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Another Year, Another Birthday

Posted on November 5, 2017 by Ching under Food and Drink, Life.

Last month was a very festive month. We celebrated almost every single day. Then again, I guess that’s just kind of how we are. We love living life and celebrate every moment. Here are some of the things that happened leading up to our trip to Great Exuma, Bahamas.

First, there was our escape room adventure with Kate and Deanna. Remember how we tried to do it last month but couldn’t do it because Escapology changed their hours on me so they were closed on the day we went? Well, we finally made it happen. We did the Cuban Crisis room and we escaped!

We couldn’t have done it without Kate, though. She was whiz at the puzzles.

We also hit all of our favorite restaurants during my birthday month.

We really shouldn’t have been eating out but your birthday month is a good excuse to fall off the wagon. Anyway, I won’t post all of the food pictures. I’ll just post one picture from each place and let you guys figure out where we went.

Besides our favorite restaurants, we also had the opportunity to try a new place we’d never dined at before when we met a couple of my Leadership Wichita classmates (Teresa and Jason) for lunch a couple of weeks ago. I will post all of these food pics because it was a first for all of us.

We ate at the Rail at Union Station because Teresa wanted to try one of the restaurants in the area as she hadn’t tried any of them yet. I suggested the Rail since I’d already been to the Kitchen. I actually suggested Mumbai Rail, which confused the heck out of Teresa who got there first. Apparently, Mumbai Rail is no more and has been rebranded as the Rail Scratch Cocktails.

We were all very worried at first because there was no one else at the restaurant besides our group for lunch. You know how the really great places are always busy and the terrible places are dead? We were sort of thinking along those lines. But we were already there and it was too late to back out.

Anyway, the food was surprisingly fabulous. At least, my meal was very tasty and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The quality of the food was definitely not representative of the restaurants lack of patrons. I later found a news article (through my friend Alicia who told me that she thought the restaurant had closed for good) that said the restaurant would no longer be open for lunch. The article was written back in June. I’m guessing people still don’t know that they’re open for lunch.

Which was good for us because it meant great food and no wait. LOL. Probably not great business, though. I hope the restaurant survives because I really did enjoy our lunch. Of course, the great company had a lot to do with that but I really did like their food. I actually want to go back at some point.

This was on Thursday, October 26, final day before departure. We flew out of the Wichita airport very early the next day.

Anyway, I’m sure you’re really anxious to hear about our trip to the Bahamas. I’ve got a few other things that I need to catch up on and then I’ll be able to devote some attention to a full-fledged trip recap. I hoping to do that by the end of the week so check back soon.

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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.

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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.

This place gets an A++ and is definitely on the list of my favorite places to eat in Lawrence. I can’t wait to return.

Until next time!

XOXO,
Flip and Ching

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Fifteen Years of Marital Bliss

Posted on August 23, 2017 by Ching under Food and Drink, Life, Relationship.

We had a few trips planned this year (Alaska in May, ZINCON in July, and my 40th birthday celebration at Sandals Emerald Bay in October) so we decided to keep it pretty low key for our 15th wedding anniversary.

We started things off with a bang (pun intended) by having dinner at Bonefish Grill on Thursday, August 10, which is our actual anniversary day.

We had a fabulous dinner. Here are a couple of pics.

We continued our celebration that weekend with a quick Kansas City getaway.

We ended up taking Molly with us because of the whole fiasco at the pet boarding place during ZINCON where she got attacked by another dog at daycare, which she wasn’t even supposed to be in. Anyway, we ended up still boarding Saki because the hotel only allowed one pet and Saki loves being around other dogs. Molly, who ended up with staples on her head after the incident, had just gotten her staples removed the day before so we didn’t want to chance it.

This is what her head looked like when we arrived home from ZINCON.

This is what her head looked like when the staples were removed, right before our KC trip. It was still healing, as evidenced by the bump and scab on her head, so we didn’t want to chance her getting in another fight and making it worse.

Brian dropped Saki off at the pet boarding place while I taught my early morning Aqua Zumba class. Amy was nice enough to sub my 10:30 AM Zumba class on Saturday and Mandy covered my 2:00 PM class on Sunday so we were able to get an early start on our drive.

We stopped by Leawood to visit our friend Chad and check out his new place. His apartment is in a really posh, newly developed residential area near the Corbin Park and Prairiefire shopping centers in Overland Park. It’s a really classy apartment complex befitting the fancy neighborhood setting. It kind of reminded us of a more upscale version of Quarters at Cambridge because of the granite in the kitchen and restrooms and other nice finishes.

Anyway, we had a very nice visit but didn’t stay very long because we wanted to check in to our hotel, feed Molly dinner, and also freshen up before our own dinner plans. Speaking of which, we couldn’t get into the Melting Pot for dinner because I didn’t plan ahead and make reservations. By the time I called the restaurant on Saturday morning, the earliest we could get was nine o’clock. I called the hotel to see if the concierge could use their magic. No such luck.

We did have this super nice surprise delivered to our room that afternoon, though.

