Archive for the year 2016
Impromptu Lunch at P.F. Chang’s
Posted on September 4, 2016 by Ching under Food and Drink.
It has been about six years since Jay introduced me to The Secret and it never ceases to amaze me how it works. Granted, the concept of the Law of Attraction was something that I was already living. I just didn’t know that it was a thing. And, I wasn’t doing it consciously. Now that I know about The Secret, I’m a little bit more purposeful about behaviors and decisions.
So I was sitting at my desk the other day, trying to figure out what I wanted to do for lunch. We didn’t have any food at the house so Brian didn’t pack any lunches for us that day. Around ten after eleven, Alicia came by and invited me to go to a celebration lunch. She told me they were going to P.F. Chang’s and I was like, “Sold!” I usually go to lunch at around eleven so I’m really glad that I hadn’t gone yet that day or I would have missed Alicia’s invite. As I was thinking about lunch, the universe did even better and provided a free lunch. LOL.
Here’s a picture of my free lunch:
Thanks, universe! Actually, thanks to Alicia. I did tell her that I was super grateful for the invite because I had just been wondering what to do for lunch literally moments before she asked.
I’d had been to P.F. Chang’s in a while so it was perfect. Brian and I used to eat there all the time but, for some reason or another, it had fallen off our eating out rotation. I think probably because we’ve been gravitating toward more locally-owned and mom-and-pop restaurants over the last few years. As restaurant chains go, the food at P.F. Chang’s is very good.
If I had to eat at a chain restaurant, P.F. Chang’s would be one of my top pics for sure. There are several reasons for this but the main one being, with P.F. Chang’s I know what I’m going to get — figuratively and literally speaking because I actually always get the same thing when I’m there — Mongolian beef and eggplant. It’s made the way I like it so I add eggplant. I love eggplant, specially with the sauce/flavorings used in Mongolian beef.
I really like the lunch portions. They’re the perfect size. Then again, when I get the Mongolian beef with eggplant, I always clean my plate out no matter the size of the portion. LOL. The other thing about the lunch combos is that you can do appetizer add-ons (there are several to choose from listed on the menu) inexpensively. I had crab wontons added for $2 and I’m so glad I did because it reminded me of how amazing their crab wontons are.
Krystee didn’t like the crab wontons for the exact same reason that I loved them. They contained too much crab and not enough cheesy goodness for her. I actually liked that they were all crab.
Oh, and before you freak out. I did not have a cocktail at lunch. That drink you see in the upper left corner is P.F. Chang’s yummy strawberry cucumber lemonade. I like it because it reminds me of refreshing spa water, only sweeter (because it’s lemonade and not water). Cucumbers always make me think of spa water.
Anyway, I’m super grateful for the opportunity to join Alicia, Krystee, Alex and Teresa on Teresa’s celebration lunch. It definitely beats eating lunch at my desk which is what I end up doing most of the time.
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P.S. I was only kidding around The Secret. I know it don’t really work like that. My life is full of these creepy coincidences, though. It’s like the universe is paying attention to every single thought that comes through my mind. I have to constantly remind myself to be careful what I wish for because, inevitably, some form of it happens. It’s both good and bad. Brian and I have learned to roll with the punches. Now it’s a running joke around here when some kind of coincidence happens we chalk it up to The Secret and get a good chuckle.
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Anniversary Finale
Posted on September 2, 2016 by Ching under Life, Relationship.
Brian and I finished our month-long anniversary celebration with a couples massage at Sveta’s with our favorite massage therapists, Michael and Mindy. It was kind of bittersweet because I found that Michael is moving away, which means he won’t be around for my birthday massage. Michael has been my go-to massage therapist for several years now. I’m not sure how I will get by without him. On the plus side, Brian told me I could have Mindy — unless, of course, we’re getting a couples massage in which case he gets her and I will have to settle for someone else.
We decided to have lunch at Food Trucks at the Fountain after our massage. Our go-to food truck, Kamayan, was there. Predictably, Brian got ribs with sticky rice and I got porchetta with steamed rice.
Brian and I parked ourselves at the table next to the truck. They had a patio umbrella for shade but the sun had shifted and so it wasn’t really shading much of the table at this point. After we scarfed our food up, we realized that we should really adjust the umbrella. It had a very heavy base and I couldn’t move it by myself. Brian did a good deed by adjusting the patio umbrella so that it shaded the entire table, which benefitted the couple with two kids who took our place.
We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling at home before bowling. I know it’s not idea to go bowling after a nice, relaxing massage but we have our Jack & Jill bowling league on Sunday nights. At least I didn’t have to teach Zumba that day.
Anyway, that pretty much sums up our 14th wedding anniversary. Nothing too exciting this year. Now the countdown for our 15th wedding anniversary begins!
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Saturdate with Grandma
Posted on September 1, 2016 by Ching under Family, Food and Drink, Things to Do.
We had a wonderful “day date” with grandma over the weekend. It started with Brian and grandma’s monthly trip to the grocery store. I had to teach Zumba class so I just met up with them at home afterwards.
We decided to take grandma to this new restaurant we discovered a few weeks ago, the Hungry Heart. It’s right next to the Intrust Bank Arena and occupies the space where Jetty’s used to be. The food is phenomenal and the service is fantastic. I wish we could go there more often.
By the way, I caught a Goldeen while we were waiting for our food. The little fella was right in front of grandma. Besides Pokemons, there were also lots of people milling about downtown because Saturday was Crawl for Cancer day. Grandma got to see some of the groups as the massive pub crawl commenced.
