Best Grape Soda

All through the warm months, limeade feels like the ideal refreshment, especially when mixed with seltzer. Light, sparkling, and snappy without being too acidic, this mixed drink graces the table nearly every day, March - October.

But as the weather cools, the dark, intense, anti-oxidant rich siren call of grape juice beckons. Undiluted 100% juice packs a big blood sugar punch, a little overwhelming. Recalling memories of the grape soda of my youth, I tried mixing my fresh seltzer half and half to craft a homemade soda. Perfect! Fizzy, with a clear, pure grape flavor - and not too sweet. Deluxe.

Yamalot

If yar whatcha eat, then I yam what I yam. Technically, I'm a sweet potato, marketed here as a yam. A tuber by any other name . . .

Autumn brings out my craving for orange foods - pumpkins, butternut squash, acorn squash, and the almighty yam, sweetest of potatoes.

A baked yam makes my favorite second breakfast (the mid-morning snack that prevents the wolfing down of a super-sized lunch). Generally, I throw a few yams in the oven whenever I need to bake something else at ~350 degrees. Scrubbed clean, stabbed to avoid explosions, and lightly oiled, they emerge ready for butter and salt. For the next few days, 30 seconds in the microwave provides the best fast food ever.

Homemade Soda Flavors

In our house, a 'mixed drink' means seltzer and fruit juice (sometimes with a little white wine, too). A soda comes in a can with either high-fructose syrup or the dreaded aspartame. While sodas make cameo appearances at home, they didn't seem worth buying Sodastream's make-your-own soda flavorings for.

So I was ambivalent when the Value Pack arrived with a set of 3 'flavor essence' bottles and a 12-pack of trial size flavor goo samples. Nearly half the full range of flavors offered for sale, our kit included: fountain mist (a Mountain Dew knock-off), lemon-lime, orange, root beer, energy (cringe), cola, pete's choice (a Dr. Pepper knock-off), cranberry-raspberry, and pink grapefruit. The non-diet choices contain sucrose rather than high-fructose corn syrup; and the diet versions use sucralose (Splenda) rather than aspartame. Small improvements. Sadly, the colas use phosphoric acid (the calcium leacher) like most brands do, rather than the tartartic acid alternative a few have tried.



So far, we've only tried the Pete's, which is a dead ringer for a fountain serving of Dr. Pepper and its imitators - same flavor, with the slightly syrupy quality that fountain drinks often have. On Thanksgiving, we'll keep all 4 bottles chilled, so that we can add a flavor to any liter on demand - a nice party trick.

For us, just breaking the bottled water habit was enough. For regular soda drinkers, however, a favorite flavoring or two could be the short route to kicking the habit of bringing pop home in plastic or aluminum six packs.

Homemade Soda, First Try

After entertaining ourselves with the Soda Club site's cute videos, we picked the Fountain Jet model and opted to pay a little more for the Value Pack, in order to get extra bottles and a second 110-liter fizz canister (I am always skeptical of value-anything options; but it was the more economical way to go, since we wanted the extras and shipping charges were waived).

The unit assembled easily, with one surprise - at 17" tall, it wouldn't fit in the spot I had planned, on a counter but under a hanging cabinet. Fortunately, it is cordless and can be set anywhere (even inside a cupboard) between uses.
Following the simple instructions, we filled one BPA-free water bottle to the fill line with tap water and popped it into the fridge to chill. Later we screwed the bottle into the Fountain Jet and pressed the button on the top of the unit until the buzzer sounded. Voila! Fizzy water. Taste? Exactly like the seltzer (or 'sparkling water') we've been buying from the grocery. After pouring the first mixed drink (seltzer and lime juice, the old standby refreshment), we capped the bottle and put it back in the fridge.
Next - we'll see how the fizz lasts, and try some flavorings.

New Old Soda Club

After years of buying seltzer in plastic bottles, lugging them home from the store, and filling up the recycling bin with the empties, we finally found a happy alternative. As often happens, today's system is an update of an old idea.


In years gone by, bars, soda fountains, hosts with the mosts used spritzers, or bottles with a squirt device attached to a small CO2 canister. The bartender took glass in one hand, spritzer in the other, and tried to fill the glass without soaking anyone. These devices brought Italian sodas, seltzer drinks, and egg creams into our food culture. Today the bottles are collectibles, and the mini-CO2 canisters hard to find in stores.
The update? A countertop appliance with a tall, multiple-use (60-110 liters) CO2 canister in the back and a bottle-holder in the front [see examples in the ad, above]. As far as I can tell, only SodaStream and SodaClub (same company, apparently) make them, and sell them primarily online. Ours arrived this week; and so far the only hard part was deciding which of the four models to choose, and whether to go bare-bones or opt for the Value Pack.
And so the saga begins . . .

Spa Water

Like many good ideas, the 'new' way to encourage people to drink tap water is a culinary innovation dating back centuries. At a work training recently, attendees were pleasantly surprised to find pitchers of water with cucumber slices, in lieu of bottled water (complying with the ever-more-common bans on spending local government money on uneeded single-serving beverage containers). Just that small touch somehow made the plain drink seem more refreshing, a treat rather than an austerity measure.

Trader Joe's coffee samples are the first stop for many shoppers at their groceries; and typically there is also a spigoted jug of one of the many juice varieties for sale. Over the summer, our local store also experimented with a range of spa waters, in place of the juice option. They added cucumber, strawberries, citrus slices - more or less any one fruit or combination the staff wanted to try. Most worked beautifully (my favorite being strawberry).

At the Atlantis Resort Hotel in Reno, the spa provides elegant jugs of water with therapeutically-oriented enhancements. The appealing flavors help make sure that guests stay well hydrated while moving between steam rooms, hot tubs, and other amenities. But they also advertise (on menu cards by each pitcher) specific health benefits, including:
Citrus - high in vitamin C, to strengthen the immune system, retain healthy levels of calcium, and lower bad cholestrol
Pineapple and mint - helps recovery of muscles and acts as an anti-inflammatory
Kiwi with cinammon and honey - all three for respiratory healing

Whatever you put in them, spa waters offer an elegant alternative to the plastic bottles of plain or flavored water that American culture has come to think of as necessary for health and convenience. And they can change throughout the year, incorporating the fruits, vegetables and herbs in season locally.

Casino Food

Reno may not be as over-the-top as Las Vegas; but its casinos take the same approach to dining.
Each gaming resort must offer at least one 24-hour cafe, several high-end restaurants, a coffee bar or two, and at least one giant buffet center.

Staying at the Atlantis this weekend (drawn here for the Alliance for Community Media Western Region conference and award ceremony), one of my first tasks was food reconnaissance. And while the food service here will never be rated green, there are some healthy choices among the offerings.

As we arrived hungry and tired, the buffet provided a quick and easy way to sample whatever looked good, without having to deal with menu limitations. Wheat was certainly available, but easy to avoid; and with many good alternatives, I did not miss it. I enjoyed the roasted veggies, Chinese stir-fry, cold salads, and mashed potatoes with barbecued beef especially.

Today we chose to eat light, and opted for the cafe with the best entree salads. The southwest chicken salad was quite good; but the Thai crunch salad really rocked. Lots of shredded cabbage, blanched bean sprouts, nuts, shredded carrot, and a light peanut sauce formed the core, with hints of cilantro and other incidentals in the mix. Lime wedges and two sesame-encrusted crackers added more than just a decorative touch.

Even in a place where indulging oneself and acting impulsively are encouraged in every aspect of design, it is possible to have a delicious adventure without suffering a hangover of regret.
Tonight? Some fresh, house-made gelato!