Tomorrow at 2pm, Susan Pascal, author and the editor of Agoura Hills Patch which brings us up to date local news, will be having a book signing at Barnes and Noble in Westlake Village of her new book Images of Old Agoura.
Celebrate National Lemonade Day With Fizzy Lemonade From Sodastream
August 20, 2013 by 58 Comments
Today, August 20, is National Lemonade Day! Sodastream is excited about this because they just added flavors from Country Time and Crystal Light, not to mention Kool Aid. So now you can make fizzy lemonade, or pink lemonade, or raspberry lemonade, or Arnold Palmers, or fruit punch right at home.
This was my first time trying the SodaStream soda maker, and I was excited because my husband and I consume a lot of caffeine free diet cola which we buy in cans. I had never thought of making carbonated versions of the beverages my kids drink, or of Crystal Light, which we do sometimes buy. The whole family got in on this little adventure.
Step 1: Fill bottle with cold water (best to use water that has been chilling in the fridge). Screw into SodaStream carbonation port.
Step 2: Press button several times in short bursts until you hear a loud buzz to indicate proper carbonation. I was worried about exploding the bottle so the first few times I tried this I did not carbonate enough. But it takes several presses to get it bubbly just right.
Step 3: Pull bottle towards you to release excess carbonation.
Step 4: Pour a capful of Country Time lemonade flavor mix into bottle. This is the best part because you can control the concentration of flavor in your beverage. I used less than a full cap.
Step 5: Gently tilt bottle back and forth until the flavor is mixed in. Don’t shake!
Enjoy your home-mixed fizzy lemonade!
It tastes great and the kids loved it and I didn’t mind having them drink this or the Kool Aid flavors…in moderation. We still don’t let them drink soda of any kind, so this is a slippery slope that we will let them have as an occasional treat.
The cost:
Genesis Starter Kit: $99.95 – includes the machine, the carbonator cartridge, two bottles, and a flavor sample pack.
Country Time Lemonade flavor mix – $6.99, makes about 33 cans worth of drink
Caffeine Free Diet Cola flavor mix – $4.99 (every tenth bottle you order is free)
60L Carbonators – online you can order a 2-pack of spares for $59.99. The website copy encourages you to exchange your empty cartridge for a full one at local retailers. A quick call to my local Bed Bath and Beyond revealed that the exchange only costs $15 plus tax. Depending on how much soda we make at home, we may need to replace the cartridge only every few months.
There are a lot of flavors of soda and beverage mixes, and you can combine more than one to create your own flavor.
Here is a demo that another couple posted on YouTube showing you how it works (the lady shook the bottle, too much fizz!)
I received a Genesis SodaStream soda maker and a variety of flavors to facilitate this review.
Book Review (and Giveaway): Lost in Suburbia
July 22, 2013 by 7 Comments
Tracy Beckerman’s Lost in Suburbia started out as an essay in her local newspaper, then it became a nationally syndicated column, then a blog, and now…a book. Forgive me, and Tracy, for using a device that I normally can’t stand*, but this book is a good “momoir.” It’s a self-proclaimed story about how Beckerman went from a stylish TV promo producer living in Manhattan to a frumpy housewife in mom jeans in the Jersey suburbs, and somehow managed to combine the two and keep all the good parts while shedding the not-so-good.
I described this book to one of my friends as “my blog in book form,” because, if you switch out Santa Monica for New York, and the valley for New Jersey, my story is essentially the same. I once was a TV producer, and while I never considered myself particularly stylish, I certainly approached the stay-at-home-mom life and seemingly requisite surrender of my previous persona with nervous disdain. In the early years of this blog I told the tall tales of adjusting to life with less sleep, more spit-up, and the proliferation of plastic toys, while also casting a cynical eye on my peers who were doing the same thing and professing to enjoy it.
(I’m not as publicly cynical now, but ask anyone who knows me in real life and they will tell you that not much has changed in that department. I’m just more sensitive to broadcasting my criticism, which is why I save that for my much smaller audience of Facebook friends.)
Anyway, what Beckerman has done is to essentially summarize the journey of every career-woman-turned-SAHM, which is the subject of countless mom blogs that started in the early 2000’s. She does this in a way that is relatable, funny, self-deprecating (natch), and also hopeful. You see, now Beckerman’s children are almost adults, and so when you’re reading this book you know there is a happy ending. She’s also pretty darn cool, so reading the chapters in which she describes her cellulite-addled body, her mom jeans, and her bad haircut, it’s hard to take those gripes seriously. I’m sure she felt bad about herself at the time – heck, I know that feeling well – but knowing how she turned out, it’s easy to pooh-pooh that phase and say to yourself “Oh Tracy, lighten up.”
I mean, LOOK at her.
I enjoyed the bookends to Lost in Suburbia – a suburban stay-at-home mom gets pulled over by a cop. In one instance, she’s at her rock-bottom. In the other, she’s got her act together…almost. The “almost” is why you love Beckerman, all the way through the story.
Lost in Suburbia
Penguin
$15.00
I have an extra copy of Lost in Suburbia to give away here. Please leave a comment on this post telling me how your story might relate to Tracy’s between now and Monday, July 29 at 11:59 PM. A winner will be chosen at random from qualifying entries (USA only, please) and I will mail the book at my own expense.
*the device is replacing a syllable of a word with the word “mom.” Ugh. Just…ugh.
I received a free copy of Lost in Suburbia to facilitate this review. And Tracy signed it for me…after I kind of stalked her at her book release party. Swoon.