My Favorite Breakfast Spots
Posted on November 20, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink.
I’m dedicating this post to our favorite breakfast spots. If you’ve never had breakfast or brunch at Chicken N Pickle, you’re missing out. Their breakfast options are actually really good. Plus, there’s free BINGO on Sundays.
This is the chicken and waffles, which is always really good.
This is the granola and fruit bowl.
This is the junkyard burrito.
Right now, though, I think our most favorite breakfast spot is HomeGrown. Here are some pictures from our last visit to HG Bradley Fair location.
I think Brian tends to smile more when enjoying good food.
Besides the delicious food, HG also has some yummy seasonal drinks.
I had the iced whiskey maple cream latte.
And also the country benny.
Brian got his usual – biscuits and gravy, fried egg, and country potatoes.
He was kind of jealous of my meal because it’s basically exactly what he gets but better because it comes with bits of bacon sprinkled all over. Anyway, I highly recommend grabbing breakfast at both of these places before the year is over. You won’t regret it. Until next time, GNG.
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Birthday Pickleball
Posted on November 19, 2023 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
The girls surprised me at pickleball a couple of weeks ago. Although, the funniest part of this is that the surprise happened at lunch when I saw some group texts come through about needing this or that for play that evening. I really wasn’t sure what was going on until Kimberly texted, “Whose birthday is it?” And then Karen or someone else replied, “Ching.” I almost spit out my lunch and busted up laughing because I was in the group text. LOL.
Chie, Tami, and Stacy are missing from the group photo because our last game went into serious over time. We finished at 13-11 but it was getting really late.
It is so nice to have thoughtful friends who celebrate you even when you’re not in a celebratory mood. You can’t be too upset with life when you are surrounded by people who love and care about you. #feelinggratefulandblessed
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The Bistro at NICHE
Posted on November 17, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink.
I’ve been to the Bistro at NICHE a couple of times now and have enjoyed my lunch both times. The first time was with my friend Chris Townley. Here are pictures of our lunch that day.
The chicken sandwich looked amazing and the fries were perfection.
I had the squash soup with the crispy pork belly and it was amazing.
We went back and brought Brian with a couple of weeks later. Chris really loved the chicken sandwich so he got it again. I didn’t take a picture of it the second time around. I got the pho this time, which was good but not as good as pho that you would get at an actual Vietnamese restaurant.
Brian got grilled cheese and tomato soup which absolutely loved.
NICHE (National Institute for Culinary and Hospitality Education) is basically Wichita State University’s culinary arts school. I believe it’s run by the students which is fantastic because they are getting practical, real-life, hands-on experience.
They don’t have counter clerks. You basically just order on the tablet at the ordering desk or you can order online via your phone or computer, which is great because then you can place your order before you leave your desk and then ideally your food will be ready once you get there.
There’s limited seating in the Bistro area right by their open kitchen or you could take your food to the lobby area which has more seating. NICHE is new to the downtown Wichita landscape but it has been a really great addition. I will continue to support it to hopefully help ensure it succeeds. We need schools and business to collaborate and we need more places like these. Until next time, GNG.
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The Mango Tree
Posted on November 15, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Brian let me choose where to eat dinner on Monday, October 30, which was my actual birthday. Most of the time I take into account what would please both of us but, since it was my birthday, I figured that this is the one day that I would get to pick where I really wanted to go and Brian would just have to go along with it. I’d been seeing lots of posts on social media about this new Indian restaurant on the South side of town that’s supposedly really good so I asked Brian to take me there. Also, I remembered eating Indian food the Bombay Club at Sandals Emerald Bay when we were celebrating my 40th birthday and it was amazing so I was hoping it would be a lot like that.
Brian is not very fond of the South side of town (he grew up there and thinks it’s super sketchy) but, since it was my birthday, he let me have my wish to appease me.
Here’s a picture of the bar in the middle of the restaurant.
Their beer selections were actually pretty good. Obviously, since it’s the Mango Tree, they have Mango Cart. LOL. It would have been disappointing if they didn’t.
They also had a decent cocktail menu.
I opted for the sangria mojito which was pretty good.
Here are some pictures of our food.
Brian ordered the most non-Indian thing you could possibly get. LOL. But I appreciate him for being a good sport and taking me anyways.
This is the chicken pakora — basically strips of chicken.
It didn’t really come with dipping sauces but our server brought a couple of sauces out at my request.
For my entree, I got the chicken biryani (always a pretty safe bet). They give you a ton of food, which is fair because their prices are higher than most Indian restaurants in town. I ended up having to take most of my food home to go.
Here’s the dessert menu.
We got some gulab jamun, a traditional North Indian dessert that literally looks like wet balls. I’d never had it before. It was different but tasty.
Overall the food was decent but most definitely not as good as the food we had at the Bombay Club. The service was okay. He seemed very confused and frazzled and it took him several tries to get our bill right. The first time he brought out our check, the bill was for $100 and had all sorts of stuff on it that we didn’t order. After several attempts, he finally got most of it right but forgot to charge the balls ($5) which I pointed out and he went back added. After the bill was finally right, we tried to pay using our phone but their system wasn’t working. After trying a couple of times, we finally gave up and paid at the counter and then all of a sudden all three charges showed up. In the end, we only got charged once but whole experience was a little bit frustrating. We were very patient and didn’t make a scene or ask for any kind of compensation, though. We’re just not that kind of people.
We are happy to pay for all the food that we ordered and didn’t make a big deal of it but the whole experience could have been better for sure.
I don’t really let these things bother me so we still had a nice dinner but it definitely made me rethink trying new places for special occasions (not that my birthday is all that special). NOTE TO SELF: Go somewhere tried and true next time. You live and learn. Until next time, GNG.
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Monster Smash 2023
Posted on November 13, 2023 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
We had so much fun having a Halloween cookout last year celebrating the new pickleball courts at Sedgwick County Park last year that the Thorne brothers wanted to do something similar again this year. We originally planned for it to be at Edgemoor Park because of the six new courts there but Mother Nature had her own ideas. Thankfully, David Thorne worked with West YMCA leadership and got the event relocated indoors to the Pickle Center so we were able to still bring everyone together. It was a ton of fun! Here are some highlights:
After hanging out at the Monster Smash open play for a bit, Nicole Mathis, Kyle VonAnh, and I headed down the street to the Pickle Club for our mixed doubles practice session with Jenny and Austin Corley, Kendra Wicks, Ian Carr, and Ryan Kellenbarger. Ryan and Nicole and Kyle and I all wanted to practice together before Nationals so those were the team ups: Nicole and Ryan, Kendra and Ian, Jenny and Austin, and me and Kyle.
The next day Nicole and Ryan continued their practice weekend/team bonding by playing in the Chicken N Pickle Halloween pickleball tournament and taking it down. It was a nice, productive pickleball weekend overall. GNG.
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