My New Kitchen Gadget

I got a big package in the mail.  I don’t mean to get the hopes up of everyone that entered my first ever contest and giveaway, which also hinges on the arrival of a package, but it’s not that package.  I definitely know, for a fact, that I’ll be getting that package tomorrow, because I’ll be picking it up myself, per the directions the USPS left me when they tried to deliver it today, only to find that I wasn’t home:

Which means that if you haven’t entered, you still have time!  Click here to read all about the contest and how you can enter (and win!).

Back to my big package (tee hee).  Here it is:

Any guesses to what’s inside?  It’s a SodaStream!

SodaStream makes soda and sparkling water!  My dear friend Jim, who lives in Michigan, watched me on Ellen, and noticed the abundance of sparkling water that’s in my fridge.  I love sparkling water and drink it every day (did you read my post where I answer a reader question about the health benefits of sparkling water?  If not, read it here), so Jim got me a present – one of his favorite kitchen items, a SodaStream.

It’s very cool.  There’s a small CO2 tank in the back of the SodaStream, and you fill up special 1-liter bottles with tap water, put them in the SodaStream, press the button a few times, and voila!  You have sparkling (carbonated) water.  You can easily turn it into soda by adding one of their many varieties of soda concentrates.  Jim also got me a soda sampler box, with 12 of their flavors:

There’s cola, lemon-lime, ginger ale, orange, their versions of Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper, plus diet versions of most, if not all, of those.  I don’t drink diet soda anymore, but I made an exception to try their diet cranberry/raspberry flavor.  It was pretty good, although too sweet… but I think that’s just because I’m no longer accustomed to the taste of soda.  I don’t plan on trying the other flavors, but will keep these around for when friends come by.

What I was more interested in was another product line SodaStream sells: MyWater.  Their MyWater product line allows you to add the tiniest bit of unsweetened fruit flavor to sparkling water.  I buy water like this all the time at the store – Perrier, Crystal Geyser, and Arrowhead, my favorite sparkling water brands, all sell their versions of it.  It ends up tasting like you just squeezed a lemon or lime wedge in your water.  So I consulted the SodaStream website and found out that the Sears a mile from my house sells SodaStream supplies, as does the Kohl’s that’s a little farther away, in the other direction.  Off to find MyWater!

First stop was Sears, which had a big SodaStream display, but no MyWater.  I didn’t see any SodaStream at Kohl’s, so I asked if they carried it.  The associate told me that it hadn’t been selling well (uh-oh), so all their SodaStream products were back in the stock room, and he checked, but they didn’t have any MyWater.  Plan C was Bed Bath & Beyond, which was not in my immediate neighborhood, but certainly not far away.  They had two SodaStream displays, including one just inside the front door.  They had the MyWater, too – success!

It’s a variety pack, with bottles of Lemon/Lime, Orange, and Berry.  I’ve since tried all three, and I can’t tell the difference between it and the stuff I buy at the store.  So good!  And I’m elated just thinking about how much lighter it’ll be carrying my groceries from my car across my building and up the stairs to my condo without 4-6 liter bottles weighing me down.

I’ve only had it a couple days, but I already love my SodaStream.  So thank you, Jim.  You’re the best!

Keep it up, David!