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Breakfast at the Beacon

Posted on October 20, 2020 by Ching under Food and Drink.

We couldn’t do our normal Saturday morning Queen of Courts play last weekend because there was a Wichita Cancer Foundation pickleball tournament/benefit event at Chicken N Pickle. We would have been able to play outside like when the Sons of Pitches rent out the entire indoor facility for their corn hole tournaments but it was super windy on Saturday. We ended up canceling our play time.

I am so addicted that I couldn’t go without playing so I ended up going to Nahola that morning. Karen met me there. It was actually really fun. I finally got to play with Ryan Wolf after not having seen him for months. Also met and played with Zach Nguyen (Matt Nola’s men’s intermediate league partner) for the first time. It was a fun change of pace from my usual Saturday morning routine.

I was starving after pickleball so Karen and I met Brian and Brooke at the Beacon for brunch. I hadn’t been there in forever. The food is great and reasonably priced. It really should be a regular spot for us. I think we just forget about it because of all the other great breakfast options we have around town.

Here are some pics of our food…

I don’t know why I bothered taking a picture of Brian’s biscuits and gravy. They’re usually not much to look at. LOL.

Everything else looked good and tasted just as good as they looked. I ate way too much. Anyway, my most favorite part is my hot chocolate topped with gobs of whipped cream. I love their hot chocolate at the Beacon.

That’s all for now. Until next time. GNG.

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Dinner at Woodfire Grille

Posted on October 3, 2020 by Ching under Community, Food and Drink.

We had about 20+ pickleball players and spouses converge at Woodfire Grille at the Kansas Star Casino for a delicious dinner last weekend. The restaurant’s executive chef Jen Reifschneider is a friend and fellow pickleball player and we wanted to support her restaurant. When we first learned that the restaurant had reopened, the ladies and I talked about going to have a girls’ night out. However, the guys wanted to go too so we just opened it up to everyone. We had an amazing turnout!

Here’s a picture of all the ladies. Karen really wanted to be here too so she made a cutout of her head which I brought to dinner so she could be with us.

This is a photo of me with Huyen and Debbie.

Here’s Brian’s attempt at an ultimate selfie. The lighting inside the restaurant was just too dark for this picture to turn out well.

Here are some pictures of the food we enjoyed that night…

A few more pictures of our fun group…

And, of course, we can’t forget Karen.

Several people stayed to do some gambling after dinner. Brian and I don’t really gamble so I stayed to finish my drink after everyone left and then we just went home after. It was great to finally be out for a nice dinner after being cooped up for so long. We had fabulous company also. Looking forward to doing this again soon. Until then, GNG.

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Autumn & Art 2020

Posted on October 1, 2020 by Ching under Events, Food and Drink.

The Autumn & Art Patron Party in a Box was cool but it was no substitute for the real deal. Also, our food was delivered around 4:30 pm so by the time I got off work and Brian got home and we were both ready to enjoy it, the food was cold and that was kind of a bummer. The goodies they sent were cool, though.

They gave us a couple of the “beer and spirits” boxes with all sorts of goodies inside.

Brian was excited about the Stella goblets because he broke his Stella pilsner glass a while ago and these were an even better replacement.

We each got an Autumn & Art face covering, which we were both excited about even though we have dozens of face masks now (Brian just keeps buying them for some reason) because these were limited edition ones with the Autumn & Art print on them. Thanks, Evergy!

We also got two sacks full of food from Bradley Fair restaurants.

The fresh roses were a nice touch.

YaYa’s sent caprese salad, a chicken salad taco kit, a small piece of carrot cake and a chocolate chip cookie.

We also got some delicious hummus from Bella Luna.

Delicious pasta dish from Bella Luna.

Although cold by the time I got to it, this chicken and rice dish form Bella Luna was my favorite. Brian heated his in the microwave.

I did not get a picture of the coq au vin from Newport Grill. It didn’t present or photograph well after being transported in a plastic to go container. The South Carolina she-crab soup they sent was delicious, though. Brian didn’t care for it so I ate his portion too.

