Friday 6 September 2013

A DRY Soda Extravaganza!

While on a trip to the US of A this summer, one of my favourite ladies discovered DRY Soda.  DRY Soda is an all natural soda with only 4 ingredients in it, and with a fraction of the calories and sugar of a traditional pop.  Only 55 to 70 calories for a 355mL bottle!  The best part?  DRY provides details on the flavour profile of each soda flavour (9 in total) and provides free recipes on their website to match with the sodas! 

Being a food lover like my self, this lovely lady decided to pick up a bottle of each of the sodas (7 at that point in time) and have a soda and food pairing luncheon.  Since I'm the luckiest duck of the lucky ducks, I was invited to the luncheon and the meal blew me away!  I showed up expecting a potluck and was treated to a gourmet experience.  So much fun!  For further details on the sodas and the scrumptious recipes we discovered, please see below.  (Note: Dry Soda is now available at Urban Fare in Canada)  To the lovely lady organizer, thanks for a fabulous lunch...and to the rest of you who were there, your company wasn't too shabby either!  Thanks for the fun ladies.

The spread!  Talk about going all out.  I've never enjoyed being in a board room so much in my life!
 
The guests of honour!  DRY Soda's Lavendar, Vanilla Bean, Wild Lime, Cucumber, Juniper Berry, Blood Orange and Rhubarb.  My favourites were definitely the Rhubarb, Vanilla Bean, Orange and Juniper Berry.  DRY Soda has also added Apple and Ginger as new flavours since my friend's trip to the US of A.
 
These sodas were lovely.  Just the right amount of flavour, a little sweetness and no salt.  They reminded me a lot of the Clearly Canadian flavoured waters that existed about 15 years ago...I wonder what happened to those?  Anyways, in my opinion, DRY sodas are the perfect drink when you want something other than water, but don't want to break the calorie bank and break into a pop or alcoholic beverage.  Unfortunately they're not available in BC yet, but you can stock up on them in Washington very easily.
  
There was no messing around at this shin dig...the meal started off with the Scottish Rhubarb Sparkler, which was to die for!  Let me tell you, there was a lot of gin in this puppy, but you sure didn't taste it.  Interesting fact: a bodum works very well as a cocktail shaker if you're ever in a pinch. 
  
A traditional Peruvian Ceviche served with Tostadas and paired with the Blood Orange DRY Soda.  This ceviche was hands down the best ceviche that has ever crossed my lips.  If my belly had allowed it, I would have eaten this entire dish myself!  The Blood Orange DRY soda also paired very nicely with this dish.

DRY Soda's Greek Orzo Salad and Simple Roasted Red Potatoes paired with the Cucumber DRY Soda and Juniper Berry DRY Soda, respectively.  The flavour profiles of the sodas went very nicely with the dishes, and the dishes themselves were amazing!  I'm definitely going to add these to my cooking repertoire.


Chicken to go with the Greek Orzo Salad for some protein, and chips and salsa to pair with the Wild Lime DRY Soda.
 
Lunch, Round 1!  Seriously a delicious meal.  I can't wait to make these recipes again.

And just when I thought lunch was over, out came the homemade Panna Cotta!  I'm not going to lie, I normally steer clear of ordering Panna Cotta because it's not my favourite dish in the world, but this panna cotta was amazing!  It was all I could do to stop myself from licking the dish clean.  Not to mention that this dessert paired amazingly with the Vanilla Bean DRY Soda!  The two just lit each other up. 


And last, but not least, our second dessert!  Lemon Cream and Cherry Caramel chocolates from Purdy's.  The Lemon Cream chocolate paired very nicely with the Lavender DRY Soda, and the Cherry Caramel tasted so good I can't remember what it was paired with!

@DRYSoda

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