I'm a full-time mummy

It is quite rare that I promote apps which is free and one that I did not get pitched or requested for review. But I just have to share my review of this app because it is so far, so good! It is currently one of the favorite apps on my iPad. Without further ado, here goes my feedback...

* Title: Super Monkey Jr.
* Price: Free (at the time of my review)
* Category: Games
* Updated: Oct 31, 2012
* Version: 1.1
* Size: 36.4 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: TribePlay Limited
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1.3 or later.

Description from the product page:

"This game is totally free! Join Super Monkey Jr. to help the animal world! There are 5 missions in the game to accomplish such as putting out fire, saving little animals from the water, driving a cool hero van, help Super Monkey Jr. to exit a maze and rescuing poor captured animals. Animal world awaits the help of your child. Get ready for some heroic actions!"

* There are 5 mini games in this app: Fire Fight, Crazy Rescue, Valiant Drive, Corridor Craze and Cage Count.

* The Corridor Craze game is one of the games that I love seeing my 3.5 years old boy play!Take a look at the screenshot below which I managed to capture right after my boy drew the path to help the monkey find its way out. I love seeing my boy's face as he figures out how to help the monkey out through the maze.

* I like the exciting music background and the illustrations are very cute and eye catching too!

* The other 4 mini games are equally fun to play with as well, and I like that my boy is learning things while playing!

* In the Fire Fight game, he learns to multitasks and focus on more than 1 thing at a time - in the sense he needs to help put out the fire as it breaks out in the building.

* In the Valiant Drive game, he learns to maneuver his car and make sure he pays attention to other cars on the road and not get into accidents.

* In the Crazy Rescue game, he learns to differentiate the colors and help rescue the animals of different colors by putting/dragging them back to their respective boat colors.

* In the Cage Count game, he learns to identify with numbers (something which I am still trying to teach him).

You can get the "Super Monkey Jr." app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, the application is free on iTunes Store at the time of my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous iPad Apps reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My iPad App Reviews"

You know what's nice to belong in an awesome mummy group that helps each other and share their recipes? I am so happy to learn this recipe from the mummies in this SAHM group I joined in and decided to give this a try.

Now what you do is:

- Buy ikan bilis (aka anchovy) preferably those that are already cleaned and without heads and tail.

- Wash the ikan bilis to remove the excess salt and domoic acid (this is what I read from other website)

- Drain the ikan bilis and arrange them as a flat layer on a baking tray.

- Bake at 170C for about 10 – 15 minutes.

- Blend them into powder form.

- Store in airtight container and it's ready to use when you cook!

Btw, just to share my initial reactions when I tried the ikan bilis powder (I made noodle soup) - it had some burnt after taste and upon finishing my bowl of noodle, I found the remnants of the ikan bilis powder at the bottom of my bowl. After checking with the mummies in my SAHM group, I was informed these observations are normal.

Burnt after taste might be due to over baking - so I need to either reduce the temperature or cut down the baking time. As for the remnants (also known as 'jah' in Cantonese) this are perfectly normal as the ikan bilis powder is not water soluble so it is alright to have remnants left. And now I ponder why the ikan bilis stock powder that we bought from the supermarket is easily dissolve in water... hmmmm...

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you give this a try too!

I received an email pitch to review this book few days ago and although I still have tons of product reviews in queue, I decided to give this book a try. Read on below why I decided to review this book!

Title: Under The Shade of The Walnut Tree
Author: Ivan Radev
ASIN:  B00AIVD3KU
File Size:  177 KB
Dimension:  inches

Description from the product page:
"This is a romantic short story about two people who fall deeply for each other, without ever seeing one another. Separated by a lonely tree on the road, the two of them talk about the simple things in life without bothering with the limitations imposed by the time we live in. They debate about the important stuff - the stars, the flowers, each other - all the things that make life beautiful. There is nothing complicated - just one constant niceness. With just a speck of unbothered philosophy, heartwarming and filled with naive positivism, this dialogue-based tale is a nice little escape from reality for those wishing to get their daily dose of smiling."

The first time I read the description of this book "a romantic short story about two people who fall deeply for each other, without ever seeing one another" I thought 'Wow! How can 2 people fall in love with each other and yet never see each other before?

As I read the preview version on Amazon website, I got more intrigued with the book as I am a fan of dialogue type of books. Maybe because I find myself imagining I'm the character in the book as I read the dialogues and immerses myself in the storyline.

I like the concept of this book (though it may not be logical since the 2 characters never see each other and this book does not seem to be bothered much with factors like time, season, weather and so on) where the 2 characters just chatted about everything, the openness and honesty with each other and the way they complimented each other with sincerity.

In page 7: "You shouldn’t speak if you don’t want to. Silence is fine. It is easy to find people with whom you can talk, but it is much harder to find somebody who enjoys staying together in silence.” Wow! This sentence is so so touching! I don't know about you but I think this line pretty much sums up how a relationship should be as we grow old together with our spouse. Not necessary that we should talk and talk to fill the silence but just being there for each other and enjoying the moment.

A wonderful book to read that brings a smile to my face as it makes me reminisce the early days of being in love with my special someone aka my hubby!

You can get this book from Amazon.

Btw, if you blog or have an Amazon account, do check out this book review opportunity which I shared on my FB page.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a PDF copy of the book in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"