Archive for the year 2020
Karen’s Homemade Lasagna
Posted on April 25, 2020 by Ching under Food and Drink, Life.
Life is pretty dull these days. There’s not much for me to really look forward to besides #ZumbaVirtual classes (basically Zumba classes held on the ZOOM platform) and some ZOOM happy hour socials.
The one positive thing that’s come out of this pandemic is I finally made one of the Women of Rotary Wichita socials. I’ve been missing them for several months because I was teaching Aqua Zumba at South YMCA on Wednesday nights last summer and then, after that was over, I joined a Wednesday night pickleball league at Chicken N Pickle. There was always something going on each Wednesday that they’d have the social that prevented me from attending. Now that we’re pretty much on lock down, I have nothing to do so I was actually able to attend.
Besides ZOOM happy hours and ZOOMba, I really had nothing going so I was super excited when my friend Karen invited Brian and I over for homemade lasagna night. She makes amazing lasagna!
Here are some pics of our dinner that night.
Dinner was amazing and Karen was a fabulous host. I really enjoyed our visit that night. I’d been really depressed because of the whole stay at home thing so I really needed it. Thank you so much for the delicious dinner and wonderful conversation, Karen! Until next time. GNG.
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Did You Know?
Posted on April 18, 2020 by Ching under Food and Drink, Life.
Did you know that several local restaurants are serving customers via delivery and carry out during the extended stay-at-home mandate? There’s actually a Facebook group specifically for connecting local consumers with restaurants that are currently open for business. Wichita FOOD TO GO During COVID-19 has several local restaurant owners posting menus and promos. It’s a great way for them to reach people and keep business going during this crazy time.
Last weekend Brian and I decided to take advantage of the Easter special at Carrabba’s. For $50 we got fresh bread with herbs and oil, Caesar salad, penne pomodoro, sautéed broccoli, chicken piccata, and two slices of the sogno di cioccolata dessert. And then for an extra $18, I got a blackberry sangria kit with a giant bottle of wine. It made so much that I drank sangria for at least three days. We also had enough food for four people so we had plenty of leftovers for the next day. It was an awesome deal.
I didn’t get pics of our food because we were so hungry we just scarfed it right up. However, I did get a pic of the bottle of wine they gave me and the sangria kit instructions. It was just as good as what they serve at the restaurant and way cheaper. This is one thing about the whole pandemic that I hope doesn’t change. I would totally buy this every weekend.
I did switch it up this weekend and decided to try the margarita kit from Felipe’s Jr. It’s also a great deal. You have to supply the tequila (which is no problem because I have plenty at home) but their $5 kit makes four margaritas. It’s also another great deal. The whole booze-to-go situation is probably my most favorite part of this pandemic. Restaurants would never have been able to do this stuff had the world not been in crisis.
Anyway, you just have to find the silver lining in things because times are pretty crazy right now and if you don’t laugh or drink it off then you’ll really be depressed. Until next time. GNG.
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ZOOMba with Ching
Posted on April 12, 2020 by Ching under Zumba.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, businesses began shutting down because everyone was ordered to stay home and limit non-essential activities for the safety and well-being on the community. That resulted in the gyms closing and me being laid off by the YMCA and furloughed by VASA Fitness. I had no classes to teach and nowhere to go for several weeks. I saw some of my friends teaching online classes which seemed to be well-received. I really didn’t want to mess with it at first because it seemed kind of a pain to set up but one of my friends kept asking me to do it so I finally caved.
I did a trial run at first last weekend. That went better than I expected and I really enjoyed it. I didn’t realize how much I missed teaching my classes until then. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to go all in and signed up for a paid ZOOM account. Otherwise your online video meetings are limited to only 40 minutes and once I get going I can’t really stop. I’ve found that I have to dance for at least a full hour to get my fix.
We did a short 40-minute trial run last weekend on Saturday and then did a full hour class on Sunday. Since then I’ve committed to teaching free online Zumba classes via ZOOM based on the following schedule:
- Tuesday 5:30 PM
- Thursday 5:30 PM
- Saturday 9:30 AM
- Sunday 4:30 PM
I’ve completed my first week of offering free ZOOMba classes and, other than the technical issues, I’ve really enjoyed them. I found that they give me purpose and something to look forward to each week. I’m still experimenting a lot with the video and sound, which hasn’t been perfect but it’s better than nothing. And, I’m really enjoying it. I think others are too.
My friend Karen even came over and danced with me yesterday. We maintained our social distance of course. Here are some pics…
Don’t mind the trash. I’ve been doing these in the garage.
Here are some short video clips that Brian got of us dancing yesterday.
