16: i see

As a general rule, room temperature is not an ideal state for a beverage.

However, many products are stocked that way in the stores. Cranberry juice, Dr Pepper, tequila, Vitamin Water... just to name a few. This makes sense, of course. No need to waste energy on refrigeration of products that will not spoil without it.

Still, I prefer to consume liquids either hot (think chocolate, chamomile, or related families) or chilled. So I've gotten into the habit of tossing newly-purchased bottles of room-temperature beverages into the freezer to quickly chill the contents. The problem is, approximately 59% to 83% of the time, I completely forget that I have done so. Vanessa will attest to this phenomenon. It was a particularly frequent occurrence during the thesis-writing days (which were also fueled by large quantities of hot beverages).

And since the room-temperature beverages that I purchase are always water-based and never ethanol-based, they always freeze. Sometimes I snap out of my moronic moment in time and the subject has only reached a slushy state. I've found that Cherry Coke and the dragonfruit-flavored Vitamin Water in fact work quite nicely that way.

At other times I have been known to leave two-liter bottles in the freezer overnight. Solid. Tonight, I deposited a bottle of Diet Coke into the icing chamber a little before 6 pm. After returning home from orchestra rehearsal, I remembered that I had just bought some Diet Coke today and it would be nice to pour a glass before sitting down to finish a movie I had started earlier. It was then that I also remembered that it was in the freezer. It was about 11 pm. Giant bottle-shaped Diet-Coke popsicle, anyone?

It's sitting on a towel next to the radiator, slowly metamorphosing into a more readily drinkable form. Sometimes I am nearly blinded by my own brilliance. (Like just now when I tried to type that sentence with my fingers one key off: it came out Domryimrd...)

(photo credit: Darren Hester)