Drinks – Page 5 – Tiana Feng

Sodastream Kraft Launch Party

May 10, 2013May 10, 2013Drinks, FoodLeave a Comment

I was invited to the Soda Stream Kraft launch party last night by the fine folks at The Mint Agency. To be honest, I had not previously known about the company and went out of curiosity and of course as a freelancer, couldn’t resist free food and drinks!The event took place at 2nd Floor Events on King Street West.The space was decorated with bottle decor to fit Sodastream’s campaign of saving the earth from bottles. The idea of Sodastream is for customers to have a system at home where they can carbonate their own water and make DIY sodas, therefore cutting down on the need to buy pop bottles.

Since it was the Kraft launch, we had the opportunity to sample the Kool-aid, Crystal Light and Country Time lemonade flavours. They were pretty good and tasted exactly like you’d expect the carbonated versions to taste like. With the exception of some added vodka, since it was a party.

The evening was catered by Brassaii who served various finger foods.
Oh, and I can’t forget about the glorious candy bar. I definitely smuggled some home.

At the end of the night, the invited guests got to take home gift bags with a Sodastream Source machine!

Here’s everything unboxed. They even threw in full bottle of the lemonade flavouring.

The normal kit comes with only 9 trial flavours. 1 of the packages makes a bottle.

To use the machine, the included bottle needs to be filled with cold water (because who likes warm soda?). Then you stick it in the machine and press down until your optimum fizziness as indicated by the LED lights. The machine doesn’t need to be plugged into anything and there was no included instructions on batteries. The first time we tried it I don’t think we pressed down hard enough because we didn’t see bubbles, but we definitely did eventually!

I had a cherry coke-lover in the house so we gave this a test.

The verdict: tastes like regular cherry coke with a lot less sugar. There’s only 7 grams compared to the 25g of sugar in coke. I think the health (and taste) aspect is a bigger seller than the environmental concerns.

DIY type people would enjoy this product. I think it would also be fun to host and play bartender at a party full of Sodastream mixed drinks with this machine!

Klout Perk: The Red Bull Editions

April 18, 2013April 18, 2013Design, Drinks, Food, PhotographyLeave a Comment

Klout sent me an e-mail a few days ago saying my Red Bull Editions perk was finally on its way. I didn’t expect it to show up expedited at my door yesterday. Who knew free samples would be so damn efficient. They even came in a cute little box with a tag.

I have too much expendable energy to drink them right now but I thought they came in nice bright colours. I like this design much better than the regular Red Bull. It’s streamlined and simple. I played around with some manual focus photography with my f1.8 lens.

Maybe I’ll save these for when music festival season comes along.

Missed Connection at Edgefest

July 17, 2012July 17, 2012Drinks, Entertainment, Food3 Comments

On Saturday, I went to Edgefest at Downsview Park. The weather was 30 something degrees, but your touch hit the mark.

I met you next to a super delicious stand, that sold me this sandwich of pemeal bacon:

You were pale, yellow and cold. Your flavour was bold. We met 3 times that day. What the hell am I talking about? It was a $6 lemonade.

I blame the poem above on the 37 degrees weather Toronto’s experiencing today. It made me miss this delicious (but super over priced) lemonade. I don’t have any pictures of it. I also have no idea if the vendors have a store outside of Edgefest, but if anybody knows I’d love for you to help me solve this missed connection!

Snakes and Lattes- A Board Game Cafe

July 16, 2012October 13, 2012Board Games, Drinks, Entertainment, Food3 Comments

Located at 600 Bloor Street West, Snakes and Lattes has become one of my favourite new discoveries. Simply put, it’s a board game cafe. A place where you can have a drink and play a game with your friends.

The place is only a few years old, but already they’ve expanded into the building next door. For now, only one side is liquor licensed so if you’re looking for some drunk board game times ask specifically for that side. When you walk in the place its usually full of people playing games of all types. I saw some pretty complicated boards with islands and giraffes.

The atmosphere is friendly and inviting. There are a couple of walls lined up with thousands of board games. According to their site they have over 2208 games. There are even really limited edition versions of the board games that you can’t even buy any more. I got really nostalgic when I visited the shelves. I love Jenga and I found the Mario version (which I later ended up buying).

