The Sorcerer's Apprentice Review

I finally sat down and watched The Sorcerer's Apprentice last night and I really enjoyed it. I am a Disney lover, so it had quite a lot to live up to in my eyes and I thought it did a great job. There were quite a few predictable moments, but few movies today don't have that same issue.
I wasn't too sure about Nicolas Cage as the lead before I saw the movie. He has done some great movies, but I always say "that is Nicolas Cage playing that person". It's always him, I never get lost in the character where you forget who is playing them. This movie, I had some of those moments. There were several scenes where it was just Balthazar, but there were still the Nicolas Cage playing Balthazar moments.
Jay Baruchel did an excellent job playing Dave, the awkward young adult trying to find out who he is thing. Some of the awkwardness was almost painful. There was one moment with him on top of the Chrysler building with Becky, played by Teresa Palmer, where he actually reminded me of Christian Slater a bit with his shrugging shoulders and speech.
For me, the standout was Toby Kebbell playing Drake Stone. I had NO idea that this was the same actor that played Garsiv in The Prince of Persia. He played the character so convincingly. It does help that his character was written well and added a touch of humor to the story.
All in all I thought the cast was really good for this movie and they made a movie that was fun to watch.
From a parent's stand point, this is not a movie for young children. There isn't a lot of gore as the characters just turned to a kind of dust or disappeared usually. There was no bad language or sex. It was just a little scary in parts. The characters get sucked in to different containers, a character is formed out of a growing pile of roaches, there are some pretty destructive fight scenes and a few of the characters die, just not in very violent ways. The scariest part (to me at least) was the scene in Chinatown with Sun-Lok. He was very creepy looking, but still kinda cool looking. He brought a dragon to life and controlled it with a dragon on his belt. This part was the scariest mainly because of the dragon and because the dragon on his belt was moving under his skin which was very realistic looking.
For older children, this would not be a bad movie to watch. As with every movie, I suggest watching it without them the first time.

Cook Yourself Thin Recipe Review: Spaghetti and Meatballs

Like many women, having a second child means many things. One: I have less time for myself. Two: Because of one, I take less care of myself. And three: my body isn't what it was before kids. Because of these factors, I have started trying to find little cheats and short cuts. Workouts that I can do in less time and get better results, ways to sneak in exercise into daily activities (even though chasing after a toddler is plenty) and better meals. The latter has led me to become a fan of the show Cook Yourself Thin It shows how to cook the foods you love and cook them healthier, but keep the taste. Let's face it, if it doesn't taste good you aren't going to eat it.
I liked what they were doing, but didn't believe the women that came on saying they loved the food and it tasted better than the original, unhealthy version. Really, were they going to say "wow, that tastes like poo" on the show? I was ready to go out and buy the book when I glanced over at my shelf of recipe books. Most of us have this shelf. The shelf of books with recipes that looked so good and so easy and once you brought it home and started cooking you realized it would be tastier to eat the book or you needed an advanced degree to make the food. So I decided to do the safe and smart thing; I printed off some of the recipes from the site to try first. Honestly, if the spaghetti and meatballs couldn't be done, I wasn't going to try anything else.
First thing I noticed: the recipes on the site are not exactly like the ones on the show. This one had a few different spices and the cooking was a little different (on the show they cook the sauce and balls 15 min. lid on, 15 min lid off-the recipe says 30 min lid on) I honestly don't think the changes are big enough it would alter the food much. This recipe was super easy to make and easy to follow. Though I did personalize it a little. I used onion powder instead of diced up onions because my husband doesn't like to eat onions. I didn't use the red pepper flakes because we don't like a lot of spice late at night because I don't want to have to eat Tums as after dinner mints (man do I sound old) and I won't use veal for personal reasons. Instead of the veal, I got the butcher to grind up 1/3 lb of the leanest beef they had.
In the end, the spaghetti and meatballs DID taste better healthier. The whole wheat pasta had a great flavor and really left me feeling satisfied eating less. The freshly grated Parmesan gave a good kick without putting much. I did use less salt in my batch and will still cut it back a bit next time, it just had way too much salt for my taste. Of course, I didn't have the red pepper flakes to counter balance that.
I do recommend this recipe and will be buying the book soon. The only change I would make is less salt and tell you to break up the bread before adding it to the mixture so you don't get any clumps of it. All and all, two forks up!

Rachel Ray's Hard Anodized Cookware Review

My husband got me exactly what I wanted for Christmas, Rachel Ray's Hard Anodized Cookware. This is a great cookware set. I haven't found anything that will stick to it which lets you cut down on the oil you use, as well as speeds up the clean up. One day I had to leave eggs cooking in it while I took care of something with my son and though they were burnt when I came back, they didn't stick! They heat evenly so your food will cook evenly and the handles have great grips. The only cons for this cookware is that the handles are screwed on instead of one solid piece so you have to clean really well so that food doesn't build up and grow bacteria. Also, if the box doesn't read "Dishwasher Safe" it is NOT dishwasher safe. I assumed the opposite and didn't see anything in the instructions, so I popped it in the dishwasher once. This is really bad for this cookware and will leave spots on the outer surface. The non anodized might be dishwasher safe, but the hard anodized definitely is not as I found out on the website.
Another tip is getting the cookware somewhere like Amazon.com because you will save about $50 off the price it is in stores.

