Review: Yum Yum Kids

I was invited to review these products, but my opinions about them are 100% mine -- it's a risk companies make when they ask for my opinion -- my opinion's what they'll get. 
- Angela Noelle of Striking Keys.  You can read about the free Nutrionist advice service this site alos offers, here.

News on the bubba-front;

(mush = avocado, in this case)

Armed with free, solicited advice, I browsed Yum Yum Kids' online store for more support of a different variety.

I found plenty of objects of desire;

(For those who also follow dear Stella, and saw her recent DIY play kitchen -- with all its trappings -- you'll spy a Polka Dot Tea Set very similar to the greatly-sought-after-one she shared.)

In spite of being a little too giddy, initially -- viewing all of the options -- I was able to settle on some great products to review (again, with My Nutrionist's help);

BPA-free Baby Food Freezer Tubs ~ A Thermos Foogo Food Jar ~ Cheeky Chopsticks ~ Skip Hop Zoo Divided Plate ~ Grippables 3-piece Cutlery Set

Review, we did;

It's funny how much having one specialised product changed my attitude.  I make almost all of my babies' "mush" food, but I didn't have an intricate system when it came to storing it.  I've used ice cube trays before, and casually frozen a little here and there...but now that I have these I feel like my efforts have been elevated to an art form.  It helps that Phase 1 foods are easy.  Now I am constantly cycling homemade foods through the fridge and freezer, and I feel pretty chuffed about it.  There's something about having a removable little container of stuff I've made that I can heat on demand, washing it with its lid attached (big appeal for me -- I don't like having lots of parts floating around), and doing it all again -- it did make things easier, for me.  I'm only sorry I didn't have these tubs when I had Esky -- they've proven a real catalyst for me taking homemade foods more seriously.  As parents, it's hard to do it all -- sew our kids clothes from paisley curtains and crochet their winter-wear and or feed them entirely from a home garden and use cloth nappies, etceteraaaaa, but we can pick to do some of these things, and I now pick making our own baby food as one of mine.

Esky is crazy about the Cheeky Chopsticks;

Here she is making them smooch.  Because that's what cheeky chopsticks do.

I've always been a fan of divided plates, and this one is sturdier than many I've handled in stores.  Esky requests it routinely.  Here she is with spaghetti with and without sauce (she always requests this, but eats both).  She's also using her new cutlery, which is her preference now -- it's a smart intermediary step between her "baby cutlery" and the family stuff.

More positives:

• The Thermos is easy to wash.
• The Yum Yum Kids' site is easy to use and its search tool is superior to those in many other online stores I've encountered -- keywords render actual results.  In fact, if you know what something's called, you can skip browsing around for it and go straight to the search box, confident it'll spit out what you're after -- a big plus, in my book.
• The club and newsletter you're enticed to join upon visiting the site is actually relevant -- there are legitimate discounts and offers exclusive to joining.  I'm always a little bugged by sites that build subscription into your first order, or tantalise you with some deal to sign up -- and later you find all you get is junk about sales offered on a very small portion of merchandise (often making their priciest products more reasonable).  YYK offers storewide discounts (credit upon sign-up), and a cash discount voucher with your first order's delivery.  
• I don't just dig YYK's stuff when I get it for free-to-review -- the marketing incentives did their work on me -- I've already ordered more goods since (read: paid to have products).
• You can pay by direct credit (not just credit/debit card).  I really like when sites offer this option.

A few neg's:

• I let Kate know it'd be nice if you could add items to your cart and keep on shopping without being taken to the cart after each selection.  Kate is already onto this.  She takes notes well.
• The Foogo Thermos is brilliant -- but it doesn't keep very small volumes of food warm for long (i.e. first weeks of eating for Ivy -- a tablespoon or two per meal).  I'm excited to take warm lunches / cool treats for both girls over the years in these though!
• YYK stocks premium products, and the prices reflect this...which unfortunately means it falls outside of many families' weekly budget.  I am confident, however, that some items, once purchased, would pay for themselves quickly.

Some things I'd love to see in the future:

• Engraved/stamped baby spoons?  I think these make darling baby shower gifts and beautiful keepsakes for children when they move out of home.
• A "Fun Lunch" section?  I'm a fan of sectioned lunch boxes, and seeing images of ways other parents have made package-free, finger-food lunches appealling (especially the ones that look like they could be made them quickly still!)  Maybe kiwis could submit photos and share ideas -- bringing another interactive element to the site?
• ...and in the same vein, I'd love to see the range of cookie cutters grow -- since these are great for cutting so much  more than dough!
• Silly straws?  I know these have been part of what makes green smoothies fun, in our home.

