Lunch with Denise Neil
Posted on May 6, 2022 by Ching under Community, Food and Drink.
It’s not everyday that I get to have local celebrity so, of course, I’m documenting this. Well, actually, I document any time I eat anywhere so I guess the post is not that special but the person is – for sure!
As per my usual MO, I only got pictures of our food so there are no pictures of the two of us. I know, “Pictures or it didn’t happen.” You’re just going to have to take my word for it that I got to have lunch with THE Denise Neil.
Denise and I met at La Galette. This place is so good and it is so close to one of my favorite pickleball hangouts (Seneca Park). I really don’t know why I don’t go more often. Probably because I’m mostly hanging out with guys who always want to go to TJ’s instead. TJ’s does have the good rootbeer float.
Anyway, here’s what I had that day: chicken salad sandwich in a croissant and chips. Denise had a quiche and salad.
They also randomly delivered some cookies and a cup of French onion soup to our table. I wondered if it was because they were trying to impress Denise, who is kind of a big deal. I mean, she’s a household name around here.
I’m not really into French onion soup, though I’m sure it’s very good, so it remained untouched. We were busy with conversation and enjoying the food that we did order that neither of us ended up eating the cookies either during lunch either. I did take those back to work and shared them with my friend Chris Townley.
One of the best things about having lunch with Denise, besides the good conversation, is that she makes me feel totally normal. She takes pictures of her food too! One can never have too many food pictures and we sat by a window so we had excellent natural light. Anyway, are alike in that way. No one really understands my obsession with take food pics but she gets it.
I first met Denise through Twitter back in 2008 — the early days — but we hadn’t really done anything together since the Wichita Eagle dining panel ten years ago. I follow her on social media and we see each other at events like the Wichita Orpheum’s Celebrity & Chef Cookoff (not as much the last couple of years because of the pandemic). She did speak to my Rotary club last year to promote her book. Other than that, we’ve only really seen each other a few times.
Recently, she’s gotten into pickleball (as with the rest of the world) and someone referred her to me, which was perfect because we already knew each other. It made sense because everyone knows I am completely obsessed with the sport and it has consumed my life over the last three years. Conversation at lunch centered around pickleball which is one of my favorite topics to talk about — even to people who really don’t care to hear about it. Anyway, as someone who is new to the sport, she had a genuine curiosity and I was more than happy to fill the gaps.
Denise is now officially part of our Wichita Pickleball Facebook group that’s about 2,200 strong and I cannot wait to see her on the pickleball courts!
Until next time, GNG.
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Dining by the Alphabet – Part D
Posted on May 4, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink.
To catch you up, here is a list of the previous restaurants we visited as part of this dining project:
This has been a super fun endeavor and, while our first three stops were restaurants that I’d already visited before, we did get to experience a new restaurant a few weeks ago — Doma.
We went to Doma after the pickleball tournament at the Wichita Country Club. I decided to take Brian out to dinner somewhere nice as his reward for being a good sport and helping me that day.
I ordered a drink, which I can’t even remember the name of now because I’ve slept (a few times) since then. The drink was very photogenic and worthy of its price tag. Although, I still like the pretty drinks at the Belmont better because I can at least get them for cheap during their daily happy hour.
Dining at Doma is a little bit different in that, rather than each person ordering their own dish (which you could totally do also), it’s best to order something from the menu with the intent of sharing.
Brian and I weren’t that hungry so we only ordered a few things.
I ordered the pork belly dish and Brian ordered the chicken dish.
We also ordered some fries. All three things were excellent.
I really wanted to order everything on the menu but (a) we weren’t that hungry to begin with, and (b) I always try to save room for dessert.
We got the sopapillas, which were good — but I was disappointed with the lack of cinnamon and sugar on the outside. My sister when to Doma a week after us and her sopapilla was covered with cinnamon and sugar. I’m not sure if the cook just missed a step the day we came or if they read my disappointment over the lack of powdery coating on social media. Either way, it was a minor miss and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. In fact, Brian and I agreed that we would definitely be back to try some more things from their menu.
However, in the meantime, we need to move on to the next letter of the alphabet. If you have any restaurant suggestions for the letter E, please drop them in the comments. Until the next post, GNG.
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It’s a Big Dill 2022
Posted on May 2, 2022 by Ching under Events, Pickleball.
Here are some video highlights from the It’s a Big Dill pickleball tournament at the Wichita Country Club benefitting the Wichita Children’s Home (WCH) last month.
It is my second time helping with this tournament and my first year of being fully immersed in it, from start to finish. I even volunteered for the kick off party on Friday. It was great because I got to see my friend Misty Miller who I have not seen in a long time. She is an avid volunteer for WCH events.
I teamed up with my friend Jody Vinson to run the tournament along with Wichita Country Club staff members Michael and Bryce. Unlike last year, we ran right on schedule. We had four divisions start at 9 AM and we ended shortly before 2 PM. In fact, Brian and I left after helping with tear down and, when I looked at the clock on his dashboard as we were pulling out of the parking lot, the clock read 2:01 PM. We could not have planned it better!
It feels so rewarding to be part of a successful event that makes a difference for the community. I still hope someday I will actually be able to play but, for the time being, I’m happy with helping put the tournament together.
Until next time, GNG.
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Mokas – New Favorite Breakfast Spot
Posted on April 22, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Ever since my first visit to Mokas, it has quickly become my favorite breakfast spot. I loved it so much that I brought Brian there on Saturday before going to Tulip Time Festival at Botanica (more on this later).
As is his normal MO, Brian got the biscuits and gravy.
I had the chipotle breakfast sandwich which my friend Chris Townley had on an earlier visit. I remember having the breakfast slider, which was also good, but envying the big, beautiful breakfast sandwich that had two fried eggs, two sausage patties, and bacon. I decided that I would get that mouth-watering sandwich on my next trip to Mokas and that’s exactly what I did.
This is a picture of Chris’ sandwich. I ate my breakfast slider that morning, but secretly wished I had ordered the sandwich instead. LOL.
Here’s a picture of the slider but the chipotle breakfast sandwich was even better. If you can imagine that.
I’ve yet to try all they have to offer but I’ve pretty much decided that the chipotle breakfast sandwich is my favorite. Even Brian is convinced that’s what he’ll get the next time we are there. The fact that their biscuits and gravy is not nearly as good as Great Harvest’s probably helped him come to that conclusion.
On our last visit, we ran into the Albarracins which was an added bonus. This place is definitely worth checking out. Besides the chipotle breakfast sandwich, their coffee is pretty good too. Until next time, GNG.
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Brew Bash at Chicken N Pickle
Posted on April 21, 2022 by Ching under Events.
Brian and I attended a beer tasting event at Chicken N Pickle benefiting League 42 a couple of weeks ago. Here are some pictures from that event.
While at the event, I picked up the Boulevard Brewing paddle that I won from the Chicken N Pickle March Madness bracket challenge.
Chicken N Pickle is not just a fun place to celebrate but they also do so much for our community. Check out their calendar for upcoming benefit pickleball tournaments and other charity events. Until next time, GNG.
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