wandkey's Xanga

Wandkey has moved!

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:08:21 GMT

It's been a long time I've been here at Xanga, close to 5 years. There are many things I love about Xanga, mainly the visitor tracker (stalker me!), and I've been very reluctant to make the move but the time has now come to announce that Wandkey has moved to...

Wordpress

Click click! Meanwhile, I can't think of a way to wrap up this blog, it feels so final, just ending a chapter of my life here like this. Leaving. Putting the blog "on the shelf to gather dust". Let bygones be bygones.

But well, it was time for a change. So, click on the link above and I hope you'll read on and stick around for more Wandkey goodness. Haha.

Now I know how authors must feel when they write the final chapter of their book, it's called reluctance. Eek. This is not the end, not the end! Wandkey will continue to blog, for a very long time to come I hope. But for this Xanga blog, this marks the end.

It's been great times, good times, some not so good times, it's been quite a ride... Thanks to everyone who has read this blog, whether from the time I just started or the readers who occasionally, randomly pop by. Thanks for all the comments, I love feedback. Thanks to Xanga for providing this platform that has been a refuge, place to air my random thoughts or emotions, share snippets of my life, make people salivate (and get fat! Haha!!). So many thanks....

The End? No....

To be continued... at Wordpress. See you there!

I love Kuching supermarkets

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:57:27 GMT

BEWARE: THIS POST CONTAINS TEETH-ROT-INDUCING PHOTOS, PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK

Kuching supermarkets have come a long long way from what I remember from my childhood.

Recently on a trip to Choice Premier Supermarket quite near my house, I discovered something that triggered my "sweet tooth" alert. Arnott's TimTams Original at almost half price! And there were chocolate Scotch Fingers too!
Oh my goodness, from the usual price of RM7.90 to RM4.80, these TimTams were such a good find. Do you know how hard it is to find REAL TimTams in KL supermarkets? You can find the Indonesian made TimTams almost everywhere but somehow they don't seem to like Aussie biscuits much.

More recently, last weekend actually, Cold Storage Supermarket finally opened its first outlet in Kuching. And it was packed during the opening day I tell you, madness! Kuching people being Kuching people, love new things and love bargains. Let's see how long this will last.

The place is full of imported goods and the food, ah the food.... I found myself some Lemon Curd which is ridiculously hard to find in Malaysia, what more to say in Kuching. I remember my childhood days when I had Robertson's Lemon Curd bought from Ting & Ting supermarket on toast, it reminded me of Sugus Lemon-flavoured sweets. Nostalgia...

But what took my breath away was the ice-cream selection. First time ever I saw BEN & JERRY'S ICE CREAM in Kuching!!! I remember watching some chick flick and when the girl got dumped, she ended up with a huge pint of Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Wow that must be good advertising, many many years on I still remember that ice cream. My point is, lookie, it's here in Kuching, yours to take home for only RM33++. Hahaha. I don't know if Kuchingnites are that big on ice cream though, for that price.

And another interesting ice-cream find I made was Reese's Choc Butter Cup and Oreo Ice Cream. Now I've never heard of this brand Klondike but the sugary delights the ice-creams are flavoured with... Aah. Rich, sinful on its own, I can't imagine how they would taste like as an ice-cream.

Good thing my indulgences are limited by my budget and my conscience. Or you would see quite a round Wen Qi by the end of summer. Haha.

P.S. This blog post was not written on a sugar high.

P.P.S. These may be one of the last few blog posts on this blog. If all goes well, Wandkey will be moving to a new, yet to be disclosed location.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Sun, 18 May 2008 13:48:18 GMT

"How about another meat dish?", the middle-aged man with a beer belly and husky voice asked as we were ordering for dinner at The Venue. "Beef, venison, chicken, pork ribs, pork belly...?" he further inquired.

I sensed hesitation by the looks of the important people who were to make this decision, my parents.

In my mind, I was going "Prawn, prawn, prawn?". Testing the strengths of my telepathy skills, not daring to speak up to suggest a pricey, not often ordered dish by the family.

"How about prawn?", my mum finally said.

Hallelujah! Haha. Great satisfaction was in store, though the wait was long. This finally arrived after the vegetable and tofu dish....

Oh it has been far too long, too many months since I've had prawns this good. The size of prawns normally found in KL, sigh, I rather just not eat prawn there. And this prawn was such a breeze to deshell, making the eating process just that much more enjoyable. Boo to the prawns at Annual Dinner, so much for making people look so unrefined eating prawns with their hands at a 5 star hotel because the prawn so hard to deshell.

