Archive for the year 2025
Pentatonix with the Dills
Posted on December 31, 2025 by Ching under Things to Do.
We don’t go to very many concerts so going to Pentatonix with the Dills (and Shorts) last month was probably one of the highlights of November, if not the whole year. What an amazing treat to be able to watch them perform live.
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Kusina Ni Cheska
Posted on December 31, 2025 by Ching under Reviews.
Probably one of the highlights of 2025 is that we finally have a Filipino restaurant in Wichita (again). We used to have one a long time ago when Tita Rose had her restaurant on the West side of town but it closed many years ago and we’ve been without one since except for the Kamayan truck when it operated (it’s no longer in business also) and then more recently with the Kusina Ni Cheska food truck which now has a brick and mortar location down the street from my office.
I’ve eaten at KNC every week (sometimes multiple times in the same week) since it opened. I’ve pretty much tried everything on the menu so I always try to get the daily special instead. I don’t always get pictures of my lunch, specially when it’s a repeat. Since there isn’t anywhere else for me to get Filipino food, I try to eat there all the time.
Brian isn’t a fan, though. He prefers mom’s and Manny’s cooking. We actually had this conversation on Christmas Eve while we were enjoying some amazing Filipino food. They were all in agreement that it was okay but not great. I was definitely in the minority. I mean, free food is always better for sure. But also, free food is usually made with love so there is that. Mom says I only like it because I don’t know how to make anything. She’s probably right. I’ll still eat there all the time, though. I mean how else am I going to get Filipino food without driving to Derby?
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Birthday Festivities
Posted on December 30, 2025 by Ching under Events, Pickleball.
I thought by leaving town the weekend before my birthday I would get out of birthday festivities. I just don’t like when people make a fuss. It makes me feel bad. However, Dawn texted with me while we were in St. Louis and she insisted on hosting a birthday get together at TapNPaddles. I was a reluctant participant but it was very thoughtful of her and I appreciated it.
Here are some fun pics from that day.
Pic with Cindy and Joe Witte. My US Open travel pals.
Picture with my good friend Ryan Kellenbarger. This isn’t his first appearance on the blog. I think he made his debut as early as 2021. We’ve done quite a few things together over the years.
Picture with James Pham who I met for the first time a couple of months ago in open play. He just happened to be at Tap at the same time as my birthday pickle so he got to celebrate with us.
With Cindy Witte and Fong Witte — no relation. Actually, Cindy pronounces her last name as “Witty” and Fong pronounces her last name as “Wit” so same spelling but totally different.
With Keith Lietzke and Chris Wilson.
With Jeanette Santo, Janelle Lindeman, and Tiffany and Donnie Lesperance.
With Chandi Bongers.
With Jeanette, Monica McGehee, and Chandi.
Two of our favorite girls — Huyen Nguyen and Hannah Wesolowski. They’re so fun!
With Uyen Dang, Hannah, Senda Vu, Fong, and Tiffany.
Jeanette, Dawn Hazlewood (she’s the one who orchestrated the whole thing), and Karen Fox.
Brian with Dawn.
Me with Sandi Dobbs.
Jeanette, Sandi, and Chandi.
With Dawn and Trung Ho-Nguyen.
As much as I don’t like to make a thing of my birthday, it was nice being able to see and play with everyone.
Dawn is the best birthday pickle organizer!
She even got me a fun cake!
But I also brought cake for everyone to try. I’m weirdo who brings cake to her own birthday celebration. Anyway, the funny story about this cake is that it has been showing up on my social media feed for over a year and I’ve been dying to try it but there’s no way I could eat the entire cake by myself — not even with Brian’s help. So, when Dawn decided she was hosting a birthday pickleball party for me, I rush ordered the cake so that it would arrive in time. This was the perfect excuse for me to try and it wouldn’t go to waste because several people would be helping me eat it.
Before the birthday pickleball party on Sunday afternoon, Susie and Grant Ternes had invited us to dinner at Bella Vita. This was our first time back since they moved to their new location. It was lovely dinner but I started to get a headache.
After dinner with the amazing Terneses, Brian and I went to Barleycorn’s to watch Grandma the Band perform. I had promised our friend Kyle Starkel that we would go. Although, we contemplated not going because my headache was getting worse. I didn’t want to go back on my word though because I had bailed on coming to his band perform a few times before.
It was fun seeing Kyle in his element.
The next day, my headache was still in full force but I couldn’t bail on the pickleball party because they were having it for me. I just had to suck it up. I’m glad I did though, because it was wonderful celebrating with everyone.
That’s my post-birthday weekend in a nutshell. I feel like I got to do everything I wanted to do during my birthday and then some.
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Halloween Pickleball at the Park
Posted on December 29, 2025 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
Halloween fell on a Friday this year; however, since TapNPaddles closed early that day, we ended up gathering at Seneca Park, our old pickleball stomping grounds. It’s probably been almost two years since I last played at Seneca. Now that we have many indoor options, people are mostly playing inside rather than at the public parks. I really don’t know who play regularly at Seneca park anymore. The nets look dilapidated and the courts were full of debris. I think it was different when we were playing there regularly because the players would regularly sweep the courts or bring their leaf blowers and stuff. Though the courts looked largely neglected, it was still a great place to gather on Halloween night — at least until sunset because there are no court lights at Seneca Park.
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Good Eats, St. Louis
Posted on December 26, 2025 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
Recalling some of the food we ate while we were in St. Louis a couple of months ago… The first place we tried was Truck Norris in Ellisville because it was close to both MPC Ellisville and our hotel in Chesterfield. This place originated as a food truck, which ended up getting wrecked so then they had to find a brick and mortar. Thus, Truck Norris, the restaurant, came to be.
Brian found this place while googling restaurants nearby with good reviews.
They have lots of beers on tap but are most known for their “totchos” – short for tater tot nachos, which ironically we did not have. We should have tried it but we only found out after we had already ordered our food.
Here are some pictures of the food we did have…
The next day we had lunch at a place called Ukraft in downtown St. Louis after checking out the Gateway Arch. It was highly recommended by one of the employees we met at the Arch. It was also just a short walk so we didn’t have to move our car.
I honestly don’t even remember what we ordered but we both enjoyed our meals. The chips were homemade and they gave you a generous helping. Our sandwiches and my side of slaw was good. My favorite part, however, was the brunch punch. It was alcoholic but tasted like fruit juice.
Later that evening we met up with my friend Christie Pink and her partner Travis at Billy G’s, a local restaurant chain.
Here are some pics of our dinner.
After dinner, we went to check out this place called the District which is an entertainment area with a music/event venue (the Factory), and several restaurants and bars.
We walked around and checked out a couple of places including a local brewery. It was a little bit chilly that night, which I wasn’t quite prepared for, so we didn’t get to enjoy much of the outdoor space but overall I found the District pretty cool. Will have to return to check it out over the summer or some other time when there’s better weather.
Anyway, that was pretty much the dining we had during our quick St. Louis getaway. The dining was mostly a side thing, though. Our main mission that weekend was for me to check off the St. Charles Chicken N Pickle location, which we accomplished. Five more locations to go!
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