As things you can be addicted to go, seltzer water is not something that can do the body much harm. It’s basically carbonated water, and thanks to my SodaStream device, I drink even more fizzy water now than ever before. And because sometimes the flavor extracts can get boring, I like to use real lemon or lime juice (or small amounts of soda syrup). But that’s not always easy; that is, it’s not easy squeezing citrus juice into a small mouth bottle.

But now, there is a product that makes it super easy to have water or carbonated water with a twist of real citrus juice. The product is called CitrusZinger and the concept is simple. There are two ends to the plastic bottle–a large mouth screw top with a juicer attachment; and a small mouth drinking side. So basically you cut some lemon, lime or orange, juice that and close up the bottom of the bottle. Then you flip the bottle over and add water, seltzer or even maybe cola or iced tea. And you’ve got instant and fresh twisted beverage.

Of course, there are a million ways to use CitrusZinger, but I was boring and only tried it with lemons and oranges and the combination of the two. But you can even add sweeteners, herbs such as mint, and spices such as cinnamon. If you look at the booklet, you’ll see what I mean. But there are also a VodkaZinger, AquaZinger and SaladZinger–which means seriously endless possibilities.

Right now the Zinger products are only available online and at Brookstone Stores. For more information, please visit the Zing Anything website.

A few random food observations on a snowy Madison Thursday afternoon…..

*Is there a reason why many canned soups have this gummy, almost plastic sheen of a taste these days? This is particularly true of so-called diet soups which I think use gummy fillers to make up for the loss of fat–i.e. loss of flavor. But they wind up making a chemical concoction that has totally turned me off of canned soup. I’ve been trying to make more of my own, which always tastes better, but it’s not always easy to find the time. Thankfully football season is over (well not really thankfully) which means more cooking for the week on Sundays with the wife.

*Salads just are not appealing in the winter. I sometimes find myself not getting enough vegetables in the winter, and a big reason is that I have almost no desire to eat healthy salads. That’s a summer thing, right? Maybe I need to make more soups. Where have I heard that before?

*I can’t believe Kristen fell on a sword on Top Chef: Seattle last week and didn’t throw Josie under the bus as she should have. I pegged her as the potential winner. I haven’t watched Last Chance Kitchen…but maybe she still can win if she won her LCK battle. But wow, Josie. Please go away.

*Speaking of Food TV, did you guys catch the first episode of that Rachel vs. Guy Celebrity cook off show on Food Network? That’s one of those reality shows that grabs its players from the depths of wherever they get contestants for Celebrity Fit Club. This season they’ve got the likes of Carney Wilson, Hines Ward and an actress and a socialite I’ve never heard of. And then there was Gilbert Gottfried. The poor dude doesn’t know how to boil water. So the first episode, he makes a peanut butter sandwich. Then, as he’s battling another contestant for elimination in the same episode, he makes a peanut butter sandwich AGAIN. Dude, who is your agent and why would they put you through that?

*I often profess my love for Trader Joe’s on here. But I’ve come across something that’s amazing even by their standards. This Speculoos Cookie Spread. It won their award for customer favorite product of 2012, so I bought a jar. Holy smokes. It’s like peanut butter-like crack in a jar. I don’t even know what it is made out of…but it’s like a “butter” that is sweet and has cookie pieces and hints of cinnamon and….well, just go try it, and if you don’t love it, then you don’t like food. It’s impossible to not like it.

It’s sure been awesome being a K-Cup Ambassador, but I’ve lagged behind a bit on trying all of the great new beverages they have been sending along. So here I’m going to catch up on some of the November and December installments with a quick wrap of some of the flavors I tried:

Cafe Escapes Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa and Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa–I’ve said that the convenience of the Keurig is one of its best features. In particular, this is true when making tea or hot chocolate, because who wants to bother boiling water these days? And if you put the water in the microwave, there is that point where it goes from tepid to scalding with no in-between. The K-Cup remedies that by brewing a perfect cup in like 15 seconds. Same is true of the hot cocoa. And both the milk and dark chocolate varieties are delicious, if maybe a bit thin. But you can add a splash of cream or half and half. Or better yet, some whipped cream.

