12th Annual Haus of Brews
Posted on October 4, 2021 by Ching under Events.
We had the best weather for Haus of Brews this year. Despite some minor setbacks, the event was a huge success. We had members from other clubs come out to support and even volunteer at our event. It was a great time.
Isaac McNary, president of the El Dorado club, took some amazing photos at the event. You can find them here.
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Picklepalooza 2021
Posted on September 30, 2021 by Ching under Community, Hobbies.
Last week I had the opportunity to do one of my favorite things while supporting a wonderful organization. Evergy sponsored Senior Services of Wichita’s Picklepalooza event and we put a team of six together.
Our team consisted of (from left) me, Paul Haas, Chris Wilson, Anita and Jeff Harris, and Sarah Pearson. Paul is former Evergy. He retired from Westar Energy a couple of years ago. Everyone else is an active Evergy employee except for Anita who is married to Jeff.
Despite our recent divorce, Chris and I reunited to play together for the advanced group. Our other team ups were Paul and Sarah, and Jeff and Anita (obviously). Our other two teams played in the recreational group.
Here are a few more pictures from the event: Paul and Sarah in action.
Anita and Jeff make a great team.
Selfie with MariAnn. She played for the Great Harvest Bread Co. team – Professional Loafers. I actually teased Lesli Toubassi (owner of Great Harvest) for stacking her team with the best players: MariAnn and Tim Heeren, Jenny Cole, Scott Wolford, Zach Loomis, Michael Harris, and Vickie Hancock. She had a perfectly good explanation, though. With only eight employees, she would have had to close her store for the day to have her employees play.
The advanced group consisted of Lesli’s four teams plus me and Chris (Evergy) and Mark and Hershel (Waste Connections).
Don’t let their serious faces fool you. The event was a blast!
A bunch of us stayed for the mingle party at the rooftop deck after the event. Pictured with me above are Jenny and Mark.
I’m glad I stayed for the party because I won one of the door prizes.
It contained a bottle of wine and a bunch of pickle-themed foods like this jar of Holmes Made sweet spicy garlic dill pickles. So fun!
I’m so grateful that I had the opportunity to participate in this event. To learn more about all of the services that Senior Services of Wichita provides to seniors in our community visit www.seniorservicesofwichita.org. I hope I get to play in this event again next year. Until next time. GNG.
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Lunch with Amie and Alicia
Posted on September 28, 2021 by Ching under Food and Drink.
I had the pleasure of having lunch with Amie and Alicia last week. Alicia picked the Rusty Nail, which was perfect because I’d heard so much about it and have been wanting to check it out.
The place is kind of a hole in the wall. You’d never know of its existence unless you knew someone who had been there because it’s not really located in the best area. It sits on the corner of Lincoln and Washington.
They do have a nice, spacious outdoor patio and I hear that they serve a fabulous brunch. The interior isn’t fancy but has ample seating.
I took a few pictures inside to give you all an idea.
They have ample bar seating as well.
As for the food, here are pictures of what we ate.
Amie had a salad.
Alicia and I both had the Philly, except I asked for no onions. The homemade fries were great but the Philly itself was very messy and difficult to eat by hand.
The food was good but not spectacular. However, I think I have to go back for brunch because that’s really what I’ve heard great things about. Our friends Jay and Becca have been wanting to check it out to so we may return with them at some point, whenever they are back from one of their many trips.
Until next time. GNG.
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Pictures of Our Lunch at Yokohama
Posted on September 27, 2021 by Ching under Food and Drink.
I mentioned in the last post that a bunch of us went to lunch after pickleball when the Tennessee guys were in town. Here are some pictures of our food.
If you’ve never been to Yokohama Ramen Izakaya, I highly recommend it. They have great food and also lots of delicious flavors of boba tea.
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Noi, Ron, and Royce Visit Wichita
Posted on September 25, 2021 by Ching under Hobbies, Life.
Just a few pics from the Tennessee guys’ most recent trip to Wichita.
Noi was the first to arrive. He arrived late on Wednesday night. I usually play pickleball on Wednesday nights so Michael Cheung picked him up from the airport and brought him to the house.
