FLIP + CHING

Kneaders Bakery & Cafe

Posted on October 3, 2017 by Ching under Food and Drink.

There’s a new restaurant for you to try in Wichita. Brian and I got to check it out last week before they opened thanks to an invitation from a friend.

It’s not in the best location (because we all know how much we despise Rock Road) but at least it’s on the East side of town, which is the correct side. LOL.

Brian and I ate outside because it was a lovely evening but I did take some pictures of the inside of the restaurant while we were waiting in line to order food.

It’s like a cross between Panera and Cracker Barrel.

If you hate carbs, or at least are trying to stay away from carbs, then this isn’t the place for you. I seriously felt myself gaining weight even before we sat down.

Here are some pictures of the food we tried. Brian didn’t deviate from his usual French dip.

I tried a little bit of everything. I had some soup (which Brian actually had some too but they forgot to bring it at first), salad, and a chicken salad croissant sandwich.

I also had a piece of carrot cake which I ended up taking home.

Brian had the chocolate mousse mound, which we actually got to sample while waiting in line. We all know how much he loves chocolate so this shouldn’t have come as a surprise.

We enjoyed our food so much that we hardly noticed the sun set. It was dark by the time we waddled our way back to the car.

I don’t know about Brian but I severely overindulged. I plan on going back but I probably won’t order or eat as much next time.

This event is probably the fanciest that we’ve ever attended. We’ve been to some fancy, black-tie parties but this one takes black tie to an entirely new level. You know the party is going to be amazing when the invitation itself is a keepsake.

I was so impressed with the invitation that, when I found it on my desk at work, I immediately I took a bunch of pictures of it and sent it to Brian.

The presentation of the impeccable invitation was amazing. It looked like a little book. It is the most elaborate invitation I’ve ever received. Seriously.

Here’s the inside.

The invitation was full of surprises.

Inside there was a magnet and a challenge coin.

The details of the party were on cards under the challenge coin.

Obviously, we already had another event on the same day but we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to attend the event of a lifetime! So we attended both. LOL.

We had grandma over for lunch earlier on the day of the party. This is a video of her checking out the invitation. (Don’t mind the laundry that hasn’t been put up in the background. It was laundry day!)

The event was held inside an airplane hangar, which makes sense, since Doc (the B-29 plane) was on display.

I’ve never seen an airplane hangar look quite like this before.

Lots of people came out to attend the event, admire the beautifully restored plane, and support the cause. The gala was a benefit to raise money to build a permanent home for Doc.

I’m so glad that we had the opportunity to attend this event because Brian is in complete awe of this plane. Every time it’s flying about, he just has to record it on video for his dad. It was a pretty special evening.

One of the highlights was getting our photo taken with Doc.

Here’s a picture of the photo that the official photographer took.

This one is a picture of our group photo.

We still had to take a bunch of selfies with Doc, though. Just cause. We couldn’t help it. I mean, when would we have another opportunity to be up close with the plane — scratch that — B-29 superfortress like this? I think there are only two in existence and this is the only one that can fly.

The highlights of the evening included a 40’s style big band.

They also had a “candy bar” that had a full spread of 40’s era candy.

Brian and I took a bunch of pictures because we thought it was a neat idea. Another thing that was really neat was the cigarette girls walking around serving cigarette and cigar candy. They had guys in suspenders walking around with trays as well but their trays were full of delicious and very strong cocktails.

I didn’t get pictures because they greeted us as we were checking in and then I was overwhelmed with the opulence of our surroundings. I just kind of forgot. That was a really nice touch, though.

I did, however, get a couple of pictures of Brian playing with his cigar candy.

Here’s a picture of Brian’s cigarette candy.

This panoramic is a bit blurry but it shows you the set up. They had a circular bar on one side as you enter. Beyond that on the left is where they showcased all of the silent auction items. Then you see Doc on display with a platform for pictures. There’s a specialty bar beyond Doc that is next to the stage. To the right is where all the banquet tables were set up in front of the stage. It was a very nice set up.

