Lego book review: The Lego Adventure Book volume 2

Here's my Lego book review of the Lego Adventure Book volume 2! Please note that this is NOT an official book from Lego and that it is a book made by a group of fans and with Lego's approval, published to the public. Here are a few pictures of the book.

This book is a bit of a mix of comic+Lego building tips+instructions+humour and honestly speaking, I like this book. And this also inspired me to build a Lego MOC based on one of the things inside(ok to be exact it's a Lego Viper I got inspiration from this book for making that). Anyway, basically in this book, I'll show you what they describe a Lego Viper as.

Actually, my Lego Viper was originally a Lego jet, but then I did slight changes to meet the requirements of a Lego Viper. I'll show you that MOC soon! Overall, this book is pretty good, and I had finished reading it. :D I guess I can give it a 10/10! :D

Written by Lynn

Twisty Puzzle review: Pyraminx

Here's my Twisty puzzle review, the Pyraminx! I bought this at Comics Connection 2 days ago. Here are 2 pictures of it.

Green and blue side

Yellow and red side

So, basically, this has 4 sides- red, yellow, blue and green, which has orange and white(sometimes black) missing. So what did I even want this for? Well, I was starting to get a little bored with my 3x3 rubik's cube(well it's actually QJ brand and so was this) since I played with it everytime my phone was low on battery. So I thought I would get another twisty puzzle, and for some reason I choose this. Anyway it didn't really take a long time for me to solve after scrambling it. But, still, it's nice to have a new puzzle at last. My thoughts on this? Well, it is great in terms of turning, good enough for my taste. As for corner-cutting, I personally don't care about that, but I think why some people who likes twisty puzzles to have puzzles corner-cut is because if while solving, the cube gets out of line, turning another layer won't make any sort of difference and that cuber won't have to go and straighten it before turning another layer. But, for people who really really REALLY want to know how well it corner-cuts, well, it is just real bad. It can only corner-cut upwards, turning middle layer left, corner cut upwards, turning middle layer right a wee bit(hardly even a quarter), can't corner cut downwards, turning middle layer left and can't corner cut downwards, turning middle layer right, though that may be the same for all puzzles, since I don't really care about corner-cutting, I don't really notice that much. One thing I DO hate about this puzzle is that IT'S WHITE!!! I don't usually like white for my puzzles since dirtiness can be seen on a white surface easily. But anyway, that's it for my opinion on this puzzle!

Written by Lynn

Joyoung Soy Milk Maker

Buying a soy milk maker wasn't on the top of my list.  I have seen soy milk maker many times at various expo sale but never really stopped to look at the demo.

Then in December 2012, I happened to go to the Metro Expo sale and this time we stopped to look at a soy milk maker and realised that it could do more than just making soy milk.  However, we were not ready to spend so much on it, so we did not ask a lot of questions.

What I liked about it was that it could also grind and cook other beans, which meant that we could drink red bean beverage or green bean beverage which were finely blended, just like soy milk.  In this way, we can get the nutrients and fibre from beans.

So I began to find out more from the internet and realised that it has several functions.  Previously, when we wanted to make soy milk, we had to soak the soy beans for 4 to 6 hours. Now, with the soy milk maker, we can make soy milk from unsoaked beans.  This is good for that sudden craving to drink warm soy milk that is not readily available at night.  I also found out that it can blend fruit and cook congee, among other functions.

After considering for a few days, we went back to Metro Expo sale and bought the Joyoung Soy Milk Maker.  We bought this model since it was the newest model available and the sales lady told us it could grind the beans finer.  A recipe book and a recipe leaflet were also given to us with the purchase. Apparently, this machine could also make jam and there was even a recipe for kaya (coconut jam).

Top view of Joyoung soy milk maker

We tested it out that night with unsoaked soy beans.  It took about 25 mins to grind and cook the soybeans.  The best part was that we just needed to press a button and let the machine run its course.  After the soy milk was done, we used the sieve provided to filter it and, voila, freshly brewed soy milk!


