It’s no secret that I love eating delicious food - at restaurants, at friends’ houses, or at home with my family. A few weeks ago, I had lunch at a place I hadn’t been to in years … actually decades. An elementary school cafeteria. I had lunch with my youngest son and got an eye-full as to what the school lunchtime experience is for many kids. My son and his classmates had 10-12 minutes to eat their lunches before getting outside to run around the playground. Most of the kids at the table followed the adage “life is uncertain, eat dessert first” and gobbled their cookies before eating anything else in their lunches. Few kids had much protein or fruit or veg in their lunches or if they did, they didn’t eat it; and many lunches had an abundance of sugar and empty calories. And then, lickity-split, the kids were out the door to squeeze in some playtime before the bell.

Our country has been abuzz recently about school lunch nutrition. In December, school lunch nutrition standards were raised for the first time in 15 years, requiring more fruits, veggies, and whole grains in school lunches and reducing sodium, trans-fat, and starchy vegetables. I thought this before/after infographic from the White House was handy in understanding how the proposed changes would impact school lunches. I also read that some healthy food advocates, like Marion Nestle, think the new standards aren’t perfect but could be a step in the right direction.After my school lunch experience, I was really excited to read about the change in the air at Seattle Public Schools. Seattle’s new-ish Nutrition Director Eric Boutin worked in the nearby school district of Auburn where he led a movement to bring local wholesome food into school lunches. He’s now in Seattle and working to revamp both the composition of lunches (locally sourced, whole foods) and figure out how schools can effectively source and prepare local foods for lunch. Recently Seattle Public Schools became a recipient of a grant, which will pair chefs and operations managers from Tom Douglas’s restaurants with school cooks in order to help retrain school lunch program staff to source and prepare fresh foods. I love it!

So the only downside to this lunchtime story is that my poor son no longer gets dessert in his lunches — he has not invited me back.  But maybe I can wrangle an invite once the schools finish their lunch program revamp.

One of the things I love about DRY Soda is the unique ways our DRY customers sip, pair, and mix DRY. I hear about new food pairing ideas from food bloggers and our Twitter followers are always chirping about how refreshing a mid-afternoon DRY Soda can be. I also hear a ton of fabulous ideas of how to mix DRY Soda.Seriously people - you are making some amazing DRY Soda cocktails, like here, here, and here. And also here and here. You’re creating your own infusions, pairing DRY with unusual flavor combinations, and using DRY Soda to riff on classic cocktails.We want to showcase how you mix DRY Soda so we’re creating a mobile phone app that features your cocktail recipes with your favorite DRY Soda flavors.We are going to put your cocktail recipes on the DRY Soda app, with your name beside it of course! Send us your cocktail recipes by March 11, 2011 and the first 30 people to send us a recipe will get some DRY Soda goodies, just for being so on the ball. Details are below.

DRY Soda cocktail submission details:

Email the following information to kate (at) drysoda (dot) com by March 11, 2011.

1. Your cocktail recipe including the name, ingredients, and quantities, and method of mixing.
2. Your name, and city and state.
3. Your email address so we can contact you if necessary.

The first 30 people to send us a recipe will receive a new edition DRY T-shirt and coupon for a free 4-pack of DRY Soda, redeemable at your local DRY Soda retailer.You may enter as many unique recipes as you would like. One DRY T-shirt and 4-pack coupon per person. DRY T-shirts and 4-pack coupons will be mailed in April 2011. The DRY Soda mobile app will be a free download and available Spring 2011. Follow DRY Soda on Facebook or Twitter for more info about DRY and the app’s release.

(images courtesy of Dunn+Hobbes, LLC)

I was in San Francisco earlier this month, home to one of my favorite places – the Ferry Building. In addition to being a gorgeous historic building, it’s chock full of amazing regional food producers and crafts people. Cheese from Cowgirl Creamery, Boccalone’s salumi, Blue Bottle Coffee, Frog Hollow Farm’s stone fruits … is your mouth watering yet? What’s inspiring to me is the community of businesses that have been cultivated in the Ferry Building – businesses that are creating products using traditional and sustainable production methods to make pure foods.

