If you've never made soda before, a good one to start with is the OpenCola. It's an "open source" soda where the recipe is globally available and all sorts of modifications can be made to it.

OpenCola (drink) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That's really interesting. I don't know why but soda seems like the kind of thing that you wouldn't be able to make at home, hm? Like soap, sure. Laundry detergent, okay. Soda? What?! Haha!

I was JUST reading about OpenCola a few days ago! I'm now really curious to try, especially the parts about making your own fizzy water. I love carbonated water, more than I love any other kind of drink, and I hate having to pay a premium for it.

Sparkling water is pretty delicious, <3;

:drool: Indeed.

I know it was a pain in the ass in some stores to find the flavored ones. Because a lot of them had artificial sweeteners in them. And I was like, NO. Just want the water + flavor. They tend to keep it near the mixers for alcoholic drinks, I've noticed, xD;

Arrowhead carries a nice line of lime and lemon flavored fizzy waters. I don't think they have sweeteners -- they certainly don't taste sweetened.

We don't have that brand down here in the south sadly, :U

I'll probably see it more often when I move to Portland though!

Hm, Arrowhead is one of the Nestle Waters brands, so you probably have an affiliate down there.

Website: http://www.nestle-watersna.com/index

List of brands is across the top.

I love sparkling water! Not a bit Perrier fan, but I do love me some San Pellegrino.

Yeah, Perrier is boring. San Pellegrino's awfully expensive for me, though. In Europe, good fizzy water was so cheap! So was cheese, even really good cheese. Why is food so expensive in the US??

Simple answer, tariffs and taxes. Complicated answer, lobbyists.

True. Life was much cheaper in Europe -- only my money came in the dollar, and the Euro was awfully strong when I was there. So things turned out rather expensive.

Europe is one of the places I would really love to visit the most. I've never travelled on that side of the globe before, and it just seems so fascinating. I have family there, but they aren't the most nice or welcoming... so I doubt I'd rely on them if I ever wanted to visit. I guess I'll just have to save up and hopefully one day I can go!

Aww, sorry your family isn't welcoming. Europe's a lot of fun! I mostly spent time in Northern Europe. I've never been south of Switzerland, except in parts of Spain. If you're in the Netherlands, go to the little town of Delft. It's BEAUTIFUL.

@Scholar
I've been there! I went all over the Netherlands. I stayed with a dutch family for a week. Never in my life before have I ever experienced so much culture shock.... and I've lived in England and Japan and have visited Canada and other places. They are so family oriented that it is almost scary, xD

Yes -- Netherlands is quite a culture shock once you get past the superficial "Oh, they look like me" (at least they do for me). They truly ARE family-oriented, but in a way that's nice, because motherhood is actually respected for the amount of work it is. But I wish boys at least were better disciplined.

What was your favorite place in the Netherlands? Where did you visit?

My favorite place would probably be Utrecht. I was staying in Houten. As for places I went, I don't remember them all, cause we went to so many, D:

I didn't spend much time in Utrecht -- mostly at the train station, changing lines. :) But my cello teacher lived in Utrecht, so I saw a bit of it. And the university, just as a tourist.

I miss the fog there!

I didn't get to see any fog. I went at Christmas time, :D, so fog == snow at the time.

ah, I gets it now. How long were you there?

I was there a little over a week! Just enough time to break my culture shock... and then leave, D: FAIL.

Scholar hasn't been writing lately. Is that application stuff still dragging you down?

No, scholar just hasn't been feeling like fiction for a while, that's all. I've been writing my dissertation proposal, baking, cleaning the apartment, and grading undergrad's papers. I can't wait for this course to be finished so I can finally ignore them forever!

*wacks with fiction rod*

I can't live without fiction. It is my life.

I've been practicing piano instead of writing. I'm a bad boy, </3;