Here are some pictures of our food. Grandma wanted to go with something light so she just ordered a salad.
I got the 2015 Wingapalooza “award winning” wings. I had them the last time and they were amazing so I had to get them again. Incidentally, I missed this year’s Wingapalooza due to another commitment. I’m not sure how they fared this year.
Brian got the pulled pork sandwich again. He really enjoyed it last time.
I also got an order of fries for me and grandma to share because Brian loves their fries so much that he doesn’t share his. I didn’t get a picture of the pulled pork eggroll thingies that we had as our starter because our server forgot them. I was just going to cancel that order because then we were going to get full on our meals but she said she had already put them in. The eggroll things came shortly after we started eating our food. She was nice and didn’t charge us for them, though.
After lunch, we were off to the Wichita Art Museum to see the Chihuly Drawings exhibit. As WAM members, Brian and I saw the exhibit when it first opened but we were waiting until the weather had cooled off enough to take grandma.
As an added bonus, we also got to see the Jesse Alexander: The Golden Age of Motorsport exhibit which consisted of some amazing photographs.
It turned out to be the perfect day for a “day date” with grandma. I’m so glad our schedules worked out and we got to go.
The Chihuly Drawings exhibit ends on September 11 and the Jesse Alexander exhibit ends on October 2. Be sure to swing by the Wichita Art Museum this month to check them out. You don’t want to miss these!
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Tara’s Anniversary Lunch at Larkspur
Posted on August 28, 2016 by Ching under Food and Drink.
I hadn’t been on many service anniversary lunches at work since heading up Quality Assurance in 2009 so I was super excited when Faith invited me to join her, Tara, and Karen for Tara’s 10th anniversary celebration lunch.
I used to go on these regularly when I was supervising a team of twelve to sixteen reps. Someone was bound to be having a milestone service anniversary (anywhere from 5 to 30 years in service). If the celebrant wasn’t someone on my team, one of the other supervisors would have a celebrant and so we’re constantly celebrating someone’s work anniversary.
In 2010 I was a one-person team. I didn’t end up with a couple of team members until the year after and it was only in the last couple of years that my team grew to three. The last service anniversary that I got to celebrate/organize was Nykole’s 15th service anniversary about six months ago. We went to Outback Steakhouse (celebrant’s pick) and then went bowling at the Alley afterwards.
Since getting assigned to the CIS (Customer Information System) project back in October, I was back to being a lone ranger. I was actually lucky that I got to go on Nykole’s anniversary because Gwen has been looking after the Quality Assurance team for several months now.
Anyway, it was kind of a fluke that I got to attend Tara’s anniversary lunch. It just so happened that none of the other supervisors were available so Faith asked me on their way out. I’d been listening to the new IVR all week at that point and needed a break so I gleefully accepted her invitation.
I hadn’t been to Larskpur in forever and had forgotten how delicious their food is. Here are some pictures of the food we enjoyed at Tara’s anniversary feast.
I think everyone enjoyed their meal. We shared the dip and crab cakes to start.
Both were delicious. I was almost too full to eat my tilapia entree by the time we were through with our appetizers. It seemed like I ate more that day that I had eaten all week.
Oh, and I recognized our server that day from Color Party X. She was part of a string duo that played music at the foyer as you entered the party. I caught another picture of her again later in the evening when she was quite happy.
Of course, everyone thought it was strange and borderline creepy that I had a picture of our server. I got quite a bit of ribbing for that. But it’s a small world and even smaller still for people, like me, who take lots of pictures.
After lunch we went to put gas in the filthy fleet car so we could run it through the carwash. We strategically picked the KwikShop next to Churn & Burn so we could have some dessert. Churn & Burn is currently my favorite place for a cold, yummy treat. Brian and I love their Swiss café mocha Churn & Burn. Anyway, I will never turn down Churn & Burn any time, any day. LOL.
It worked out perfectly because the four of us got to enjoy our Churn & Burn while we waited for the carwash to do its thing. We got back to the office a few minutes late but it was totally worth it. Plus, it’s not everyday that someone celebrates their 10th work anniversary (and not everyday that I get invited to go on the celebration lunch). Congrats to Tara and thanks to everyone for letting me tag along.
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Westar In Motion College Tour
Posted on August 27, 2016 by Ching under Events.
I had such a blast touring with the #WestarInMotion College Campus Tour this week. We were at Wichita State University on Wednesday, KU on Thursday, and K-State on Friday.
One of our senior officers, Greg Greenwood, stopped by while we were at Wichita State and even helped us draw our four gift card winners.
When we were at the KU campus, Derek, Mel, and I got a selfie with the Jayhawk in front of the KU Memorial Union entrance.
KU was the one school where our #WestarInMotion koozies actually matched the school colors. I wish we had yellow and purple ones made too but the blue and red are Westar colors so we will be able to use these koozies for other events.
We had a blast at all three locations. But, even though I’m WSU alumni and I’m partial to the school, I have to say that the K-State kids were the coolest. They even tweeted our event and took selfies with us.
I was a little bit worried because of the forecasted rain. We encountered rain when we were setting up the trailer at all three locations but, as luck would have it, the rain stopped in time for our event. We had a great turnout at all three schools. Although we ran into a few students who didn’t have electric service in their name, we had several people who installed the MyWestar app right on the spot.
We were on our feet the entire time and the soles of my feet hurt really bad at the end of each day but it was totally worth it. The last three days were a nice break from the office. I’m so glad Alicia invited me to help her with this project. I hope I get to help with it again next year.
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