Oh my gosh! I haven’t had internet in about a month! I have forty-five days to continue my service without the need to start a whole new two year contract (lovely satellite rules). I cancelled internet service ’cause my laptop went to blue screen heaven and I cannot afford a new computer just yet. So this brief post is brought to you by one bar of service on my cell phone and the letter F.
Lets talk about soda. I love it. After coffee time is over in the morning I prefer to move directly into soda time. Being as I’m borderline diabetic and turning into more if a health nut in my old age, I’ve all but cut soda out of my diet entirely. I started drinking decaf unsweetened iced tea until bed time until I decided to make some soda of my own. The results were beyond what I anticipated. Holy yum. I’ve even converted my eleven year old son. Here’s the formula:
Start with the juice of any fruit, I used lime. Lemon and orange also work, but beyond citrus try berries. Raspberry or cherry juice makes amazing soda as well. You don’t need a lot of juice as you can see. Then add simple syrup. If you don’t know how to make it, use your google machine. As the name suggests, it’s very easy to create. Start with a teaspoon or two. You can always add more, but you don’t need much.
We’re almost done. Stir the simple syrup and the juice. Add ice.
Pour club soda over the ice, simple syrup and juice. I like to buy a six pack of cans. The soda goes flat very quickly and a two liter bottle won’t hold its fizz well enough to use the next day. Mwah! Lime soda.
Also, if you are of age add rum and mint leaves for the best mojito you’ve ever had.
After I started drinking these babies, I actually can’t stand corn syrup soda any longer. And that’s coming from a gal who drank one to three Mountain Dews a day for a dozen years or better.
Enjoy! Let me know if you come up with any crazy/fantastic fruity combinations for your own home made soda.
The Pilver 
I never buy limes. But it just so happens I did this past Sunday. I’m a lemonade guy. You were so enthusiastic about your recommendation, I decided to take U up on it. Voila! It really was great. Very refreshing. Took no time at all to make the simple syrup. Europeans laugh at Americans for pouring soda/seltzer over ice. The co2 in your prepared drink comes bubbling to the surface instantly when it hits the ice. There goes your carbonation – up in smoke! Try this: Chill a can of your soda in an ice bath. Open it. Pour half of it over ice. Take a couple of hits straight from the can. Then a few sips from your glass. If you really love that carbonic acid bite, then you’ll prefer the can over the glass because you still have strong carbonic acid in the can and much weaker concentration of carbonic acid in the glass. The ice (1) acts as a catalyst expediting the exit of co2 from liquid and (2) dilutes the ingredients as it melts, releasing more plain water into the mixture.
As far as beverages go, people use ice to (1) make beverages cold and (2) to keep them cold in a glass. Using ice on carbonated beverages is counter-productive to the carbonation. So, chill your beverages first. Then put them in a soda jacket (beer sock) – dunno whatcha call it, but it’s an insulated beverage holder that fits a can. Me, I prefer frozen mugs of heavy glass – better than ice any day!
Oh, I did cheat. I have a $3 FiZZ GiZ cap you can get on Amazon which lets me fizz up anything in a common everyday ordinary soda bottle (http://www.amazon.com/Fizz-Giz-Soda-Maker-Carbonation/dp/B006CQ4ERG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369312629&sr=8-1&keywords=fizz+giz). The result was a 12oz bottle of some of the most refreshing soda I’ve ever had, seriously – thanks to your very simple suggestion.