Imperatrix is hydrated, but cold

Conundrum

I try to drink enough fluids*, but my drink of preference is hot tea, black or green, which is fine but not particularly hydrating if you add in the diuretic effect and the fact that you just can’t drink as much hot tea as you can unheated water. But water is kinda boring, unless you’re coming in from hot work out in the yard.

Non Sequitur-cum-Segue

For his birthday, we got the Consort one of those S0dastream carbonated water systems.

Nested Non Sequitur-cum-Segue

Many years ago, BC (before children) even, we made homemade gifts for our parents for Christmas. One recipe we tried was Rosemary-Zinfandel jelly — it sounded like it would be a good condiment for pork, perhaps (I don’t really remember what it was going to be good for — this was BC, after all [so long ago!]). The problem was, it didn’t set up, so we were left with an entire batch of rosemary-zinfandel liquid. We couldn’t inclue that failure with our gift packages, but we couldn’t imagine wasting all that good wine and herbage, either. So we experimented with different uses and noticed that it tasted damned good when mixed with mineral water/seltzer water. And that was how rosemary-zinfandel syrup was born, which we now make — on purpose — almost every year.

Back to Original NScS

Last year the Consort got a cider press to make hard cider from our backyard apples, and some of it tasted good but didn’t carbonate quite how he would have liked. So he thought a carbonation system would help salvage the cider that hadn’t bubbled, and as a perk, we could use for our rosemary-zinfandel drink.

Solution to My Conundrum

I have found that it is very easy to drink enough water when the water is bubbly and flavored with a hint of essence (rosemary-zin, or the lemon-lime/orange essences that came with the S0dastream). I can easily down two liters of the stuff over the course of a day. Not bad, huh?

Enter Conundrum #2

In the winter, in our cold, cold house (65F during the day), warm drinks keep me warm from the inside out. Carbonated water, even if just room temperature, keep me cold from the inside out.

I just don’t know what to do.

 

*You do know how to tell if you’re hydrated, right? Your pee is a pale yellow. The paler, the better.