Archive for the year 2013
Food Pictures from the Filipino Ball
Posted on June 26, 2013 by Ching under Food and Drink.
The food at the ball was actually pretty good. That or I was just super hungry. LOL. I thought it was good, though. Kudos to the Marriott Hotel.
The salad had feta and pecans. The creamy raspberry dressing was delicious. I liked the salad so much that I claimed a second salad from the vacant seat at our table. Little did I know that the person who belonged to that seat was just running late. Jennifer (Cannady) and Brian both gave me a look. Ooops!
Lucky for me, we had the best server in all of Wichita. I asked Malasia if she could bring another salad and she did. Problem solved.
The boys had chicken fingers and fries.
The grown ups got chicken and steak and potatoes and mixed veggies.
I normally don’t like steaks because they’re often not cooked enough (rare) or too dry (when I ask for well-done). These were medium and were cooked perfectly. The middle was pinkish, but not too pink that I couldn’t eat it. I liked the chicken also. Both were prepared very well.
For dessert we had a choice between some kind of chocolate caramel cheesecake and strawberry poundcake. Both were very good. Brian had the cheesecake. I had a couple of bites of it. It was very sweet and decadent.
I had the strawberry cake and loved every bite. I’m so glad that Brian danced with me all night because we consumed a lot of calories that evening. I doubt we were even able to burn it all off that evening. The food was delicious though, and well worth the extra calories. It’s reason enough to attend again next year.
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26th Annual Filipino Ball
Posted on June 24, 2013 by Ching under Events, Family.
Brian got some awesome panoramic photos at the ball the other night.
Our entire family got a table to ourselves. It worked out great.
We had a great turnout. Tita Tessie said this year had the best attendance ever. Over 350 people attended. For us, I think this is the first time in eight years that our entire family has attended. It was also Jennifer Cannady’s first Filipino ball.
Here are some more of my favorite pictures from the gala.
My goofy husband (above) and our adorable nephews (below).
Mom and dad.
Eli and Brian.
Logan and Jenni.
The three debutantes.
QQ.
Jenni and mom.
Brian’s barong came off before the evening was over.
Tita Rose and me.
With Tita Tessie and Tita Ellen.
With the two Jennifers. The only one missing was Jen Teves.
I still remember my very first ball. We had just moved to Kansas and I got roped into participating as a debutante. I borrowed one of Victoria’s dresses (one of Tita Lynne’s daughters) so that we wouldn’t have to spend hundreds of dollars to buy a ball gown. Tita Esper, another one of mom’s good friends, was nice enough to volunteer her son Victor as my escort.
The dance floor seemed so huge back then. It’s amazing how things that seem big when you’re young get smaller with age. Kind of like the Big Mac.
Anyway, the dance floor was like a postage stamp on Saturday night. There was barely any room to move. Maybe it’s not just my imagination. Maybe the dance floor really did physically get smaller to allow for more tables because of this year’s record-breaking attendance.
The dancing went on all night. Here’s a picture that Brian took.
Tita Tessie hired The Source. They played lots of contemporary music and did a great job overall. Even when they were on break though, the dancing never stopped. At one point, Brian and I got pushed toward the stage when a line dance broke out. This one woman who I’d never met before (who may or may not have been intoxicated) fell backwards at the edge of the dance floor and grabbed Brian’s jewels. I asked Brian afterwards if that woman copped a feel and we both laughed at the thought. Of all of the places she could grab to steady herself, she decided to grab his crotch. LOL. Brian said she seemed pleasantly surprised rather than startled when it happened. It was more like, “Ooh la la!”
I had forgotten how much fun the balls can be. They used to bore me to tears when I was younger. Now that I’m officially one of the oldsters, I actually enjoy myself more. That could be because I can drink now. That always helps.
