FLIP + CHING

Lunch with a Stranger? Sure, Why Not?

Posted on December 13, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink.

My friend Chris Townley suggested we try this new Indian restaurant that he read about a few weeks ago, Rajwadi Pointe. I’d never even heard of it. When he told me it was inside the Windham, I was like, “They have a restaurant?” It didn’t seem like a hotel that would have its own restaurant. I mean, it’s not a hotel I would stay it. Granted, it’s right off Kellogg so it’s more downtown than South Wichita but it is on Broadway and that, in itself, is pretty sketchy.

Here are some food pics from our visit:

When we went there, you would never know there was a restaurant in there. There’s absolutely no signage outside or even inside the restaurant. So we walked in and when went to what looked like the restaurant area and there was no one in there. We sat and waited for a while and I actually got concerned that they weren’t even open. After a long wait, we started to leave but then, as we were walking out, I asked the front desk guy, “Is the restaurant not open today?” And he was like, “I will be right there to take your order.” So apparently, the concierge is also the server. It was a very weird setup.

Obviously, we stayed and ate and thus the food pics. I did learn one thing though, my definition of “mild” and Indian food “mild” are two totally different things. I actually ordered a mango lassi (basically their version of a mango shake) just to keep the burning I was feeling in my mouth.

Anyway, I shared pictures from lunch on our FLiP + CHiNG Facebook and page, and posed a challenge to followers that I would buy lunch for the first person to guess the name of the restaurant where we ate. Sure as shit, someone actually got it. Who would have thought?

Here’s a picture of me and Trisha Vogt, the lady who won the challenge, when we had lunch there a few weeks ago. And then here are the pics of the food we ate:

Going back to the whole spice factor, I feel like no matter how I explain that I want my food mild, it never is quite mild enough for me. I’ve come to the conclusion that, no matter how good the food is, maybe Indian cuisine is not for me because it’s just too darn spicy. These days, when I get a hankering for curry, I go Thai instead. It’s definitely a lot milder and more my style.

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Snow Globe at River City Brewery

Posted on December 12, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink, Things to Do.

One of the best things about the holiday season are all the Christmas pop-up bars that seem to sprout all over the place. I remember going Snowbound at Chicken N Pickle a couple of years ago and it was a ton of fun so now hitting holiday pop-ups are one of my favorite things to do this time of year.

Some friends (from left: Susie Ternes, Cindy Egan, Angie Meyers, Colby Fugit, and Katelyn Stucky) and I went to check out Snow Globe at River City Brewery a couple of weeks ago. It was so much fun! I’m glad that Colby suggested it.

Here are some pictures of our food and festive cocktails:

A few days later, I decided to hit Snow Globe again with the Friday night pickleball crew while my friend Ramon Lozano was in town. Ramon came for the Holiday Hoedown team tournament at Jeff Bally’s (more on this next time).

He came on Friday night so we met up with our friends at Snow Globe after their pickleball session. From left: Kimberly Howe, Debbie Fanning, Donnie Lesperance, Tiffany Lesperance, Parrish Gumeringer, Dave Fanning, Janelle Lindeman, Ramon Lozano, and Kyle Starkel.

If you’ve not had a chance to check out Snow Globe, I highly recommend it. This is definitely the best time to go to River City Brewery because the place is super festive right now. Next up – Jingle! Stay tuned for that post.

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Red Bird Sandwich Co.

Posted on December 11, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink.

Brian and I finally got a chance to check out Red Bird Sandwich Company. It’s a new sandwich shop in the same strip as Yokohama (ramen joint) and Il Primo (one of our favorite coffee shops). We went on the weekend that Wichita got record snow so we lucked out and they weren’t too busy.

I got the unladen swallow, which is kind of like a pina colada on the rocks.

Brian and I started with the potato wedges and asked to sample some of their dipping sauces. I can’t remember what all we tried now but they were all very good.

SIDE NOTE: All the booths had power outlets which is great for someone like me whose phone is always on the verge of dying.

I ordered the magpie — basically their chicken salad sandwich. Chicken salad sandwich is my “go to” sandwich whenever it’s available at a restaurant/sandwich shop. It was good but the chicken salad club at Old Mill Tasty shop is still my favorite. Brian had the Cuban trogon. We also had the elote pasta salad which was excellent. Highly recommend! It’s a definite “must get” if you go.

