Would Like to Drink – Sodastream Cocktails

So(da) Good.

When my fiancé bought me a Sodastream for my birthday I knew I had been spoilt rotten.  I had an inkling that I would be able to crack some amazing puns – “getting fizz-icle” being just one of them – but I did not know, not at first anyway, that I would be getting drunk; courtesy of the Sodastream machine.

Along with the machine and the canister of gas I was given a selection pack of syrups including  ginger ale and tonic water.  All it took was a few extra ingredients before I was getting well and truly tiddly.

Gin and Tonic

To buy:

* Gin    *Lime    *Tonic Water   *Ice

To make:

Mountgay Rum

With or without a sodastream a G&T is an easy thing to make.   Just grab plenty of ice, a tumbler, a wedge or two of lime, some good gin – I like Bombay Sapphire – and sparkling, effervescent tonic water.  Pour, muddle, drink, relax.

A Jamaican Mojito

To buy:

*Good rum   *Ginger ale   *Brown sugar   *Lime   *Ice   *Handful of lovely fresh mint

To make:

1. Start buy slicing one lime in half and squeeze the juice of half a lime into each glass.  Save a slice of lime per glass to garnish.  You could use a leaf of the mint as a garnish too. Whatever.

2. Add a teaspoon of brown or muscavado sugar to each glass and an ice cube or two.

Gin and Tonic

3. Tear the mint leaves as roughly as you like, add them to the glass and muddle.

4. Add a big ole shot of rum – I like Mount Gay or Morgan’s Spiced Rum – but in truth will gladly through Sainsbury’s Rum down my neck.

5. Top up the glass with ginger ale.  Sip. Relax. Imagine you’re lying on a beach in Jamaica and all of your troubles are dissolving in the midday sun…

If you’re making the boozey drinks with a sodastream then all you need to do is fill the bottle with water, screw into the machine, press the button on the top of the machine until it makes three “squeaks”.  Release the now fizzy water, add one measure of syrup and tightly screw the lid on top.  Gently tip the bottle so that the syrup mixes throughout.  Pop in the fridge for about five minutes before serving.

As well as Tonic water and ginger ale you can get colas syrups from Sodsatream and a rather terrifying looking “Xstream” drink – a version of Red Bull which I am yet to try but no doubt will.  Gulp.

Lipsmackingly good.

Did you have a sodastream?  Did you have one in the family when you were growing up?  Am I missing a trick or do you have a killer cocktail recipe that I really must try out, like, pronto?

Would like to have: Sodastream

Get busy with the Fizzy

I have been spellbound. I am obsessed. I am being held tight in a retro-embrace that I never want to shake myself free of.  You see, I’ve watched the adverts for the revamped sodastream and boy oh boy do I want one.

According to the blurb on their website, the origins of the home carbonation market can be traced back to 1903 when Guy Gilbey (of the famous London Gin dynasty) invented the first SodaStream machine. This large machine was used by butlers in the country houses of British aristocrats. As the 20th Century unfolded, SodaStream machines got smaller and became fixtures in homes across the U.K. and throughout much of the world.

I vividly remember wanting my own sodastream when I was little and having glasses of home-made cola at friend’s houses. Or seeing the gas cylinders and syrups for sale in Safeway and wanting, oh wanting wanting wanting, one so badly. Those little bottles promised endless fizzy fun but alas, I never got one. In the same way my parents – for reasons I still find it hard to fathom - never let me had Lucky Charms or Salt and Shake crisps, the Sodastream just wasn’t to be.

Or so I thought. But this little babe – The Genesis drinks maker in White – I know, I know, how very Phil Collins, is a steal at £59.99. And the flavours on offer? How about kiwi pear or mango apple? A fruity lemon number, lipsmacking ginger ale or ominously named ‘Xstream’… and how would I be able to resist making my own cocktails at the end of a boozy Sunday dinner, the possibilities are surely endless.

Ice to meet you.

Seeing as I don’t own a microwave, a cheese-toasty machine or a George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machine, I think it’s high time I invest in a kitchen gadget. And whilst I am at it, and sating my 80s nostalgic urges, I should surely invest in a Mr Frosty Icemaker. Another product of startling genius that I’ve been lusting after for decades. That’ll do the trick. Unless I’ve missed any classic 80s/QVC goodies? Let me know if there’s anything else missing from my wishlist, and oh, I’ve already got a Teasmaid on it. Want.