The Hill Bar and Grill — New Favorite
Posted on August 1, 2015 by Ching under Food and Drink, Reviews.
We tried the Hill for the first time recently and now it’s our new favorite place to eat. Brian and I are addicted to the chicharrones.
As you can see, we can’t get enough of it.
Brian says their onion rings are really good too. We love that they provide a variety of dipping sauces. They’re all very good but we think that the one we like the most is called chipotle aioli. It goes great with the chicharon.
Some folks at work tried the Hill and said it was really good. My friend/coworker Tammie likes it because they have lots of options for vegetarians. They have several gluten free items on the menu as well.
Here are some pictures of food from the Hill.
My favorite thing to get is the carnitas tacos. Admittedly, I haven’t really tried much of anything else. Brian and I have been to the Hill twice now. The first time was when we had lunch with Jan, Connie, and Isaac. The second time was last Thursday when we wanted to grab a quick bite before going to Chamber Music at the Barn.
I tried to order something different on our last trip there but, after much deliberation, I still ordered the carnitas tacos. Sometimes you just have to stick with what you know.
Brian had the pulled pork sandwich the first time and chicken tacos the second time. The chicken tacos looked good but I don’t think that they were nearly as good as my carnitas tacos. Just sayin’.
We didn’t have time for the donuts on our first trip because it was during my lunch hour and I had to get back to work. The menu says to allow 10 minutes for the donuts so I recommend ordering it only if you have some time to spare.
Since we missed out the first time, we made sure to get it on our second trip. The donuts are really donut holes covered in cinnamon and sugar. They kind of remind me of the sopapillas we get at Felipe’s Jr for dessert, except they’re a lot smaller than the regular sopapillas and bigger than the bite-sized ones. They came with three different dipping sauces: raspberry, chocolate, and caramel.
I thought they were good but not as good as sopapillas. If I could have the mini sopapillas from Felipe’s with these dipping sauces that would be the perfect combination. Still, I really liked the Hill. The location is great for meeting up with our West side friends who don’t want to drive all the way out to the East side and there’s bound to be something on the menu that everyone will enjoy.
Brian and I both liked the Hill so much that we’re already looking forward to our next trip. I just hope that I can talk myself out of ordering the same thing again next time.
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Dempsey’s Burger Pub
Posted on August 1, 2015 by Ching under Food and Drink, Reviews.
Brian and I finally had a chance to try Dempsey’s a couple of weeks ago. When you enter the restaurant, you’ll notice they have an upstairs and downstairs section. Brian and I opted to go to the basement because it seemed like there was more energy down there and we wanted to be where the action was.
Here’s a picture of the upstairs. If you want to talk, it might be best to stay upstairs. Not sure if it’s that way all the time but it was pretty loud downstairs when we went.
I had the buffalo wings because I’m not really a burger person. I know. Right. Why go to a burger pub? LOL. Brian and I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about mostly.
The truffle fries were decent. They’re not as good as the ones they serve at the Anchor or Flying Stove, though.
Brian had their egg burger. It’s one of those burgers that looks so ugly that you expect it to be really good. Much like the truffle fries, it was just okay.
Overall Dempsey’s was pretty underwhelming. I’m not sure if we ordered the wrong things (although, we’ve been to restaurants before where everything’s fantastic so it didn’t matter what you ordered) or if everyone has been talking it up so much that we had unrealistic expectations. Either that, or we waited too long to check them out and they’re now in their mediocre phase. You know how that goes. Sometimes restaurants are amazing in the first couple of months but then they just kind of flatten out after a while.
On the plus side, our server was super nice and friendly. That’s not much of a differentiator, though. Maybe we’re just lucky but we get great service at most places. You really have to have great food. When we left Brian was like, “I really don’t care if we go back.” That pretty much sums the whole experience up.
Dempsey’s was just okay so Ziggy’s still rules Clifton Square as far as we’re concerned.
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Our Baby Molly
Posted on August 1, 2015 by Ching under Babies.
We have the cutest dog ever. That is all.
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Fun Times with Nickira
Posted on July 29, 2015 by Ching under Life, Things to Do.
My little sister Nickira and I got to hang out on Sunday. We had dinner at Freddy’s again because when we went there last Sunday, she didn’t get to have funnel cake. This time she had her funnel cake first. I really should have objected because, as expected, she had no room for her bacon cheeseburger after that. Anyway, this just validates my decision not to have children. I think I’m a decent friend/big sister, but I would make a terrible mom.
Nickira and I went to see Big Fish at Century II. It was awesome. I think I enjoyed it more than she did, though. She kind of fell asleep during the mostly talking parts. We got popcorn and skittles during intermission and she was fine after that.
I just love Music Theatre Wichita. Last year Nickira and I went to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Brian and I got to see West Side Story. They were both very good. Big Fish was great, too. I’m looking forward to seeing Hello Dolly with Brian. Each year and each show just gets better and better. We are so lucky to have fantastic shows here in Wichita.
The previous week we went swimming at the Andover YMCA water park. That’s another thing we are blessed with — we have the best YMCA facilities in the nation here in Wichita. The water parks at the YMCA are super cool. Kira and I had a great time going down the slides (both of them) and floating along the lazy river.
Before that we attended the Sundaes on Sunday event at the Big Brothers Big Sisters office. This is Kira’s sundae creation.
