Rally for Hope and 21 Years
Posted on August 10, 2023 by Ching under Confessions, Life, Pickleball.
I don’t always play in charity pickleball tournaments unless (a) I get peer pressured into doing it, or (b) I have a personal connection to the charity organization. A couple of weeks ago, my friend Hanbeen You and I played in the Rally for Hope pickleball tournament benefitting HopeNet that was held at Chicken N Pickle.
HopeNet is a faith-based nonprofit organization that provides mental health services (coaching and counseling) to anyone at any income level. While I’ve not personally used HopeNet’s services, their Director of Community Impact Jo Lynn Bright, was the therapist/counselor that helped Brian and I get through some challenges we faced over ten years ago so I feel a special connection to the organization. Besides that, I feel like there is a need for mental health services to be accessible to everyone and not just those who can afford it. We all need help at some point in our lives and we may not necessarily have the resources to get the help we need so I am extremely grateful that HopeNet exists.
On this day, our 21st wedding anniversary, I feel extremely blessed and grateful that we are where we are today. And we would not be here if not for Jo Lynn.
Anyway, on a less series note, I played in the charity tournament because I really wanted to support HopeNet but we also got free food and free shirts (pictured above). Seth Mountain and I wore ours the next day at the iPickle Nation round robin at Riverside and ended up unintentionally matching. And then, I found out later from Nathan Peters (who I recently partnered with for another tournament so more on him next time) that the first place team got $200 each in prize money so I am definitely playing in this tournament again next year. LOL.
P.S. Thank you to Hanbeen for partnering with me. No thanks to Steve Vetter and Jen Tiano for knocking us out of the bracket. (Steve and Jen T took second and Nate and Jen Reifschneider took first.)
P.P.S. Happy 21st anniversary to us. Our marriage can now legally drink. Cheers!
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Forge ICT
Posted on August 9, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink.
My favorite lunch buddy Chris Townley is visiting his brother in Japan right now so I’m lunching solo for the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, I want to share some pics from one of our last lunch adventures.
We recently went to check out Forge ICT, a restaurant that took over the old District Taqueria space.
They added some drapes on the front entry/windows but, other than that, not much has changed with the interior. It still looks very much like how it did when it was District Taqueria.
The menu, however, is quite different. The new restaurant is more upscale and serves steaks instead of tacos.
In addition, they have a great selection of mocktails because refraining from drinking alcoholic beverages is fashionable these days.
Chris and I started with some crab cakes followed by our respective lunch entrees.
He had the tomahawk pork chop while I had the grilled chicken picatta.
Overall, the food was good but the prices aren’t cheap. I think I’ve gotten spoiled because I can have a $5 lunch at Rain on taco Tuesdays. I would say Forge is a place where you go to have a nice lunch or dinner where you don’t really care how much your lunch is costing you. It’s not an everyday lunch place. Let’s just put it that way. That said, I really miss the District Taqueria lunch special. LOL. Alas, it is gone and it is what it is. Until next time, GNG.
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Public – Open for Lunch Again
Posted on August 3, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink.
I am so happy that Public is open for lunch again. Not much has changed but when they first reopened after the pandemic, they were initially only open for dinner.
As soon as we knew they were back open for lunch, Chris Townley and I decided we had to go. So we had lunch there a couple of weeks ago.
Here are some pics of our food.
If you’ve never been to Public, I highly recommend checking them out. The food is amazingly good and they source their ingredients locally.
At Public, they bring you your bill inside a book. They brought mine in this book. It’s actually a business book (it’s about selling insurance) but I thought the title was interesting. Definitely an attention grabber so it got me curious. Jenni was nice enough to buy the book (not this particular one but she found a used copy on Amazon) for me so I’m reading it now. I’ll share my thoughts once I finish. Until then, go check out Public. GNG.
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Rum Tasting (Belated Birthday Present)
Posted on July 28, 2023 by Ching under Events, Food and Drink.
What do you get a guy who already has everything for his birthday? Well, this year, I decided it would be a rum tasting. Brian and I have never really been much into material things and usually gravitate toward experiences instead and so, this year, his surprise gift from me was a rum tasting experience at home.
We didn’t really make any plans last month other than celebrating with family. Unlike me, who enjoys never ending celebrations until the end of time, Brian is more low key. I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday and he said, “Absolutely nothing.” Therefore, as part of this year’s gift to him, I honored his request and I planned absolutely nothing on his birthday. I did want to surprise him with a rum tasting and it worked out that the first date that would work was in July so we managed to avoid his birthday month altogether.
