‘Tis the Season for Celebration
Posted on June 19, 2018 by Ching under Events, Family, Zumba.
The Wichita Zumba community has had two “Zumba in the Square” events so far this year and I’ve yet to teach at one. It’s been really hard because it’s been a super busy season for events. Last month’s “Zumba in the Square” event fell on the same day as Logan’s graduation party. We weren’t sure what time we would make it to Old Town so I popped in, danced a bit, and took some photos but couldn’t really help with the event. Here’s one of the group photos:
At least we were able to stop by for the “Zumba in the Square” event last month. They had another one on Saturday, which we missed altogether because we were getting ready for Brian’s birthday party at the house. We hosted it on Saturday, the 16th, because Brian’s birthday fell in the middle of the week and we couldn’t celebrate with friends the weekend before because we were Rosalia Ranch for Symphony in the Flint Hills (more on that next time).
As far as Brian’s birthday get together on Saturday, I didn’t take a lot of pics. Brian doesn’t really like having HUGE parties so we just had a few people over for pork and chicken street tacos. Others also brought food to share.
A few people went to do “Zumba in the Square” first and then came over. We kept it pretty casual because we knew we would be playing games and also we wanted people to come straight over from “Zumba in the Square” and not have to change clothes. However, there were two couples who went above and beyond.
Amy and Hideki showed up in coordinating outfits in Wichita State colors.
Todd and Missy did the all white thing. Both couples looked fabulous.
We had a lot of fun playing Disturbed Friends and Just Dance and just hanging out and visiting in general. It was a great birthday celebration overall but we’re not quite done yet. We are celebrating again this coming weekend.
Brian’s parents are coming up from Oklahoma so we can do our traditional joint celebration. We usually celebrate Brian’s birthday, grandma’s birthday (which is today, by the way — Happy birthday, Grandma!), and Father’s Day all in one go. That celebrating is happening this Saturday. We’re going to have a BBQ/cookout and this event will be family only.
I think that might be it, though, I wouldn’t be surprised if we come up with another celebration in honor of Brian’s birthday. The two of us have been celebrating all month long. We had a couple of dinners for just the two of us (Carrabba’s and Bonefish, two of our favorite restaurants). Then we spent a weekend volunteering at Symphony in the Flint Hills on Friday and then attending the event the next day. Then Brian got his latest Stitch Fix box (new birthday clothes). Then Brian got a new watch band and protector. Then he got a deluxe massage from Mindy (his favorite massage therapist) at Sveta’s. Then he got a Smove (basically a new toy to play with) but this was more my idea. LOL.
It’s not a milestone birthday but I sure hope it’s been a really good one!
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Pics From This Year’s Celebrity & Chef Cookoff
Posted on June 15, 2018 by Ching under Events.
The Wichita Orpheum’s Celebrity & Chef Cookoff was held almost a month earlier than usual this year. As luck would have it, I happened to be in town so Brian and I were fortunate enough to be able to attend. I was so happy because it’s one of Brian’s all-time favorite fundraising events. And, this year our VP of Customer Operations Jeff Beasley was one of the competitors.
He was paired with 6S Steakhouse‘s Kayson Chong and their team was dubbed “The New Guys.” Presumably because they’re both somewhat new in town.
Reverie Coffee‘s Stephanie Hand teamed up with Roger Scholfield. Their team was called “The Cookie Monsters” because Stephanie enjoys baking cookies and Roger enjoys eating them.
Team “Bon Appetit Artistes” consisted of Sienna Tuscan Steakhouse‘s Josh Rathbun and Mark Arts‘ Katy Dorrah.
District VI City Council Member Cindy Claycomb teamed up with Woodfire Grille‘s Jennifer Reifschneider, who happened to win last year’s event. Their team was known as “The Boss Ladies.”
Next there’s “The Cut Ups” team of Ben George from SAVOR at Intrust Bank Arena and Bill Gardner of Gardner Design.
Lastly, there’s Cynthia Wilson of Parsnipity Cafe and Lumpiapalooza, Jennifer Ray, owner of the Monarch. Their team was known as “The Downtown Divas.”
Jeff and Kayson looked like they were having a blast up on the stage.
Everyone was cooking up a storm up there.
We really enjoyed watching all the celebrities and chefs cook their hearts out that night. Defending champion Jennifer Reifscheider was looking for a repeat but it was not to be. The big winners that evening were Stephanie Hand for “best use of the main ingredient” and overall winner Josh Rathbun.
The craziest part of the evening was that Brian and I almost didn’t get in. I forgot to check my mailbox earlier and didn’t realize I was supposed to have tickets for the event. Luckily for us, Jimmy Washington came to our rescue and got us through the door without our tickets. You can do things like that when you’re a big shot. I found my tickets in my mailbox days later.
I’m usually out of town Monday through Thursday so I’m used to only checking my work mailbox on Fridays. The event was on a Tuesday night. I didn’t realize that I had tickets because I forgot to check my mailbox on Monday and Tuesday. I’m such a dingbat, I know. I haven’t forgotten to check my mailbox since!
Anyway, here are a few more photos from the event.
Here’s a picture of our great looking group. From left, starting with the lovely lady next to me, Erica and Jimmy Martinez, Jeff and Flo Beasley, Evette and Jimmy Washington, Bridget and Glenn Bowman, Don Sherman, and, of course, Brian front and center. He is the ultimate group selfie picture taker.
Obligatory selfie, just cause.
This is us earlier that night when were trying to figure out how to get in without our tickets and we ran into my friend from Leadership Wichita, Jessica Dunbar. We are very lucky that we still got to attend the event despite the whole ticket situation. I would have been really sad to miss Jeff’s Celebrity & Chef Cookoff debut. Plus, it’s such a fun event. I hope we get to go again next year.
