Five Seasons in the Kitchen by Avital Sebbag

Rating: 3 out of 10

I love cookbooks. I have shelves and shelves of them -- in fact, I have an entire bookcase that I use just for cookbooks. It used to be in my kitchen, but now it is in our guest room, because our kitchen is too small to put an entire bookcase in there. I have a computer program to track recipes. Nearly all of my cookbooks are vegan, and they are all vegetarian. None of this is even counting ebooks, because why would I? They take up no space. (Or maybe they take up imaginary space?) I love to get new ecookbooks, because I don't have to worry about where to keep them!

I am just trying to impress upon you how much I love vegan cookbooks, and how often I read them. Because neither of those things are the issue with this book.

There are several problems with this book. The first is that it uses ingredients that I have never heard of, and have no idea where to find! When I read a cookbook, the first thing I look for is a simple recipe that I can make to get an idea of the author's taste. That was very difficult to find in this book. I don't have any idea what "hijiki" is or where to find it. In fact, the "simple" recipe I ended up making took 2 days to make! I had to sprout the lentils in advance. It was a very good recipe, though. It was delicious but plain, and tasted much better left over, which is good because it took 2 hours to cook, so it was ready well after dinner time (and in fact closer to bed time!).

And that leads me to another problem. Reading through this book could make you think that vegan recipes require lots of advance preparation, exotic ingredients that are difficult to find, and lots of cooking time. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Measurements were only in grams, which is a problem because I have no way of measuring that. I don't have a kitchen scale handy because I use volume measurements and not by weight. I have seen quite a few cookbooks where the author used grams, but put in volume equivalents, such as cups. It is also a problem with tofu. The amounts they called for seem to be about a third of a package here. I don't think we have that size and I have no idea how to get the equivalent amount of tofu, so I just skipped the tofu recipes. (I was able to just google "how many lentils in 500 grams" and then measure it in cups.)

In an ebook, you want to link to other recipes that you call for. For example, in the Three Way Toastini recipe, it calls for 3 separate spreads found elsewhere in the book, but there is no link to them. How am I supposed to find the recipe "on page 98?" I'm not sure if this is a problem from taking this cookbook from print to ebook, but it is a significant problem for me.

I will probably explore this cookbook further, especially if I find some hijiki, but it is just unlikely to become one of my favorites. I have a distinct preference for simple recipes with easy preparation, and this book is much too complicated for me. I received this book for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Tea Tree Oil from New York Biology

I was really excited to get this product. I have heard great things about tea tree oil and about how beneficial it is for you. I ordered this product and when it was delivered, about half of the tea tree oil had leaked out somehow. Luckily, it was separately packed in a bubble wrap bag, but frankly, it's still in there. It made such a mess. It also has a very strong smell, so it would be wonderful to NOT have it spilled all over the place. I really can't tell how it leaked; the bottle doesn't seem to have a break in it, and it hasn't leaked any more since it arrived. But there is oil all over the bag and the bottle and the dropper, so I haven't put it together. I did use the oil for a bath, as it is supposed to have a really good benefit for your skin.

The return process worked very well; I notified amazon, and because this product wasn't available, they issued a refund to me so that I can repurchase it when it becomes available. Since it is now available, I will purchase it again. I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Premium Outdoor Hammock by TripWorthy

My first video review! It was pretty exciting to make. Of course, being that I am more of a photographer than videographer (although I have done both), I did enjoy taking the photos and then doing a voiceover with the photos. There is in fact very little video in my video!

This hammock is amazing. Not only is it my favorite color, which is an awesome bonus, but the hammock itself is really cool. It is made out of parachute fabric, which has a very unique feel to it. It's very smooth. And it's also very sturdy. It can hold up to 500 pounds!

We all love it so much. We have two trees that are the perfect distance apart, and it's so relaxing. One amazon reviewer suggested using this hammock instead of a tent while camping! I'm definitely going to try that.

Rating: 10 out of 10

I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Peppermint Essential Oil by New York Biology

Rating: 10 out of 10

Okay, I will admit, I don't know much about essential oils. So I can't tell you much about how this is processed or anything like that. But I can tell you that I ordered it, it went extremely smoothly, and that I love the scent of this oil!

I have always loved the smell, and taste, of peppermint. I just love it. I have loved it ever since I was a little child. My grandmother loved it too. In fact, my grandmother and I liked a lot of the same things. Could I have inherited her taste buds and scent preferences? I wouldn't have thought that was something that could be inherited, but maybe it can. Regardless, I have always been soothed and invigorated by anything minty.

I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. To be clear, I choose the products I want to review, so they do tend to be things I like! Not everything I review does meet my standards, however. But it's just like shopping - I apply for products I would like to review. When I saw peppermint essential oil, I jumped at the chance, because I *love* peppermint so much! I am very grateful for the opportunity.

I have been reading a lot about essential oils. There are many uses for them that I haven't tried yet but would like to: using a candle diffuser, using a neutral carrier oil to dilute them, and making heating pads with rice or seeds, just to name a few.