My friend Dustin Herman who manages R & J Discount Liquor was our rum tasting tour guide. He told me we could have up to ten people so we invited Jay and Becca Dill, Justin and Tina Huntington, Ramon Lozano (who was staying with us that weekend), Kyle Stakel, Dustin’s GF Katie, Ed and Cindy Egan, and Molly and Cory Sager (they were in town too). Molly and Cory ended up heading back to Great Bend a day early and then Cindy and Ed didn’t end up making it on account of Ed not feeling the best. We actually thought we were going to end up with too many people at first because of out of town friends who I found out last minute were going to be in town to play in Scott’s charity pickleball tournament but, after the last minute cancellations, we ended up with just the right number.
There were 16 teams in the pickleball tournament so we had to start an hour earlier than planned. The early start resulted in everyone needing an afternoon nap. Ramon was no exception.
We decided to provide pizza and wings and a fruit and cheese tray to make sure no one drank on an empty stomach before Dustin took us around the world tasting rums from various regions.
We also had some sliced pineapples, mangoes, and charcuterie to chase down the rums we sampled. That was a good call because the rums were very strong.
We tried some rums from various places..
- Barbados – Mt Gray Eclipse, the Real McCoy
- Jamaica – Wray Nephew, OFTD
- United States – Cutwater Tiki (San Diego, CA), Coppel Muse (Fort Collins, CO)
- Puerto Rico – Don Q Cristal
It wasn’t actually part of the tasting, but Dustin also brought a bottle of Ron Zacapa (Brian’s favorite rum) which is from Guatemala. He poured some for Brian to try alongside the Real McCoy for comparison. Surprisingly, Brian decided he liked the Real McCoy better so the experience resulted in Brian finding a new favorite rum.
After the tasting, Dustin and Katie made Mai Tais for everyone. They were strong!
It was our first time hosting a curated rum tasting at our house and we didn’t know what to expect. The whole experience was fabulous but my favorite part was when Brian tasted the Zacapa and the Real McCoy one after the other. I didn’t think he would find something that he would like better than his favorite rum so that was a pleasant surprise.
Brian and I enjoyed it so much that we are already thinking of hosting another. Not sure what spirit we will do next. Maybe bourbon. Until then, GNG.
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Y’s Men Pickleball Tournament at Chicken N Pickle
Posted on July 28, 2023 by Ching under Events, Pickleball.
Here are a few pics from the Y’s Men pickleball tournament at Chicken N Pickle a couple of weeks ago. As charity tournaments go, this is a pretty good one because Scott Wolford organizes it and he makes it as close as possible to a real tournament format — double elimination with best 2 out of 3 games to 11 in the main bracket and then one game to 15 in the consolation bracket.
Besides the format, the competitive group (social is in the afternoon) in the morning draws some of the best players in town. So, unlike other charity tournaments where you don’t even break a sweat, you really get a good challenge when you play in this one. For instance, our first round match was against the Sagers (above). After losing that match in three games, we went into the back draw (aka opportunity bracket) and played Susie Ternes and Matt Von Feldt (below).
Chris Wilson and I hadn’t played together in some time because we’ve been playing with other partners. It was fun reuniting for this event.
We were 2-2 for the day but I felt that we played pretty well and I had a great time. I live-streamed the matched on court 3 that morning, which you can rewatch here.
Here are some timestamps:
- 0:35 Daniel Nguyen and Fong Witte defeated Scott Wolford and Jen Tiano (main draw)
- 1:05 Zach Nguyen and Ling Wei Kong defeated Daniel and Fong (main draw)
- 2:00 Ching and Chris Wilson defeated Daniel and Fong (backdraw)
- 2:35 Katie Merrill and Ramon Lozano defeated Ching and Chris (backdraw)
- 3:08 Dave and Lori Belew defeated Nathan Peters and Jenny Cole (winner bracket final)
- 3:45 Scott Wolford (filling in for Zach because he had to leave) and Ling Wei defeated Nathan and Jenny (backdraw)
- 4:05 Championship Match between Scott and Ling Wei vs the Belews
Scott and Ling Wei had to beat the as yet undefeated Belews twice because they were coming from the back draw. Incidentally, Scott was paired with Jen (Tiano) and they were eliminated prior but then Zach who was paired with Ling Wei had to leave early so then Scott end up filling in for their final matches. He could since his team was already knocked out.
Scott and Ling Wei won the championship match by first winning the best 2/3 match and then also the game to 15.
Congrats to the champs and thank you to everyone who played (not sure how many played in the social tournament in the afternoon but competitive had 16 teams that morning).
Thank you to Scott and the Y’s Men for putting this tournament on and giving Chris and I a reason to throw it back. Until next year!
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