Archive for "Food and Drink"
Dinner at Stearman Field
Posted on February 1, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink.
My friends Katie Merrill and Marva Stroman stopped in Wichita on their way to Great Bend this past weekend. They arrived on Friday night and we all went to dinner at Stearman Field Bar & Grill. Brian wanted to go to Rio but I suggested Stearman Field to continue with Katie’s airplane adventures from the previous weekend. I figured she would get a kick out of it, and we always go to Rio so I wanted to go somewhere different.
Brian and Marva:
Me and Katie:
Here are some pictures of our food…
This rueben actually wasn’t ours. It was someone else’s but it looked so good. We had to take pic of it!
One last picture of Katie and Marva for good measure.
Until next time, GNG.
No Comments
Black Bear Diner
Posted on January 24, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
None of us had to play in the morning on Saturday so Chris Wilson introduced us to a diner he discovered on a previous trip to OKC. I went with the group (Cindy Egan, Karen Fox, and Chris) without Brian because he had committed to helping his dad replace their water heater so he left early in the morning to do that.
The diner has a cute, bear-themed interior decor.
Here are pics of our food.
The food is decent and the place is cute so I can see why Chris likes it. I wish Brian could have joined us. Perhaps on the next trip down there, he can.
The other unique thing about this place is the fun sayings on the backs of their chairs. Here are some examples…
They also have a fun little gift shop.
This restaurant is a chain but it’s definitely worth checking out next time you are in the Oklahoma City area. Till next time, GNG.
No Comments
The Sandbox
Posted on January 23, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink, Pickleball.
I finally had the chance to check out the Sandbox in Derby, KS. Food and pickleball are two of my favorite things so much like, Chicken N Pickle, this place is a winning combination. The hourly court reservation fees are similar to CNP during prime time ($40 per hour per court) but slightly less before 5 PM (just $15 per hour, instead of $20). The advantages of Sandbox (besides being $5 less during certain times) are…
- There’s more court availability right now because fewer people know about it or know how to book online.
- It provides us with another indoor option because there are very few indoor court facilities with outdoor court surface.
- It serves an under-served area and makes pickleball more accessible for those who live South of Wichita.
- The food is actually not bad.
Here are some pictures of the food we tried when we were there last week during Martin Luther King Day. Gotta love the holidays!
Of course the chicken tenders and fries were Brian’s plate! LOL.
I put together a video playlist on YouTube of games that were played at the Sandbox last weekend (MLK weekend). I played some mixed doubles rec there on Sunday with Jonathan Maugans, Jared Smart, and Lori Below; and also held a DUPR King and Queen of Courts event on Monday morning.
Molly Sager and Mitch Spencer reigned supreme and were our top female and male players for that session. We played 7 rounds of mixed doubles and 3 rounds of gender doubles and Molly only lost 1 game the entire time. I don’t remember how many Mitch lost but he had the winning record on the male side.
I know this post is about the Sandbox but that day was a little crazy. Since I was off work, I decided to schedule multiple plays. In addition to the King and Queen of Courts at Sandbox, I had a 3:00 PM King of Courts and 5:30 PM Queen of Courts at the Pickle Club. Needless to say, I learned my lesson and I’m never doing that again. It just got to be too much to keep track of payments (and refunds, with people dropping last minute). And, I had a stressful time trying to find fill ins.
But I digress… the Sandbox is a great option for all you pickleball lovers. CNP has more courts and I like the set up there better and it’s closer to my house but with the lack of court availability at CNP, the Sandbox is looking more and more appealing despite the longer drive. Go check it out for yourself.
Until next time, GNG.
No Comments
New Year’s Eve Eve with My Pickleball Besties
Posted on January 6, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink, Pickleball.
My friend Ramon Lozano from Hays, Kansas was in town last weekend. You might remember me talking about him a few weeks ago in this post. Anyway, this past visit was the longest he had ever stayed with us. He usually only stays overnight. This time he stayed from Thursday all the way through Sunday.
I actually wasn’t expecting to see Ramon until Friday but he drove up a day early because he had a play date with Matt Nola and Jay Devilliers at Chicken N Pickle on Friday morning that he didn’t want to miss. I just happened to be off the entire week so I set up play for us on Thursday afternoon. Afterwards, I called Brian to see if he wanted to meet us for dinner on the way home from our pickleball session at the Pickle Club. Brian said he made dinner (porkchops and rice) that he had enough food for Ramon also. We decided to head home. We taught Ramon how to eat Filipino-style (with a fork and spoon) that night.