On to other matters, hasn't it been some time since you last seen me here? Oh yea, I forgot to mentioned, I'm back in Kuching. Just in case you couldn't gather that from what I just wrote above. I am currently rotting and this has been my most anti-social week for this year so far. Internet has been keeping me alive, and no complaints so far. Thanks to SNS for making me appreciate fast internet connection. After months of not being able to p2p or video stream properly, say hello to my two new best friends, YouTube and Limewire! Yes, I'm officially a lost cause, hermit with a shell I call home.

Initial thoughts when adapting to staying at home as opposed to uni:
Fridge with food! No need to worry about people stealing my food! Wow, cold milk!!! Cold milk and cereal, WOW!!
Washing machine that needs no coins to operate, yay!
Streamyx! (Already explained above)
TV that I don't have to fight with to watch what I want and has proper ASTRO, wah...
Pretty pretty, sweet smelling flowers in the garden. Mmm... gardenia, jasmine
Hello bed... Zzzzz..

Chocolate is good... Ta Kiong Supermarket has an amazing range of Australian and NZ chocs. These were smaller sized bars instead of the usual huge ,sinful family-sized bars, perfect.

Yes, essentially it was like I just emerged from a jungle into civilisation. Am not missing KL too much, yet. Am missing Semenyih, not. Except maybe for the fresh air and breezy nights. Am missing uni friends, a lot.

Okay, holiday plans? Argh, it'll wait till June. Haha. Procastinators unite, tomorrow!

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 04:11:20 GMT

1. Real name => Wen Qi

2. Nickname => Qi Qi, Serena (The girls seem to think I have hair like Serena from Gossip Girl), Monkey (Rhymes with Wandkey)

3. Married => Not married

4. Male or Female => Female (What's with these boring questions?)

5. High school => Kuching High and St Thomas Secondary School

6. University = University of Nottingham (Malaysia Campus for another year)

7. Short or long hair => Long, definitely needs a trim soon

8. Are you a health freak? => I love my food!! Go figure.

9. Height => 167.5cm

10. Do you have a crush on someone => No *Blushes at being asked*

11. Do you like yourself? => Definitely (Another weird question)

12. Piercings => None at all

13. Righty or Lefty => Righty

FIRST'S

14. First surgery => Never had one, hope I wouldn't ever have to

15. First piercing(s) => Refer to question 12

16. First person you see in the morning => At uni, it's Grace I most often see first, as we walk to class. At home, it's most often my sister I see first

17. First award => Oh my, I seriously cannot remember my childhood much...

18. First sport you joined => Does swimming count?

19. First pet => Fish that died when my sister took a liking towards creating tsunamis in the water by shaking the container and I was lousy at taking care of them

20. First vacation => Must have been either Miri or some nearby beach place when I was really young

21. First concert => A classical music concert perhaps, I can't remember my first

CURRENTLY

23. Eating => Wished I was, it's lunch time but there's no lunch to eat yet

24. Drinking => Next scheduled water drinking time: after I finish this tag

25. I'm about to => Finish this tag and get back to Pharmacology, and later Pharmaceutics (Terrible Ps)

YOUR FUTURE

26. Want kids => Don't want to think so far ahead

27. Want to get married => Don't want to think so far ahead

28. Careers in mind => Pharmacist

WHICH DO YOU PREFER?

29. Lips or eyes => Eyes.

30. Hugs or kisses => Hugs

31. Shorter or taller => Taller.

32. Romantic or spontaneous => Spontaneous

33. Sensitive or loud => Sensitive in private, Loud in public

34. Trouble maker or hesitant => Oooh.. wouldn't mind a little trouble making

HAVE YOU EVER...?

35. Kissed a stranger => No

36. Drank bubbles => I think they meant drank bubbly right... Or not?

37. Lost glasses/contacts => Never lost my glasses, but broke a few in my younger days

38. Ran away from home => Where would I run to? Absurd...

39. Liked someone younger => Why not?

40. Liked someone older => Why not?

41. Broken someone's heart => Why not?

42. Been arrested => Why not? Haha. NOOO la. Of course not.

43. Cried when someone died => Yea

44. Liked a friend => What's with these like questions....

DO YOU BELIEVE IN...?

45. Yourself => I have to

46. Miracles => Not really...

47. Heaven => Yes

48. Santa claus => What am I, four?

49. Angels => Don't I look positively angelic? Hehe

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY NOW...

50. Is there one person you want to be with right now => Anybody who would make me laugh a lot, I'm low on laughs now as exams are coming up and people are all busy and serious these days

51. Do you believe in God => Yes

52. Tag 5 people => Nobody... This tag isn't worth tagging others

Now, time for some photos...

