Bann Thai
Posted on September 6, 2012 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Bann Thai is a perfect example of why Brian hates it when I get Groupons. He’s not very adventurous and I usually get Groupons for restaurants that neither of us have tried before but that I want to try. It doesn’t really work out most times, as was the case this time. Ever the optimist though, I always find the silver lining. At least we didn’t have to pay full price for our meal. LOL.
This place is located on the South side of 21st Street, right by our old house. It’s actually right next to the old laundromat that we used to use over ten years ago when we first started living together. It’s a really seedy laundromat, but I liked going there because they had a Galaga arcade machine with the rapid fire button. What I mean by this is that I could just hold down the red/fire button and it would fire rapidly in succession until I released the button. Unlike other machines where I would I have to tap the fire button repeatedly very fast because holding down the button only resulted in a single shot being fired.
The chicken satay appetizer was pretty good. I liked both the cucumber and peanut sauces that they serve with it.
Brian got the garlic fried rice, which I thought had too much garlic flavor. It was gross. I didn’t like it at all.
Looking at this picture, it appears that Brian didn’t like it much either.
Yellow curry with chicken is usually the first thing that I order whenever I try a new Thai restaurant. It’s a safe bet. However, I’m not a huge fan of spicy foods so I always ask for it mild, which is exactly what I did this time. Was it mild? No. It was still very spicy, which meant one of two things: (a) the server wasn’t a good listener (I said to please make it mild at least twice before he left our table) or (b) the person in the kitchen has gotten so desensitized that they thought the dish was only mildly spicy.
We had deep fried bananas with ice cream and whipped cream for dessert. Not really out of the ordinary for a Thai restaurant, except one of the scoops of ice cream was cookies and cream flavor. My guess is that they ran out of vanilla ice cream so we got a scoop of each instead of just plain vanilla.
It’s not likely that I will be back. I know that Brian didn’t like it and I won’t be able to get him to go back even if I did want to give the restaurant another shot. I’m thinking next time I get a hankering for Thai food, I’d just as soon go to Thai Tradition which is my favorite sit-down Thai restaurant in Wichita. Or maybe Thai House if I want something quick.
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(in·gre·di·ent)
Posted on September 3, 2012 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Brian and I met our friend Anthony at (in·gre·di·ent) for breakfast on Saturday morning. (in·gre·di·ent) boasts that they have the best breakfast in Leawood, Kansas.
Here’s Brian reviewing the menu.
Here’s a photo of Brian and Anthony.
It was pretty much lunch time when we met, but I had to order breakfast because I had to see for myself if there was any substance to their claims.
I got pancakes with chocolate chips, bananas, and whipped cream. I was a little disappointed that the chocolate chips were not in the pancakes, but it was still very good. Not as good as the pancakes at Succotash, but still high up there as pancakes go. Lucky for them Succotash is in Kansas City so, as far as I’m concerned, (in·gre·di·ent) still serves the best breakfast in Leawood. I’ve never had breakfast anywhere else in Leawood though, so that doesn’t really say much.
Brian had the biscuits and gravy with country potatoes and then he ordered a side of egg a la carte because his meal didn’t come with it.
Anthony got the salmon BST, which looks really yummy. It must be pretty good because that’s what he usually gets. I’m sure he wouldn’t keep ordering it otherwise.
Besides serving good breakfast, (in·gre·di·ent) also has good happy hour specials.
And you can take home a bottle of their raspberry basil vinaigrette for a mere $8.95.
They also have a no tipping policy which reminds me of the all-inclusive resorts that we like to visit in Jamaica. Although, as high as some of their prices are, you won’t really have much money left over for gratuity. LOL.
Brian said that his tiny bottle of Naked juice cost $5. Jeez.
I really liked (in·gre·di·ent) all things considered. I would go back to sample all of their other food offerings. Though, I’ve made a mental note not to get Naked juice next time because I could get a couple of those bottles at the grocery store for the price of one at the restaurant.
I’m going to stick to water next time. Unless, of course, it’s happy hour. Then all bets are off.
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First Concert in the Rain
Posted on September 3, 2012 by Ching under Things to Do, Travel.
There’s a first for everything. Personally, I wouldn’t have chosen to go to a rainy concert but when the world gives you lemons, you make lemonade. We got some bad weather and made the best of it.
First stop before dinner? Rain gear so we can stay relatively dry during the concert. We found some ponchos for $5 at Dick’s Sporting Goods.
We had floor seats so we didn’t have an awning above us to protect us from the rain.
We were in Section A1, Row 13, Seats 22 and 23. Our seats were actually really good, except everyone was standing the entire time and everyone clustered toward the stage. Luckily, no one cared that I was standing on one of the chairs. That was the only way I could get a good view.
Despite being drenched, we had a great time at the concert. Journey delivered on all of the classic favorites. Arnel did a good job of getting the crowd pumped and everyone was singing along. It was a pretty good turnout despite the weather.
Speaking of drenched, both of our shoes were completely soaked. It actually took a couple of days to dry. Hopefully they’re not completely ruined.
I found this video of Journey on YouTube. Thought it fitting because it’s one of my most favorite Journey songs. Also, Gina cooled us down to this song today in Zumba. Woot!
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Tapas at La Bodega
Posted on September 3, 2012 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Here are some pictures of our pre-concert tapas at La Bodega.