After dinner the three of us went to the basement to watch the Invitation on Netflix. I joked that the movie would be really romantic had I not already watched the movie trailer and know it was a horror flick. LOL.
The next day was cleaning day. I usually don’t like being home when the cleaners are cleaning because it makes me feel like such a lazy bum. Anyway, Brian left for work in the morning. Ramon and I had to make ourselves scarce. We decided to eat breakfast at HomeGrown before his 11 AM play date at CNP.
Even at 8:30 AM on a Friday morning they had a 30-minute wait for a table. Crazy, right? We decided to eat at the bar rather than wait.
I always like to try their seasonal drinks so I had the hot White Russian. I’ve only ever had this drink cold so this was different. It was so good!
Here are some pictures of our food:
Ramon remembered to order his toast with his meal this time. Unlike that time at Succotash when he forgot and he ordered his toast after and they brought it out when he was nearly finished eating.
I got the biscuits and gravy, which is what Brian normally gets and then I also asked for a full order of bacon on the side. You can never go wrong with bacon but they have Yoder bacon at HomeGrown and it’s really good.
Ramon ordered a Bloody Mary while we were killing time before we had to head to CNP. It was the most photogenic Bloody Mary I had ever laid my eyes on.
These next to plates were not ours. They were the meals of the ladies sitting next to us at the bar. One of them was Junetta Everett so not a total stranger. LOL.
After breakfast we headed to CNP where we hung out for almost the entire day. We got there around 10:30 AM and didn’t leave until 4-ish. Ramon played with his group from 11 AM to 1 PM. Brian and I got our cars washed next door at Tommy’s Express and then came back to have lunch while we watched them play.
Brian went home after lunch but I stayed because I was playing with a group (different group than Ramon) from 1 to 3 PM. Ramon hung around, drank some beers, and ate tostadas (his favorite thing to eat at CNP) while we played. We actually drove separate cars that morning because I didn’t think he would stick around. We could have totally carpooled!
Before heading home to pick up our friend Katie Merrill from our house so the three of us could carpool to the Pickle Club, Ramon and I stopped by Mochinut (Matt Nola’s place) so he could try mochi donuts, milk tea, and Korean corndog.
I think he had the half and half coated in hot Cheetos.
We worked up a pretty good appetite after our team practice session at the Pickle Club so then we hit Bubba’s 33 on the way home. Here are pictures of dinner…
I told Ramon I feel like all we did was eat all day. LOL.
The next day was New Year’s Eve and we played in the One Last Dink team tournament at the Pickle Club (it’s what we were practicing for on Friday night), which was so much fun. It really warrants its own entry.
I had such a great time with Ramon and Katie. I feel like we got some extra #teambonding time this past weekend. It was the most perfect Friday (and weekend, which I will tell you more about next time) ever. Until next time, GNG.
1 Comment
Mo’ Bettahs
Posted on January 3, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink.
When Brian and I went to visit David and Donna last week to bring Christmas presents, we got to try some delicious Hawaiian-style food from Mo’ Bettahs. I think Hawaiian food is all the rage these days because when I was in Kansas City a few weeks ago, I learned about Hawaiian Bros, which is everywhere over there.
Anyway, I really like the Hawaiian macaroni salad because the flavor reminds me of Filipino chicken macaroni salad which my mom used to always make for Christmas eve (or any other events where food is involved).
Since it was my first time experiencing Mo’ Bettahs, I made sure to take a bunch of pics. This one is located in Midwest City, not too far from David and Donna’s house.
The food was actually pretty good. I would totally eat there again.
But, even though the food was good and I liked the Chipotle-model where you go through the line and tell them what you want, I still like Hawaiian Bros better. For one, they did not have Spam musubi. They didn’t have any Dole whip either, which I could give or take. But it’s really the Spam musubi that I missed. I loved the Spam musubi so much that I am almost tempted to play in a tournament in Kansas City just so I could eat Hawaiian Bros again. LOL.
Until next time. Happy eating and happy new year. GNG!
No Comments
