she wanted to mention La Salle PJ. Was that a boys-only school?
LOL! I didn’t think anyone would care to google the motto. Yes, Nate, it is a boys only school for lower secondary.
Hi Mike! Good job finding my alma mater 🙂 I know there are a few La Salle brother schools in the US. If I may ask, which one did you go to and what was the school motto? 🙂
I went to a La Salle bro school as well. Our school motto : Ora et Labora (Pray and Work)..
Oh BTW, congrats, Biren on being the top commenter for the mth of Oct. I just visited your blog. It’s SO cool!! I’m a fan already…
I’ve read Biren’s blog before and really enjoy it! Nate and Annie, one great thing about reading your comments sections is that it introduces me to all these other great blogs, like Roti-n-Rice. Always fun to see what other people are doing.
Jenny –
It’s my pleasure to introduce such great blogs to our readers. Great commenters are often great bloggers 🙂
Hi Annie and Nate 🙂
I follow Biren’s blog and also happen to be a friend. We’ve actually met and she is truly a lovely person, in addition to being an ace blogger!
This is my first visit to your blog and you have lovely recipes! Thanks for featuring Biren and other bloggers – it’s a fantastic idea and a wonderful way to get to know other bloggers! Kudos on your novel and wonderful idea!
Denise,
Welcome! So glad you came over from Biren’s site. I hope you try one of our recipes one day – guaranteed to be good! 😉
Don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS feed to keep up with our latest recipes.
Hi Annie,
Same as Denise, Biren is also my good friend through blogging and we’ve met when she was in Singapore few months ago.
It is so nice to know you and thank you for the advice on Neel’s site.
Love your blog and be back often for sure.
Anncoo,
Welcome! Pleased to meet you.
Too bad we didn’t meet earlier; we were just in Singapore in June for the Gawai holidays.
What a good idea Annie, doing a commenter interview and introducing us to another lovely blogger.
Hello Annie and Nate, nice to be here…I came by to see Biren’s interview and I am very pleased to see the Q and A.
This is a very nice way to make closer connections with people who visit your site. I will definitely explore more here 🙂
Hi Magic,
welcome! I’m glad you came over. Please don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS feed!
Biren…I often visit her blog…love the interview, always love to learn more about the bloggers…so much fun 🙂
Juliana,
yep, and it’s fun to do these interviews too. Can we do one with you? Just be a top commenter this month 😉
great feature on Biren, I love the idea of commenter of the month. I follow Biren’s blog happily as she features soul soothing comfort food, I stumbled across her blog and have enjoyed it ever since..great interview
sweetlife
Sweetlife –
thanks!
Nate, now you are putting me on the spot 🙂
It would be an honor…just let me know what I need to do.
Juliana,
just keep the conversation going in the comments, that’s all there is to it!
Great interview, now we know a little bit more about Biren:D