Drinking

In the beginning there was tap water. (Well, not the beginning-beginning, but it's a good place to start.) Faucets everywhere poured forth the most essential of ingredients: water. Jugs, buckets, and bottles were filled with H2O and carried about. Eventually, somebody figured out that people would pay for individual bottles of water, and industry took notice. Now, water bottles populate store shelves, seemingly outnumbering soda in the amount of varieties available. Problem is, all those water bottles are a terrific waste.

Luckily, water is readily available, and the stuff that comes out of a tap is regulated. However, regulated … Read more

Most people have an inkling about what to do when they decide to eat healthily. Of course that doesn't mean they will do it. We're all guilty of occasionally choosing convenience over counting calories, and considering just how easy it is to stray it is no surprise that eating right can sometimes be a challenge. The trick, naturally, is to make healthy eating as convenient as possible. For example, preparing healthy meals ahead of time is one way to go about it. Another way would be making sure that something good to eat is only a press of … Read more

Gone are the days when it was hard to shop for someone who was labeled "the person who has everything." Nowadays, with so many gadgets in existence, it's just too unlikely. Sure, your hard-to-shop-for targets may have a quesadilla maker, but one of those and a doughnut hole maker? Probably not. And if they do, well, there are a million other kitchen-related gadgets and accessories that may not be so common. So with the "person who has everything" dwindling away to a statistical improbability, what's a shopper to do? Luckily, we have enthusiasts to … Read more

There's no getting around it: coffee is everywhere. Which is a good thing, because though having an endless supply of fuel available to power our daily activities may be a dream to modern society as a whole, but to an individual coffee-drinker, it is essential for just making it through the day. However readily accessible the beverage may be, its ubiquity isn't always all encompassing. Every weekend, households everywhere wake up to the realization that the particular cup of coffee they want is more than a pair of slippers and a robe away.

No latte or cappuccino is … Read more

There are any number of ways things can get messy when cracking open a bottle of wine. For the purposes of this discussion, however, we shall limit the conversation but to one: the ice bucket. When chilling wine in a soupy bath of cold water, inevitably drips and drops progress from bottle to bucket to everywhere else. Though there may be no getting around the occasional spill of the wine, the wine bottle, however, can be safely ensconced in place as it rests in its chiller.

Like a guardian watching over the proceedings, the Trudeau Blink Wine Chiller keeps an … Read more

Drip coffeemakers have to be one of the best inventions ever. Simple to use, they offer intuitive operation that anyone can enjoy. And besides, they make coffee; can't get much better than that. Despite their basic operation, or perhaps because of it, drip coffeemakers have become ubiquitous appliances that have a place in any home. For the most part, all these coffeemakers operate on the same principle: water slowly drips through coffee grounds on its way to becoming a magical elixir.

The Bunn Phase Brew Coffee Maker operates a little differently than a standard drip coffeemaker model. Featuring a … Read more

It's easy to become overwhelmed when presented with flavor combinations for any particular food item. Yet, variety, as they say, is the spice of life. As we navigate our senses and find our culinary preferences--whether it be how we like our steak done, or what type of veggies we prefer--often we may find that what we are looking for doesn't exist in nature. Hence, we are inundated with even more choices as flavor combinations are explored in everything from jams and jellies to pizza toppings; it seems there are no varieties that we will not attempt. When it … Read more

The effects of coffee are well documented as a morning eye-opener and as a pick-me-up throughout the day. However, the caffeinated elixir has another associated trait that makes it enjoyable for coffee drinkers: it has ritual attached to it. Considering the amount of varieties that exist and the steps it takes to brew a pot, it is not surprising that the process is steeped in precision.

Precision is usually best handled by a machine, and for coffee-drinkers, there is the Saeco Bean To Brew 10-Cup Automatic Drip Coffee Maker And Burr Grinder. Available with either a thermal or glass carafe, … Read more

It's not easy to keep a wine collection on hand ready to be served at the correct temperature. First, of course, are money matters. Not many of us have the disposable income just waiting to be put toward a wine cellar. Even living in a land of make-believe where money is no object, the next roadblock may be a much more down to earth consideration: space. It's not always easy to find room for cases of wine. But knock down the price of storage as well as the space needed and all of a sudden, having a few … Read more