I kept mine pretty basic.
Anyway, it was really cool because we got to play games with other matches. We played Apples to Apples
I had so much fun I ended up ordering both that day from Amazon. They were less than $10 each and relatively inexpensive as games go. It worked out great because we got to play Uno with grandma on Saturday when Brian fixed us lunch at the house. We also played Uno with Kira before going to Big Fish on Sunday.
The time before that we got to do some watercolor painting. We had some extra time and extra resources so we got to paint several works of art.
Pink is Nickira’s favorite color so she had to make an all pink one.
We are really lucky that our local Big Brothers Big Sisters organization comes up with some neat match activities. It’s fun for just the two of us to hang out but sometimes it’s even more fun when we get to do stuff with others. For instance, we’ve been to Roller City a few times now. While it’s fun every time, I think the time that we went with Faith and her kids and Eleanor and Peter and Ella was way more fun even though it was in the middle of what seemed like a blizzard.
One of my most favorites times we’ve hung out that I haven’t shared with you guys is when we were learning Zumba routines. The video above is of Eleanor practicing one of her songs and Nickira was learning it with her.
Nickira and I have now been matched over a year and, more than just being a rewarding experience, it’s been really fun. For those of you who have the time to spare, I highly recommend volunteering with Big Brothers Big Sisters. There are several kids waiting for matches. Or, if this isn’t your cup of tea, there’s many other volunteer opportunities in the area.
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uBreakiFix Saved My Hiney
Posted on July 19, 2015 by Ching under Toys.
After I got home from the awesome wine pairing event, I took the dog for a walk and this happened. The phone got caught on the leash and it flung from my hand and landed on the sidewalk. I didn’t even think anything of it at first because I’d dropped my phone so many times before, inside and outside the house. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve dropped it getting in and out of the car. Anyway, when I finally got a good look at it and saw that it was completely smashed, I just wanted to cry. The screen was obliterated. There was no saving this thing.
I couldn’t really yell at Molly because it wasn’t her fault. I think I was a little tipsy from the wine tasting event and so my reaction time as slow. I probably had no business walking the dog but walking the dog is a chore that Brian doesn’t particularly enjoy doing and she wasn’t going to walk herself. I told Brian what happened and, thankfully, he didn’t yell at me. I hadn’t had my phone a year and I’d already broken it.
I knew I had to get the phone repaired. There was no way around that. I depend on my phone for everything because it’s like a mini computer on the go. I use it to take photos, play games, check emails (both work and personal), catch up with people on social media, check my 401k, watch TED Talks and other videos, play my Zumba music though the ZIN DJ app (it’s the main reason I finally switched from Android to iPhone — the app isn’t available on Android), communicate with people via text, and sometimes I even use it for phone calls. The challenge wasn’t getting the phone repaired, we knew exactly where to take it. The challenge was getting the phone repaired in less than 24 hours because I had a Zumba class to teach the very next night and I couldn’t find someone to sub the class because I was the designated sub. LOL.
I love having my playlist conveniently in my ZIN DJ app and cringed at the thought of actually having to burn a CD, which I hadn’t done in a while. We contacted our friends at UBreakIFix immediately. They were closed for the evening but they told Brian to take my phone in the next day and they would do their best to get it repaired by end of business day. Not quite good enough because their day ends at 7 PM and I had to teach the Zumba class at 6:30 PM but we had to take our chances because it was the only shot we had. To top it off Brian couldn’t leave the house first thing in the morning to take my phone to be repaired because he had to wait for the Lowe’s repair guy who was coming in that morning to fix our freezer. Of course, they didn’t show up until the end of appointment window. I couldn’t complain though because the freezer repair was covered by our warranty so we didn’t actually have to spend any money out of pocket for that one, unlike my phone repair which cost a lot of money.
As soon as the Lowe’s guy left, Brian skedaddled to the UBreakIFix store which is clear on the other side of town from our house. Here are some photos he took while they worked their magic. It was really like magic. By the time our friend David was done, my phone looked good as new. Like nothing tragic ever happened to it.
Perhaps the most amazing feat of all was that they fixed my phone in a matter of hours. Brian drove up to my office to bring me my phone and I remember it was hilarious because I called him to tell me when he was in the parking lot. He was like, “I’m literally walking into your office right now.” I was confused. I looked up and he was right there at the door of my office like he said. I guess my boss let him in.
I looked at my phone in amazement. Everything worked. Including my ZIN DJ app. I was so relieved. It cost a lot to repair my phone but it was worth every penny. It seemed like a lot to me because I’d never had to have a phone repaired before but I guess those screens really are expensive to fix. My coworker Josh and I priced the parts (for if you wanted to repair it yourself) and it as just as much as UBreakIFix charges and then you run the risk of messing it up completely if you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s best to let the professionals handle it. And, they really are professionals. These guys are amazing. They have the tools and the expertise to get your broken phone back in working order. I’m not going to lie, it’s going to cost quite a bit to fix your phone depending on what’s broken, but if you consider what it’s going to cost you to fix it or what other places might charge, UBreakIFix rates are actually very reasonable.
If you ever need your phone fixed, I highly recommend UBreakIFix. They fixed my phone within a few hours and totally saved my hiney!
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