…and beverages

Speaking of beverages, Brother Matt got Kara and I a Sodastream carbonated beverage machine as an anniversary gift. First off, big ups to him–wasn’t expecting a gift. It was really cool of him to think of us, and I am indebted to his generosity–hey, we don’t even really get each other anniversary gifts. Well, we sort-of did this year, by getting nice new Nautica beach chairs, with the cupholder, and the magazine pocket–anyway, that’s a different story.

So I had seen this home soda maker thing in Skymall–my favorite magazine ever, and if I win the lottery, I’m buying one of everything, and also about 50 of these to keep Labatt the Cat occupied. MJP ended up buying a soda maker, and swears by it…he and Steph, like us, drink a ton of soda. His reason for purchase was cost savings over buying soda at the supermarket; my desire for one was based on not wanting to lug soda up two flights of narrow stairs to our condo.

It is totally awesome. You fill the bottle with water, carbonate it, then put it in the fridge to get cold. When you’re ready to drink, you add some pre-mixed flavor stuff to the water, and bam! Instant soda.

I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m guessing you could just add lemon juice or something like that to the water to make really cheap flavored seltzer. The syrup that you add isn’t too expensive, though, and while I’m sure regular Coke probably tastes a little better–I haven’t done a head-to-head comparison–I’m perfectly happy with the “house” version we produce here at D&D’s of Aberdeen. I’m sure if you really tried, you could find a Coke supplier and buy a container of the actual syrup they put in fountain soda anyway.

Anyway, point is, it’s a pretty awesome toy, and I think it has a good chance of not getting relegated to the back of the kitchen gadget cupboard. If you tend to go through a lot of soda or seltzer and you hate the cost/hassle of carting it back from the store, you should look into getting a Sodastream.