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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Women’s Network Event
Posted on December 16, 2018 by Ching under Date Ideas, Projects, Things to Do.
I had the opportunity to attend the women’s network holiday event last weekend. Alex organized an outing for us at the Busted Pallet. Coincidentally, it was on the exact same day last year that the same group was at Paint the Towne painting Wichita flags. I haven’t been able to make all of the luncheons this year and so I was very grateful that the holiday outing turned out to be on a week when I’m in town so I can at least participate.
Here are some pictures from that evening…
When we arrived, they had all of our project materials ready. This is Alex’ blanket ladder.
This is Bonnie’s Wichita State Shockers porch decor.
This is Tasha’s “Have a Nice Poop” sign. I saw this option and didn’t think anyone would actually pick it. LOL. Don’t worry. It’s going in her bathroom.
When you book your workshop, you fill out an online form and you’re asked to select a project. They ask this ahead of time so they can have all of your materials (wood, stencils, etc.) ready for you on the day of the workshop.
Yuvina made a “Love Grows Here” sign.
Nykole picked “Believe There is Good in the World” which, when you see the finished product, actually contains two messages.
Shanda painted “The Luckiest.”
There were no two projects alike. Everyone picked something unique. Some even personalized their projects with their last name. It was really cool.
Not knowing who RSVP’d for the event, it was kind of fun trying to guess which project belonged to whom. As people arrived and found their workstations, it was interesting to learn what each person had picked. There was a story behind each one and you got to learn more about your coworkers. Kudos to Alex! This activity was truly a great pick for a networking event.
There were a couple of Busted Pallet people there to supervise but we pretty much followed the instructions on this board. One everyone arrived and found their stations, we got to work.
I was stationed next to Carly, who I hadn’t seen in forever. We used to work together in the contact center many years ago. I saw her every now and then when she moved to our billing group but now she works out of our new operations center so I rarely get to see her anymore. I try to keep up with her on Facebook. She recently returned from celebrating her 40th birthday in Mexico with a bunch of girl friends. It looked like such a fun trip.
This is Bonnie. She’s recently got promoted to supervisor in the contact center and is graduating from Wichita State (thus, the Shockers sign that she’s painting). She’s having quite a year, too! Congrats, Bonnie!
Here are some photos of people in deep concentration while working on their projects. Alex, and her big ladder project, had the biggest work space of all.
Here’s Kati and Kim busy with their projects. Interesting bit of trivia, Kati and I worked together many years ago when she was in the contact center. She was on my team. The contact center is kind of a springboard for people. It’s where most people start their careers before moving on to bigger and better things.
Here’s Kati reading Carly’s sign. Carly has been hanging on to this saying for a long time. She can finally put it on her wall.
Here’s Shanda and her friend.
A picture of Tisha carefully peeling of her stencil.
Tasha and Ennidh…
Alex and Yuvina… Yuvina looks so sassy in this pic.
Here’s Misty. I’m glad she was able to join us.
I took a selfie of the two of us. Full disclosure, I picked the easiest project of everyone because I wanted to make sure I had time to walk around and take pics. Also, I really wasn’t sure what I would be able to manage in the amount of time we had so I kind of underestimated my capacity. I think I was the first one finished with every step, which gave me plenty of time to go around and take photos.
Here’s a picture of Misty’s nearly finished project.
Here’s Alicia and Alex.
A photo everyone putting the finishing touches on their project.
It was a pretty good turn out.
This is Tisha’s nearly finished “HOME” sign. You can see her helping Ennidh in this photo. I think Tisha helped several people with their projects but mos specially Ennidh since they were at the same table.
This is yet another reason why the Busted Pallet makes for a great team building activity. You get to work on projects together and learn about one another.
Ennidh’s sign turned out perfect thanks in part to all the work Tisha put in. LOL. I love this sign. It’s funny and sweet.
Here’s Tasha’s finished “Have a Nice Poop” sign.
Kati posing with her finished project.
Kim made a personalized one.
Alicia made this one for her half-bath that people use when they come in to use the restroom during pool parties.
Here are the three porch signs that people made, side by side. Their projects were left at the store to be weatherproofed.
Before you ask to see pictures of my project, I have to say, I had the smallest and least ambitious project of all. I kind of wished I had picked a more challenging and bigger one after the fact but it turned out okay because someone had to take pictures at our event.
