Merrie Archives - Page 4 of 7 - Jen is on a Journey

Passport to Adventure: Disney on Ice Review

October 30, 2013 by The Mom Jen Leave a Comment

Last week I was gifted the opportunity to see Disney on Ice: Passport to Adventure with my daughter. (My son was definitely a little too “cool” for this one and opted to stay home.) I’m always up for anything Disney, as is my daughter, so when we walked into the arena with the lights flashing and the ice colorfully lit up, her eyes got BIG.

The show was a wonderful mix of some of our favorite movies, along with some bits of the Mickey Mouse crew before, during and after. Through the evening they touched on four of our favorite movies — The Little Mermaid, Lilo & Stitch, The Lion King and Peter Pan. The costumes were beautiful, with sequins shining, colors flowing and clever covers for the skates to make them look like shoes or fins, etc. The skaters were extremely talented, and every time one of the girls was lifted up into the air you could hear my daughter take in a big breath, and then I’d hear, “Ooohh!” She was in awe, and kept saying through the evening that she wants to grow up and be an ice skater.

The entire show was filled with all the songs we love from Disney, and you really felt like you were a part of the show, despite where you sat. Often the characters would approach families along the front row and interact with them, which despite making my daughter jealous, was cute to watch. Everyone was smiling from beginning to end, whether a part of the show or the audience, and I loved the family feeling.

If Disney on Ice comes to your neck of the woods, I highly recommend tickets. You and your kids will have a magical time enjoying the music, the skating and the delight of seeing all your Disney favorites up close.

Merrie is a writer for the Jen is on a Journey and you can also find her at her blog, Sleepless Mornings: “I’m the mother of two beautiful children, newly engaged, a scrapbooker, a baker, and sometimes I’m even fun to be around!”

Product was sent to facilitate this review, all opinions my own.

High-Flying Fun from Zing Toys

October 16, 2013 by The Mom Jen Leave a Comment

Thanks to living in the bay area of California, we’re still enjoying some of the best weather we’ll have all year, so it’s perfect for us that we got to play with some fantastic toys from Zing Toys.

The biggest hit at our house were the Zoom Rocketz! These little rockets can be angled in any direction you want, and then you slam your foot down to launch them. POW! They can hit heights of up to 200 feet, making it fun to watch them launch, see how high they go, and then wait to watch it fall back to earth. They bounce nicely on the ground and never once did any of the kids playing with it get hit by one. And we attracted quite a few kids!

Our other toy to try didn’t end up with great action shots by me, thanks to the boys taking off down the street to have blaster wars together. This toy is called the ZoomZooka. It’s an innovative double blaster that shoots both air and water, though our family stuck to air at this point. The little rockets have suction cup darts on the end, and they can shoot over 50 feet. (Water can also be shot that far — I think we need to try that on a hot day!) This makes the toy versatile, being both an indoor and outdoor toy.

What I love most about Zoom toys is that it gets my kids moving. They laugh, they play, they run around, they interact with friends — it’s a win win scenario every time! Anything that gets them off the couch and moving is top notch in my book!

Product was sent to facilitate this review, all opinions my own.

Portuguese Wine Review: Casa Santos Lima Sousao

September 9, 2013 by The Mom Jen 6 Comments

Always able and willing to try a new wine, I was happy to open and enjoy Casa Santos Lima’s Sousao. It was wonderful! To start with, the color was bold. A very deep red that made me want to dive right in, but I held off and let it breathe a bit and swirled for a deeper scent. It smelled wonderful, making good on its promise of “black fruit, plums and mulberry aromas, combined with chocolate and oak notes.” I can’t always smell every part of the description, but I think every wine lover gets something different out of every wine. From this one I got a rich fruit without being too strong or too acidic. The aftertaste is a good one, with it having a perfect balance between sweet and dry.

I always like to taste a wine alone, first, and then pair it up with a few flavors. This wine was delicious with the cheese that I ate before dinner, and then went wonderfully with the chicken dish I cooked for my family. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a subtle red with good but not overwhelming flavor. Casa Santos Lima’s website boasts a great deal of other Portuguese wines that they offer, all of which sound wonderful to me. If this Sousao is any inkling of their quality of wines, I will be doing some shopping!

The wines of Casa Santos Lima are sold in CA through San Francisco Wine Trading Company and Lincoln Fine Wines (Venice) and other retailers.

Product was sent to facilitate this review, all opinions my own.

Disney’s Planes Review

August 13, 2013 by The Mom Jen 1 Comment

Last week my nine year old daughter and I were lucky enough to see Disney’s newest animated film, “Planes.” I hadn’t done any before hand research on the movie — I simply went into it knowing two things: I love Disney and I loved “Cars.” Those two things alone gave me hope that I would enjoy “Planes,” and low and behold — WE LOVED IT!

This movie is a classic underdog tale with a lot of heart. Right off the bat we fell in love with Dusty, the sweet crop duster who dreams of nothing but racing with the big boys. Shortly into the movie you learn that there is an international race coming up, and it’s Dusty’s dream to enter it.

“The fact that he’s not really built for competitive racing doesn’t deter him from pursuing his dream—but his fear of heights just might. With a little help from his friends — and a WWII vet with wisdom to spare — Dusty takes off on an adventure of a lifetime, going prop-to-prop with champions while daring to reach heights he never imagined possible.”

