Archive for the year 2013
Filipino Ingenuity at Its Finest
Posted on September 10, 2013 by Ching under Life, Shopping.
When my favorite work pumps broke one morning at work, I had no choice but to rubber band my shoe to my foot just to get through the day.
My shoe strap breaking doesn’t mean I could go home for the day. I still had to finish my work. LOL. I wasn’t going to let something as minor as a broken shoe strap ruin my day, though. Just like how I wasn’t going to let a little wardrobe malfunction keep me from attending the ZIN Soiree at the 2013 Zumba Instructor Convention in Orlando. Plus, when you make lemonade out of lemons the universe will lend you a hand. Brian says I can go shoe shopping on Saturday! Woot!
No Comments
We Got Photo-Bombed at Zoobilee
Posted on September 8, 2013 by Ching under Events.
We had a double photo-bomb. LOL.
Zoobilee was a blast as always. Every year we tell our ourselves that it will be our last and yet we find ourselves back again. It’s just really hard to stay away knowing that all of our friends are there. We ran into so many familiar faces. It seemed like everyone in Wichita was there last night actually. Click here for all the photos that we’ve taken from last night and Zoobilees past. Until next time.
No Comments
Wahoo in Aggieville
Posted on September 7, 2013 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Some of my coworkers and I were in Manhattan, Kansas for a leadership conference earlier this week. While there we had an opportunity to try a new restaurant — Wahoo Fire and Ice Grill. None of us had dined there before.
We ordered a couple of starters to share. Sally picked the Mojave Desert shrimp, which is basically just bacon-wrapped shrimp drenched in barbecue sauce, but it was yummy. You can’t really go wrong with bacon-wrapped shrimp. Actually, you can’t go wrong with bacon. Bacon makes everything better. LOL.
We also had the crab rangoon dip with a generous helping of fried wonton chips. These were delicious and filling. I seriously could have made a meal out of the appetizers.
Teresa and I both got the Wahoo stir fry. You have to order the dish that’s named after the restaurant, right? I mean, it’s got to be something special if they’re going to put their name on it. The dish was really flavorful. It probably had almost too much flavor. The rice was drenched in the teriyaki ginger peanut sauce, which is a delicious, sweet sauce with just a hint of spice to it. Again, very good but somewhat overwhelming halfway through the dish. It made me wish that I had some steamed rice to tone down some of the flavor.
Sally had the salmon BLT. I think she had the healthiest meal of the group. The picture of Gwen’s mixed grill (sirloin, fish, and chicken) didn’t come out very well so I’m not posting it. The dish looked fantastic, though. If Brian and I eat here, that’s probably one that the two of us could share.
Sunni had the Bimini Island pasta. I think we were all happy with our entree choices. Everything looked really good.
Wahoo is a restaurant that I’d love to take Brian next time we are in the area. I’m not sure what was in this space on the corner of 11th and Moro before Wahoo, but I think Wahoo fits. I’d totally bring Brian here next time we find ourselves in Aggieville. Maybe we’ll have to attend a Wildcats game or something.
No Comments
Post Labor Run Feast
Posted on September 7, 2013 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Misty, Brian, and I were hungry after the Labor Run so we decided to have lunch at Pei Wei. Doc Greens next door was a contender, but Misty doesn’t like “rabbit food” as she calls it. She’s missing out. Doc Greens has some really good food.
Anyways, here are some pictures of our lunch…
Eggrolls were good but greasy. I think we are getting spoiled because we’d been making lumpia here at home and we are always really careful to drain all the oil off.
I had the spicy Korean with chicken. It wasn’t as spicy as I was afraid it would be so that was good. The crazy thing about Pei Wei is that the actual dishes look exactly like they do in pictures. At least this one looked like it went from the poster to the table.
Brian had the chicken fried rice. It was just okay. Not as much flavor as the other fried rice we’ve had. I think as far as fried rice goes there are several great options locally. This doesn’t really rank.
Misty had the Thai coconut curry with shrimp. It looked and smelled good. Perhaps I will try that one next time.
The food at Pei Wei won’t blow you away, but it’s not bad. I wouldn’t mind eating there again. If you are looking for authentic Asian, this isn’t the place to go. There’s lots of other options in town. Definitely try some of the local mom and pop joints because they’re usually better than the chains.