By the way, remember how we got the exact same room that we had last year at the Hyatt Regency Orlando? Well, it happened again. We ended up staying in the exact same room I was in when I stayed at the Ambassador Hotel back in April. I’m not sure if they did that intentionally but it was a very nice surprise.

After feeding Molly her dinner, I took her and Brian to the rooftop park above Cosentino’s. It’s a really nice confined space for pets; however, your dogs still can’t be off-leash. It would have been nice to be able to let Molly loose to run around but I guess it’s okay that we kept her leashed because the green space is more expansive than it looks. We probably would have had a tough time getting her to come back.

The rooftop park isn’t that far from the hotel but I think Brian and Molly were both pooped from the drive so we decided to rest a bit before dinner.

Molly felt right at home.

Since we couldn’t get into the Melting Pot for dinner, we had to improvise. Brian had been asking to try Nara, one of my favorite restaurants when I was working in Kansas City, so we ended up having dinner there instead.

Here are some pictures of our food.

They serve Tank 7 so Brian was quite happy. Literally. He drank two glasses and it doesn’t take much. LOL.

It worked out great because we took advantage of the hotel shuttle to go to Nara so neither of us were driving.

After dinner the hotel picked us up from Nara and drove us to the Melting Pot. We decided to keep our nine o’clock reservations and had chocolate fondue for dessert.

While not having the full Melting Pot experience was a bit disappointing, I think it actually saved us money. LOL. Having dinner there would have cost us at least $120. The cost of the chocolate fondue wasn’t too bad.

Dessert was about $20 (before tip) for both of us.

We were ridiculously stuffed after eating all of that sushi and chocolate fondue. Thankfully, neither of us had to drive. The hotel shuttle picked us up from the restaurant and took us back to the hotel.

Dinner and dessert were delicious but being chauffeured around town was priceless. I don’t enjoy driving so I really appreciated it. I know Brian appreciated the break because he would have had to drive us otherwise.

As for taking Molly out before bed and first thing in the morning, it wasn’t too bad because Oppenstein Brothers Memorial Park is just a block over on Walnut (about halfway between our hotel and the rooftop park above the grocery store).

Speaking of morning, this was us the next day. Molly was such a good girl.

We took advantage of a late checkout and asked the hotel to take us to Succotash for breakfast before driving back to Wichita.

We’d only been there once before and that was over five years ago. I still remember how much I love it, though. I love that they have the freshest juice. Ever.

These are the all the options. I got the best lemonade.

This amazing lemonade lives up to its name for sure. If only they offered free refills!

The restaurant isn’t very big. The décor is cute and kitschy and the ambiance is pretty relaxed. We were there early enough that we got seated right away but they were quite busy. There was a steady flow of people the entire time we were there. It’s obvious that this place is popular with the locals.

Here are some pictures of our food, in case you are wondering. Brian got his usual: biscuits and gravy, fried eggs, and bacon.

I originally thought about getting the burrito of love (scrambled eggs, cheddar, and bacon wrapped burrito-style in a big, fluffy buttermilk pancake) but when I saw that the #3 omelet had bacon, feta, spinach, and artichoke hearts, I was sold.

Here’s what the inside of my omelet looked like since I added ham.

Breakfast was delicious. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal.

After breakfast, we called the hotel to pick us up and then it was time to drive back home. So that’s pretty much how our overnight trip to Kansas City went. It was a nice way to celebrate 15 years of marriage. Here’s to many more!

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Our Final Night in Orlando

Posted on August 21, 2017 by Ching under Food and Drink.

Brian and I decided to have a nice dinner at RA before the #ZINCON after party at Cuba Libre so after seeing Missy and Todd off, we went back to our hotel room to get cleaned up. We normally don’t venture off too far from the hotel during convention. Well, I don’t because I just don’t have that much time. Brian usually just eats at the Pub next door. We will have to remember Ra for next time because they have really great happy hour specials and, on Sundays, the specials run from 3 PM to close which makes it an all-around happy day!

Here are some pictures of the restaurant’s interior.

The ambiance is quite nice. It’s sufficiently dark so as to make the person across from look even more attractive than they do in broad daylight. Brian did not need any help in that department because, you know, he is really, really ridiculously good looking. And, before you ask, no I haven’t been drinking.

Here’s a picture of my good looking husband perusing the menu.

Here are some pictures of food.

After dinner, it was time for the after party.

Here’s a picture of us with ZES Marcie early in the evening.

Brian and I found ourselves in this private area by the dance floor, opposite the stairs and entrance.

When we looked at the bottle prices we had to scram. LOL. We were definitely NOT planning on spending that kind of money on booze. I guess we unintentionally ended up in the “high roller” section. Oops!

I’m not sure what was going on with my phone that night but all the pictures turned out dark and grainy.

Here’s what the dance floor looked like.

We took a few selfies and danced a bunch.

We took this one in front of the restaurant as we were leaving.

I wish we could have stayed longer. We left the after party early because (a) we are old and aren’t used to staying up late, and (b) we had a super early flight the next day. So early, in fact, that it was almost not worth going to sleep.