A few days later, we made barley beverage with the machine. We put only 3/10 cup (using the measuring cup given) of washed barley into the machine and filled it up with water to the 1300 ml mark. Then we selected the appropriate function, pressed a button and waited for the machine to do its magic.

This was how it looked after the barley beverage was done.

It was amazing to be able to make 1300 ml of barley beverage out of a little quantity of barley.  Normally, when we boiled barley in a pot of water, the actual amount of barley beverage would be much less and the beverage would be quite dilute as the barley grains are not mixed into the water. However, when this machine was used to make a barley beverage, the barley would be grinded and formed part of the beverage, making it thicker. You get to drink the barley itself, unlike normal boiling whereby you have to chew on the whole barley grains after it was cooked.


Written by Anne
Photos by Anne

Remico Double Grill Frying Pan

I have seen the Happy Call double pan countless times on TV and in stores like Isetan and NTUC. I was very tempted to buy it especially since the price had been reduced. However, each time I tried to lift the Happy Call pan, the weight of it puts me off.  So I didn't want to buy a pan that may turn out to be a white elephant for me. I also find the Happy Call pan a bit too big for me. (I am ok with frying with a wok so a double pan would probably only be used for frying omelettes, pancakes and fish.)  I have also seen other brands of double pan but they were also a bit too heavy (may not be easy to turn especially when the pan is hot).

Yesterday, we happened to go to Giant Hypermart for groceries shopping and saw this Remico Double Grill Frying Pan selling at $24.99. The offer was only from 20 to 23 December. Upon lifting the pan, I found that it was so much lighter than the other double pans that I had tried before and was smaller than the Happy Call double pan. So we bought it.

I tested the Remico double grill pan today. The omelette turned out well. The pan had a non stick surface which was easy to clean. We also did a water test to see if the seal worked as well as the Happy Call pan and was glad that water did not drip out from the sides when the pan was turned.

We were satisfied with the purchase. Next time, we would try to fry pancakes and see if the pancakes turn out better than frying with a normal non-stick frying pan.

Written by Anne


Related post

Remico Double Grill Frying Pan - Part 2 (on Anne's Amore Ocean Blog)

Europace Multi-point Instant Water Heater EWH138

Our old storage water heater had been leaking for quite some time. We decided to get a new water heater to replace it since it was already 11 years old. So I began my search for a new water heater. I found out from the internet that multi-point instant water heaters are now available in Singapore.  

Eleven years ago, we installed a storage water heater because we wanted hot water for both the shower point and the tap at the washing basin. At that time, our contractor informed us that an instant water heater could only connect to one point. However, due to advances in technology, we found that now there are multi-point instant water heaters available. After some shopping, we bought a Europace multi-point water heater EWH138. The Europace multi-point water heater used our existing pipes so no replacement of pipes were required.

Initially, we set the temperature to medium. We normally bathe in the  bathroom adjoining the master bedroom. The heater was installed at the other bathroom in the kitchen. Thus the water had to travel some distance after it was heated. That meant that it was only warm enough for normal daily use but was not hot enough for showers on days when the weather was cooler.  

We then decided to set the temperature to high. Since then, the water was hot enough even on days when the weather was cooler. 

The advantages of this Europace multi-point instant water heater over storage water heaters are:

1)  We no longer have to switch on the water heater for 10 to 15 mins before taking a showers even on cooler days. This is great for us since we (the whole family) take turns to shower. For the storage water heater, we had to wait another 10 mins before the next person could take a shower on cold days, or else the water would not be hot enough.

2) The Europace water heater is much more compact.
   

Europace water heater

Old water heater

3) As the new water heater is also an instant water heater, it is supposed to consume less electricity. As we have just installed it, we would need to observe further before we can conclude that it really consumes less electricity.

It has been 2 weeks since the new Europace water heater was installed. So far, so good. Hope it lasts.

Written by Anne

[S$299.00][Europace]EUROPACE EWH 138 Water Heater (Multi Point)

WWW.QOO10.SG