National Pickleball Month MEGA Fiesta
Posted on April 28, 2026 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
Did you know that April is National Pickleball Month? If you’ve been following me, then you probably already know this because I am completely obsessed with pickleball and will tell everyone all sorts of pickleball factoids and am eager to celebrate my favorite hobby all month. Much like previous years, I planned some activities throughout the month to bring people together to celebrate.
To kick things off, we decided to host a MEGA Fiesta at TapNPaddles. For those who are unfamiliar with it, I host a Friday Night Fiesta round robin group every week at TapNPaddles. We started it last year and it has evolved over time. We’ve had as many as 16 teams (32 players) on 8 courts but on average probably get about 8-10 teams on average.
Anyway, to kick off National Pickleball Month festivities, we decided to have a MEGA event on April 3. We took over all 12 courts at TapNPaddles from 6 PM to close. Since we had 24 teams, we divided everyone into three pools of 8 teams each. After the round robin matches, the teams competed in a single elimination bracket to determine the winners. Besides the event lasting four hours (instead of the normal 2 hours), we also received a $250 grant from USA Pickleball which we used on some heavy appetizers and finger foods for the players. We also had festive decorations, fun prizes, and drink specials. We brought the sign board back out for people to write “why they love pickleball” and my friend Susie Ternes made an awesome photo booth which was a huge hit. It was a great kick off party overall.
Instead of using the usual king and queen crowns that we use for photos each week, I leaned in to the “fiesta” theme and got these mini sombrero headbands from Amazon to “crown” our winners. They usually don’t get to keep my fancy crowns which we just use for photo ops but they did get to keep these cute sombreros.
I got a bunch of “fiesta” decorations just to be more festive. A few people, like Jeanette Santo and Hai Nguyen, came early to help decorate.
We took some fun photos at Susie’s photo booth.
Susie’s custom photo both props were hilarious!
Bharath Reddiyar and Amy Dupont won the top group.
Karen Fox and Devon Fuller won the middle group.
Taylor Griffin and Rob Adams won the bottom group.
It was a Friday Night Fiest for the ages! Here’s a highlight video I made:
If you ever want to play pickleball on a Friday night, register your team here. Come and fiesta with us!
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Chicken N Pickle Courtside Crew
Posted on April 24, 2026 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
Chicken N Pickle expanded their ambassador program this year by launching a new group called CNP NET-Work. It’s kind of a scaled down version of the original Chicken N Pickle ambassador program with less emphasis on participating in tournaments and greater focus on building community. The NET-Work is designed for loyal, local fans who embody the spirit of Chicken N Pickle. Mom, dad, and Brian are all part of this program.
Some of the perks of being part of CNP NET-Work include:
- Welcome package with $50 CNP Gift Card, CNP shirt and hat
- 50 BOGO brunch certificates per year
- 4 FREE Court hours per year
- Monthly open play with our staff, NET-Work, ambassadors, kids crew, and campus crew members
- 25% OFF CNP swag in store and online
- 25% off ReserveCNP.com
- Plenty of volunteer opportunities
It truly is a wonderful program to be a part of and, since we moved our monthly open play night to Mondays, I am actually able to organize and participate in the events now. Last year the monthly ambassador open plays were on Wednesdays so I couldn’t attend any of them because my Zumba class. I did make it in time for a few group photos, though.
Our friend Jim Tsen actually got to join us for the one in March while he was in town. Brian and I were also back from the US Open in Florida in time for the one in April because the Courtside Crew Socials (as these events are called now) are on the third Monday of each month.
I just love being part of the Chicken N Pickle family!
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My First Blarney Breakfast
Posted on April 20, 2026 by Ching under Community, Things to Do.
The Blarney Breakfast is on its 51st year but I’ve never ever been able to attend because it’s usually on a weekday. This year, however, I managed to squeeze it in to my schedule. Although, I did have to get up super early and go at 6 AM. It helps to have a little bit of peer pressure.
The event benefits Rainbows United and is usually on St. Patrick’s Day (whatever day that might fall during the week). There were drink specials but I couldn’t partake because I had to go to work immediately after. Some of our friends were smart and took the day off, though. I’m thinking I might have to do the same to fully experience Blarney Breakfast next year. What a great way to start the day!
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One More Fun Group Dinner with Jim
Posted on April 9, 2026 by Ching under Food and Drink.
We had another fun group dinner with our friend Jim Tsen while he was in town last month. This time it was at our most favorite restaurant of all, the Belmont.
Our dinner mates consisted of the full Tres Palapas gang plus Brian.
One of my favorite things about Sundays at the Belmont is their “all day” happy hour. Naturally, we indulged.
Here are some pics of our wonderful food…
The Belmont never disappoints.
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Brian’s First Time at George’s
Posted on April 7, 2026 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Our friend Jim had a list of restaurants to try during his visit to Wichita. George’s French Bistro was on his list. I had been there for lunch a few times over the years, but I’d never had dinner there; and since Brian had never been there before, we decided to join him. Julie Egy and Brady Randall joined as well.
Brian had an old fashioned, which he said was the best old fashioned he had ever had. I can’t remember if it was $22 or $24 dollars. I just remember thinking it was expensive and telling him that at that price, it had better be good.
I got a French kiss, which was good but also expensive. I decided I wasn’t going to do any drinking there in the future unless it was happy hour.
Here are some pictures of our food.
I should have posted this shortly after our dinner because I honestly cannot remember what everyone got. Except, I know Brian got this very messy looking poutine thing. He seemed to like it.
My red snapper was just okay. Not as good as the red snapper at the Belmont or the whole one I had at Larios on the Beach in Miami.
The opera cake was great finish, though.
Bottom line? Our dinner was quiet expensive. While the food and service were both good, it wasn’t fantastic. I don’t know if I see the value because we have other restaurants like the Belmont that we really love that don’t cost quite as much. Unless you’re going for happy hour, this is probably more of a special occasion type of place for us. Our total for the charcuterie board app, two drinks, two entrees, and dessert cost way more than we’re comfortable spending on weekly dinners — maybe not even monthly. This is maybe a once or twice a year type dinner, but maybe not even because Brian isn’t a huge fan of French or fancy food. He’s pretty basic. The highlight of the whole dinner for him was his old fashioned.
The opera cake was good but nothing really stood out to me as having been fantastic. If a friend really wants to go there, we could probably be talked into going, but if it’s just the two of us then Brian and I would probably much rather go elsewhere. We are just not that fancy.
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