The small, sleek appliance fits easily on the kitchen counter, and looks stylish. Simply fill the one liter bottle with cold water, hit the button a couple of times to activate the CO2 tank and carbonate your water, and add your desired syrup. No batteries or electricity required. No mess – just rinse out the bottle before making another batch. Fresh soda in seconds, less money, less waste, more deliciousness.

I just love this machine. So does Mr. Spork – he hardly lets me zap it with carbonation. He loves that he can over-carbonate his soda. I love that I can under-flavor mine (the syrups are a little too sweet, so I usually use a little less than half the recommended amount per liter). It’s quick, easy, and fun. Plus, when you release the carafe from the machine, it make a cool sci-fi vacuum sound. With over 25 different flavors of regular, diet, and caffeine-free sodas, energy drinks, and flavor essences, there aren’t many flavors you can’t get.

Save the Earth
• Carbonator cans are reused – send them back to the company, they will sanitize them, refill them, and send them back out.
• Carafes are reuseable and BPA-free.
• No excessive packaging to worry about.

Save Your Health
• Regular soda mix flavors contain less sugar, sodium, and carbs than leading national brands.
• Diet flavors are all made with Splenda – no aspertame anywhere.
• No lugging cases of soda.

Save Your Pennies
• Depending on the model you choose, the cost averages out to as little as $0.20 per liter of seltzer water and $0.57 per liter of flavored soda.
• Smaller bottles mean you don’t have to stock up on soda, only to realize it has gone flat. Mr. Spork and I will usually make a bottle and split it over a meal.
• Exchanged CO2 cans are nearly half the price.

Is there anything I am leaving out? I don’t think so: healthier for you, healthier for your wallet, healthier for the planet… so why haven’t you bought your own yet?

I was excited to discover the functional ceramics of Gina DeSantis. This Cleveland-based artist creates magnificent mugs, bowls, plates, and pendants out of ceramics and stoneware. For someone with a Masters of Fine Arts, you would almost expect her to create fussy pieces better suited for pate than PB&J. Her goal is to blend beauty and function, and she succeeds.

I have never used my fancy china because, even though it looks nicer than my collection of mismatched mugs with cartoon characters and logos emblazoned on them, it just feels too delicate to use. Gina’s pieces are gorgeous and don’t inspire fear. I am proud to serve a heaping mug of tea or cocoa They are sturdy, well-weighted, and microwave and dishwasher safe (though she recommends hand washing to preserve the glaze). Gina incorporates interesting glaze combinations and printmaking techniques to ensure that each hand-fired piece is a work of art.

Visit Gina on the web at GinaDeSantisCeramics.com. To purchase, visit her Etsy Page