The albondigas were much better than the first time I had them. I’m not sure if they just made them better this time, or if it’s because I finally figured out that the flavor is in the sauce. The meatballs are somewhat bland and flavorless by themselves, but the sauce is super delicious. So good that we asked for some bread to sop the rest up.
We liked the patatas bravas from when Hideki ordered it the last time we were at the restaurant, so we got it this time. We had just enough food to be satisfied and not have to take any home (or back to the hotel).
Since we just had tapas instead of full entrees, I figured that we could splurge on dessert. We got a slice of La Bodega’s chocolate tort (a flour-less cake). It was super yummy. Brian had a few bites, but I ate every bit of it. Check out the aftermath.
La Bodega is one of my favorite restaurants in Leawood. What I love most about it is that you can get tapas, which is great if you don’t feel like eating a heavy meal. Also, they have great happy hour specials until 6 PM (half-priced tapas and half-priced pitchers of sangria). We missed it this time because we had to stop by Dick’s Sporting Goods to pick up ponchos for the concert. Brian didn’t want to drink anyway because the weather was making him feel uncomfortable. He doesn’t like driving in unfamiliar cities anyway, and he didn’t want to be impaired driving around that night. I’m glad I have such a responsible hubby.
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Labor Day Weekend 2012
Posted on September 3, 2012 by Ching under Travel.
The last couple of years we’ve spent Labor Day weekend in Texas. In 2010 we went to visit the Orbases. They had just moved to Dallas. I think we were their very first visitors. Last year we went to Lake Worth to visit Cousin Tracy and Jeff. It’s close enough to Dallas that we were able to swing by and have lunch with the Orbases on the way home. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do that this year.
I would blame the fact that we’re busy packing for the big move but, even before that happened, we bought tickets to see Journey at the Livestrong Sporting Park. We bought the tickets almost as soon as they went on sale, before we even found a house and made an offer. I think had the events occurred in reverse, we probably would have just skipped the concert altogether. So anyway, a trip to Texas was not in the cards for us this year either way.
I had started to get overwhelmed at the hectic days ahead of us. It was raining in the Kansas City area this weekend and it wouldn’t stop. I was so worried that I had second thoughts about going to the concert. Me and my brilliance (or short-sightedness) didn’t figure it would be raining on Labor Day weekend so I bought floor seats. I wanted to be as close to the stage/band as possible. Had I been smart and planned better, I would have gotten stadium seats which are at least covered by the awning.
Not to be daunted by the weather, Brian and I scoped out the parking situation after checking out Nebraska Furniture Mart. The arena is directly across from it. I had actually thought about just parking at the NFM parking lot, but there were “No Event Parking” signs everywhere. So we were like, “Where do we park?” We found some people directing traffic and parking and asked them. Now that we knew where to park, our next question was, “How much?” We wanted to make sure we got cash out of the ATM if we needed to because we never carry around any cash. We asked two people, one of them looked like a security guard, and were told both times that parking would be free. That’s not usually the case, so I thought that’s nice. It’s a little farther away than the NFM parking lot, but we’re not ones to break rules so we were okay with having to walk a little ways.
We proceeded to drive to Leawood (all of the hotels in the area were sold out due to Midwest Nationals which was also going on during the same weekend) to check in at our hotel and take a nap. I was hopeful that the rain would be over by the time we woke up. No such luck. It was raining harder than ever. Brian and I agreed that we would just get there late. If we’re going to get rained on, we’d rather be rained on for half the time than the full four to five hours. As a precaution, we went to Dick’s Sporting Goods and bought ourselves some rain gear ($5 ponchos – FTW). We were not about to let the weather, gloomy as it was, dampen our spirits.
We took our time having dinner at La Bodega before heading to the arena. It was around 8 PM or so. I told Brian I wanted to be late, but I didn’t want to be that late. While I didn’t care about Loverboy (I actually have no idea who they are), I very much wanted to see Pat Benatar. I listened to her music growing up. We could hear her music playing (we figured that she’d already started performing) as we drove by the arena to go over to the parking lot. It was still raining fiercely, mind you. There was no waiting out the rain as it continued to rain on and off all night. We finally got to the designated parking area and were mortified to see $20 and $10 signs. We had absolutely no cash on us.
We had several options: find an ATM and come back and pay for parking, park at the NFM parking lot and face the consequences, or skip the concert altogether (something that I refused to consider). I was a little upset at this point though, because I was missing Pat Benatar. I told Brian to just park at NFM. They close at 9 PM. No one in their right mind would be shopping for furniture this late in the evening, in this weather. When we got there, the “No Event Parking” signs were still up. There were a couple of guys at the end of one of the aisles. Brian, never one to break the rules, asked them for permission to park in the lot. They said it was fine. We were both so relieved. It was almost 9 PM at this point. It actually worked out better because this lot was closer to the East stadium entrance and we didn’t have to pay.
Anyway, we made it to our seats just in time to hear Pat Benatar perform “We Belong” one of my most favorite songs of hers.
We got there just in time because she performed a few more songs before her set was over. And, you know, they always save the best songs for last. So all my favorites like “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” “Love is a Battlefield,” and “Heartbreaker” were played at the end. Alright, it’s time for me to get ready for Zumba so I’ll save the rest of this story for later. Come back!
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