Homemade soda

My sister Megan has a cool seltzer-making machine called a Penguin (you can read more about it on the Sodastream website). I admire it deeply, but with limited counter space I'm currently content to go to her house and drink her homemade sparkling water.

However, I did stumble across this cute little gadget called U-Fizz. It's really more a mini science experiment for kids than a serious way to make sparkling beverages, but it's only $9 (from Scientifics), so what the heck?

To make a sparkling drink with U-Fizz, you put the juice or water to be carbonated in one bottle and screw the cap on. Then in a second bottle, you combine vinegar and baking soda and screw that cap on. The chemical reaction of the baking soda and vinegar produce carbon dioxide, which escapes through a tube into the awaiting juice/water.

DRY sodas

What do you drink when it's summer, it's hot, you like sparkling drinks, you don't want beer and you don't like treacly soda pop? How about one of these really cool looking, not-too-sweet drinks from DRY Soda?

DRY sodas are made with all-natural ingredients--including lemongrass and rhubarb--and they are only lightly sweetened. I am seriously not a fan of sugary things, and I was very impressed with DRY.

The idea for DRY started in the kitchen of Sharelle Klaus, who, after going through four pregnancies unable to drink wine with meals, was looking for:

a drink that was simple, all-natural, caffeine-free, low in sugar and...that could complement great food or act as a light refreshment on its own.

She came up with four original flavors and then last year added two more to the line. You can now get lavender, juniper berry, vanilla, kumquat, lemongrass and rhubarb. Even though the flavors are great, I want to own these just for the beautiful bottles.

You can buy the soda online (though frankly that seems a little silly), but you can also check out the store locator.

Like a hamster habitat for liquids

Seriously, what's not to love here, especially if you're drinking a Scorpion with a friend? Actually, especially if you're sharing a second Scorpion with a friend. Or to put a more responsible and parental spin on this, what better way to get your kids to drink milk?

This DIY Drinking Strawz kit comes with 44 components that you can configure however you choose. This gives you the option of creating a branch off the main straw so that two people can share a drink—though I'm having a little trouble grasping the physics of that, but maybe you take turns sucking.

In the kit are twelve 5-inch pieces, twelve 3-inch pieces, and 20 flexible connectors, all for $10 from Think Geek. If you want to create a giant masterpiece straw, you get a break for buying more than one kit: $19 for two, $25 for three.

Hibiscus tea

Drinking hibiscus tea can lower your blood pressure.

The results of a clinical trial conducted by the USDA's Agricultural Research Service and Celestial Seasonings (who of course stood to gain by good results, but hey, that's how studies get funded) showed that the subjects who drank three cups of hibiscus tea daily lowered their systolic blood pressure by as much as 13 points.

Of course you already know you can find hibiscus tea from Celestial Seasonings, but if you get serious about this you can buy it in bulk from a place called Mountain Rose.

Hot chocolate jug

OK. So Valentine's Day is here and maybe you received (or gave) chocolate as a token of your affection. But why should it be only one day a year? And by "it" I mean chocolate. Here's a cool way to enjoy chocolate (and its health benefits) on a regular basis without eating candy.

Bodum, a company known for its coffee and tea paraphernalia, makes a cute glass jug for making hot cocoa called a Chocolatiere. It has a frother in the lid that blends the cocoa and gives it a nice head of cocoa foam. The Chocolatiere holds 40 ounces and sells for about $20.