Here are some progress pics…
And the finished product…
By the way, I tagged this as a potential date activity because I do think this would make for a fun date. I’m thinking of bringing Brian over for a date night sometime.
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Pickle Ball
Posted on December 10, 2018 by Ching under Hobbies.
Brian and I made some new friends at pickle ball. This is the Thursday night crew.
One of them, Shelby, turned out to be the mom of one of my Zumba friends, Katie. What a small world!
In case you didn’t know, pickle ball is our newest hobby. We started a couple of months ago. It’s our new Sunday night thing since we skipped the fall league season and aren’t bowling this year.
I really like pickle ball because it’s so much more active than bowling and it helps me burn more calories. I’m hoping that we continue to keep it up throughout the new year. Until next time! GNG.
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Breakfast with Leadership Wichita Classmates
Posted on December 9, 2018 by Ching under Community, Food and Drink.
Met some of my Leadership Wichita classmates at Doo-Dah Diner on Tuesday for breakfast and a gift exchange. Michelle and I took this selfie while we were waiting for everyone else to arrive.
We did the gift exchange “white elephant” style where you can steal gifts but everyone was so polite no gift-stealing actually transpired. Oh, and, of course, I forgot to take pictures of people and just got pictures of their food. LOL.
Obviously, Michelle was there as you can see from the above photo. And, of course, Jessica was there because she organized the get together. Teresa, Dotty, Cynthia, Jaimie, and Bill also attended. Below are pictures of some of our food. You can try to figure out which is which.
Remind me to take pictures of the people next time!
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Double Date with the Dills
Posted on December 8, 2018 by Ching under Date Ideas, Food and Drink.
Brian and I took the Dills out to dinner last weekend in honor of Becca’s birthday. Neither of them had ever been to Yokohama Ramen Joint in Delano before. It’s our favorite ramen place so we wanted them to try it.
We were originally going to take them to see Illuminations (the amazing Christmas installation at Botanica) also but it was a cold and rainy night and, although I was prepared to tough it out, it didn’t seem like anyone was really keen on going. So, we decided to head over to the Dills house for after dinner drinks instead.
Here are a few pictures from our double date.
We started with the shrimp shumai and pan-fried dumplings. Above is the shrimp shumai, which I’ve had at other places before, but this was our first time ordering it at Yokohama. It was pretty good and we will likely order it again as a starter. Below is a close up photo.
I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of the pan-fried dumplings before we inhaled them. Those are always super popular with everyone. It’s no big deal on the lack of photo, though. We’ve ordered it numerous times before and you all know what those look like.
Brian and I always end up with leftovers so, in an effort to avoid having to take leftovers home, we decided to share the Yokohama style ramen. We added extra noodles and extra pork just to be on the safe side. The extras turned out to be a bad idea because we ended up with too much food, yet again. We’ve decided to split the ramen bowl next time without the extra noodles and pork, that way we’ll be more likely to finish it. You live and learn.
Becca got spicy dan dan noodles. I have no idea what it is actually because I always just get ramen. It is a ramen joint after all. Anyway, I think it started out really good but then the spiciness just builds. It might have gotten a tad too spicy for her toward the end. They kept wanting me to try it but I never did. I can’t handle spicy foods and try to stay away from them as much as possible.
Jay had a super combination rice bowl with all the meats (shrimp even), topped with tonkatsu chicken. He really liked it.
Here it is up close.
Afterwards, the four of us went to their place to hang out and drink some wine. We brought a couple of bottles but only finished the Sequoia Grove cab. We discovered it over the summer when we had a wine dinner at Carrabba’s. It’s the only cabernet sauvignon I’ve ever found that I liked. All other cabs taste terrible to me. But then, this cab is $50 a bottle and all other cabs I’ve tasted have cost half or less than half that so I probably just have really discerning taste in cabs and my palette is sensitive to the cheap stuff.
We had a great time catching up with the Dills last weekend. They seem to always be traveling (in fact they’re out of town again; they’re in Miami and Barbados this coming week) and we’re always so busy that we don’t have a lot of opportunity to get together. It was really nice hanging out with them.
We hope to hang out with them some more in the coming year and maybe join them for Jay’s 40th birthday trip to Costa Rica in April. I think it will be a lot of fun.
Until the next blog. GNG.
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