Review–Michelob ULTRA Light Cider

When summer weather arrives, there is nothing more refreshing for adults than a cold hard cider.  Let’s face it, when it’s time to relax from a hectic day at work or with the kids, it is great to reach for something refreshing, that isn’t the same old beer or wine.

Traditional hard ciders tend to be super-sweet, which also means tons of calories, often over 200 calories.  Michelob ULTRA Light Cider is different.  Imagine a crisp, ripe apples, turned into cool, refreshing goodness at only 120 calories.

Hard cider is brewed from apples as opposed to barley and hops for beer or grapes for wine.  Here’s a nifty primer on the process:



Images from www.Facebook.com/MichelobULTRA, collaged by me.

We’ve tried many brands of hard ciders in the past and most of them are simply too sweet.  A lot of them are similar to wine coolers from the eighties.  The first sip of Michelob ULTRA Light Cider was completely different.  It definitely had the taste of tart apples with just a hint of sweetness, more along the lines of wine or specialty beer.  Michelob ULTRA Light Cider is naturally sweetened with stevia, which keeps the calories 120 for a 12 oz. bottle.  It is definitely lighter than traditional hard ciders, but with plenty of authentic apple flavor.

If you’ve shied away from hard ciders in the past because of the sweetness or calories, you should definitely try Michelob ULTRA Light Cider.  For more information, check out the Michelob ULTRA Light Cider page on BlogHer.com as well as the Sponsor’s site.



Remember, always drink responsibly and never drink and drive.  So tell me, what would be your favorite way to enjoy Michelob ULTRA Light Cider this summer?  Let me know!  Cheers!

Disclaimer:  Michelob ULTRA and BlogHer provided Michelob ULTRA Light Cider for review as well as compensation for the post.  The opinions are strictly my own!

The Sky is Blue on Cherry Hill

There is a super quaint ice cream place in Leominster, MA complete with a round roof barn. Cherry Hill Ice Cream is picture perfect New England, where we visited one afternoon last summer.  It is set on a bucolic hill, just check out the view.



After enjoying our super fresh, super delicious ice cream, Adam and I laid on the benches to gaze upon the blue, blue sky for what seemed like an hour.



The sky was deeply, irrefutably blue.



Even with a pink solar flare for contrast, the sky was blue as blue can be.



Recently, I heard an episode of Radio Lab on Color, where they show that the word for blue is introduced later in classic literature perhaps because it hadn't been defined. No one had called the sky blue, and the color rarely occured in nature otherwise. They ask the question "Why Isn't the Sky Blue?" and even go so far as to say that we think the sky is blue only because we've been taught that. Is the sky blue because we say it is? Or is it really blue?

All I know is that the sky is definitely blue on Cherry Hill.  What do you think?

Travel the World on your iPad

I resisted getting an iPad for quite some time, but finally caved with the iPad 3.  And since then, my world has opened up under my fingertips.  The kids are too old for interactive reading apps, so they haven't ventured much past their slew of kid-oriented games.  Now there is an interactive app that is seriously for any age from 0 to 99 (or older!).  Barefoot World Atlas from Barefoot Books and Touch Press is amazingly rich and full of information that is easy and fun to find.

Dova has a report due on Siberian Tigers for school, so she immediately went to look it up on the World Atlas. Within seconds, she found the entry.  Not only can you press the audio button to have the entry read to you, you can click on the photo icon at the bottom to view a high res photograph.

Wow, this image really pops on the iPad 3 display!  The World Atlas even has recent events. This tsunami tidal wave is animated across the screen.

Check out the beautifully illustrated colors of the Middle East!  There are even space craft to learn about.

Here are two things that I learned from the app.  Table Tennis was invented in England in the 1880s.  It's not a Chinese game that has been around for centuries!

I scrolled through the countries and found one that I had never heard of, Burkina.  But as soon as I saw the capital city of Ouagadougou, I remembered that it was the capital of Upper Volta.  More research showed that the name was changed in 1984 to Burkina Faso, from its original name as a former French colony.  Apparently, I have not advanced my African geography since I graduated from HS in 1983.

No trip around the world is complete without a visit to one of my bucket list destinations, the Tah Majal.  Whenever you scroll to a new area, the music of the region also comes on.

I will see you someday, my beautiful!!

Get the Barefoot World Atlas for the iPad for $7.99 here:

If you don't have an iPad, you can enjoy the hardcover version of the book here:
Barefoot Books World Atlas

I've had so much fun spinning the world and virtual globe trotting.  Where would you like to travel too?

Disclaimer:  Barefoot Books gave me the World Atlas app to review.  No other compensation was received and the glowing recommendations are strictly my own (and Dova's) opinions.