Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Tuesday, 12 June 2012

App Happy!

I always knew, even before I had an iPhone that the apps would be a problem. I knew I wouldn't be able to resist even the silliest of them, and currently have nearly 90 (yes I know) on my phone! Thank goodness for folders :)

Some of them I only use rarely, but find them useful, whereas some I use/play with every day. I'm always looking for recommendations for must haves, so I thought I'd chuck my twopenneth worth into the app review blogarama :)

Meon


Meon is my favourite app. I had it on my old HTC, and it was the first app I searched for on the iPhone. It's a simple puzzle game, you have to light up the little meons with the lights, but it can get fiendishly tricky!

You genuinely have to use the old grey matter too, you only get a couple of hints for each level and have to pay for solvers, so you're on your own!

It really is a fab little app. The lite version is free, so you can give it a go, and if you like it, the full version is only 69p. A bargain!




Flipboard

 I came across Flipboard by chance when I was just browsing though the App Store. I guess the easiest explanation is that it's like a personal internet magazine. You select the items you're interested in, such as FB, Technology, News or Sport and it delivers interesting articles and updates in each relevant category.

You can also link in your social network accounts, such as Twitter and Instagram and it will present a little digest for you.

It's a free app, and one that is fabulous for finding odds and sods you'd probably never search for, but are usually of interest. I always find something to read when I open it.

Data Usage Monitor

If you don't have unlimited data in your tariff, then something like this is SO useful. This is Data Usage Monitor, and basically you put in your billing date and your data allowance and it shows you how much you've used in the easy to read dials!

This one monitors wifi and 3G separately as well. It's unbelievably easy to use, and could save you having some nasty unexpected charges for using too much data!

It's also quite scary to see just how much data you use up whilst streaming!



I'm astounded by this app. I can't believe it's free! It's called My Fitness Pal and it's a calorie counter/fitness app. You input your details, tell it how much you want to lose and it tells you how many calories you can eat to lose the required amount of weight (maxiumum of 2lbs a week). You can scan the barcodes of your food to find the details easily, and just add things to your diary.

You can also add in excercise, and it charts your progress. It really is astonishingly in depth, and all for free. I used it for 2 weeks and lost 4lbs, so it does what it says on the tin! Absolutely excellent! Even if you just want to keep an eye on what you're eating it will help you out.



Asda

Not so exciting maybe, but this is the Asda app. I do use their home shopping quite often as it's a great way of budgeting, and this little app makes it easier than the website.
You can scan things onto your shopping list, so you can just wander round the kitchen, scan what you're getting low on and voila, it gets added to your list!

Even if you're searching for items, it's gloriously easy, so easy that I often use this instead of the website, as it's so very simple to use! A must have if you use Asda's home shopping.



I think that'll do for now, although I still have tons more that I love, most of them are more mainstream and well known. Please share your must have apps below, as you can never have too many ;)



Friday, 4 May 2012

Smart, or Not?

I don't know about you, but as money has got tighter those "cheapie" brands at the supermarket are looking more and more attractive. Over the last year or so, we've been trying out more and more of them, after all, if you don't try them, how do you know if they're any good?

So I thought I'd share some of the bargains I've found in the Asda Smart Price range, that are worth every penny, and a perfectly good replacement for named or own name brands :)

Ready Salted Crisps


These cost just 68p for 12 bags, so pretty damn cheap. The packs are small, 18g, but that's around the normal size for a multi-pack bag. The crisps themselves taste lovely. Really potatoe-y, and not too salty. I personally like the fact that the skin is still on them as it gives that little bit of extra flavour, and let's be honest, a lot of crisps are sold as premium because they have the skins on lol!
As you can see from the ingredients, they consist of just potatoes, oil and salt, and there are just 96 calories in a bag. These have become a staple in our household, and quite honestly, if you like your crisps plain, you might as well save yourself some cash and buy these!! Big thumbs up!

