If it's not clear by now that I go down food rabbit holes, you haven't been picking up on trends. The strangest things can provoke a deep dive. In this case, I got into flavored or infused waters because when I was pondering how to style my coffee table before a gathering on a very hot, smoky summer night, it struck me that a carafe or two of flavored waters would both look well and potentially hit the spot.  You know, the kind of artfully infused waters that are proffered to you in the sort of salon I no longer frequent. And then you find yourself with four carafes clearly in need of regular use and it's off in search of ideas to fill them.

The good news was that it seemed the simplest recipes yielded the best results. Just slice, pour and wait a few hours.

Strawberry lemon basil water 

Adapted from a number of inspiration sites, including Culinary Hill and That Salad Lady. I tried a number of variations, but I'm focusing here on my two favorites of those I tried.

Simple flavored waters

Strawberry lemon basil water

Ingredients

1 lemon, sliced crosswise
5 fresh basil leaves
½ cup strawberry halves
Filtered water

Method

Place lemon, basil leaves and strawberries in a quart pitcher or one-liter carafe.  Pour over enough water to mostly fill, leaving room for some ice at the top if desired later. Refrigerate for at least a few hours or overnight for best flavor. Shake it up a bit to even out the pinkish tone from the berries.

Rating: This was among the prettier variations I tried so if you're looking for guest presentation, this might be the winner. Pretty pink liquid color in a glass, and the lemon and basil flavors are refreshing. The original recipe indicated not to leave the infusing ingredients in longer than 24 hours but I blithely ignored that. I will say that if you refill this to get a second use, the strawberries will start to look mushy by the second day or so, so you only get so many pours out of the ingredients.

Blueberry rosemary lemon water

Ingredients

1 lemon, sliced crosswise
4 sprigs fresh rosemary (tender stems are best for this purpose rather than woody)
½ cup blueberries
Filtered water

Method

Place lemon, rosemary and blueberries in a quart pitcher or one-liter carafe.  Pour over enough water to mostly fill, leaving room for some ice at the top if desired for serving later. Refrigerate for at least a few hours or overnight for best flavor. Shake up to spread out the blue color evenly through the water before serving.

Rating: This one hits the sweet spot for a combination of flavor, looks and comparative longevity. The blue color is a little more subtle than the pink of the strawberry version, but the flavors of rosemary and lemon really come through and are a nicely refreshing combo pack. Since the blueberries are left whole, this one can last a bit longer and get more refills out of it, although with each refill the ingredients will deliver slightly less potent flavor. 

A few others to try: 1 sliced orange, 4 thyme sprigs, halved red grapes; 1 sliced lime, ½ sliced cucumbers, lemon grass sprigs to taste (or lemon balm is also interesting). Those are nicely flavored, but don't seem to lend themselves to multiple refills.

Cucumber agua fresca

From "Put 'em Up" by Sherri Brooks Vinton.

Note: If you're looking to avoid adding sugar, you can leave it out. It's still refreshing, but if you're including it in the martini recipe option, the sugar helps.

Ingredients

4 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 cup water
2 tablespoons sugar
Juice of 1 lime

Method

Puree cucumber chunks in a food processor or blender. Drain well through a fine mesh strainer, pushing  to remove juice. Compost the solids.

Combine cucumber juice, water, sugar and lime juice in a pitcher and stir to dissolve the sugar. Serve over ice with a splash of seltzer if desired, or try in the cucumber martini, below.

Rating: If you've got a ton of cucumbers to figure out how to preserve, this can be useful, since you can freeze it. But if you're just looking to use up cucumbers in something refreshing, putting slices with limes in water is a lot faster and has a cleaner taste.

Cucumber martini

3 ounces cucumber agua fresca
1½ ounces vodka
Ice
Cucumber slice for garnish

Combine agua fresca, vodka and ice in a shaker. Shake to chill and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with cucumber slice.

Rating: I wouldn't go out of my way to make the aqua fresca just for this, but if you've got it on hand, this might be its highest use case; the vodka cuts through any off-putting texture.