SodaStream

I asked for a SodaStream for Christmas. My mother-in-law came through.

Years ago I started diluting my daughter's juice with seltzer as a refreshing summer treat and it gets to the point where I can go through a liter of "bubbles" a day.

What complicates this is the fact that only Wegmans has good bubbles. The brand of bubbles at Giant go flat a day after you open them and Target only has flavored bubbles which are more expensive than plain and often have artificial sweeteners.

We made our first two liters last night-- and prepared juice with bubbles for her and flavored water for me (with one of the sample flavors).

I drank a liter plus of bubbles and got up four times during the night to use the bathroom.

The SodaStream Genesis is simple to use, does not require electricity, and is a slender machine. What freaks me out is that the bottles are not only not dishwasher safe, but they can't be washed in hot water/water hotter then 120 degrees.

They also suggest carbonating the water, chilling it and then adding soda syrup directly to the bottle-- I'd be afraid that would taint the bottle with flavor.

Fruity sparkling cocktail

I finally made my zucchini cakes tonight and wanted to serve a cocktail to go with it, something light for summer.

So I placed some ice, about one cup seltzer, about 1/3 cup berry juice, a splash blue curacao and a splash of grenadine in the shaker and mixed.