Archive for the year 2026
Full Day at Chicken N Pickle
Posted on March 9, 2026 by Ching under Community.
I invited my Leadership Wichita classmates to a gathering at Chicken N Pickle last month for our first Leadership Wichita get together of 2026. Our class met in 2014 and, believe it or not, we are still in tough and getting together twelve years later.
Huge thanks to Chicken N Pickle for hosting our group and providing sliders and drinks for everyone. They even gave us a bunch of BOGO Sunday brunch coupons.
It was nice catching up with everyone.
We also had our first Court Side Crew social of 2026 that same day so we decided to just hang around. Court Side Social is an opportunity for Chicken N Pickle staff, ambassadors, Kids Crew, and NET-work members to get together. No one else signed up except for mom and dad so it turned into a family affair.
Huge thanks to Debbi Wright for playing with us.
We made good use of the our free court all things considered.
We have not yet set a date for the next Leadership Wichita gathering but the next Court Side Crew Social is next week, on March 16. I hate seeing courts go to waste so I am hoping for a much better turnout. Anyone want to join us?
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Valentines Weekend 2026
Posted on March 6, 2026 by Ching under Life.
I took a break from my usual Friday night routine last month during Valentines weekend to spend some quality time with the hubs. We began our weekend at Bonefish Grill. We hadn’t been there in a long time and dinner the day before Valentines Day seemed like the perfect reason to go.
The crab cakes we had for our starter and the chocolate creme brulee we had for dessert were definitely the highlights of our meal.
We’ve yet to find better crab cakes in Wichita.
Brian loves the creme brulee at Bonefish and when they have the chocolate kind, which is seasonal, it’s even better. The last time we went they had just dropped the chocolate creme brulee off the menu so we were so happy to be able to order it on our recent visit.
My friend Laurie Adams came down to visit so, after a morning filled with errands, went to meet her at Chicken N Pickle on Saturday to get our free Valentines heart cookies. Chicken N Pickle is the best!
On Sunday, we enjoyed a delicious brunch at Newport Grill which is a favorite for both Laurie and my sister Jenni.
We finished the day with a couples massage at home with Michael Blyn and Jamie Eaton. We could not have had a better Valentines weekend.
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Home Appraisal
Posted on March 6, 2026 by Ching under Home Ownership.
I don’t know how the county appraisal of our home managed to go up even with a dilapidated deck most of the year. We generally pay about $5,000 in taxes every year for our house; but with the recent $466K appraisal, I guess we are going to have to pay even more in taxes now? WTH? Our house appraised at double the amount it was worth when we moved in back in 2012. I suppose this is both good and bad. It’s good that the house supposedly worth more but bad in that we have to pay more taxes on it annually. Truly, though, are we even able to sell our house for what the county says it is worth?
I joked to Brian that maybe we shouldn’t have fixed our deck (or at least waited until after our appeal) and perhaps we could have used that as a justification to drop the appraisal value. But now that it’s fixed, perhaps when they see our new orange deck they’ll change their mind when they appraise our house for 2027. LOL.
I was looking at the appeals process and it seems like a lot of work. Neither Brian nor I have the time or appetite for it. I guess we won’t fight it and just keeping paying? How about you all? Did your home appraisal increase significantly this year? Have you ever appealed an increase? How did that go?
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First Impression of Phnom Penh Pho
Posted on February 25, 2026 by Ching under Food and Drink.
My lunch buddy Chris and I went to check out Phnom Penh Pho a few weeks ago. The food was good but the overall experience – sad to say – was not great.
It’s the only Cambodian restaurant in town so we were eager to try it. They serve pho and rice dishes so it’s very similar to Vietnamese food. Here are pictures of our food and then I’ll give you all a run-down.
Anyway, when we first got there, we were directed to sit at a table toward the front. There was a weird odor which I couldn’t identify but, not being fond of fish sauce, sometimes unfamiliar sauces smell pungent to me. I just figured it was smell coming from a dish someone was eating at a table near us.
I am not sure if our server was new or what but she couldn’t figure out how to order food from the tablet and she didn’t know which tables were which. She had to ask another server for help at least a couple of times. First to find the dish I wanted in the tablet and then again to ask him for help because she ordered it twice. I overheard him saying, just start over.
Our spring rolls came out first and they were delicious. Then Chris’ dish came. It didn’t come out like he expected so he wasn’t even sure it was right but we didn’t really know what anything would look like so maybe it was correct. Then the male server comes and confirms again that I wanted pork as the meat on my dish so there wasn’t confusion in the kitchen. At this point, I’m pretty sure I’ve told them what I wanted at least half a dozen times.
Finally, our server brings out this cooker and a pot of soup and I’m thinking that I didn’t think what I ordered was soup but who knows? I am thinking she probably brought me someone else’s order because I had seen her almost deliver someone else’s food to table 12 not knowing which one was 12.
Anyway, I tried the broth and it was pretty tasty. Maybe this isn’t what I ordered but if I knew which this was on the menu I would probably order it. LOL. But then I dug in looking for meat and found fish. This was definitely not my food.
I tried to get someone’s attention but both servers were busy. It took quite a while before I could get someone to come over and I explained to them that I got someone else’s food.
They took all of it back — cooker, pot of soup, and bowl of rice. Our server mumbled something like “They told me to bring this here” as she was taking the stuff. But I am guessing they told her to bring it to table X but she hadn’t committed the table numbers to memory so she brought it to our table by mistake. Shortly after came back with my actual dish.
As I mentioned earlier, the food was very good. I think they just need better help.
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Social Tap – Greenwich
Posted on February 16, 2026 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Brian and I are huge fans of Social Tap and have been to both the WSU campus location and the Andover Heritage Square location. The only Social Tap that’s eluded us has been the one in Northeast Wichita at Greenwich.
We recently met Jay and Becca over there.
The space is much smaller than their other two locations and the menu is mostly similar except for this location does not serve pizza which is quite disappointing. The Social Tap pizzas are kind of a staple. We specially like that Social Tap serves strips of the pizza bread with the pesto and ricotta dip that we always order. Unfortunately, since at there is no pizza at this location, we got it with tortilla chips and it just wasn’t the same.
Anyway, here are pics of the rest of our food.
I also enjoyed a pretty drink.
The verdict? While this Social Tap is probably the closest to our house, it’s our least favorite. We probably won’t return to this one and will opt for either Andover or WSU if we get a hankering for our favorite pesto and ricotta dip.
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