On this trip, I was thinking how lucky SF was to have the Ferry Building and its community but I know that Seattle is also very blessed, not only do we have Pike Place Market, but we have a new addition to our local food scene — Capitol Hill’s Melrose Market. This market-hall style building is home to Seattle’s own mix of food purveyors including Rainshadow Meats, The Calf & Kid cheese shop, Marigold and Mint, and delicious restaurants and bars that showcase regional food products on their menus: Sitka & Spruce, bar ferd’nand, Still Liquor, and Homegrown. 

I had the opportunity to have lunch at Sitka & Spruce a few months ago.  The food and atmosphere were amazing – they make different dishes each day and the kitchen is open so you have the opportunity to go and check out the dishes and learn about where the food is from and how it is prepared.  Another good sign that it is a great place to eat – I ran into my friends Jason and Nicole Wilson eating lunch there too (owners of Crush and Chef Jason is a James Beard winner). 

What I love most about places like Melrose Market and the Ferry Building –  the opportunity to learn about the food I’m buying and learn about the producers. The business owners are either producing their products or buying them directly from the farmers, ranchers, cheesemakers and they can tell me about the food and how best to eat or serve it.  Well… I also love that both places sell tons of DRY Soda!

 (Amanda Hesser enjoying a Lavender DRY Soda)

Welcome to the updated version of  the DRY recommends blog.  In the past this blog has been a collaborative effort by the DRY team, sharing with you a variety of our favorite things. In our updated version the blog will be written by me (Sharelle) and I will be focusing on recommending my favorite people, organizations, farms, food companies etc. Basically, it is me writing about all of those people that inspire me daily.

So who am I – I am Sharelle,  the Founder and CEO of DRY Soda. I am also a mother of four kids and four dogs and a wife of one amazing fellow. I live in Seattle, truly the most beautiful city in the US (well it is, but of course it is grey here a lot!). Admittedly I have an amazing job, but truth be told, it can also be very challenging at times and I need inspiration. Learning and sharing about all these great Americans who are really shifting the way we eat and drink - inspires me and will hopefully do the same for you.Now I am going to ask for all of you to be patient with me as I begin this process – I am really comfortable creating soda and selling it, but am a bit more nervous writing a blog!

To get me started — I went to a potluck dinner for food bloggers last night and the guest of honor — none other than one of my favorite foodies —  Amanda Hesser!  Amanda is an amazing food writer for the New York Times, co-founder of Food 52  and she just published The Essential New York Times Cookbook!  Admittedly, I was very nervous being in a room full of professional food writers — but I decided against the intimidated freak out — and just had an amazing time eating and sharing with all of these incredible people. OK so enough about me — onto my first DRY Recommends: DRY Recommends: Amanda Hesser’s amazing food network: food52

Food52 is a Website that gives home cooks a place to showcase their recipes and to engage and be inspired by others in “lively conversation”. I love this website – It is the perfect place to go on a Saturday afternoon with glass of wine in hand and plan out some great dinner — but it is also the perfect place to go on Wednesday night — when I still have hours of work left, have three soccer practices to go and Amazon Fresh order comes tomorrow — so the fridge is empty. It is just such an engaging site - and one that provides endless inspiration and endless camaraderie with other food centrics (my new word!).

So please check out Food52 — you might just find your new favorite place on the web or an idea for dinner tonight!  And I leave you with a quote from Food 52:

We think cooking is really important…because:

• • If you cook, your family will eat dinner together.
• • If you cook, you will naturally have a more sustainable household.
• • If you cook, you’ll set a lifelong example for your children.
• • If you cook, you’ll understand what goes into food and will eat more healthy.
• • If you cook, you’ll make your home an important place in your life.
• • If you cook, you’ll make others happy.
• • If you cook, people will remember you.

Ta-da! DRY has introduced a fresh new look and we’re so excited about it. We love how the new design pops with each flavor’s image and conveys exactly what DRY Soda is - Less Sweet / 04 Ingredients / All Natural.

So why the change? DRY Soda launched in 2005, which makes the company five years old! In that time DRY has evolved from its beginnings on the white tablecloths of the country’s finest restaurants, to finding huge success in grocery stores, cafes, and other retail locations across the US and Canada. Every day we hear from DRY customers about how they love DRY’s flavors and we’re continually inspired by the ways people are pairing and mixing DRY with their favorite foods and spirits. We wanted DRY’s design to reflect the flavors that make DRY Soda so unique.

