NHL Archives - Page 18 of 39

Birthday Treats and Green Tongues

August 4, 2011 TechyDad Birthday, Cake, Food, JSL, NHL, Photos

Yesterday, as is our birthday tradition, we went out to dinner. The boys wanted to have dinner with B’s parents, so B and I went to Mr. Fuji. B has already featured the meal on her blog, but I had to feature some of the items in depth.

First up was vegetable sushi and a cucumber roll. When I ordered this, I was expecting a few rolls with a mix of chopped veggies inside. This is what I got instead.

You really need to click the photo and look at the large version to truly appreciate this. It was quite a pleasant surprise over my admittedly bland mental picture. The colors of all of the vegetables popped nicely. There were yellow peppers, orange carrots, green asparagus and more. The textures were nicely varied as well. From the crunch of the carrots and peppers to the creaminess of the avocado and the chewiness of the mushrooms. This was an amazing dish all around.

I had a birthday cookie cake awaiting me at home so normally I wouldn’t have ordered dessert. However, I had a birthday coupon for a free tempura ice cream so I decided to get it. I’m so glad I did.

I wish we got a good photo of the inside of this, but we were too busy eating it. At its core, this dessert is a large, hard scoop of vanilla ice cream. Right outside of that was a huge surprise: Cake! In retrospect, it makes sense. You need something to protect the ice cream from the hot frying oil. Of course, outside of the hard, cold ice cream and the soft cake was the warm, crunchy tempura batter. It was all topped sundae style with chocolate sauce, whipped cream and a cherry. Considering that this all would normally cost $4 (and that they also have a Tempura Cheesecake), I think I’ll be bringing the boys here for dessert one day!

After a brief walk around to digest our food, we went back to B’s parents’ house. There, we had a cookie cake.

I’ve got to admit to a fondness for cookie cakes. Regular cake is ok and cheesecake is great, but I really love a good chocolate chip cookie. Make it a giant chocolate chip cookie with frosting and YUM!

The only downside? Green fingers and tongues.

Of course, photographer-me had to try a macro shot of my boys’ tongues.

And, with that, this post has gone from drool-inducing deliciousness to disgusting!

Review: Wookie The Chew – The House at Chew Corner

August 2, 2011 TechyDad Books, Geeky Pursuits, NHL, Star Wars, Winnie the Pooh

I’ve long admired the work of James Hance. He has a knack for taking classic fictional characters like Kermit the Frog, Darth Vader and He-Man and either crossing them with other fictional characters/situations or just displaying them differently. (You can order prints of all of those images from James’ website.) Wookie the Chew – The House at Chew Corner is no exception.

The story is a mash-up of two of my personal favorites: Star Wars and Winnie the Pooh. Winnie the Pooh combines with Chewbacca to become Wookie the Chew. Christopher Robin and Han Solo become Chrisolo Robin. Piglet merges with R2D2 to become Droidlet.

The story unfolds as Wookie the Chew, having obviously inherited his appetite from Pooh, embarks on a mission to get something to eat. Except, instead of honey, he’s looking for bobaberries. (Tip: Don’t eat the cloneberries. They all taste the same.) Along the way there’s a hive of bees-crossed-with-tie-fighters, a balloon-crossed-with-the-Millennium-Falcon and a giant-tree-combined-with-the-Death-Star.

I’ll admit that the book wasn’t quite what I was expecting. Having seen James Hance’s fabulous art, I thought it would be a picture book with few words. Instead, it is mostly words with enough sketched artwork to see the story through. While I was initially disappointed, that feeling changed upon reading the story to NHL.

At every turn there’s a saying or setting or character that calls back to both Star Wars and Winnie the Pooh. The story was great and left us wanting more. Indeed, Hance is working on a follow-up book titled “When We Were Very Jedi.” Once the book is ready for ordering, you can bet I’ll be ordering a bunch.

In fact, the only downside to this book is the shipping cost. The book itself is a steal at $5. However, shipping costs $10! The solution? Get a bunch of family, friends and co-workers to order with you. Shipping rises to $15 if you order 5 or more books, but it still winds up being cheaper per-book. Place one order for five books and the cost per book (price + shipping) drops to $8. Plus, each book comes signed by the author. (Custom dedications are available as well.)