Now, if you are looking for fast Asian food that’s not a hole in the wall then you’re probably at the right place. The concept is a lot like Noodles & Company where you have signature dishes and then you pick what kind of meat (or none at all) you want added to it. Then they also have small plates and combos — lots of options. I’d say it’s worth checking out if you’ve never been.
No Comments
Labor Run 2013
Posted on September 7, 2013 by Ching under Events, Things to Do.
Brian and I were deeply involved with the Labor Run, a fun run (or walking) event benefitting the Wichita Treehouse organization. The Treehouse is an organization that helps economically challenged moms get back on their feet by providing valuable education/training and also low-cost baby items.
Brian and I typically do volunteer work that is low commitment. We sign up to volunteer, we show up and work a few hours (taking it very seriously, of course – Brian and I are nerds like that), and then go home. Actually, Brian hates volunteering (not only is he uncharitable with his money, he is equally uncharitable with his time) so I usually have to drag him into it. He doesn’t do volunteer work very often but, when he does volunteer, he doesn’t do it half-assed. That is for sure.
We got involved with the Labor Run from the very beginning because my friend (coworker) Natalie is on the board. She mentioned it to me at the beginning of the year. I told her that I would totally support her and to just let me know what I could do to help. Naturally, I dragged Brian with me. He needs to do some volunteer work and he would never get it done unless you make him. These ideas just don’t pop into his brain. Seriously, this man would rather sleep or watch movies or play video games in his spare time. Unfortunately, he is married to me so that rarely happens. I’m always running around doing something. I never have any spare time left and, since we pretty much do everything together, neither does he. But I digress… Back to my Labor Run story… When Brian and I attended the very first planning meeting, Natalie’s boyfriend Marvin was there. As luck would have it, Brian and Marvin knew each other over ten years ago during Brian’s stint at T-Mobile (then Voicestream Wireless). Brian joined Voicestream in 1999 and left what was T-Mobile at that point in 2004. I think Marvin started working there shortly after Brian and has been there ever since. He is now a successful supervisor there. Small world, right? Well, Wichita is pretty small. Anyway, that helped a lot to get Brian engaged in the Labor Run project because then he wasn’t the only significant other helping out and attending all the meetings.
Here’s a picture from our last meeting before the event. We were sorting and folding t-shirts; stuffing bags with goodies, flyers and coupons; and doing final preparations.
Misty helped too.
I think this is where we had to go through the envelopes to look for shirts. Misty arrived late and didn’t realize that there were two different types of shirts — regular adult shirts and youth shirts. I think she was grabbing regular small shirts instead of youth sized small shirts so we ran out of small shirts and ended up with extra youth shirts. Oops! We got it all figured out though.
Fast forward to Labor Day, the day of the event…
The Wheels ladies led by Pat Thompson and Crystal Wiley warmed us all up.
Everyone was dancing — runners, walkers, spectators, and volunteers.
Even Natalie’s mom got into it. Check her out in the above photos.
I thought it was a pretty successful event, considering it was our first and we didn’t really know what to expect. These three people (Natalie, Brian, and Rachel) were key to making everything happen. I’m most proud of Brian because volunteer work is normally not his thing and he gave the Labor Run his all. Way to go, baby!
Natalie did a fantastic job of organizing everything and coordinating all of the effort. I can’t imagine how she must have felt because there were times where even I felt overwhelmed and I only had a small part.
This is a picture of another friend (coworker) Tracy. She’s going through the elaborate (but fun) obstacle challenge that Marvin put together.
Tracy and her daughter Kayla had a mother-daughter bonding day… No hugs after getting drenched in fake (but gross nonetheless) baby poop.
Kayla was a good sport. Tracy said she to wanted walk part of the way through the run but Tracy made her keep going. Kids have way more energy than they realize because she was fine. She even had enough in her to do the obstacle challenge; though she popped her water balloon baby and didn’t have the opportunity to complete the course. Tracy completed the obstacle challenge course without killing her water baby. As can be expected. She is a mom and has tons of experience. LOL.
After seeing how the obstacle challenge works, some people opted to wear trash bags. Smart move. I had a lot of fun watching everyone go through.
We were at Sedgwick County Park from about 6 to 11 o’clock that morning, but it went by pretty quickly. I actually felt rushed in the morning because everyone was starting to show up and we weren’t quite ready. It was a successful event, but it wasn’t perfect. We learned a lot. Next year it will get even better. Mark your calendars!
1 Comment