There was plenty of space in the hangar for everything so, despite having Doc in the hangar with dozens of guests, it didn’t feel crowded at all.

In keeping with the theme for the evening, they had a female and male quartet perform for us. Here are a few pictures.

Courtney and her team also performed a swing dance demo.

Here’s a selfie of me and Courtney.

Here’s a group selfie of those of us that stayed for a bit to do some dancing at the conclusion of the program.

This pretty much sums up our night.

It was a truly amazing event and one that I will remember forever!

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Ava’s Army Pub Crawl

Posted on September 29, 2017 by Ching under Events.

When you think you’re finally caught up and then get behind again… Here are some pictures from the Ava’s Army pub crawl last weekend…

Brian and I ended up getting double-booked because there were two awesome events on the same day that we just couldn’t pass up. Actually, there were multiple events going on but we had to prioritize.

There was Zumba Jam and Master Class at Northwest YMCA that I ended up missing. We had already committed to the pub crawl though. Plus, there will be other Jams and Master Classes. This event only happens once a year and I missed it last year. Who knows when and if I’ll ever be able to do it again?

I’m not typically in full makeup for a pub crawl but we had a black-tie event immediately after.

This is me with Ginger’s daughter Sarah.

Sarah and Carmen.

Carmen and Nick.

Brian and I didn’t have enough for a team so they ended up adopting us on their team: Smarty Pints.

Here’s a much better pic of me and Carmen.

The pub crawl had a huge turnout, even more than last year. Rachel did a great job of organizing everything.

It was a hectic day but totally worth it. I’m so glad we were able to participate even though it was just for part of it. Until next time!

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Zoobilee 2017

Posted on September 22, 2017 by Ching under Events.

I didn’t take as many pictures this year as I’d had in years past. This was our ninth year consecutive year attending the event. In some ways it was more of the same but still super, duper fun. I highly recommend it if you’ve never been.

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Ladybird Diner

Posted on September 16, 2017 by Ching under Food and Drink.

When I blogged about visiting Grinter Farms the other day, I forgot to mention our brunch experience at Ladybird Diner. Brian and I found this place by looking for breakfast/brunch restaurants on Yelp. All of that walking around the sunflower fields made us hungry. We chose the restaurant mainly because they were open but also because they had great reviews.

The funniest part is, not being all that familiar with Lawrence, we were trying to figure out how to get from the sunflower patch to Mass Street where the diner is located. The conversation went like this…

ME: Just drive like you’re going to 715.
(It’s our favorite restaurant in Lawrence.)
BRIAN: I don’t remember how to get there. Give me the address so I can put it in the GPS.
ME: Uh… 715 Massachussets Street?

Ladybird Diner is at 721 Massachussets Street, just a short walk from 715. Anyway, I thought that was funny and worth sharing.

Brian and I were both starving and were glad when we finally made it to the restaurant. Except, we had to wait about 30 min to be seated because either (a) there aren’t that many restaurants open that early on Labor Day or (b) the food is just that good. I’m thinking it’s the latter because we both enjoyed our meals a little too much. We ate every bit of our full sized entrees (they offer half portions).

The space inside the diner is not very big but they also have some seating outside (not much). It was a beautiful day but we opted to sit inside and fully experience the restaurant’s ambiance. I liked the exposed brick and stone which gives the dinner extra character. (One side is brick. The other side is stone.)

Brian and I decided to sit at the bar (shorter wait). There was a framed print at the bar that had a really good message. I decided right then that regardless of how good the food is, I would give this place five stars.

Brian had biscuits and gravy and a side order of bacon.

I decided to go for the gusto and ordered a full chicken fried steak breakfast. It was delicious but it was A LOT to eat. I immediately regretted not taking them up on the half order when I was given the option.

The diner is known for their delicious pies. Of course Brian and I ordered one to share. It’s not pictured because we took it to go. My regret there is not taking an entire pie. We weren’t quite sure how it would fare on the two and half hour drive home but we knew we could easily transport a slice of pie in our bellies.