I’ve been trying to keep an eye out for any Animal Crossing apps that will enhance my New Leaf experience, and I think I’ve found a real gem.

This app is called ACNL Guide, and it’s a FREE iPhone/Android app (no iPad version yet, although it scales up reasonably well). You can pay $0.99 in-app to remove the small banner ad at the bottom — and this app is TOTALLY worth $0.99.

The app gives you sortable lists to track your bugs, fish, fossils, and public works projects, and it also has an event calendar so you can keep an eye out for upcoming celebrations and contests.

The bug and fish lists have both a master list as well as a monthly breakdown. You can mark a critter as “caught” by tapping the bug or fish icon to the right of its name. You can tap the name to see the in-game encyclopedia’s image, when and where you can find it, and how much it sells for. (The sell price and rarity is also noted below the name in the master/month list, so you can just skim the list instead of having to tap everything to see what’s worth more.)

Here’s a gallery of screenshots with some more detailed info about each section:

There are only two tiny problems I have with this app. 1) If you pay to remove the banner ad, you’re prompted for your iTunes password every subsequent time you open the app — I’m sure this is just a bug, since you can hit “Cancel” to make it go away, and you’ll again see the “Ads Removed! Thank you for your support! Ads have been removed” message.  2) Some of the event descriptions are chopped off at the bottom (see this gallery image).

I’m sure these will be fixed in subsequent updates, but in the meantime, they’re a small distraction from what is a brilliant little app overall. Hope you guys find it useful too!

Peter and I tried this a couple months ago, and here’s the rundown:

Inspired to kale chips, this recipe claims that a little olive oil, a few herbs, and some time in the oven will reveal the best thing since sliced bread: spinach chips!

I didn’t have and couldn’t find the McCormick Italian Herb Seasoning Grinder anywhere, so I made do with some generic Italian seasoning and a pinch of garlic powder. I tasted one of the leaves before I laid them out to bake, and OMG…amazing!! I couldn’t help but think that after baking, these babies would be unbelievably delicious and my taste buds would explode with joy.

I tasted the baked leaves, and…meh. I personally found the raw seasoned leaves MUCH tastier. After baking, the spinach leaves also became very thin and fragile, falling apart if you picked them up by anything but the stem and almost dissolving on your tongue as soon as you put them in your mouth. Eating them was actually a bit like eating seasoned air…kinda weird eating a pile of something so insubstantial.

My impression:

   A Big Ol’ “Meh”   

This is another of the first Pins I tried, because I love things that smell amazing. Basically, all you have to do is find a Downy Unstopables scent you like and sprinkle a small handful in an oil warmer. Pop in a lit tealight, and wait for the amazing smell to permeate your home.

I went with the pink “Shimmer” scent, since that’s what appealed to me the most in the laundry aisle at the supermarket. It has a nice sweet, heady floral scent that fills the air nicely when warmed.

The downside to this Pin, besides the fact that Downy apparently can’t spell “unstoppables,” is that you may experience some fallout from any sensitive pets you may have.

We have two guinea pigs that live on the ground floor, about 10 feet from where my oil warmer is stationed. Our little Mona did not do well when I was using this stuff every day — she stopped eating and became listless, which is crazy because she’s kind-of a spaz and normally eats like there’s no tomorrow.

Peter connected the dots and realized that she started not feeling well right about the same time I started doing this, and we agreed to put the kibosh on the Downy for a week and see if she bounced back. She did, so be aware that the critters you share your home with might not do so well with this Pin. I mean, it’s meant for the washing machine, not an oil warmer, so how good can it be for you or your pets to breathe in all the time, anyway?

My conclusion:

   Smells Good != Good For You   

For today only, EverQuest II’s annual Bristlebane Day (April Fool’s Day) celebrations get kicked up a notch with special quests, rewards, buyables, and harvestables.

Make sure you head over to the Enchanted Lands and speak with Imenand the Sphinx for two today-only quests, and clear your bags so you have loads of room for harvestables from Frostfell, Tinkerfest, Erollisi Day, and more.

Get to it, since Bristlebane Day goes back to “normal” tomorrow! 🙂

I repinned this a few weeks back, and since then I’ve made two batches of these little beauties. They’re billed as “the fluffiest, chewiest, most amazing chocolate chip cookies —  all thanks to a very special ingredient.” And do you know what? They’re not wrong.

The “special ingredient” is corn starch, believe it or not, and it makes a heck of a difference. These cookies are airy and chewy, even after they’ve cooled, and if you catch one while it’s still warm from the oven, they are downright heavenly.

There’s not much more I can say about this recipe, except that I reduced the amount of corn starch in my second batch from 2 teaspoons to 1.5 teaspoons, and it improved the end result even more, in my opinion (and that of my official taste-tester, Peter).

My conclusion?

  Om nom nom nom!!