Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Review & Giveaway: Pouch Pal

21 comments:

I don’t think there is a parent on this planet that doesn’t know about the fruit/vegetable blend squeezy pouches. Which means we are all well aware of the huge mess that comes along with them.

The nutritional value that kids willingly accept from them almost make the mess worth it – almost.

I personally, have avoided them for the most part. Every now and then I will hold the pouch while my 1 year old sips from it, but that doesn’t provide much in the way of independence, of course. If I hand it to her, its going to end up all over her high chair or car seat, her face and hair and if I'm lucky, some may even go in her mouth.

I was very thrilled at the opportunity to try out Pouch Pal! Pouch Pal is a durable plastic snap-on cover creating a squeeze proof feeding experience. It reminds me of the hard plastic holders that exist for juice boxes – except a child can't pull these out at will!

While inserting the pouch into the Pal is simple enough, it still took a few times for me to grasp it. There is a bit of a technique to it. For starters, make sure you have a compatible pouch. There are so many different brands out and unfortunately they aren’t all made the same. One of the main things to remember when purchasing your pouches is the notches by the lid. One or two top notches will latch it just fine, but some pouches are made with no notches, or even side open.

Also, some pouches are too large. I was afraid that some would be too small, like Buddy Fruits for instance, but luckily they are still compatible.


Once you have the correct pouch (and there are LOTS of popular brands that work, most in fact!) you have to create a rainbow with the bottom. This is what helps the Pouch Pal still deliver the goods to your child, without them being able to squeeze out the contents.



Then insert into the Pal, tucking in all the edges so it can close securely. Once it is closed, open the lid. The first few times this created a bit of an explosion, but I just had to get the hang out placement without created unneeded tension. Now you are ready to hand off the tasty treat to your little one.

If you think they won't finish off the pouch in once sitting, you can open back up the Pouch Pal and insert the lid into the handy cap saver storage beneath your rainbowed bottom.



The child proof locking allows piece of mind that they wont dislodge the pouch, but I still wouldn’t call it “Spill Proof” in our household. We have a thrower. When she is done, she has no signal other than lodging an item as far away from her as possible, which of course causes some mess. This is obviously no fault of Pouch Pal, and nothing they can help avoid.

They do suggest wrapping a hairband around the device so when thrown, it wont bust open, but we haven’t had that issue yet.

In case of mess, they are easily cleaned by placing in the top rack of the dishwasher.

I was sent both their trademark turquoise, as well as an orange. The Pouch Pal is also available in pink and blue. I think this is an amazing tool to have around and would make an excellent gift for new parents! I'm a fan, and will be spreading the word to all my fellow moms, for sure!

Although I mostly have my toddler in mind with this, I have a 6 year old that equally loves these pouches. We have to tell her they are apple sauce, and love that she is actually drinking spinach, beet, etc. Now I can have better peace of mind in the car and elsewhere that I wont have a giant mess to clean when she finishes one.

Pouch Pal is available for purchase on their website for $10.00 each, and shipping is free when you order 2 or more. They are also available via Amazon.

Pouch Pal does ship internationally, but be sure to check you have access to the right sized pouches in your area before making your purchase.

Pouch Pal is offering one US winner (including APO addresses) 2 Pouch Pals in the winner's choice of color!  Read on to see how you can enter to win.






To enter the giveaway, you must leave a comment in this entry as instructed by the Rafflecopter below, then leave the name you commented under and your email in the box in the Rafflecopter entry. (This allows us to contact you if you win!) This will open up additional optional entries to increase your odds of winning.

This giveaway is open to US RESIDENTS ONLY (INCL. APO ADDRESSES) and will end just before midnight ET on 2-10. 

The winner will be notified by email within 24 hours after the end of the giveaway. In order to claim the giveaway prize, the winner will need to respond within 24 hours of notification, or an alternate winner will be selected.

Once the winner has responded and confirmed, their first name will be posted on our Giveaways  page.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Party in Your PJs #90

1 comment:
Welcome to Party in Your PJs!

Happy Tuesday!  Welcome to the Party in Your PJs Link Party, where your posts will be seen on five different blogs each week.   In addition to Kim from The Cookie Puzzle and Bree from bumblebreeblog, you'll also find Party in Your PJs every Tuesday evening at Grandma IdeasWood of Bell Trees and... here!

You'll still find the Awesome Life Friday link up here at RCHReviews, every Thursday evening at 8pm ET so we hope to see you there as well.


Are you ready to party? I can't wait to see what you've brought to share!