Ah, if it weren't for my eyes that were closed, I'd say this was the best photo of us girls during Annual Dinner. Everybody was dressed so nicely that night. Will blog more about this when I have the time.

Two days ago, Cynthia and I did something quite unthinkable, we went to jog at 7.45 in the morning. I love this photo, look how the building reflects in the water. Though the lighting isn't that nice, looks somber.

Thin but Heavy?

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 05:21:59 GMT

Tis the season to be eating! Exams are coming up, this semester is ending, I'm going back to Kuching early next month. This can only mean one thing, more eating! More eating when exams are around, snacking and such. More eating to savour the food that can only be found in KL before going back. Then, yet again more eating when I get back to Kuching and reunite with laksa, beef noodles, ABC, kolo mee... Oh my, if this goes uncontrolled, you're going to see a very round Wen Qi by May.

Recently, I've had two different cases of two guys saying I'm skinny. And in both instances, they first poked me in the arm before saying that. Hey, my arms are not toned, please don't poke. Haha. But what one of the guys said really stuck in my mind. That was the day we were having physiology lab and before taking our systolic and diastolic blood pressure, we had to have our weight and height measured. Upon finding out that I weigh 56kg (I think the weighing machine missed out 1kg at least), the guy said "I want to be like you, thin but heavy". Then going on to say my bones must be dense and all that. Haha. Thin but heavy!

Aah, I'm going to miss this place over the summer holidays. I'm going to miss walking back to my room at night, after a mamak session or after studying at the SA, when the air is cool and breezy. I'm going to miss walking to the kitchen on Sunday noon, when it's sunny and the sky is ever so clear and the campus is quiet and feels almost resort-like. I'm going to miss the Pharmacy lab at the block we ever so lovingly call "The Red Building", where the views of the mountains are fantastic, never had such good views from a lab before. I'm going to miss having KL near enough for a weekend outing out. I'm going to miss most importantly, the people here.

Anyway, enough of that, now let's get back to talking about food yea?! Last week, I tried out a new place in Semenyih that serves Pakistani food, Al-Shad. I must say, the food may not look appetising, but it really is very rich and flavourful. We underestimated the size of this Chicken Briyani, musing over at first it's seemingly small portion of Chicken, until we got to the end of it and realised we were proven wrong. This dish is really filling, especially since we ordered a plate of Paleek Paneer (Spinach and Cheese). Then, there was that glass of Kashmiri Tea that we had no idea what it would be like till it was served. Gosh this is the nicest, most unique drink you can find around Semenyih town. I can't tell if there's any actual tea in it because the thing is just so milky and rose-syrupy, and it had lots of chopped almonds in it. It's almost a whole meal on its own. Okay, this may not be the best Pakistan food around, but it certainly is one of the better mamak-like places around in Semenyih.

Well, that's for all now. Time to get back to my darling Pharmaceutics, it's starting to look a little neglected.

My phototaking indulgences

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 05:33:51 GMT

Anybody who knows me well enough would know that I love taking photos. When put together with my cousin Cynthia, our girlfriends like to tease us with our queer habit of photographing whatever that's nice that we're eating. Recently however, have been caught in a few situations where a camera phone just cannot do justice to the beauty that was before our eyes. Such as this...

Grace and I were on our way walking out from a CF meeting, it was about 7 in the evening, the storm had settled and the sky was a gorgeous shade of gold. We stopped in our tracks, and I managed to take the photo on the left, which did no justice to how beautiful the sunset really was. From here, it just looked scary, and washed out. We walked further on, and what a sight to behold! It looked like somebody had put a spotlight in the sky and it was shining upwards. You just had to see it with your own eyes to realise how breathtaking it was. All too soon, the sun had set and the sky grew dark.

I remember this photo, taken last month one night when I, for some reason, got really bored and started playing with the effects of my camera phone. This is a photo of my table lamp taken with the negative effect on my camera phone turned on. I love how brilliant and bright the orange looks, and the slight transparency of the plastic on the lamp.

Here's a tantalising photo from a while back, Chili's at One Utama in early March or late February I think. This time round, we shared this Mushroom Chicken Fajitas. I love the condiments, and the cheese! Due to the dim lighting at the place, this photo didn't turn out that wow.

Okay, so my camera phone isn't too bad, and I do love the convenience. But it really can't replace a real, proper camera. I miss my dear cam.....

Revival?

