Food and Drinks
Posted on March 3, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Brian and I had a hankering for P.F. Chang’s a couple of weeks ago and so we went. That place has gotten so expensive. I remember when menu items were only have the price they are today.
We went because I found a free appetizer coupon in my wallet — which I really have no idea how long I’ve had it — but, as it turns out, we couldn’t even use because they don’t honor the appetizer coupons anymore. We still stayed and ate and gave them our money.
As the prices have increased, the portion sizes have equally proportionately decreased. And I know, with supply chain issues and inflation, prices are continuing to go up but, in P.F. Chang’s case, the increases have been constant and steady.
This is the dinner portion of the Mongolian beef with eggplant. They really don’t give you as much food as they used to.
I tried the Year of the Tiger drink, which was the special drink on their menu. While it was delicious, having been used to happy hour prices everywhere I go, I thought $14 for a single drink was a bit much. I think even regular priced drinks at most places only run $10-12.
I guess I am super spoiled because I can get reasonably-priced delicious drinks at Chicken N Pickle on a regular basis. For National Margarita Day, on Tuesday (February 22), you could get a flight for four unique, refreshing margaritas for just $16.
Look how pretty these drinks are!
The four margarita flavors are tropical, fresh-squeezed paloma, mixed berry, and spicy kiwi. Once you find one that you like best from the flight, a full-sized margarita is only $8. The cheap, yummy drinks are just one of the reasons I love hanging out Chicken N Pickle so much.
That’s all for our food and drink update this week. Until next time, GNG.
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Nahola Farewell Party
Posted on March 2, 2022 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
Stopped by Nahola after work on Monday for free open play. I initially wasn’t going to be able to come because Kayla said it was 3p to 6p but then she said I should swing by anyway because they’ll probably be there until 9p.
When I arrived I found Noi, Chris (Heck), Kayla, and Kimberly playing on one court and some others who I didn’t know very well on another court. I think I got maybe three games in before we stopped playing at 6p. The most memorable one was the last game with Chris against Bob and JB. I hit three ATPs in one game. I think that’s the most ATP winners I’ve ever hit in a single game. I found it fitting that on my last game on the very last day of play at Nahola I hit three ATPs because Nahola is where I actually first learned to hit these on purpose.
Play stopped at 6p because people started arriving for the farewell party. I think that’s what Kayla meant by saying they’d be there until 9p that night. I didn’t have to be at Chicken N Pickle until 8p so I hung out for a bit and took some pictures.
I didn’t even know I was on the slideshow on the TV until I was looking at this pic on my phone after I got home.
It was a lovely farewell party with some of the OG Nahola members.
I made a short video of some of the pictures and videos we took on Monday night and some of the old pics I already had in my phone from before.
I will really miss this place. Nahola brought so many amazing people into my life who I would have never met otherwise. I’ve really enjoyed my year and a half as member. My only regret is that I didn’t find Nahola eight years ago when they first opened. At least I now have pickleball and all of these wonderful friends I’ve made. And, though we no longer have the physical space of Nahola, we will be forever connected by the bond of friendship and our collective love for the sport.
Until next time, GNG.
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Farewell to Nahola
Posted on February 28, 2022 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
Today will be the last day of Nahola as Nahola. It makes me so sad to think about it. Even though I’ve only been a member a little over a year, I quickly grew attached to this place. It was my “go to” spot for pickleball on weekends. I think several others felt the same way, specially the retired pickleball players who were playing there on a daily basis during the day.
For those who don’t know, Nahola was started in 2014 by three visionary women: Nancy, Holly, and Kayla (thus, Nahola). They originally had just one pickleball court with gym floors in the main building. In 2017, based on the popularity of the sport with the fitness center members, they added an auxiliary building with two pickleball courts on an outdoor surface.
You can watch Nancy talk about the expansion and pickleball in general in the following Wichita Eagle video:
For the next few years, Nahola quickly became the premier place to play pickleball and was the training ground for some of the best pickleball players in our city. It was common knowledge that one of the best ways to improve and get better at pickleball was to join and play at Nahola. Nahola had well-established pickleball leagues with long waiting lists even before Chicken N Pickle entered the market.
Over the course of my year and a half long membership, I was able to participate in a few leagues and special events like their team tournaments (November 2021, August 2020). I played in a couple of their women’s leagues — once when it was held on Saturdays and most recently the Sunday one.