Anyway, my drink was really good and the food was good. We told each other that we would for sure go back and put this restaurant in the regular rotation. In fact, we liked it so much that we tried to take Ramon there for lunch last weekend when he was in town for pickleball. Unfortunately, Red Bird isn’t open on Sundays, which seems crazy to me. We didn’t realize it until we were parked and tried to go in.

What is up with restaurants that aren’t open on Sundays? That’s when a lot of people actually go out to eat. I feel like they’re missing out on some good sales revenue by not being open. I guess that would be the one strike that I would have against them. While everything is good, their hours are kind of crappy right now.

I saw on the website that they would offer brunch on some special Sundays. I can’t wait until their hours are better. Either way, Brian and I will probably still be back between now and then. I think his parents would really like this place.

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Thanksgiving 2023 – All’s Well That Ends Well

Posted on December 11, 2023 by Ching under Family.

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this already but earlier this year, my childhood friend from the Philippines moved his family (consisting of my friend Manny Miranda, wife Jenny, and daughter Aria) from San Diego to Wichita. They’re starting to meet more people but, prior to moving to Kansas, they didn’t really know anyone here besides our family. Mom and dad don’t typically host Thanksgiving because that’s not really a thing that we do I managed to talk mom into hosting Thanksgiving this year to commemorate the Mirandas’ first Thanksgiving in Kansas.

It was originally planned as a Thanksgiving dinner because Brian and I always take Brian’s grandmother to brunch at YaYa’s for Thanksgiving. I say always but really it’s just been the past several years since Fresh Market closed because that’s where we were getting our Thanksgiving whenever we’ve hosted at our house.

Anyway, grandma ended up falling and hurting her hip the Saturday right before Thanksgiving, and subsequently had to have hip surgery. She’s been recovering at Regent Park (and Brian has been visiting her there everyday) since the hospital released her. That meant she couldn’t go to brunch. A couple of days before Thanksgiving, Brian and I realized there was no reason for the two of us to go to brunch since we mostly just do it for grandma so then I asked mom if we could move Thanksgiving at her house to lunch, which is what most people preferred anyway. Jenni had another Thanksgiving to attend so she couldn’t have made dinner but she could join for lunch.

I’m glad it worked out and that we could all be together. It was great catching up and finally meeting Manny’s family. Brian actually met them on Mother’s Day weekend but that was the weekend I was playing APP Cincinnati so I missed out. Here are some pics from Thanksgiving:

Everyone is so busy with their own lives (and many hobbies) that we don’t really have the opportunity to get together as much as we should. It took the opportunity to invite Jenni, Jenny, and mom to my first class back at the YMCA (I didn’t go back after COVID so I haven’t taught for the Y in nearly four years) and Jenny and mom actually came. Jenni ended up getting busy with some other things and bailed. I also had a couple of other friends I invited who came and provided moral support for my first class. Andrea even led “Todo el Mundo” which is one of her “signature” songs back when she was teaching Zumba as well.

It was nice to see some familiar faces, specially since I don’t have a regular Zumba group anymore. I’m hoping to build a new Wednesday night Zumba family at West YMCA. Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday are enjoying this wonderful Christmas holiday season. Maybe at some point you’ll be able to join in for Zumba. Now that I am back, I’m there every Wednesday at 6:30 PM.

Hope to see you all soon!

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Wichita – Pickleball Birthday Capital of the World?

Posted on December 7, 2023 by Ching under Events.

These are some highlights from Ramon’s birthday celebration at Mortdecai’s a few weeks ago. This month, we have a couple more out of town pickleball friends (Alice and Molly) who are coming to Wichita to celebrate their birthdays. Is it just me or has Wichita turned in to pickleball birthday party central?

Ryan Kellenbarger’s ICT SOS charity tournament also happened earlier that day at Chicken N Pickle. Ramon and Nicole (Mathis) played in it together. Here’s the video from that tournament.

ICT SOS Benefit Tournament

Posted by Ching on Saturday, November 18, 2023

It was a super fun (but busy) weekend overall. We had Wild Lights on Friday night (with Kendra and Colby) and then I had iPN at Sandbox on Sunday morning. Ramon’s birthday was sandwiched in between on Saturday. Anyway, despite the hectic-ness of the weekend, I’m glad Ramon chose to celebrate in Wichita so at least we could participate in celebrating him.