Make some "me" time

Jukes What if your apple a day was served in a wine glass? You could carry it by the stem, put your hand on your cocked hip and ponder the art on your own walls as you sip your daily apple cider. It would be Jukes Cordialities enabling you this simple grace of non-alcoholic beverages blending the finest, natural fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices with organic apple cider vinegar. It comes in tiny bottles with simple labels in sturdy small boxes that you’ll immediately plan to repurpose once you’ve consumed all your Jukes. Bottles come in red or white and you mix the contents with sparkling or tonic water. There, you have something like wine, but it’s not. But it is a cider luxury. It took me a second try to get the blend balanced and then, I became a believer. The trick is, your experience will be enhanced by imagining you are enjoying Jukes on some sort of wine tour and you should for sure have a stemmed glass and you may want to spread out some nibbles on your best platters so as to relax the way creators intended. Don’t consider it faux wine, but real “me” time. Tea Runners Tea Runners are Jewel and Charlie who bring you the best and even let you create your own. You may have heard there is Turmeric Ginger and flavors beyond your basic supermarket bags, but have you dared to dream of Carrot Cake Rooibos? Most importantly, did you realize you are “worth it” when you brew up a pot of Cinnamon Plum with licorice root and hibiscus flower, producing a hue matching purple tones in your most comfy sweat shirt as you follow the sun set? I gifted an herbal root beer blend to a tea afficionado hoping he’d have me over to taste it. The aromatic body impressed us all. I can’t even describe Scarlet, with rosehips and blueberries right now… But take a look at the subscription boxes at www.tearunners.com, a site that looks like a magazine spread. This can be you as you smell the fragrances and sip that tea, wrapped in your own soft throw. See, the very thought of Tea Runners gets one’s inspiration brewing. Chocolatier de Miami Miami is a big city. Of course they have a chocolatier, and that is Garcia Nevett. Tupelo Honey and Cardamom, Anis y Papelon with fennel seeds and Brown Butter Crunch are some selections that brighten a little box of treasures. Sisters Isabel and Susana have perfected skills in France and Venezuela and celebrate Latin American chocolate with an array of beautiful shapes, colors and textures. This is the kind of chocolate that needs to be savored, but is also difficult to put aside once sampled. Florida Sea Salt and Passion Fruit are some show offs from their award-winning blends. Garcianevett.com will get you to the celebrated sisters of Miami. Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie insistent on more “me time” to recharge this spring. Share your Culinary Thrill Seeking finds with her at darraghcastillo@icloud.com