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:02:44 GMT

It's Week 10! Everybody exclaim with me, only 4 weeks left to the first paper, one month plus till Year One is over!! Week 8 and 9 was hectic hectic hectic, suddenly all the clubs and societies decided to have their activities crammed into such a short time frame. I've discovered that though the perks of helping out with events include free admission and being in the know, it really means a lot of work. And thus, after helping out with 3 events within the time frame of 2 weeks, which included Music Society's Talent Quest, SIFE's Fashion Show, and CF's Easter Play, glad to have those past and done with. Tiring but fun times, those were. At times it seemed pointless to help out, but obligations are obligations.

Backstage view of the SIFE Fashion Show, that's a blurry Hannah Lo in action, where's a camera when you need one?

After tiring weeks of work, weekend are such a welcome. Real food, good food, something to look forward to each week. The Gardens at Midvalley is currently having a special Food and Beverage promotion that lasts a month. Many Food and Beverage outlets there have special offers, and we've tried a few of the best. Gelatissimo, Yo Sushi!, OChaCha... There are many other nice outlets there that have special offers or discounts of one or another, Italiannies, New Zealand Naturals, Paddington House of Pancakes, just to name a few. If I had the time, money and capability of eating that much without getting fat, I most definitely would. Haha. One can only dream....

Gelatissimo, oh so lovely. Macadamia Nut Caramel *I think* and Pink Guava

Yo Sushi! Indulgence....

Semester 2 is coming to an end really fast, there is so much I still want to do before I go back to Kuching for my very long summer break!

Watch the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in action
Makan! Cynthia's compiling a very long list of places to eat...
Go for an out-of-the-city trip
Outing with uni friends
J.Co my heart out, I'm not going to have J.Co donuts for 4 months... Aaaaaah
Jamming sessions at the music room
Shop

Annual dinner's coming up on April 11 at One World, that's one more week plus. Just managed to get a dress and shoes last weekend, while on an extensive and intensive shopping expedition at Midvalley and Bangsar. It was just me, Cynthia, Grace and Kenneth who went. Kenneth being the only guy tagging along since he wanted to get his haircut over the weekend. Never had I searched this thoroughly in such a big place for something this bad, it was tiring. Poor Grace and Kenneth were so so so tired by the time we got to the KTM station after shopping. I kid you not, it is not easy to find a dress that suits the occasion and suits your figure. I told myself if I didn't find anything at Blook, I probably would get too picky and not find anything. So there I was, trying on dress after dress after dress. Thankfully my friends were able to give comment which also helped me to decide on the dress to get. I was quite surprised that a guy would be able to give comments on clothings and shoes, a straight guy nonetheless. Haha. In the end, I settled on a black dress that I now feel wouldn't be formal enough, but should be more practical and wearable on more occasions. Ooh.. and I saw the most darling pair of black, peep-toed, stilettos at Isetan, they were by Lewre if not mistaken, and cost about RM200. Sigh, about the price. They just looked so good. And when I put them on, I felt good and it looked good. Instead, I ended up buying a pair of bluey-green strappy heels with silver trim at Vincci, nice, but not stunning. Nevermind, it should do.

ANYWAY, no post of Wandkey is complete without food photos these days I guess. So...

Tada! This must be the best pasta dish I've helped in making since I came to uni. Imagine... lingune nicely cooked topped with a tomato based sauce with minced beef, onions, mixed herbs, and carrots, garnished with tomatoes that are quite "meaty", then finally shredded cheddar cheese grated on top. So satisfying! Hmm, wonder who would I inspire this time. Last time it was Daniel who was inspired to make bruschettas, and he outdid me!

My Great Food Weekend

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:56:41 GMT

Last weekend, anybody who's living in Malaysia should know about the Elections and it's unexpected results. I however was blissfully away from all the hoo-ha, on a restricting order not to venture out and ended up spending the weekend on campus. Which eventually and pleasantly turned into a very satisfying food weekend. You'll see what I mean...

First for Saturday's lunch, we started off the weekend with bruschettas. Oooh I cannot believe how simple it was to made and how good it was. Basically, I'm never eating bruschettas outisde again, so not worth it compared to what you can make by yourself. The bruschetta Grace, Cynthia and I made had the loveliest ingredients: fresh baguettes, cheddar cheese, ham, tomatoes, mixed herbs and a light dash of olive oil.

Dinner was just as good if not better, and surprisingly easy to prepare. We had a semi-warm salad, with stir fried button mushrooms, bacon, tomatoes, onions, basil, mixed herbs and after that, lettuce was piled on top with grated cheese. I only wished there was more to go around, it was that good!

By Sunday lunch, we were getting a bit lazy, and whipped a very simple, no cooking involved tuna and butterhead lettuce on bread meal. I bet some people would be very surprised that I would voluntary eat that much tuna, but it actually wasn't too bad. And the lettuce was very nice, I kept sneaking extra bits between bites.