Bones New Season Review

I am an avid Bones watcher. I started watching at the beginning and still watch today, even though that usually means recording it and watching when my kids are asleep. I have loved this show from the beginning even in times when you just want to scream "Come on! Get Bones and Booth together already!" But, I think they have handled that relationship beautifully and have stayed true to the characters and what the characters would really do. Yes, we the fans would love to see them together already and living happily ever after, but just like with the Angela-Hodgins relationship, it has to happen the way it would in real life with these people. This week's episode, The Bullet in the Brain, it was nice to see that there is still something there for Bones with Booth even though he said last week that he loves Hannah after Bones confessed her feelings. I also loved that we saw a little more into Sweets this week. They started to do some real character development back in the episode "Mayhem on the Cross" but even then, a lot was left unexplained (like all the scars on his back).
Now, I'm not sure if it's just me, but this season seems to be getting a little more graphic and.....I'll just say it, gross. Not that it's been all unicorns and rainbows before, but it still seems like more. With the Gravedigger's head blowing up and the woman in the lye....maybe they got a bigger special effects budget. Either way, I will continue to watch.

How I Met Your Mother Review

I'm going to try and keep this as short as possible, because I love this show and could write a lot. I love the premise of the show and the way the story is told. The show is based on one character's search for "the one", but they also develop the other primary characters enough for you to care. To watch a show and care about every character's story line in the same way is a great thing. When the character's laugh at something the other one said, it looks like an unscripted laugh. It looks like they are genuinely laughing and enjoying the story. Yes, it does remind me of Friends just a little bit, but I think it is a little wittier, a little more clever and less obvious about some of the humor.
My only dislike has nothing to do with the actual show, but the way the reruns are aired. I came in a few seasons late and did catch up in the reruns. They play episodes back to back, but they aren't in order. One is older and one is newer. If you don't pay attention, it becomes very confusing, especially when you watch the new season episodes.

Carrabba's Italian Grill in Plano, Texas

My husband loves Italian food! In fact, he wants it every Monday night. This has usually meant going to a small family place when we lived in a small town or going to the Olive Garden or Johnny Carino's in the city. An employee of my husband told him that there was this great place called Carrabba's Italian Grill near our home, so we thought we would try it out. First, this is not a family friendly restaurant. We had some horrified looks from couples when we walked in with a 3 year old and an infant, but our kids are very well behaved (in public). I understand lighting for a certain ambiance, but this place was just dark. I could barely see my food and under the lighting, or lack of, my chicken looked raw. We were seated almost immediately and then the waiting began. We waited almost ten minutes for our waiter to get our drink order and then another five minutes for our drinks. If this had been a weekend or peak dining hour, I would have understood, but we tend to eat at the beginning of the week before the dinner rush hours. Next, we looked over the menu. Typical Italian menu with a few signature dishes. Being allergic to bell pepper and having a slight reaction to tomatoes does put me at a disadvantage, but I'm used to that and don't hold it against the restaurant. I asked the waiter several questions about the food and what it was prepared with and he gave me a bit of an attitude. I explained my allergies and he said "oh, ok" and was nicer. Should it make a difference whether I despise bell peppers or whether they will bring about my untimely demise? Ok, a little dramatic. So, in the end, I was left with only a few options and ordered the chicken marsala with no soup or salad (I hate iceburg lettuce).
The food came after about 40 minutes, which the waiter said was because it was messed up and had to go back, a fact that would have been nice to know when it happened. So, he placed the food in front of me, and it was still wrong. He took mine back and I got it back when my husband was almost done with his meal (chicken fettucini alfredo). The portions were much smaller than what we are used to, but I know they were more in line with what our portions should look like, but I was HUNGRY! I don't know how the French do it. The food was pretty good.....well, it was decent. My mashed potatoes were about 45% large potato bits and as I wrote earlier, the lighting made me question the chicken. In the end, I don't think it's really fair to judge a place on one bad experience unless you get food poisoning or something because often it's whatever chef or waiter happens to be working that day. I wish that wasn't the case and there was more consistency. That being said though, we will not be returning to Carrabba's any time soon. It was $10-$15 per entree which is in line with most Italian, but with smaller portions and less options for a picky eater.

Kroger's Website Review

I am a weekly Kroger shopper. I also use their digital coupons and check out the weekly sales ad online. I strongly dislike their website. Not only does it take a long time for anything to load (I have wireless high speed) because of everything on the page, but it is always asking for your zip code. It asks your zip code on the first page, then you sign in, next you click weekly ad and it asks for your zip code again! If you click coupons, it will ask you to sign in for a second time. When you open your account, you put your location and choose your store so I don't understand why every time you go to do anything you have to do this little dance. It becomes very irritating. But, it is a great store and they are very accommodating about coupons, so I will continue to use them. If being annoyed by a website is the worst thing to happen to me on a given day, I guess it's still a pretty good day.