I was there for a birthday party and we asked for game suggestions. The staff is pretty knowledgeable about all the games and will teach you how to play if you’re too lazy to read the instructions. We discovered a game called Cards Against Humanity which is a hilarious and dirty minded version of Apples to Apples. Definitely a great one to try if you’re there to drink.

I wish I lived beside this place, because I want try all the board games. It’s a great place to kill time and hang out with friends. For only a $5 per person charge, you can sit in the cafe all day. There is also food and drinks available so you won’t starve if you really do decide to stay the day. It’s also a great place to try out new board games before you buy them. They have a bunch of new games on site that you can purchase if you do become attached to one.

I definitely will be back to play some more games soon!

No Coffee Challenge: Half-Way Point

February 14, 201230 Day Challenge, Drinks, Food, Life5 Comments

February is a short month, therefore I’m already half-way through my challenge of giving up coffee for a month. I can tell you that time didn’t pass by fast at all in the beginning. The first few days were highly dreadful. I would wake up with headaches and quite nauseous. This all happened because I did not drink my usual cup of morning coffee.

I began to find ways to help my body feel awake and refreshed. Some things worked and others didn't. Here is what helped me:

Splashing Face with Cold Water
This sounds almost stupid, but the cold water on your face really does refresh and wake me up.

Walking the Dog
There’s nothing more refreshing than fresh air. Walking the dog became a good way to activate all my joints and muscles as well absorb some sunlight. Sometimes I think my mood is directly related to my weather and seeing the sun really does brighten my mood. I also love it when Teddy meets a new friend along the way!

Tea/Hot Chocolate
It’s really hard to give up caffeine entirely so for those times when I needed a bit of a jolt tea helped. I find green tea makes me sleepy though. Black tea works best. Hot chocolate with a hint of cayenne pepper and cinnamon is also a great way to spice up the morning!

15 minute naps
Sometimes you just need to nap and taking a little 15 minute power nap can be what I need. It’s a great way to rest the eyes and get them away from the a billion screens that make up my life.

I hope I can continue to ignore coffee for the month. However, I have a business meeting on Friday at a coffee shop called the Roastery. Would it be too pretentious to order a tea?

30 Day Challenge: February Edition

February 1, 201230 Day Challenge, Drinks, Food, Life5 Comments

January’s challenge was an hour of practice every day. In an increasingly busy life, it was unrealistic and fell through at times. However, it taught me that I missed it and still loved it and that I needed to schedule a couple sessions in my future weeks. Now that it’s February, it’s time for a new challenge and I will do the impossible..
I will give up coffee.

I think I’ve become too dependent on coffee in keeping me awake. Keeping away from caffeine altogether is impossible as it is in drinks as well as chocolate and deserts and hey, February has Valentine’s Day.

I have at least 2 cups each day and they are loaded with sugar. It keeps my heart constantly pumping quick and (which I don’t think is that healthy) and feeding me a ton of hyper energy. I picked the shortest month to give it up, but I hope it will lessen my need for it and lower my risk of diabetes from too much sugar. My coffees tend to be 1/3 sugar and if I’m out the most caramel filled.

I chose the shortest month to do this but guess what? It’s a leap year.. damn. As stated in earlier posts, 2012 will be a year for monthly challenges of self-improvement. Join me and challenge yourself at something!

Do You Put the Tea Bag In Before or After?

November 11, 2011Drinks, Food, LifeLeave a Comment

When you are making tea, do you put the tea bag in before or after you pour the hot water? Just a curious question. Maybe you do it differently every time, that’s plausible too. I’m a tiny bit OCD so I have always put the tea bag in before.

I think I do this because I like a strong tasting tea and putting it allows the water to hit the bag and for the tea to saturate water more. Whereas if I put it in after I would have to move the bag up and down in the water or poke at it with a spoon to get the same effect.

A thing you may or may not know about me is I have a weird interest in cognitive science and how minds work. So naturally, I did some random research on the topic and summarized all the similar findings. Here is what your tea making techniques might say about your personality:

Continue reading ➞ Do You Put the Tea Bag In Before or After?