Cheese Singles


Cheese singles, hardly a gourmet food, and something we only buy to put on burgers, and as such as long as it tastes vaguely cheesy and melts, it does the job. Now, if you're going to use them in sandwiches you might want to pay a bit extra (or buy proper cheese!!!), but for burger toppings, these are just fine, especially if, like us, you also add a variety of sauces, onions or whatever to your burgers.  At a price of 54p for 10 rather than £1 for 10 for the standard Asda ones, you really might as well save your money :)

Any recommendations?


Sunday, 8 January 2012

Nothing...

....can cheer you up and dismiss the trials of the day like a beautiful, chocolatey, kremey box of delicious doughnuts :)


Chuck in a bottle of Jack Daniels from the younger Hague brother and I've almost forgotten that West Ham were knocked out of the FA Cup as well :)

Friday, 23 December 2011

It's Christmas :)


I suppose Christmas starts at different times for different people. For children, Christmas is already here, starting when school finished. For some it's when they finish work, or put the decorations up. For some it's not Christmas until December 25th.
For me, Christmas begins when I finish work. That's when I can feel relaxed and festive. The busy parts are usually done by then....
Presents wrapped...
 Decorations up....

So the only thing to do is to embrace the season. Tonight's dinner shall be party food nibbles, and the drink of choice shall be eggnog. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, the day when traditions take over. To the Parentals as they cook the turkey and to indulge in my Mum's Fish Pie (not me obviously). It's also a chance to enjoy the super-mega hyperactivity of my Nieces. They are 8 and 5 and so time is short for Father Christmas, but they still believe this year - and it's beautiful to see the sheer excitement in their eyes as they wind themselves up into a frenzy over his visit!

Christmas Day will also be at The Parentals, after a nice relaxed morning of just me and Hague (and hopefully a phone call with his boys - double dose of mega excitement). My Mum never knowingly undercaters and so we will be rolling out of there in the late hours of the 25th.

So for now, I shall sup on my eggnog, in a room lit with fairy lights looking forward to the most wonderful time of the year.

Happy Christmas to you all, I hope each and every one of you has a magical Christmas full of joy and love.

Wednesday, 30 November 2011

A Surprisingly Good Day!

When I woke up this morning after not enough sleep the day didn't promise much...It was only 9am, and ahead of me was a meeting at work, a counselling session, trying to remember my Mum's enormous order for my company shop and trying to juggle the finances as I'd managed to leave the Sky bill out of the monthly budget :(

But...

The work meeting went well. My new manager (another one) seems to understand that my return has to be handled carefully and together we have worked out which days and shifts I'll be working. Planning ahead seems to be the key to keeping me calm and so this was a perfect way to achieve something quite difficult. So, I shall be returning to work on December 12th and right now, I feel just fine about that :)

My counsellor was up next, and she was really pleased with my progress. It will be my last face to face session with her, and she has helped me so much over the last couple of months - even a month ago returning to work seemed miles away, but now I'm well on the way to recovery, able to cope much better with problems and much closer to the person I thought had gone AWOL for good!

After such good results from unexpected places the draw of going into town to see the Christmas lights switched on was just too much to resist. I love Christmas, and I love fireworks and this evening the two combined. I rather like the fact that it is practically December as well before the council switched on the lights - keeping it relatively special. The marketplace was packed, and the mood was joyous, little children everywhere festooned with reindeer antlers, santa hats and various neon crapola :) I managed to forget my tripod, so any technically perfect pictures were never going to happen, but I liked the results.
Due to the lights being switched on, the shops were open late and so we were able to pick up another present, the list is getting much shorter now :) Finally, when you're out on a chilly night, all wrapped up, literally NOTHING warms you up like a portion of market chips, fresh, delicious and hot! Me and Hague got a portion each, and wooden forks in hand devoured the paper wrapped morsels of nom. Just sitting eating the chips next to Hague, all cosy and with his birthday tomorrow just made me happy. Happy that I have him, happy that my life is getting back on track and happy that simple Christmas lights and fireworks can still create childish wonder in me.