Brian and I danced a lot. I’m glad that I brought dancing shoes. I never would have made it halfway through the night if I stayed in my WH|BM heels. By 11 pm we were both danced out and were ready to call it a night. Having both done some drinking, we were grateful to live just around the corner from the Marriott Hotel (yet another unexpected perk of living in the wrong part of town, or so we thought when we originally bought our house; our house is really growing on us though).
Check out my Annual Filipino Ball collection on Flickr for more pictures from the 26th Annual Filipino Ball and previous ones. Enjoy!
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My Life Can Be Exhausting
Posted on June 23, 2013 by Ching under Events, Life.
The weekend is winding down. It has been a productive one. My life can seem exhausting at times, but it’s also a lot of fun.
On Thursday we were at the jazz concert at Bradley Fair. Those of you know know us well know that it’s our favorite thing to do during the month of June.
On Friday night we were at the Alfresco Gala at Botanica. Misty got some tickets from Tammie and she invite me and Brian to join her. Thank you to Misty and Tammie for hooking us up. We had a lot of fun eating, drinking, and listening to Blue Eyed Soul. Brian and I even got to dance a few times.
You can see more pictures from the Alfresco Gala here. For more information about the event, click here. I believe it is an annual event. If you missed it this year, you can go always go next year. It’s a lot of fun.
Speaking of fun, I’d forgotten how much fun the Filipino ball can be. It has been eight years since we last went. I will be posting about it shortly so be sure to check back.
Today we had our personal training appointment at the YMCA. Then we did some yard work. It has been one heck of a weekend. I’m looking forward to relaxing the rest of the evening. How about you? How did your weekend go?
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I Love Meetings in Emporia
Posted on June 23, 2013 by Ching under Food and Drink.
I love meetings in Emporia because it usually means lunch at Bobby D’s and a trip to the Sweet Granada. Here are some pictures I took at lunch.
Can you guess which plate is mine?
I can give you a hint. I didn’t order a salad. I’m pretty sure it’s good because I’ve yet to try anything at Bobby D’s that I didn’t like, but I know better than to order salad at a BBQ joint.
I got the chicken fried steak. It was delicious. The breading was loaded with flavor. Actually, my whole meal was delicious. I didn’t even need to salt anything.
I will need to take Brian to this place so he can try it out for himself. I just know that he will love it.
Before heading back to Wichita we stopped by my favorite place in all of Emporia: the Sweet Granada. It had been over a year since my last visit. Since I only get to go about once every year or so, I always have to indulge.
I didn’t indulge as much as Darcy though. She bought about $50 worth.
I spent about $35, but I was sharing with Brian.
I surprised him with the chocolates after work that day. I got a couple of the chocolate and caramel covered pretzels — one for each of us.
I also got a few of their delicious truffles.
Finally I got a dogwood bark. I had it the other day. It was very good. I’m going to have to get more of those on my next trip (which is probably a year from now). LOL.
I wish we had more meetings in Emporia. 😉
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Miller’s Meadow
Posted on June 22, 2013 by Ching under Things to Do.
I had no idea that we lived by an amazing bike trail until recently. We’ve lived here almost a year now and didn’t know about Miller’s Meadow until Isaac mentioned it to me the other day. He and his wife biked the trail last weekend.
Granted, Brian and I are not as adventurous as these two, but we can’t let an amazing bike trail that’s practically in our backyard go to waste.
The discovery of this bike trail has inspired us to dust off our old bikes. And by old, I really mean old. I think our bikes are almost 20 years old. I had mine in high school and Brian’s is my dad’s old bike that was purchased around the same time. LOL. We probably need new bikes, but we need to do some biking first and see if we really like it before we invest.
The plan is to buy helmets first. Then do some pavement biking before we tackle an actual mountain bike trail. Miller’s Meadow didn’t look like it was ideal for a couple of people who hadn’t biked in several years. The last thing I need is for either of us to get injured. We don’t want that.
Oh, yeah. I skipped a step. Get life insurance for Brian. Then buy helmets. Then do some biking. We’ll keep you posted on how this goes. Check back!
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