Kim ~ The Cookie Puzzle | Facebook | Pinterest 
Bree ~ bumblebreeblog | Facebook | Pinterest
Nina ~ Grandma Ideas | Pinterest | Twitter
Lynda ~ Reviews, Chews & How-Tos | Facebook | Pinterest
Heather ~ Woods of Bell Trees | Facebook | Instagram

 Meet the Co-Hosts

Bree @ bumblebreeblog

Bree explores the possibilities offered by new and recycled materials to create solutions for decorating, the holidays, and gift giving that combine thoughtful inspiration with myriad materials and careful planning to create excellent projects. In addition to crafting, BumbleBreeBlog includes craft and blog related lifestyle advice ranging from wedding vendors to blog tips, and every bit of inspiration along the way. Bree Inspired! 

Kim @ The Cookie Puzzle 

Kim is a small town girl who love simple things. Simple cookies, simple crafts and simple people. She is a wife, mother to one son and two adorable fur babies. Slightly addicted to reality TV and sitcoms, but she loves curling up with a good book or a good walk while listening to podcasts. You can find her at The Cookie Puzzle, where she shares her love for cookies and crafting. 

Nina @ Grandma Ideas 

How is this: Nina is wildly in love with her grandchildren. She delights in doing activities with them that strengthen their relationship –- playing games, doing crafts, snuggling, reading stories to them, and cooking together. She enjoys reading, technology, and traveling. (Tahiti is her most favorite place on earth!)

Lynda @ Reviews, Chews & How-Tos 

Lynda lives outside DC with her husband Michael and elderly beagle, Sadie. She and her daughter Jackie started RCHReviews as a way to spend time together in spite of living across country, and along the way they've added several friends as regular contributors. Between them all, they bring together many different perspectives and lifestyles with one common philosophy - try new things, have fun, and remember you are awesome!

 Heather @ Wood of Bell Trees

Heather is a wife of a peanut butter fanatic and mom of one silly human and one furry canine, wrangling life on 2nd shift and glitterizing everything as she goes!







The rules for the group board include:
1. Limit of one pin a day.
2. Just like the party anything goes, but clear wonderful pictures with great descriptions are most successful.
3. Please no Spam ( Spammers will be deleted without warning)
4.  If you pin to the Pinterest Board, please link to the Party in Your PJs Party also, the party runs from 7 pm Tuesdays-Midnight Saturday (Central Time)
5.  Finally have fun and share this group board  with blog friends and followers!  The more success the group board is the more success you will see from your pins.

Want to be added to the group board?  Follow our Party in Your PJs board and comment on this post with your Pinterest name or email Bree at bumblebreeblog@gmail.com or Kim at thecookiepuzzle@gmail.com

Features from Last Weeks Party!




  
Make sure you head over to the other member of Party in Your PJs
 to see their features - we each pick our own features!

Were you Featured? Grab a button!


All links are pinned to a Party Board...you can follow the board on Pinterest...feel free to follow the board, there is lots of inspiration to be found there.

Ok...let's party!

Rules
-Link to post, not your home page
-Link to something YOU made, wrote or thought
-No Etsy or Business Pages
-Link Parties, Roundups and Giveaways welcome
- Don't Link and Run! Please visit other links, make friends, learn something new, leave a comment, we all love comments
-If you were featured, grab a"Featured" button, found below.
-Consider adding our Party button to your Party Page or Post.


Review: Smacha Tea

10 comments:


During my time with Reviews, Chews and How-tos, I've had the pleasure of reviewing several different tea sampling and delivery services. I am a voracious lover of tea so I have jumped at every opportunity to try out a tea service.

Here for you today is a little something different than my past reviews. I present to you, Smacha Tea. The big difference between this review and my other tea related reviews is that those were more a review of a sample delivery service, where this will be an actual product review.

Smacha is a company that offers Real Tea. To quote them directly:
"...tea that's made from the right variety, grown in the proper region, processed correctly, and that meets or exceeds the strictest standards for pesticides and other chemicals—and it tastes great too. We strive to be the most trusted tea brand in the world, providing great service, promoting healthy lifestyles, and educating all of our guests about the value of real tea."
Most of my experience with tea has been of the more "British" tradition and variety, so to say that I was out of my element would be a huge understatement. I contacted Smacha to let them know that I would be conducting their product review and received a prompt and courteous reply followed quickly by a neat little box containing 5 bags of green, pu'erh, oolong and red Chinese tea.

I have very little experience with what I'll call green teas. As I said, my tastes lean toward a hearty English breakfast tea or a builder's tea. However, I've always been fascinated with the tea ritual involved in properly brewing green tea, so I was excited to give it a go.