I took Thursday and Friday off work so I could be available and also because Noi was originally going to arrive on Thursday instead of Wednesday night. It actually worked out that he arrived a day early because he was able to play with Chris Heck, Erik Rasmussen, and Tony Swantek at Seneca Park on Thursday morning.
I dropped him off before I went to run errands and attend my Rotary luncheon. After Rotary, I met up with Chris and Noi at Wichita Brewing Company. Chris was off to a lesson down the street and Noi and I went to meet Michael and Matt Nola at Edgemoor Park.
Matt and I unintentionally matched. Naturally, we had to take pic.
The four of us split up briefly but they were back at Edgemoor Park again later that day for even more pickleball. I had to go teach my 5:30 PM Aqua Zumba class so Matt picked Noi up from our house and took him to his house for snacks before meeting the rest of the gang at Edge. I went to play with them after class before taking Noi home. Michael came over and the four of us enjoyed a Filipino spaghetti dinner lovingly prepared by Brian.
Noi and I started the next day super early. We went and played pickleball at Edgemoor Park from 7:30 AM to 9:30 AM before heading to the airport to pick up Ron and Royce. We picked them up and after a quick stop at home met Trung Ho and Mark Narongvate for “Lunch and Bowl” at West Acres.
“Lunch and Bowl” is the best deal ever. For only $12, you got two hours of bowling, shoes (if you need them), food, and a drink. I’m so glad that Mark suggested it.
We tried to get two lanes so we could bowl cross lanes like in league play but they were too busy that day so the six of us had to settle for playing on one lane. It worked out okay and we still had a great time.
The reason why the bowling alley was so busy was because they had senior travel league that day. It only occurs every five weeks and that day just happened to be the week they were there so the only had the one lane available.
After bowling, we went to Chicken N Pickle to play pickleball and then Edgemoor Park again once it was cool enough. I did have to leave the guys because Friday night is my Nahola night but I left them in great hands.
After pickleball, they had dinner at Thai Tradition followed by games at Round One. The guys came home super late and then, on Saturday morning, we were back at it at Edgemoor Park for 7 AM play. Edgemoor was definitely our headquarters that weekend because we were there so much during the guys’ visit.
I played with them until about 8:30 AM when I had to go to teach my Aqua Zumba class down the street at VASA Woodlawn. I ran some errands (picked up our team shirts for Picklepalooza and stopped by the kick off event at Seneca Park to drop off some pickleball over grips and stickers for Patti to hand out) and then met up with the guys for lunch at Twin Peaks sponsored by our high roller friend Zach Nguyen.
Pictured from left: Zach, Michale, Trung, and Mark. Mark is always hiding from photos. Below, back to front: Noi, Royce, and Ron.
After lunch I dropped the guys off at Zach’s house to watch football and then they came back around 4 PM to get ready for Ron’s birthday celebration.
Here are some pictures of us hanging out on Saturday night.
I love birthdays because we get to have cake! Chocolate is our fave.
Zach and Lisa came by after the wedding. Michael attended the same wedding and came by after as well.
That was the night I learned how to play Vietnamese 13. Anyway, we didn’t stay up too late because we all had 7 AM pickleball play the next day, once again at Edgemoor. And once again, I had to leave to teach my morning Aqua Zumba class. This time at the VASA Harry/Georgetown location.
After my class and running some errands, I came back to Edgemoor just in time for everyone to wrap up. A few of us went to lunch around the corner at Yokohama Ramen Izakaya.
After lunch, a quick shower, and a nap it was time for Ron and Royce to fly out. Noi couldn’t get a flight out until the next day but he packed up anyway because he wanted to spend some more time with Mark on his last day in Wichita. Also, Mark offered to take him to the airport for his flight the next day. Since Mark lives on the West side of town, closer to the airport, it actually worked out better.
We went back to Edgemoor on Sunday night for one last play with Noi and that pretty much wraps up this most recent visit to Wichita. It was a fun filled weekend, loaded with lots of eating and playing and not much sleep. I can’t wait until these guys visit us again. Until next time, GNG.
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