You can win some products to test for yourself over at Striking Keys -- hop on over to enter;

Like something you've seen?  Order before Christmas, and My Nutrionist will give you 15% off of any of the items I've reviewed (The Freezer Tubs, all Thermos Food Jars, Cheeky Chopsticks, all Skip Hop Zoo Divided Plates, and Grippables Cutlery), PLUS 15% off that loverrrrrly tea set or a cardboard play oven!  -- simply enter the coupon "SKREADER" before checking out.

Review: L'oreal Paris Perfect Clean Foaming Cream + cleanPad

Review by Ms Kate of Mummybrain ~ The How-Not-To-Do-It Guide of Marriage Miscarriage Children Divorce Step-Children

I've been looking for a face cleaning product for a while, my skin has been feeling dry and tight, and I thought a good cleanser might be good.

It comes with a neat little cleanPad thing, that attaches through the bottle with a little sucker thing that lets you attach it to the bathroom wall. It's soft and flexible, and has lots of tiny little rubber bristles on it.

 The wash itself makes me feel clean, and fresh. It is for dry and sensitive skin, and as I  have quite sensitive skin, I am quite a good test for this. I have used it several times now, with no side effects. It's nothing particularly special, but it's ok.

Oh but I must gush about the cleanPad, it is just so neat! It really makes my skin feel clean! It kinda feels like a mini-massage! I'd buy this product again, just to get another cleanPad.

Review: Fix Bumps And Bruises

Review by Ms Kate from Mummybrain ~ The How-Not-To-Do-It Guide of Marriage Miscarriage Children Divorce Step-Children

We found this stuff at the supermarket, and I was looking for something with Arnica in it, so bought it.

Having used it several times since, I feel it's worthy of a review. This stuff is just awesome! It smells lovely, goes on nicely, and eases the pain at the time, and I'm sure makes the bruise clear up faster then it would without it.

It's even made in NZ, which is pretty cool.

Copied from container:

Directions for use: Massage liberally into the affected area as often as required. For external use only. Don't use on open wounds. Avoid contact with eyes. Keep out of reach of children. Don't use if pregnant.

Ingredients: sweet almond oil, aloe vera gel, polysorbate 60 (vegetable oil), cocoa butter, apricot kernel oil, menthol crystals, arnica oil, st johns wort extract, shea butter, calendula infused oil, vitamin E, manuka honey. Essential oil blend of peppermint, lemon and kiwi seed extract.

Their website kind of sucks, but it's found here http://fixmenaturally.com/

Our Groceries

Review by Mr Spencer from Mummybrain ~ The How-Not-To-Do-It Guide of Marriage Miscarriage Children Divorce Step-Children

Image Credit

When the missus and I first had smart phones we thought to ourselves, there must be a better way of keeping track of shopping lists.

We tried a few solutions but the best by far was our groceries.

This is available on your computer, iphone or android (maybe others too?) and updates an online list in real time. You can have your own lists and/or shared lists, you can categorise items and you can add recipe's.

Categorising is fantastic, the first time you buy something add a category of what isle it's in, next time you go to buy it you know exactly where to go. Now that we have everything categorised we can just go to the isles we need and never miss anything or have to go back to the other end of the shop for that blasted thingee that was hiding at the bottom of the list.

Recipe's are great too, you add all the ingredients to your recipe then when you want to make that item you simply go through the ingredients and tap to add to the list.

Real time updates are invaluable - I'll go to the supermarket and the missus can add things while I'm on the way or while I'm in the shop and they appear straight away. For a bit of fun, start at opposite ends of the shop and meet in the middle, watching the items fly off both ends of the list :)

I think one of the best features is the convenience, damn, I used the last of the peanut butter - take my phone out of my pocket, tap our-groceries, type the first few letters and tap the item on the list to add it. Used the last of your at work snacks, no problem, no need to wait to get home, just update the list and the item appears by magic (amazing shopping machine aka partner, not included).

Our groceries has made things so much easier for us, shopping no longer requires a half hour "what do we need" conversation, I don't have to call before I drop in to the supermarket on the way home, it's all just there.

Awesome app, everyone should use it :)

Borne Naked Liner

Review by Ms Kate from Mummybrain ~ The How-Not-To-Do-It Guide of Marriage Miscarriage Children Divorce Step-Children

I recently received a product, called a Borne Naked Liner. Basically, it's a clear bag, that you place your items in, and then put the liner into your handbag. I was sceptical to say the least, I thought it sounded like a complete and total waste of time and space.

Before:

I had thought about clearing my handbag out, just so that you couldn't see the state of it before I cleaned it up. *blush* As a mum of 5 I have an awful lot of crap that I carry around with me, and end up with bits of food, daisies by the bucketload, used wipes, and various other indistinguishable items. So here are the 'before' pics.