This is a short video I made of our very last day of the very last women’s league. Several players were out of town that weekend so we only had eight ladies (four teams) in our league tournament. It was a lot of fun but bittersweet.
Kayla runs the league and keeps track of each player’s performance throughout the league and then on tournament day you get paired up based on your record. Fong and I ended up getting paired up. Fong was also one of my teammates in MLP so this was kind of a reunion. Fong is a fierce competitor who is super aggressive and, as former tennis player, has shots that I cannot do so her style of play complements mine really well. I was super excited that we got to team up.
We played round robin first before going into single-elimination bracket play. We had an excellent record, only losing to Heather and Krystal. In the bracket play, we ended up having to play Amy and Huyen. Though we had already defeated them in pool play, we ended up losing in bracket play so we didn’t advance to the finals.
The finals came down to Amy and Huyen versus Heather and Krystal (the two winningest players of our session). This match up was made even more interesting by the fact that Huyen and Krystal (who normally play together as fierce women’s doubles duo) were having to play against one another.
Heather and Krystal reigned supreme and went completely undefeated that day. The two of them have been on fire the entire session, battling it out of the number one spot. Except the week before tournament, Krystal got some losses and Huyen was on fire that day and ended up sneaking in to take the lead.
I’ve been keeping track of how everyone was doing too and, by my tally, Huyen had the greatest win rate and most wins out of everyone; followed by Amy, Heather, and Krystal in a three-way tie for second. So it really could have been anyone’s game.
These ladies are so talented that it’s fun to watch them play but it’s even more fun to play with against them. I have really enjoyed playing in this league and will miss it immensely. These ladies will forever hold a special place in my heart.
I’m talking like we’re all gone forever. LOL. I really hope we can have a similar league like this somewhere. It was really fun and it helped my women’s doubles game significantly. Here is a group of photo of these great bunch of women:
From left: me, Brandi Richardson, Amy Jaramillo, Fong Witte, Huyen Nguyen, Krystal Fosnight, Heather Griffin, and Kimberly Howe. (We were missing Kayla, Jannell, Lesli, and Shawna.)
Anyway, the new owners will be taking over after today and will reopen next week as the Pickle Club. So far, there aren’t any compelling reasons for me to join so we’ll have to wait and see. Until then, GNG.
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Pickleball Birthday Party at Chicken N Pickle
Posted on February 22, 2022 by Ching under Community, Events, Pickleball.
Cindy Witte, one of our pickleball friends, hosted a surprise 60th birthday for her husband Joe at Chicken N Pickle on Saturday night. It was absolutely perfect!
As you can see from the video above, I think he was truly surprised.
Cindy invited a bunch of friends (most of them pickleball players) to help surprise him. She rented all of the indoor courts and even had a DJ (another pickleball friend, Jeff) for the private event.
Jeff Kenworthy, DJ extraordinaire, played fun tunes for us all night long. He even got Joe to sing a Sinatra song! If you are looking for someone to DJ or host karaoke or just play background music at your event, Jeff is your guy. You can reach him at oneheavenlypeace@aol.com.
Lisa Laham did a great job with the cupcakes and her husband helped with the balloons. They did such a fabulous job of making the place look festive for the birthday party.
The wooden paddles were not just great signs but also made for great cupcake trays. Kudos to whoever made them. They were brilliant!
Here’s the man of the party.
I think some people had left already by the time we took a group pic.
Anyway, it was a huge turnout and I am glad I got celebrate his big day with him. Pickleball people are so much fun and Chicken N Pickle is the perfect place to celebrate. Can’t wait until the next birthday celebration!
Until then, GNG.
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First Time at Oasis Lounge
Posted on February 21, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Brian’s dad was in town over the weekend to help him with a desk build in the basement storage room. I met the two of them for lunch on Saturday after my Aqua Zumba class and pickleball. It was our first time at Oasis Lounge and we will definitely be back.
Brian and his dad both got the “O” burger. It’s pretty darn tasty. The fries are great also. They ate an entire basket while waiting for me.
I wasn’t that hungry so I just had mac and cheese bites, which were fabulous.
Their mimosas are only $5.50, which is awesome. There’s not many places where you can get a $5 drink unless it’s happy hour.
The food tasted great and the price was right. Brian and I are definitely going back. Brian’s return trip will be sooner than mine because the restaurant is close to his office. I think he’s going to add Oasis to his permanent lunch rotation.
Until next time, GNG.
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