Homegrown sent a couple of bottles of their bloody mary mix. I didn’t get a photo of those either. I don’t really drink bloody marys so I gave the two bottles to my friend Brooke.

Besides the food and the bloody mary mix, we also got some little bottles of Tito’s and four bottles of Stella but they weren’t cold so we couldn’t drink them that night. Or maybe they were cold when they were first delivered? They weren’t cold when we sat down though so we just drank our own stuff.

Brian and I tried to get on the website to participate in the virtual party but we couldn’t figure it out. We think there was something wrong with the sight. I was a little disappointed that I skipped pickleball, actually. I totally could have played and just ate the cold food when I got home later that night. LOL. I wanted to see what this virtual party thing was all about, though. It was definitely no substitute for the real deal. Stupid COVID ruins everything. Hopefully things will be somewhat back to normal next year. Until then, GNG.

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Dutch Baby Pancakes

Posted on September 29, 2020 by Ching under Food and Drink.

A couple of weeks ago, Karen invited me and our friend Lesli over to her house for a post-pickleball breakfast treat. She was making Dutch Baby pancakes. I naturally couldn’t turn it down because (a) I enjoy trying new things and I’d never had a Dutch Baby before, (b) everything Karen makes is amazing, and (c) I love food, specially free food.

Here are some pictures of the finished dish.

I’m not sure if this is the same as Karen’s recipe but I found this Dutch Baby recipe online and I think it’s very close.

INGREDIENTS:
3 eggs
½ cup flour
½ cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar
Pinch of nutmeg
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
Syrup, preserves, confectioners’ sugar or cinnamon sugar

PREPARATION:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Combine eggs, flour, milk, sugar and nutmeg in a blender jar and blend until smooth. Batter may also be mixed by hand.
3. Place butter in a heavy 10-inch skillet or baking dish and place in the oven. As soon as the butter has melted (watch it so it does not burn) add the batter to the pan, return pan to the oven and bake for 20 minutes, until the pancake is puffed and golden. Lower oven temperature to 300 degrees and bake five minutes longer.
4. Remove pancake from oven, cut into wedges and serve at once topped with syrup, preserves, confectioners’ sugar or cinnamon sugar.

Karen used fresh fruit instead of preserves, which I think makes it even better. She also made homemade whipped cream.

Check out the video above for the making of this delicious treat. Thanks, Karen!

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Labor Day Fun

Posted on September 24, 2020 by Ching under Food and Drink, Hobbies, Things to Do.

We had 12 people and 3 courts at Riverside Tennis Center (RTC) on Labor Day. We did a mixed doubles “keeper of courts” format where winners move up and losers move down and pairs split each time. It was so much fun!

I started on the bottom court for the first game but then pretty much bounced back and forth between the top two courts after that. Pretty much the only times I lost was when I played against Jamie. He didn’t lose any games at all that day. Basically I would win in middle court and move up. I’d play with Jamie and we would win so I’d stay. Then the next game I’d play against Jamie with the guy from the team moving up and then we would lose. I’d play on middle court with a new partner, win and move up, and the cycle basically repeated over again.

The highlight of the day for me were my two ATPs (Around the Post). Jamie had a good in between the legs one too when we were playing together. It was a great pickleball day for me.

Oh, I took a selfie with Gary Miller because we rarely ever get to play together. He wasn’t even originally playing with us but Ryan Wolfe, who Jen T organized the pickleball play for, backed out last minute. We were scrambling to get a 12th and, thankfully, Gary was able to fill in.

Fun fact: This is also the day I met Alex Silcock in real life for the first time ever. She’s a local fitness and lifestyle guru that I follow on Facebook. Naturally, I had to get a photo with her. I totally felt like a midget.

After pickleball, Brooke, Karen, and I met Brian at the downtown Meddy’s for lunch. I’m familiar with their food but it was my first time at that location. Here are some pictures of our food.

They have a super cute patio with a fireplace (which wasn’t on that day because it was a nice day) and a wooden Wichita flag hanging above it. We thought the flag decor was cool so we had to get a picture with it. We are so silly!