Yeah I know, it's awful, but I'm a mum - that's  my excuse. LOL


The Borne Naked Liner:

The package arrived and I was really impressed! A nice box, and this beautifully wrapped liner, in soft pink paper. Ahhh it made you feel like a woman LOL
My first impression was that it was really stiff, hard plastic, that it was going to be very heavy in my bag.
It did however appear to be very good quality, nice sized pockets, and zipper worked well. None of this cheap crap here!
So then I got down to the business of moving all my handbag stuff into the liner. I didn't think everything would fit.

From the top looking down

Side

Side

Everything fit perfectly, and everything had a place. Still sceptical, I placed it in my handbag.

The finished product

The final word:


It wasn't anywhere as heavy as I thought it looked, and the stiffness I was worried about meant it stayed nicely in place.
3 weeks later, I still have a nice tidy bag, and use it every day! I am a convert. It is amazing, and I have no idea how I coped without it.
Everything has it's place, and I know immediately when something is missing. I am able to find a pen at a moments notice, and can even get out chewing gum while I'm driving (something I would never do, honest copper).

ProfessioNAIL, Westfield Pakuranga, Auckland

Review by Ms Kate from Mummybrain ~ The How-Not-To-Do-It Guide of Marriage Miscarriage Children Divorce Step-Children

I was lucky enough to be pampered, with a Mother's Day voucher that had been given to me by the kids, at a place called ProfessioNAIL.

My contact with them started with a phone call, made by me, about 9 o'clock in the morning. The phone was answered promptly, but there the good things stopped. The lady on the end of the phone couldn't speak English very well at all. I asked what the latest appointment of the day was. She replied 'whenever I liked'. So I asked how late they were open, and she seemed thoroughly confused. I asked if I could come at 8pm, knowing that the mall shut at 6pm, and was told I could. She then told me they didn't take appointments, that you just turn up.

So turning up at 5.30pm, this lovely lady took me through, and speaking clear English asked me what I'd like done. I explained I had a voucher and no idea what I wanted done. She showed me various options, and I picked a French Manicure, a total value of $23NZ.

Sitting down, in a comfy seat, with nice soft music in the background, she started with tidying up my cuticles, this included a massage of my hands. It was very pleasant.
With nice little fans, to blow away the smell, down to nice smelling moisturising lotion, it was all very nice, until 15 minutes in, a vacuum cleaner was started up, and the place started to be cleaned. This included various towels and other washing being picked up from around me, chairs being moved around roughly to allow vacuum cleaner through, and the workers talking in really loud voices in their native tongue.
So that kind of ruined the nice relaxing atmosphere that had been there, and what I'd been looking forward too.

The end product was lovely however, and I'm really impressed with how nice it looks.

Game: Naughty Dog

Review by Ms Kate from Mummybrain ~ The How-Not-To-Do-It Guide of Marriage Miscarriage Children Divorce Step-Children

Naughty Dogs

I have 5 kids, and all of them were amused for hours. They giggled and laughed and played nicely for ages. It's an easy enough game, they can play it with minimal supervision.

So all in all, great game, no batteries required, which is always a bonus, and kids love it!

Sky City Convention Centre, Auckland

Review by Mr Spencer from Mummybrain ~ The How-Not-To-Do-It Guide of Marriage Miscarriage Children Divorce Step-Children

I spent the last three days in a conference at sky city with several thousand other delegates and try as I might I could not find fault with the facilities. Everything appeared to be flawlessly prepared and executed with care and professionalism. I was so impressed with the facilities that I felt I simply have to review them :)

Presentation Technology
The big screens, sound systems, projectors and lighting were perfectly suited to the purpose. I did not see any issues with hardware failures, not even as much as a "is this thing on?". I have a bit of history in this field but try as I might I couldn't find fault. The worst it got was when a presenter with a lapel microphone walked in front of a speaker, but the feedback was quickly caught and stopped before becoming a problem.

As a delegate I had no trouble seeing or hearing regardless of where I sat.

Service
There must have been dozens of service staff. Serving coffee, laying out and refilling buffets, cleaning messes, collecting dirty dishes, checking rooms were in order between sessions, maintaining security, looking after sound desks, cooking food, serving drinks and no doubt countless other things that I didn't even notice.

They were all well and consistently dressed, clean and tidy in their appearance and behaviour, polite and respectful, professional and generally just going out of their way to make everything work smoothly.

Branding
I don't know how much of this was done by the staff at sky city and how much was done by the company running the conference but even before you walked in the front door you knew you were in the right place. There were signs both static and digital everywhere. Finding rooms was easy and from the way everything looked you'd swear you were in the offices of the company rather than in a conference centre.


Food The food was amazing, it was different every day (with a few staples) and the quality was always exceptional. From simple things like coffee to the exquisite and varied lunch foods everything was done perfectly.

