Fun Times with Friends
Posted on January 6, 2019 by Ching under Events, Food and Drink, Things to Do.
Brian and I had a bit of fun over holiday break. We got to hang out with some friends we don’t normally get to hang out with. First was the the annual beer gift exchange at the Smiths, who are always such fabulous hosts.
Here are some pictures from that evening…
This is a pic of me and Jeff, our friend who sometimes joins us for breakfast and coffee chat. We met him through Twitter over ten years ago.
This is a pic of me and Cindy, another Twitter friend.
This is one of the beer gifts (click to watch the video).
This is Laura, taking her turn (click to watch the video).
Just a silly Boomerang (click to watch the video).
Brian is so good at the group selfies. It was a super fun night. And, although I didn’t participate in the beer gift exchange, I did get to sample some beers and found some that I actually enjoyed — much to my surprise.
The next night we went on a double date with the Dills (above). I had some Illuminations passes from work that I’d been trying to use. The four of us were actually supposed to go to Illuminations a few weeks ago when we went to have dinner with them at the ramen place but it was cold and rainy and none of us felt like going so we ended up enjoying some wine at their place instead. It was a good night to stay indoors.
It worked out that the four of us were free and we actually had nice weather this night. Except, it seemed everyone in Wichita had the same idea. Botanica was ridiculously packed.
Still, we got some nice photos courtesy of Jay’s fancy, new Pixel phone. It has a front-facing wide-angle lens that’s perfect for group selfies.
The was s’mores for the kiddos and child-at-heart.
Just a goofy pic with the giant bird’s nest.
After Illuminations we went to dinner at the Hill where Mama Dill met up with us.
Here are some pictures of dinner…
A couple of things that we didn’t get pictures of are the chicharrones and the beignets. You know Brian and I cannot go to the Hill without getting chicharrones. They are just so good and so fresh. Anyway, we scarfed them up before I could get a photo. Then, we had beignets for dessert and we also ate those before I could get a photo. Overall we had an amazing time.
To top it off, the Dills picked up our dinner tab, which was so generous and unexpected. Thanks, guys!
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A Cute Little Ice Cream Shop
Posted on January 2, 2019 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Here are a few pictures we took during our visit to Little Lion, the cute little ice cream shop at Revolutsia. For those unfamiliar with it, Revolutsia is the cute shipping container mall on Central and Volutsia. They have restaurants and shops in shipping containers surrounding a cute courtyard area with a fire pit.
Little Lion is not exactly in a shipping container. It’s in a cute little building. And, although it doesn’t look like it from the outside, it’s got a cozy upstairs sitting area.
Here are a few pictures of the upstairs loft.
Here’s a view of the downstairs space from the loft.
Here are the cute stone steps leading upstairs.
The steps are wood the rest of the way.
Looking down at the steps from the loft above.
Downstairs cafe space.
Oh, as an added bonus, we ran into one of the Aratea twins.
Anyway, the ice cream is great but they also have coffee and hot chocolate. Mine was delicious. I highly recommend checking out Little Lion Cafe. Super cute and cozy and a great place to hang out all the way around.
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Prost at Revolutsia
Posted on December 26, 2018 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Brian and I finally got around to checking out the new German restaurant at Revolutsia, the new shipping container mall at Central and Volutsia. It’s actually not really new. It’s been open for a while but it’s new to us because we hadn’t gotten around to checking it out until now.
Prost is actually pretty good. I liked their food much better than Imbiss Grille. Imbiss was located in Old Town Square and used to be the only German restaurant in town. It’s been closed for a while now. I used to think Wichitans just weren’t that fond of German food but, with the popularity of Prost, I think their food just wasn’t that good and Wichitans know the difference.
Personally, I’m not that fond of German food but I do like schnitzel. You can’t go wrong with pork in my book. LOL. Although, in terms of German food, my favorite is still Grunauer in Kansas City.
Here are some pictures from our first dining experience at Prost.
Brian had the Schnitzel Sandwich with pomme frites (basically German French fries). I had the Jagerschnitzel. It was actually really good. I even enjoyed the warm red cabbage, which is not usually my thing.
Here’s a picture of the menu which you can peruse on their website here.
Prost does “shared” seating so we were seated at the corner table with another couple. They both had the bierocks. I would have taken pictures of their plates as well but they were well on their way to finishing.
The above picture is the view looking out from our corner table. Prost also has upstairs seating. It’s actually really cute up there with all the flags.
Upon finishing their meal, the other couple left. Here’s a picture that I took of Brian at our table while I was standing at the stairs.
Here’s a picture of the stairs.
Looking up at the flags from our table.
Another interesting feature of Prost is their Stein Club. Membership is $100 a year and you get $1 off beers and 10% off you meal each time you visit. It’s actually a neat concept and, I thought, quite clever because it guarantees repeat business.
The club has been quite popular because when we were there it looked like they were starting to run out of steins.
It’s a cute place with decent food. We will probably be back.
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Potwin Place Christmas Lights
Posted on December 23, 2018 by Ching under Things to Do.
My chance tour of the Christmas light at the Potwin Place Historic District in Topeka is definitely one of the highlights of the year. I didn’t even know what I was getting into until it happened. It was the best surprise ever.