I’ll close with a few photos of the book and of NHL reading it.

Disclaimer: I didn’t receive anything in compensation to review Wookie the Chew. I purchased the book with my own money and liked it so much that I thought I’d share my thoughts on it.

Voldemort vs. Papa Smurf

August 1, 2011 TechyDad Geeky Pursuits, Harry Potter, NHL, Smurfs, Television

Thanks to reruns of the old Smurfs cartoon and the new Smurfs movie (which they saw advertisements for when we went to see the Winnie the Pooh movie), my boys have suddenly found an interest in the Smurfs. My oldest has already memorized when they’re on and will want to change the channel when the airing time approaches.

NHL has also formed an interest in Harry Potter. We caught some of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on TV one day and was transfixed. So we took Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone out of the library and watched it with him (and JSL too). NHL loved it from the first moments of Harry discovering his talents to the ending battle. We think he’s developed a crush on Hermione as he specifically begged us to get him the Lego Harry Potter set with her in it.

Anyway, while shopping this past weekend, NHL spotted a Smurfs activity/coloring book. He looked through it quickly, spotted the evil wizard who tries to capture the Smurfs and commented to me that Voldemort was in the book. After prompting from me and a bit of rethinking, he recalled that Gargamel, not Voldemort was actually the Smurfs’ foe.

Being the geek that I am, I began picturing what would happen if Voldemort happened upon the Smurfs. At first, it might seem a slaughter fest as Voldemort Avada Kedavra’s Smurf after Smurf. (Perhaps Cruciatus-ing a few for fun.)

Of course, in Harry Potter’s world, love seems to be a magic in and of itself. Love prevents Voldemort from killing Harry when he was a mere infant. Love protected Harry long after his mother’s death. Love was the one magic that Voldemort couldn’t quite understand. Given how lovey-dovey the Smurfs tend to be, maybe the battle wouldn’t be so cut and dried.

In a one-on-one duel, Papa Smurf would be toast, but, in a guerilla war against Voldemort, they might just stand a chance. The Smurfs seem especially good at hiding and Papa Smurf knows his way around magic. He would undoubtedly consult various magic texts and have his army of Smurfs help him assemble some potion to affect Voldemort. Perhaps a pair of shoes that force Voldemort to dance forever while the Smurfs sing? Truly a fate worse than death!

And yes, I’m aware that I’m a huge geek for even contemplating this whole scenario due to my son’s misstated name.

Review: Z-Curve Bow & Zing-Shot Launcher

July 18, 2011 TechyDad JSL, NHL, Outside, Play, Review, Toys

The boys love the playground and they love tossing/firing things. Combine these together and you’ve got a sure hit. I had the opportunity to try out the Z-Curve Bow and the Zing-Shot Launcher from ZING Toys. The boys were even more excited because, thanks to watching Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, they saw the bow and arrow set as an opportunity to pretend that they were Hawkeye. (A superhero archer with perfect aim.)

Since the bow and arrow set says it launches over 100 feet, I thought it wise not to try these out in our front yard. Even though the darts are made of a soft foam, which probably wouldn’t even hurt if they scored a direct hit on a person, I thought it wise not to take a chance damaging one of our neighbor’s cars. So off to a local park we went.

Now, my boys are 7 years old ( almost 8 ) and 4. The package said that these toys were meant for ages 8 and up. I figured that JSL would have a lot of trouble with them. Sure enough, he did. With my guidance, he was able to shoot off a few arrows. I didn’t measure how far these went, but they were a good distance. Maybe 20 feet. Not bad for his first bow shot!

NHL had a bit of trouble at first, but adapted quickly. Before long, he was shooting arrows quite far away. I don’t know if they landed 100 feet away, but they were pretty far.

Then it was my turn. I liked that the arrows fit into a “quiver” that could be attached to a belt loop or other strap. This helped keep them in place when they weren’t flying through the air. The arrows have hooks on them that grip the bow’s rubber bands. Pulling back, I let the arrow fly. Sure enough, the arrows went extremely far. I didn’t measure, but it just might have been 100 feet.