Karen was such a trooper and she did amazing. She even stayed and did the Bruce Lee Abs Challenge workout with me.
I started the Bruce Lee Abs Challenge the day after our 30-day stay at home order began for lack of things to do. I started with level 1 and gradually advanced to level 2. I’m hoping that I can move to up level 3 this week.
The past three weeks of not being able to leave the house have been really rough. Basically the only things keeping me sane are the garage pickleball drills, abs workout, and now ZOOMba. I can’t wait until this pandemic is over because I really miss my routine. I also miss seeing all of my friends.
I hope y’all are doing alright during this crisis. Until next time. GNG.
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Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures
Posted on April 12, 2020 by Ching under Hobbies.
I’ve been missing pickleball so much that I caved and ordered a portable net for playing and drilling in the garage. Here are some pictures of my awesome new net.
The wheeled carry case is my favorite. It’s makes for greater portability.
Here’s a pic of the net fully assembled. Even though we have a three-car garage, we have a ton of crap in the third-car bay so the full-sized net barely fits in there.
On the plus side, it’s pretty easy to assemble and dismantle.
Brian and I measured the driveway and, unfortunately, it isn’t quite long enough for a full pickleball court so I haven’t been using my full-sized net.
However, my portable net set also came with a mini net which is perfect for wall drills in the garage. I’ll occasionally go in the garage and hit against the wall for a few minutes or practice my drop shots. It’s not the same as hitting with another person but it’s all I’ve got right now.
My friend Karen visited yesterday and we actually got pretty good use out of the mini net. Other than that, I’ve really been the only one playing with it. I wish Brian would hit with me but he still has his other hobbies so for now I’m all alone. All I have is the wall. Unless, of course, someone wants to visit.
Until next time. GNG.
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Life During COVID-19
Posted on April 5, 2020 by Ching under Life.
I feel like I’m in the middle of a horror film. Never in my entire life did I imagine we would be living like this — fearing for our lives, unable to leave our homes. It feels like the zombie apocalypse minus the zombies.
Since I’ve been working from home the last two weeks and we’re not supposed to go out for non-essential activities, I’ve pretty much been stuck at home 24/7. It’s been driving me crazy. I’m so glad that Kirk and Alicia organized a ZOOM night for us. We’ve had two of these virtual get togethers since the start of the stay-at-home order and they’ve been my lifeline.
Brian set ours up in the basement so we could connect the computer to the big TV and see everyone’s video better than we would on our tiny computer screen. He was so excited that we were actually the first ones on. Actually, we were both looking forward to it all week. We even got a special bottle of wine just for the occasion.
In all seriousness, it’s actually a bottle of Sequoia Grove (one of our favorite wines). Brian just printed a funny label to put over it.
It was a nice evening so Jay and Becca set up on their back deck.
Clockwise from top left in the below pic: Alicia and Kirk, me and Brian, Jay and Becca, Jared and Hazel, Justin and Tina, and Marc and Reniece.
On the first night, we were joined by our #CostaRica2019 #VacayWithJayJay pals plus a couple of friends of the Shorts – Jarred and Hazel. It was like a mini reunion.
We played virtual Cards Against Humanity with the group and it was super fun. I usually get crappy cards but I actually got the perfect card to play for this round.
Here’s another round that I won.
We had another get together the other night. We were supposed to dress up like where we wanted to go after we are all set free from the travel ban and stay-at-home mandate. Only Alicia and I really participated though.
I wore one of my Sofibella pickleball outfits because going to play pickleball as soon as we regain our freedom to be around other people is first of my list of things to do. Alicia wore her “Corona Beach Party” shirt because the beach is her first stop. Having Corona on the shirt was perfect though, because Coronavirus is the reason we are all in this mess.
Brian considered wearing his Star Trek shirt because he said he wanted to be off-world, but he was lazy and just stayed in his robe. He rationalized it by saying that’s what one of the characters wore in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Here’s the group from the other night. We were minus Tina and Justin and Jarred and Hazel but still have enough people for games.
We played Cards Against Humanity again, which Brian won, and then also some Pictionary. Pictionary was really challenging but a lot of fun.
Oh, I forgot to mention Alicia’s sister AJ joined us both times too. Her husband who is currently stationed in Las Vegas got off work too late for us to meet him the first time but he was able to join this time around. He seems like a nice guy. Hopefully we can meet him in real life when we all get through this.
For our next ZOOM social we’re celebrating a bunch of birthdays — virtually of course. So we’re moving the event from Friday night to Saturday night. I may not have Zumba and pickleball anymore but at least I have one thing to look forward to each week. Alright, everyone hang in there. Stay heathy and safe. GNG.
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