Since several of us were in town last week, one of our coworkers decided to host a Christmas party at his house. I knew that he lived in a Victorian house in one of the oldest neighborhoods in Topeka but I knew nothing of it so I had absolutely no expectations. Even after he updated the meeting (party) invitation to include a picture of his home, warned us about the roundabouts, and encouraged us to drive through the neighborhood to enjoy the lights, I thought nothing of it.
Fast forward to that night. Most of our coworkers went straight to the party from the office but I had an errand to run after work. Misty had me a wild goose chase for this necklace she wanted made of copper from the State Capitol roof and I had to go to the Kansas Historic Society to get it. That is a whole story in and of itself but I digress. Since the place is right by our hotel, I decided to drop off my stuff first. I was the only one coming from the hotel so there was no one to carpool with. I don’t particularly enjoy driving so I decided to order a car. I had a 25% off special on all Lyft rides so I think the ride cost lest than $10 before tip. It was very reasonable. Anyway, this has got to be the most memorable Lyft ride I’ve ever had. (If we don’t count the time that I had a big box of the driver’s donuts on my lap on the way to the office one morning. But that’s also another story.)
The Lyft driver followed the instructions on the GPS (as they all typically do) and we pleasantly chatted on the way to my destination. I casually mentioned what my friend said about the neighborhood Christmas lights. She asked me where I was going and I told her that I think he lives in an area called Potwin. That’s when she perked up and got very excited. Apparently, she is very familiar with the area. She decided to disregard the instructions of the GPS and told me she was going to take me another way so I could enjoy the lights. That’s when I found out that the Potwin Place Historic District Christmas lights displays are a very big deal up there. Potwin Place is a highlight of every Topeka Christmas lights tour.
I wasn’t in a hurry and I’m always down for a good “Easter Egg” (and she didn’t didn’t give the the axe murderer vibe) so I didn’t object. Although, I did tell her that her GPS was probably going to go berserk on us. As long as she was okay with that, I was too. So went for a nice, leisurely drive through the neighborhood with her pointing out some of the houses with the best decorations. Of course, you can’t really breeze through the neighborhood because of all the roundabouts which, I found out later, were installed back in the day to keep the horse carriages from racing through the neighborhood streets. Oh, I forgot to mention that she even tuned her radio to the special radio station as we entered the neighborhood. By the time she delivered me to my friend’s house, she had earned herself a very good tip. That was, by far, the best Uber/Lyft ride experience I’d ever had.
The evening was full of surprises so it didn’t end there. My coworker had actually arranged for his friend (who also lives in the neighborhood) to give us a hay ride to enjoy the lights. While I was very pleased with the tour that the Lyft driver had given me, this was even better. I didn’t have car windows between me and the beautiful lights. The only thing that could have made it better was if we actually had time to tour the lights on foot and walk through the displays.
I’m posting a few pictures below but, I must warn you, these aren’t going to do the Christmas lights display any justice. If you’re up in the Topeka area, I highly recommend taking a tour of the lights yourself. This year’s theme is “International Celebration” and will be up through January 5.
Click on one of the photos above and follow the trail to Flickr where there are even a few videos. Enjoy!
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Iron Rail Brewing
Posted on December 22, 2018 by Ching under Food and Drink.
On my last trip up to Topeka for the year, we got to try one of the brand new brew pubs in the area. This one is just two doors down from the office.
Josh, Kelly, and I walked over there after work and Darcy met us after her workout. She worked out at the office gym so she just walked over as well.
The place had been open for several weeks already so we were hoping that the novelty had worn off and we’d be able to get right in. We still had to wait. It wasn’t too bad, though. Just 30 minutes.
I think people were having their Christmas parties, which is what contributed how busy they were. Still it wasn’t so bad. We were seated well before Darcy arrived.
Josh ordered the sausage and beer flight while we were waiting. They ran out of the two beers that he really wanted to try and, instead of telling him, they just substituted with other beers.
The sausage selection was good but you don’t really get much. We were thinking he would get whole sausage links but he just got a few pieces of each.
Here are a couple of pictures of the menu.
The food menu is above. The drinks are below.
I got the Harvey Girl, which is their version of Sex on the Beach.
We munched on chicken chicharrones while waiting for Darcy. I must have been hungry because I completely forgot to take a picture of it.
I got the BBQ mac and cheese for my entree. However, between the chicharrones and the pieces of sausage, I got full and couldn’t finish my dinner. I put the leftovers in the fridge at work after dinner and Selena ended up enjoying the rest of it for lunch on Thursday.
Josh had the shrimp and grits.
Kelly had a two-meat plate. Not that you really need that much food but their portions are smaller than most places. This is explains all the reviews that say the food is overpriced.
Darcy had the salmon, rice, and broccoli mash. I was actually considering getting this but then finally decided on the mac and cheese instead.
I thought the food was good and the location was perfect. You can’t get any closer to work. So it’s extremely convenient. Except you wouldn’t want to drink and then drive. I only had the one drink but I’m a lightweight so I always try to be very careful. I had a drink drink that night because I carpooled with Josh to the office and didn’t have to drive at all. Otherwise I would I have just stuck to water.
I’d been wanting to try this place since I’d seen pictures posted by friends on Facebook. Now I can finally cross it off the list.
BTW, this was my last trip to Topeka for the year. I don’t have to go back until the middle of January. Yass!
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