There was something for everyone including vegetarian options and even a separate vegetarian buffet. There were options for the diet conscious and the not so diet conscious (mmm chocolate cups).

Each day there was something different in a separate area, the first day was a chocolate fountain with fresh fruit, the second there were chefs cooking in woks and on the last day there was a lolly bar where you could pick and mix bags of sweets.

There was always an abundance, food was restocked as frequently as required and few people were taking small helpings :)

Toilets
What goes in must come out :) The toilets were kept stocked with soap, hand towels etc and were always clean and tidy despite the hundreds of people using them every hour. 

Summary

Over all I found the whole experience very pleasant, 10/10 to Sky City :)

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH1 12 Mega Pixel Camera

Review by Ms Kate from Mummybrain ~ The How-Not-To-Do-It Guide of Marriage Miscarriage Children Divorce Step-Children

To start with, I know nothing about camera's. I can point and click. Sometimes I take a good photo, most of the time they suck. I seem to be good at getting angles but that's about it.

Pros:
This is a very straight forward camera, heck, even I can use it. Within a few moments of using it, I was able to take photos. The menus are clear to use, and easy to navigate.
It takes pictures quickly, which is great, specially when trying to take photos of moving objects, you know, like kids. It has an auto shutter on it. Takes SD cards that are cheap and widely available, not one's specific to a brand of camera.

The size of the camera is excellent, it's small and light, but the screen is large enough to be able to see clearly what you are pointing at.

The battery last ages, I use it for a few weeks, snapping a couple of pictures a day, before it'll need charging, and even then, it's only a few hours on charge and it's full again!

Cons:
This camera is useless in situations where it's not great lighting. The photos come out very grainy.

So yeah, all in all, a great camera, that I'm very happy with!

Peppers on the Point, Rotorua

By Leonie at Kiwi At Heart

Last month my daughter and I were fortunate to experience a ‘famil’ at the stunning Peppers on the Point Resort in Rotorua.

Peppers on the Point is an historic mansion, situated overlooking the beautiful Lake Rotorua and Mokioa Island, surrounded by 2.8 hectares of land.

Stunning is the only way to describe the idyllic surroundings of this most impressive resort.

The history of the resort is equally as impressive. Until 1994 this mansion was a family home and throughout the main building there are photos of the family (s) who lived there, and the home as it changed over the years.

Peppers on the Point is also very popular as a wedding venue for both New Zealanders and discerning International travellers.

The beautiful stone chapel overlooks the Lake and is the perfect, peaceful, romantic setting for saying those vows.

The grounds also have walkways and animals including Sam the Dog, some donkeys, miniature horses, alpaca and sheep – a total hit with children.

Accommodation

At Peppers, there are a number of different accommodation types to suit different experiences.

The mansion, has beautiful suites, including a disabled access suite.

There are two cottages on the property, complete with Jacuzzis, separate from the main house.

There is also a larger apartment, seperate to the main house, available for larger groups.

We were fortunate to stay in a beautiful suite with twin queen size beds, a massive window overlooking the lake, a huge bathroom with underfloor heating and spa bath.

Other facilities

Peppers has a large wine cellar, a large room to serve as a lunch venue for those wishing to book a function, spa treatments available.

They also have a libray with books and dvds, which was a favourite place for my daughter.

Food

I think the thing that wowed us the most at Peppers, aside from the attentive, friendly staff, was the amazing food.

As a person with Coeliacs and food allergies to dairy and eggs, it is always a challenge to eat out .

The chefs at Peppers went above and beyond to cater for my food requirements.

We started off our dinner experience with drinks and canapés in the lounge, in front of a roaring fire, an intimate setting with only a few other guests.

The canapés themselves were an experience of incredible taste!

For dinner we were seated at our own table, as were the two other sets of guests. Peppers does have a large dining table for bigger groups but we were impressed by the intimacy created by being able to dine on our own.

The table service was incredible. We were waited on hand and foot by highly professional and friendly staff.

Our four course meal started with a beautiful Tomato and Fennel soup,

 followed by an entree of scallops. The main was fresh New Zealand Schnapper and the dessert a beautiful sorbet.

My daughter declared it the best meal she had ever eaten (in all her 10 years!) and I had to agree! It was divine! And better still, it catered for all my food requirements.

A big thumbs up to Peppers on their exquisite food!!

Breakfast was also a delicious experience and we felt pampered and attended to.

Peppers is definitely a place I would recommend for a number of reasons. For a romantic getaway it ticks all the boxes, for a family experience where your children are treated as important guests too, it is perfect.

The setting is beautiful, the food is exquisite, the staff are professional and friendly.

It is the PERFECT getaway.

http://www.peppersonthepoint.co.nz/