Archive for September, 2009

44 Closes in Croton-on-Hudson

Saturday, September 12th, 2009

44 Tapas Lounge has closed its doors in Croton-on-Hudson. A year ago, the place was “hopping”, the restaurant packed and the bar area overflowing outside of its doors.  Weeks ago, there was one quiet table of two dining and the bar was empty of patrons and almost all beverage choices.  One sole bottle of wine was sitting on the counter.

No word at this point as to what will take its place – - have heard a few rumors.  Once I get a confirmation, it will be posted here.

Stop Shlepping Seltzer!

Saturday, September 12th, 2009

Sitting on the kitchen countertop, is this “thing” that makes people ask, “What does that do!?”

I just respond, “It makes seltzer, silly!”

Gone now are the days of searching the isles of my food stores looking for seltzer (always “original”, never flavored!) Only to find that the original is gone and I’m left with “lime (artificial) flavored sparkling water”.  Not good.

Then I found SodaClub.

I prefer to filter my water in a Brita then I pour it into my SodaClub bottles and with a couple presses of the button with a silly duck “honking” sound, I have seltzer.  Also, the pressure and bubbles ratio of sparkly to water is higher than what you get in the store.  This product is fantastic.

Seltzer at home!

Seltzer at home!

No more shlepping bottles from the grocery store, no more wasting/recycling bottles, and much less expensive!

I don’t do this, but if you want flavored seltzer, the company does sell many flavorings such as lemon-lime, cola, etc.

Each cannister will produce about 100 bottles of seltzer. I have four cannisters in-house and keep them rotating.  Once a couple of them need replacing, I make a phone call, leave them on the porch in a bag, and they get swapped out for new ones.  Very strange.  A person actually drives to you and does the swap-out (you don’t need to be home)… I am just very used to the UPS/FedEx thing, that this is very old-world to me.

sodaclubbottlesThe devices start just below $100 and can go higher depending on the model.  The “Penguin” as they call it is adorable and worth the extra “design money.”
To find SodaClub, you can order from them at SodaClub; in addition, they are available at Amazon and Williams-Sonoma.

Thought you’d enjoy hearing about this cool, fun, cost-saving equipment for the kitchen.

Gritty Reporting from the Wilds of Westchester