After all the Thanksgiving stuffing (not just of the turkey) I was thinking some more about Alex’s blog of Thanksgiving Eve (and Fran’s tongue-in-cheek suggestion to have a plate of air to go with your cup of hot water sounded about right). Many nutritionists and diets recommend a cup of hot water–although usually with lemon. I do often drink that, in the morning or after a meal, although I must confess that I usually add some sweetener to it. Fortunately, it’s a common enough practice that rarely do waiters nowadays look askance at you, but not so long ago, the reaction used to be that you were trying to get something for nothing. If you ask for a cup of tea with lemon, tea on the side, you get charged for the tea. If you ask for a cup of water, as when you ask for a glass of water, it’s free. And if you think that’s a fine line to draw, you haven’t waited tables and seen someone order a cup of hot water and then sneak their own teabag out of their purse. So before I forget: If you order a cup of hot water in a restaurant, please don’t forget to tip as if you’d gotten a cup of tea! I had a friend who didn’t drink and always ordered a glass of water with extra lemon at restaurants. Then he would add sugar and proceed to make his own lemonade. It wasn’t as if he asked first if the restaurant HAD lemonade, so I was embarrassed because it seemed just plain cheap. Nevertheless, I think that’s common with all of us in one way or another. When we travel, we go through money as if it were, well, water, so we really like those freebies. Free coffee and tea in the room is one of the most popular hotel amenities–even if those little coffeemakers don’t heat water to the proper temperature and don’t make a decent cup of coffee, it’s free! Yay! And I often travel with powdered Crystal Light iced tea mix so that I can turn a glass of water, and the hotel’s ice, into something approximating a soft drink, even though the little foil covers sometimes get punctured in the suitcase and sprinkle powder all over. Before the pretty common advent of in-room coffeemakers, I used to travel with one of those little immersion coils so that I could boil water. I’d bring tea bags, instant coffee, instant soup. Scrounge some crackers from your lunchtime soup, or fruit from the bowl on the front desk, and you’ve got a late-night snack (or, sometimes, dinner after a heavy lunch). I really was going to blog about food today; I’m in the middle of wrapping up a cookbook manuscript, so it’s much on my mind. But after all the Thanksgiving feasting, a cup of water and a plate of air sounds just about right. Maybe tomorrow. –Mary Hunt, editor, eFlyer