Stay tuned for the next post! GNG.
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Nortons Brewing Company
Posted on June 13, 2018 by Ching under Food and Drink.
I recently had the opportunity to check out Nortons Brewing Company when we went there for Carmen’s 20th service anniversary. It’s a really neat new brew pub just a stone’s throw from the office, which is super convenient considering you now have to pay for parking in the lot next door.
A bunch of us from work walked over for a late lunch one Friday a couple of weeks back to celebrate Carmen’s milestone.
Here are some pictures of food that we got to try that day. Pictured above is aptly-named bacon crack. It is deliciously addictive.
This is their homemade spinach and artichoke dip.
Truffle fries… which used to be harder to come by but now it seems everyone is serving their own version of it.
This is the wedge salad, which is more than just a wedge!
I wish I could remember which sandwich this is.
Another salad but I can’t remember which one.
A blurry photo of someone’s grilled cheese sandwich. This might be mine, actually. I asked for the grilled cheese sandwich with a hamburger patty in the middle because I just couldn’t get myself to order the Norton burger (it’s a double cheeseburger sandwiched between two grilled cheese sandwiches — way too much food for one person to eat) so I decided to make kind of a smaller version of it.
Nortons is also known for funnel cakes, which I’ve yet to try.
I almost talked Brian into it this weekend when we were back at Nortons for Chad Smith’s surprise birthday gathering. Alas, it was not meant to be. We just ended up getting a charcuterie board, fries, and some drinks.
We did, however, get to see Chad’s new Tesla. Chad said he might have been the first person to register this vehicle in Kansas because he had to wait for the tag office to enter the model in the computer system. I guess this type of car didn’t already exist in the vehicle registration system prior.
But I digress… Nortons is worth checking out. It has a cool, casual ambiance inside and fun hangout spaces outside. The food is good and the drinks are plentiful. We will definitely be back. I have a funnel cake in my future. That’s all for now. GNG.
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Dempsey’s Biscuit Company
Posted on June 10, 2018 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Brian and I discovered a new place to eat Sunday brunch last month, Dempsey’s Biscuit Company. They’re in the space on Douglas that was vacated by Fork & Fennel a few years ago. It’s just down the street from Dempsey’s Burger Pub, which is another local favorite.
Dempsey’s Biscuit Co. has been open for a while now and we’d heard great things but we’ve just never had the time to go check it out until recently. We’d been going to Reverie for Sunday breakfast but decided it was time to venture out and try some new places. That was all the push we needed to check out Dempsey’s.
Here are a few pictures from our visit.
Anytime we visit a new place, we always carefully study the menu.
This is our friend Jeff who usually joins us on Sundays.
And now for some food pics…
I had the Eggs Benedict but substituted the chicken. I heard the chicken at Dempsey’s is pretty amazing.
It did not disappoint. Brian liked the chicken so much, he actually ordered a side of chicken for himself.
Brian had his usual — biscuits and gravy with fried eggs and bacon.
The food is fabulous so we we’ve been back a few more times since then. Here are some pictures of the food we’ve had in subsequent visits.
This place is a great addition to the Wichita food scene. We definitely have to take grandma here sometime!
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Graduation Season 2018
Posted on May 29, 2018 by Ching under Events, Family, Food and Drink.
We had five new high school graduates in our circle of family and friends this season. While we only made one actual graduation ceremony, we did make it to a few parties. Here are some pics.
Lindsay said she couldn’t guarantee being able to save us seats unless we got there at six o’clock, a whole hour before Madison’s graduation. I’m not sure how we did it, but we managed to get there right as they were letting people in so we got to sit with their family and Lindsay didn’t even have to save our seats!
Here are a few pics I took of the display at Madison’s graduation party.
It’s hard to believe that this child is now a practically grownup.
Next up was Logan’s graduation. We had grandma over for lunch that day so we skipped the graduation part and just went straight to the party at mom and dad’s house later that afternoon.
No fancy display but we did have a couple of fancy cakes. Mom ordered a fancy graduation cake made of chocolate.
Here’s a picture of Logan’s fancy chocolate cake up close.
I ordered the purple ube cake for the party because I wanted some and I couldn’t eat a whole cake by myself. Logan’s graduation seemed like a good excuse to order the cake that I wanted to eat. LOL.
Except I was too full from eating all of the other food that I only had one slice of cake. I was telling Brian that was the most expensive slice of cake I’d ever eaten. I paid $40 for a cake only to eat just one slice of it. FAIL!
How did I get so full? Well, because this happened…
BBQ Pork
Mashed Potato
Rotisserie Chicken
Roast
Embutido
Adobo
Pancit
Lumpia
Biko
I can’t remember what this thing is called but it’s also another Filipino dessert.
Here’s a picture of mom with our little graduate, who’s not so little anymore.
Anyway, Marc and Jessica’s son Eli graduated in the same class but we couldn’t go to his graduation party because we were at Logan’s. We had to support our nephew, of course! Anyway, we had a card with the some money for him and we just ended up dropping it off the next day, on our way to Brynden’s graduation party.
We didn’t make the graduation ceremony because it was the same time as my Sunday Zumba class but at least we made the party!
Speaking of graduations we couldn’t make, my inaanak Steffano graduated this year also. We obviously couldn’t make that one because they live in Alaska. This year has probably been the year we’ve had the most graduations of kids who are really close to us. Not just some distant relative or children of acquaintances. These are children of close friends and people who are like family to us and, our own nephew of course. It has been quite a year for graduations! That’s all for now. GNG.
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