Here are two photos showing the distance that the arrows travelled. The first is of the boys recovering an arrow that I shot. The second is of me standing approximately where an arrow landed after one of NHL’s shots. (Click to enlarge.)

As NHL and JSL took turns running after it, the arrow’s red tip really helped us locate the arrows on the green grass.

Next up was the slingshot. Unlike the bow and arrow, this had a ball that gets positioned between two stretching prongs. You pull the ball back and let it fly. Theoretically, it then shoots over 50 feet. Practically, the ball kept twisting and getting caught on the prongs. These misfires only went a few feet. We did get a few good shots out of it, but it was definitely the harder of the two to properly fire.

Both the Zing-Shot Launcher and the Z-Curve Bow were a lot of fun. It didn’t take long for our toys to catch the notice of other children on the playground. They asked to try and before long there was a veritable line of kids waiting to try them out.

Of the two, I would definitely recommend the bow and arrow over the slingshot. It was easier to work and launched much further. Plus, the “quiver” helps keep the arrows in place while the slingshot’s balls don’t have any receptacle to keep them in. Either way, both toys were a lot of fun and both of the boys have begged to use them again.

Disclaimer: I received the Zing-Shot Launcher and the Z-Curve Bow from ZING Toys to review. However, the opinions expressed above are my own.

A Guilty Getaway For Two

July 18, 2011 TechyDad Anniversary, B, Disney, Guilt, JSL, NHL, Parenting, Vacation

I’ve written before about feeling guilty, whether it is leaving for work, having a night out to myself or even just dedicating some time to me instead of putting everyone else in my family first. Right now, I’m feeling a different sort of guilt.

You see, last month B and I celebrated our 10th anniversary. For the past 8 years, though, we’ve only had one trip away from the kids: BlogHer 2010. (Having the kids sleep at their grandparents for one night while we sleep at home less than a mile away and then get them first thing in the morning doesn’t count.) Of course, BlogHer was fun, but it was very rushed and often B and I were going in different directions. Not the kind of trip you go on to help rekindle those romantic sparks.

So we began to look into trips to take together. Ten years seems like an appropriate length of time to have a Honeymoon Part 2 and we loved Honeymoon Part 1 so why not go to the same place: Disney World.

Now, I should note here that our plans are still very much up in the air. We might wind up going to Disney. We might wind up doing something else. We might even scrap the whole “take a trip with just the two of us” idea entirely. Still, the planning means that I’ve been thinking a lot about going to Disney World and leaving the kids behind (possibly in the care of my parents).

Here’s the guilty part. Our kids love Disney World. No, that doesn’t sound strong enough. They ***LLLLOOOOVVVVEEEE*** Disney World. JSL, on a nearly daily basis, asks when we’re going back there. I can just imagine the screams of horror that will erupt when they find out that we’re headed to the home of Mickey Mouse without bringing them along. There will be crying and screaming and guilt trips galore.

Part of me keeps saying “Why not bring the kids along? They’ll love it!” But, then I realize that we love Disney World too. Why should their desire to see Disney World again trump our desire to have one “just the two of us” trip every ten years or so? We’ve gone to Disney World every year for the past 3 years (once on a family trip and twice for Disney Social Media Moms). The boys have gotten hooked, but we were hooked first.

There are things we’d love to do at Disney World that you just can’t do with little kids. I’d love to go on the African Safari trek and some of the backstage tours. I’d want to spend time lazily walking through the countries in Epcot while holding B’s hand without screams of “I’ve got to go potty” ringing in my ears. I’d like to try some of the more upscale/romantic, less kid friendly restaurants. I don’t want to spend every meal wondering whether JSL will eat anything other than Mac & Cheese or pizza today. It will be wonderful to navigate through crowds without lugging a stroller and changes of kid clothes.

In short, as much as it is fun doing this:

I want to have a bit of time to do this:

Just please don’t tell NHL and JSL yet. I’m still steeling myself for their response.

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