Along the way Dusty builds friendships with the other fun characters in the movie, including a feisty Casanova-infused plane named El Chupacabra, and the exotic and mysterious Ishani, who catches Dusty’s eye. Back home, Dusty has a strong crew of friends who support and back him up in his quest for adventure. Chug is a fuel truck who brings to mind a certain sidekick from Cars, otherwise known as Mater. His best pal and cohort is Dottie the Forklift, who can fix anything, and is proud to be on team Dusty.

Aside from the loveable characters, I was even more impressed with the excellent storyline and how wrapped up I became in the movie. It’s not easy to get a 37 year old woman excited about an animated film, but Disney really did it. Throughout the movie there were exciting moments that had you on the edge of your seat, and in between them were the touching moments between characters as their stories unfolded. Another impressive aspect for me was how well they represented the various countries that the planes traveled through. When in the Himalayas, there were beautiful snow covered mountains and monks. When in India, they flew over the Taj Mahal. And when in Germany there was beer. I enjoyed everything they did to portray a little bit of each place for our kids.

My favorite part, overall, came when Dusty ended up spending time on a US Aircraft Carrier — the “Fleisenhower.” I always have a soft spot for the military, so I was pleased that Disney treated the Air Force characters with respect and made them the good guys. I loved having my daughter see that and it made me proud to be an American. That, and when there was a bit with an American plane. Both made me feel good.

Run, don’t walk, to take your kids to see Disney’s “Planes!” You will have as good a time as them — maybe even more!

Merrie is a writer for the Jen is on a Journey and you can also find her at her blog, Sleepless Mornings: “I’m the mother of two beautiful children, an Executive Assistant, a scrapbooker, a baker, and sometimes I’m even fun to be around!”

Our screening was hosted to facilitate this review, all opinions my own.

Ninja Professional Frying System Review

June 16, 2013 by The Mom Jen 12 Comments

I have a confession to make. Until yesterday, I have never deep fried anything in my life. The closest I’ve gotten is fried eggs, which I really don’t think counts. So when the Ninja Professional Frying System ($99) came my way, I was both intrigued and a bit nervous. I spent a week looking through recipes and trying to decide if I should dive head first into my first attempt at donuts, or keep it simpler and try some chicken. In the end, I asked a good friend/chef what he thought I should try first, and his suggestion was great — keep it simple and try French fries. And that’s exactly what we did.

First of all, the Ninja Fryer comes with very simple accessories and very helpful directions. There’s not a lot of confusion to be had in getting started, and I feel my only mistake was in not anticipating the amount of oil I would need. I used up the 48oz bottle of vegetable oil I had bought and still had to use the rest of my other 48oz bottle from my cooking shelf, which was more than half full. In the future, this girl is shopping at Costco for oil before diving into frying!

The directions for the fryer are very simple. Just like anything else, time to cook and temperature vary based on what you’re making. I followed the booklet that comes with the system and dunked in my frozen fries. (That’s right — not fresh ones. Simple, remember?!) One important point to know in advance is that once the oil pre-heats to the temp you requested, it beeps and then starts counting down the clock. All of this before you’ve gotten the food into the oil. My tip for this would be to spend the time it takes to pre-heat making sure your food is ready to be dropped in, and either add a minute to the countdown or be ready to quickly add it in when the machine beeps. Otherwise you lose a few minutes of the clock with prep time. We learned that the hard way, but by the 2nd round of fries we were good to go!

Features:

Makes cooking a snap with hands-off frying. Ninja’s patent-pending basket lid keeps food fully submerged in oil so food is cooked evenly through without having to be flipped or turned in the fryer.
Removable enamel oil reservoir, an easy-to-empty oil spout and the lid/oil reservoir are dishwasher safe
Equipped with Cool Zone Technology that keeps oil cleaner for a longer period of time
Lid with large window for easy viewing
Easy-grip basket handle
Cool-touch exterior
Powerful 1800 watts
3 liter capacity (cooks up to 3.2 lbs. of food)
Includes delicious recipes
Digital LCD timer and display
Prepare your favorite fried dishes with 30% less fat and 40% faster due to its revolutionary heat combination that keeps cooking oil at a uniform temperature, so foods cook to light, crispy perfection – with less oil absorption.

Eight minutes later we had the most beautiful looking French fries I think I’ve ever seen. Or at least ever made in my kitchen! We let them cool for a few minutes and then dove in. DELICIOUS! We were knocked out by how perfect they were! Crispy on the outside, warm and well cooked on the inside, and tasty all the way around. We can hardly wait to make more, and I now feel as though I can tackle something bigger. My next plan? Cod! And the great thing is that you can re-use the oil in the system for a short time, meaning all that oil doesn’t go to waste. My friend Mike was here for the test, and he has some fryer experience. He suggested putting any fish free unused oil into mason jars to be re-used again. I might not be able to do that this time around if I make fish, but in the future I’ll have more experience and more opportunities to make good use of this fantastic machine.

The Ninja website has a lot of helpful how-to’s and recipes for anyone contemplating a fryer. I suggest checking it out, and then take this girl’s word for it — this machine is easy, safe and fun to use. Go get one and make yourself some home made fried chicken this summer. I know I will!