We also wanted the design to reflect that DRY Soda is less sweet. One of the things I’m most proud of about DRY is that it’s always used the minimum amount of pure cane sugar so you can taste the flavor. Currently there’s a shift happening in our country’s collective food culture to reduce the amount of sugar in our meals so that we can actually taste the flavors of food instead of coating our palates with sweetness. DRY has been about flavor from the beginning and we want people to know that DRY is the soda that allows the flavors to shine through.

So DRY’s new design helps communicate the best parts of DRY Soda – its distinctive flavors and its uniqueness as a less sweet, four ingredients, all natural soda. And while it was hard to let the old design go, we think this new design fits DRY perfectly.

DRY’s new look was designed by the stellar Seattle-based Turnstyle. I started working with these great guys back when DRY was just an idea in my head. These incredibly talented designers took my vision for DRY and created a beautiful bottle worthy of the best restaurants in the US and now they have done it again – taking all that is great about DRY and reflecting that on the bottle.  Our new look will be rolling out across North America this month and we’d love to hear what you think. Find us on Facebook or Twitter and tell us your thoughts on the new look of DRY!

While we were in San Francisco for the Fancy Food Show, our Director of Sales introduced DRY’s HQ team to Beard Papa’s Fresh ‘n Natural Cream Puffs.  Upon our return home, we were thrilled to find a Beard Papa’s in Seattle’s International District.  We still don’t know exactly how they do it, but their light, airy confections are to-die-for.  Founder Yuji Hirota first sold his all-natural, fresh puffs in Osaka, Japan in 1999.  Since then, Beard Papa’s stores have sprouted up throughout Asia, Australia and the USA.  Puff flavor options include delights like the original vanilla, chocolate, pumpkin, earl grey tea, and strawberry. The company’s mission is simple: serve a unique cream puff to happy people.  Now we just need to get them to serve DRY!  To find a local location, visit www.beardpapa.com and be happy!

Are you tired of the unlimited number of depressing news stories constantly circulating mainstream media? They seem almost inescapable, which is why we take often refuge with Operation NICE.  Creator, Melissa Morris Ivonne, decided one day that she wanted to spread some love to combat all the negativity out there. Realizing a blog could be the best place to begin, Melissa started using her own experiences to “encourage individuals to be proactively nice.”  Additionally, her site invites readers to share uplifting stories, news, and products, and even highlights a NICE person of the week.  We all need a little more nice in our lives, so pay a visit to www.operationnice.com.

Take our word for it - the folks at craft Los Angeles can put together more than just a perfect meal in a great setting.  They are also capable of making some of the most incredible mixed drinks under the sun! Craft LA’s bartender, Luke Sundquist, has given us two DRY cocktails to add to our official list, including the Elderflower Collins and the Rhubaretto. These elegant, yet spirituous drinks will surely take the edge off your day!  Make one for yourself and your friends, or for the full experience, pay our pal Luke a visit at his home court bar in the restaurant.  www.craftrestaurant.com.

During this busy summer season, the DRY crew has been on several road trips – both for work and play.  We’ve quickly become sick of seeing such an abundance of artery-splitting foods at convenience stores.  We wish we had a place nearby like Green Spot, a Dallas-based service station that offers an array of affordable organic, natural and fair-trade snacks.  Inside, find fresh sushi and sandwiches, DRY Soda, bright bouquets of local flowers and even free Wi-fi.  You can also fuel your car in a healthy way, with unleaded gasoline, diesel/biodiesel blends, and B100 biodiesel.  Green Spot is even hosting a farmers market, complete with food and wares from local producers.  Visit in-person or online at www.greenspotmarket.com.

We are finding more and more that DRY is not only great on its own or paired with a meal, it’s also an excellent cocktail mixer.  We’ve made non-alcoholic mimosas (two parts Lemongrass DRY + one part fresh orange juice = delicious), our founder’s favorite Lavender DRY with gin, and several other fancy drinks.  If you want reassurance straight from the cocktail world, ask the experts at LA-based Pinky Vodka.  For your sipping pleasure, they have created the Perfect Pinky Martini with their oh-so-beautiful vodka and Lemongrass DRY.  Visit www.pinkyvodka.com, choose “cocktail hour” from their drop-down menu, then select “martinis” and you will find a fabulous recipe and video instructions on how to make your Perfect Pinky at home!