One thing I have really enjoyed is that I made a linen spray with this peppermint oil, and also one with lavender oil. I really enjoy spraying it it on the bed and it gives it a lovely scent. I bought unscented liquid soap so that I can mix the peppermint scent into it. It has just been so great to have the essential oil to add some lovely scent to everything. I've really enjoyed it.

Relaxing Sleep Tea by Cuppa Magic

Rating: 7 out of 10

I admit, I was pretty skeptical of this tea that claims to help with both major symptoms of insomnia: getting to sleep, and staying asleep. I mean, everyone drinks chamomile tea to relax, and I drink ginger tea as well. I have never heard of any of them truly helping with insomnia!

I, personally, would no longer say that I have insomnia. When I was younger, I had a lot of trouble with getting to sleep. I would stay up all night, until the wee hours of the morning. Even then I had trouble falling asleep! I'm very lucky to no longer have that problem. However, I do have trouble now with staying asleep. I get very upset when I wake up at 4 am for absolutely no reason, and am unable to get back to sleep! It's so frustrating.

I did find that this tea helped with that. On the nights when I drank the Relaxing Sleep Tea, it did help me to stay asleep. However, I don't know if it helped anymore than drinking plain chamomile or ginger or any of the other ingredients in the tea. I can say for certain that it is a very soothing tea. And it tastes wonderful!

One of the cons of this tea is the price. If it were priced like a normal tea, $3-$5 for a box of 20 tea bags, I would buy it over and over again. However, it isn't. It is a high-end (and therefore, high-priced!) tea. As of today (September 15, 2016), it is priced on Amazon for $25 for 14 tea bags, or $31.87 for 30. http://amzn.to/2d2eUls

Now, if you have a lot of difficulty with sleeping, and if you find this to be helpful in getting to sleep or staying asleep, it might be worth a dollar a day. Sleep is highly valuable, after all! There is no arguing with that! I, personally, would probably try lower cost solutions before I tried this one. I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Super Markers Set with 100 Unique Marker Colors

Rating: 9 out of 10

My entire life, I have only colored with crayons. My mother taught me how: outline the part you are coloring slightly darker, and then fill in that section. I've always enjoyed doing it that way.

My son has never felt that way. He didn't enjoy coloring very much when he was younger, and now he is happy to use either colored pencils or markers.

My son has always enjoyed drawing his own photos more than coloring. But as he's gotten older, he appreciates the relaxation of coloring more.

He is so creative. And just look at the differences in the colors, and the brightness of them.

This set is incredible. Every color is different, which is just amazing to me. I didn't think there would be that much variety.

I just love selecting the colors. I colored this mandala, and I didn't use a single color twice. I believe I used about 60 colors. (I should have kept count!)

They are just gorgeous colors. The only reason I rated them a 9 and not a 10 is because they do not have different color names on the markers themselves, or even different numbers. I would like a way to keep track of the ones I liked best.

Also, they have a great storage rack. Each marker has a place, and it works really well.

I received these markers for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. And they are amazing.  You can see my amazon review here: https://www.amazon.com/review/R2NMYM1BVF2UZ6/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

Red Wine Decanter by Bella Vino

Rating: 5 out of 10

My first decanter!

I really enjoyed using a decanter. I found it to be much more elegant than drinking out of the bottle, and I did find it to be a much different taste than when I just pour wine right out of the bottle.

This decanter is a beautiful, modern design. I really like the large bell shape at the bottom, and the neck is very striking. However, the lip design is not correct for pouring. At least, I could not do anything to keep it from dripping. There was always one drop on the lip after I poured it out. Since I used to pour wine for a living, this really surprised me. I am pretty sure my skills are not that rusty!

The first wine we tried in the decanter was a red house blend. We decided that we should try it both before and after being decanted. The initial taste was absolutely horrible! I could not believe how awful this wine was. It had a sharp tanginess that really overpowered the wine. After sitting in the decanter for one hour, the wine was actually drinkable! I mean, it still wasn't a great wine. But that nasty aftertaste was gone. I'm not sure if it was because of the aeration of pouring it into the decanter, or letting it "breath" in the decanter, or some combination, but it was well worth waiting an hour. Honestly, if this wine had not been in the decanter, I may have dumped it out and given up completely.

The second wine we tried was three buck Chuck. Yes, a lovely Charles Shaw Shiraz. I actually really like this wine; it is a very simple wine, without a lot of complex flavors. It goes well with just about anything you may be eating. (I don't remember what we ate, but I'm sure it paired well with it.) There was less of a difference in flavor here, but the decanter really did mellow out the flavor. I really preferred the wine after it was decanted, although my dinner companion did not, and felt that something was missing.

All in all, I really love using the decanter. Despite it's flaw, I will continue to use it because of how much it improves the taste of the wine. I will just make sure to have a towel handy to wipe up that one lone drop after every pour! I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.