To my slight dismay though, each bag of tea told me very little about the contents. The names were neatly hand written on the bag, telling me what the variety was and the region it came from but that was about it. There were no brewing instructions, measurements or flavor profiles with the teas themselves.

I visited the Smacha website to see if I could get more information and was able to find brewing instructions for some of the varieties that I received but not all five. I don't consider that to be a negative though. The Smacha website is very easy to navigate and has a clean, beautiful layout. Even though I wasn't sure of the optimal preparation method for each style,  I was up for the adventure of figuring it out!

So, I set out to treat my box of teas like a science experiment to get the most out of my review. I know that with some of the green teas I've had in the past, you use water that is not quite boiling at 170°, pour water directly over dried leaves and steep for 2-3 minutes.

I treated every variety of tea exactly the same. I placed one level teaspoon of tea into my cup, poured my hot water over the top and set my timer for 2 minutes. I then tasted the teas and wrote my thoughts on smell, and appearance both dry and brewed and also taste.

Here are my personal findings and opinions (including the varieties of tea I received)

Jing Mai "Old Tree" Ripe Pu'erh

Jing Mai "Old Tree" Ripe Pu'erh: This tea comes from 100 year old trees that grow in the Jing Mai mountains of Yunnan Province, China.

Appearance of dry leaves: matted and blackish in color.
Smell of dry leaves: alfalfa or hay that has been sitting in the sun
Taste of brewed tea: grassy, sharp, earthy
Brewed tea was deeply red in color.
Price: $12 for 2oz (larger quantities available)

Jing Mai "Old Tree" RAW Pu'erh: The difference between the ripe pu'erh and the raw pu'erh is in how the leaves are fermented. The raw pu'erh leaves are still green. This tea, like the ripe pu'erh comes from the 100 year old trees in the Jing Mai Mountains of Yunnan Province, China.

Appearance of dry leaves: matted and dark green in color
Smell of dry leaves: alfalfa or hay but very fresh, flowery, clean
Taste of brewed tea: very subtle, clean, slightly citrus, subtle sweetness.
This was my second favorite next to the oolong, below. I could easily enjoy a pot of this any time of day.
Price:$12 for 2 oz (larger quantities available)


Da Jin High Mountain Oolong

Da Jin High Mountain Oolong: This tea comes from "a 60 year old mountain top tea garden" in the Da Jin mountains of Fujian China.

Appearance of dry leaves: pearled and dark green in color
Smell of dry leaves: bright, flowery, fresh cut grass
Taste of brewed tea: grassy, citrusy, bright, refreshing, slightly sweet
Brewed tea was golden yellow in color.
This was my favorite variety. I feel like I could drink this all day.
Price: $20 for 2oz (larger quantities available)

Mao Feng Mtn. Green Tip

Mao Feng "Mountain Green Tip": The brewing instructions were available for this variety and it is also listed as their best seller. This variety comes from Wuyi, Zhejiang Province, China.

Appearance of dry leaves: grass like and green in color
Smell of dried leaves: woody, grassy, sweet
Taste of brewed tea: savory, salty almost, slightly bitter
Brewed tea was pale green in color.
This was my least favorite variety - definitely one for those who love green tea.
Price: $12 for 2oz (larger quantities available)


Smacha Red #27

Smacha Red #27: Brewing instructions were available for this variety also. This variety comes from Anxi, Fujian Province, China.

Appearance of dry leaves: pearled and blackish in color.
Smell of dried leaves: earthy, musky, dried berry notes
Taste of brewed tea: rich, slightly savory, drying, grassy, berry notes
Brewed tea was pale orange in color. This tea was closest in taste to my usual favorite black teas. I quite enjoyed it.
Price: $18 for 2 oz (larger quantities available)

After conducting my experiment and writing most of this review, it dawned on me that there was a number on each of the varieties of tea I received. That number was the proper brewing temperature of the water. I assumed it was a designation of variety so I overlooked it. That was a personal error on my part!

I have learned a whole new appreciation for tea through this review, and I'm excited to continue drinking these wonderful teas. I'm currently looking into getting a proper set up for brewing and serving these types of teas, as my English tea set seems anachronistic for the purpose. Smacha carries a good variety of teaware, too!

Smacha has a brick and mortar store that you can visit in Bellevue, Washington where they will teach you the art of brewing tea. They serve desserts and drinks made from their products. I am putting a visit to their shop on my bucket list.


If you would like to learn more about the art of brewing tea, please visit Smacha on their website, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.