Grace, my good friend who loves chopping things up.

Sunday dinner however was the odd meal. But nonetheless still good. It all sounded fine and well in theory, meat patties with stir friend vegetables. The meat patties turned out quite nice actually, with the infused basil, mixed herbs, bits of potato in it, but lacked an important ingredient, something to hold it together. Haha. And the stir fried vegetables... well we got lazy and just wanted to start cooking it, and they took very very long to even soften. Which led to unequal bits of hard and soft pieces of carrots or potatoes. Oh well, we know what to do next time.. All in all, it was a great food weekend. And actually quite healthy too. I can get used to this. Haha.

Let it be?

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:02:41 GMT

I saw a screenshot of a youtube video with the random url of a website with the words "Girl Of My Dreams", which my brain somehow made the connection with something I read online a very long time ago, about an almost unbelievable sounding real-life love story.

NYGirlOfMyDreams.com, after a quick Google search, I found myself back there again.

It really is amazing, what are the odds that a guy spotted a girl in New York on a subway, couldn't get her out of his mind and made a website and with just his simple illustration and description of the girl and the time and place he saw her, he was then successful in his search! In New York, of all places, a HUGE megacity with millions of people. One encounter, one chance sighting, and fate ensues.

It sounded almost unbelievable, finding a person of your dreams through a description of your sighting in an, -okay- highly publicised website? Really, somebody can make a movie out of this.

Too often in life, we take many things for granted or just let things slip by. "I'm tired.... Too many things to do... Maybe tomorrow.... See how it goes". How often do we hear ourselves saying things like that? But this guy, against all odds, made the initiative and carried it through. Risking his pride, not even knowing who the girl is, even with the high chance of failure, he went ahead and did what he could.

Why am I writing about this? I realise that sometimes, inaction can mean leaving things till it's too late, when circumstances are irreversible. No doubt, not taking action can be a form of rationality, an inbuilt instinct that holds us back from doing something that is possibly stupid. For now, I'm in a limbo.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 06:58:43 GMT

Happiness. Elusive as it often is, as fickle as it can be, it is never too far from our grasp. I’ve been surprised by myself recently, always thought of myself as a person who finds joy in the smallest things. Even what one of my friends said recently seems to show that they think of me as the quirky girl who is ever-happy.

Oh well, I’m essentially a secretive person, and secretive people have a mechanism of coping with life: putting up facades. But living under pretences gets increasingly difficult, and sometimes I don’t even know who I really am after all that. Even my blogging personality has changed so much, from blogging about things that really mattered to me, to been known as the blog with lots of food photos.

Finding direction and purpose in life, that’s normally what people anchor on to, and from that derive happiness and satisfaction. For now, I’m just an aimless wanderer who seeks joy from the sights and sounds along the road of life. Funny how that day I was at MPH of The Spring in Kuching, and I saw a bookmark in the Christian books section. On it was the name that my parents tried to bestow upon me in my younger days that I didn’t take to well, Wendy. According to the bookmark, the name Wendy is from a Welsh word meaning Wanderer. How apt.

Okay, now just time for some photos and captions, I’m getting lazy to blog. Bad bad Wandkey. Haha.

Here’s the Scripture Union Campsite at Tapah, Perak where the Christian Fellowship Camp was held at last month. Doesn’t it just look idyllic here in this photo?

I love how the sunrise light diffuses in this photo, and the greenery. Captivating. That was where I sat early in the morning for quiet time during the camp, with the soft glow of the sun, cool air and the quiet sounds of nature surrounding me.

I got new shoes! Oh this were a steal, at RM30, I think very much marked down, bought from Novo at Bangsar Village 2. They only have one Novo in the whole of KL, too bad. And the bag they give when you buy their shoes, makes such nice shopping bags.

Here’s what we collected on our trip to Bangsar, the boutiques there are lovely. Well, we couldn’t afford to shop so much to collect shopping bags, but we got contact cards instead.

Oh yea, and had Chinese New Year Eve dinner with my family at Merdeka Palace, the buffet had a good selection of cold dishes, so many salad stuff. The sushi bar wasn’t much to rave about, and neither were the main dishes. But the yee sang was nice, and the desserts Mmmmmm….

We concocted this chocolate brownie-vanilla ice cream-hot fudge sauce dessert to share, makes me crave for Tony Roma’s or Hard Rock Café’s one just thinking about it

A photo of the aforementioned cold dishes and salad section, sorry the photo’s blurred.

Okay, end of post. Thanks for reading, if you have been reading till this far. Haha. Until next time, which hopefully wouldn’t be too long to go, bye!