Cafe Escapes Cafe Mocha–A jolting blend of chocolate and coffee, but for me the accompanying jolt of sugar was a bit too much. Still delicious and if you are a fan of mocha, you’ll love having it brewed in a few seconds.

Green Mountain Coffee Golden French Toast–You might think “ewwwwww” but you’d be wrong. The first thing I thought of was, “will be be egg-y like French toast?” Well, yeah, kind of but it’s not a bad egg-y and there is this hint of maple too, and somehow it just works. I really dug this one.

Green Mountain Coffee Gingerbread–I don’t know how these engineers do it, but again they have created a coffee that tastes like a gingerbread cookie. It’s literally like you dunked a gingerbread cookie in your coffee, and it’s an awesome snowy morning warmer-upper.

Green Mountain Coffee Spicy Eggnog–Here is another one that tastes like, you guessed it–egg nog. But while the French toast and Gingerbread varieties were pleasing, this one was a tad off-putting for me. My wife loved it, so there is hope for the flavor, especially because she does not like egg nog. Of course, I didn’t even think to try this one spiked with, you know, spiked egg nog–but I can imagine that maybe that would be more up my alley.

Finally, I will mention that the fine folks at Green Mountain sent along a K-Cup® Pack Countertop Storage Drawer with the December mailer. Since we have boxes of K-Cup flavors now coming out of kitchen cabinets and around the sink and counters, this was a really welcome holiday addition.

So a couple weeks back, I happened on an episode of Food Network’s Best Thing I Ever Made, which is the replacement for Best Thing I Ever Ate, for which I think they just ran out of ideas and categories for. And Andrew Zimmern was on there. You know, the guy from Travel Channel who has a show called Bizarre Foods, and eats some of the absolutely craziest things that anyone would ever put in their mouth–including one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen–bull schlong. Quite honestly, I drew the line right there and haven’t watched that show since.

But when I saw him dial up this recipe for “Grandmother’s Chinese chicken wings” and my mouth was watering right away. My mouth is watering as I type this, because I tried these things two Sundays ago and they were phenomenal. I made them again this past Sunday and I may make them every Sunday until the end of time. They were that good. And it’s not like they are crispy–you make them in a large pot and essentially stir fry them for like an hour. But holy crap, the sauce is like a parade of flavors–sweet, spicy, tangy, soy-ee. Anyway, I get it. I get why he tried to re-create these for years before a friend came across the recipe from a Chinese grandma. You have to get a few ingredients you may have trouble finding–dried chiles, star anise, sake and mirin. But you can usually find stuff like that in a store like Whole Foods, or giant grocery like Woodman’s here in Madison.

So do me a favor and do Zimmern a favor and try these wings for your next party. They will go FAST.

I’ve talked probably more than I’d care to admit that I’m trying to lose a few pounds. Aren’t we all this time of year?

Anyway, and maybe fortunately or unfortunately, I find loopholes in Weight Watchers’ point system. Maybe they are not loopholes, but they are ideas of healthy deliciousness. In the case of one of my favorite foods, the hot dog, I made this kickass lunch the other day–two fat free white meat turkey franks (thank you Ballpark) on Brownberry white Italian bread, and made two kinds. One had a Kosciusko spicy brown mustard and a small amount of Tony Packo’s Hot Dog Sauce (this stuff is remarkable and by that I mean tasty as hell); and the other had a (literally) kickass Beaver Brand jalapeno mustard and some spicy That Pickle Guy muffalatta style olive salad.

First of all, these hot dogs are fantastic. They do not taste fat free in the least, they are delicious, and they are mild enough to let the other toppings shine. And since I’m eating these dogs like two or three times a week, I’ve become more interested in trying different mustards. Which makes it convenient that we have the National Mustard Museum here in Madison.

And hey, it’s almost lunch time and this post is making me hungry. And I think I know what I want for lunch!