Market to HOPE offers sustenance, opportunity to volunteer

 

Market to HOPE (Help Other People Eat) has been making an impact. I’ve heard volunteers share their experiences and organizers speak on how groups around Southeast Texas donate, collect, distribute and accept food for those who need it.

I finally got my chance to serve for a bit of time when my church group had an early Saturday shift. I was impressed with the set up, the offerings and mission of this Catholic Charities project. Miranda Creech, program coordinator, said Port Arthur residents are among those who can fill out paperwork to see if they qualify for this assistance. Sometimes people come in and “shop” through the space, set up a like a store on the grounds of Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church, 3390 Sarah Street in Beaumont. In addition to produce and canned foods, there were sundries from spices to diapers.

It was drive-through service the morning Ladies of St. Jude served. I had cart duty. Cars were lined around the block and volunteers simply loaded food from the carts that continuously rolled out to the sidewalk. Those accepting the food, who had their paperwork handy, didn’t even have to get out of the car.

I got the perfect assignment on a day I had my step counter on. We’d get a little shopping cart and roll it through stations in the store. When I got there the first stop was milk, then a few feet later bags of bread were hooked onto the cart’s side, then came bags of apples, then a roll to peaches. Next came a bag of frozen meat and I’d take the cart to the sidewalk. More boxes of fruit followed and then we lined up for people to unload into cars and trucks. I’d steer the empty cart back and start all over. The supplies would change as, for instance, milk or watermelon would run out and be replaced by something else, like raisins galore or some new surprise.

               Creech says to call her for your chance to volunteer, or if you need food! She’s at (409) 924-4435, mcreech@ccsetx.org

Food Triggers - While I love the notion of generations of women bonding over kitchen experimentation and family recipes, there are other aspects to the love of food. How did you feel about eating as a child? Did anyone try to change your relationship with food? Does food ever make you feel unhappy? These are journal prompts in a new book by Leslie and Lindsey Glass, a mom and daughter who were not in contact for a long stretch. Imagine turning that around in a way that allows a book collaboration to benefit other. Good job. "The Mother-Daughter Relationship Makeover: 4 Steps to Bring Back the Love" covers a variety of topics and situations we've all experienced, in addition to the food thing. It's good to heal at the table. 

Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie ready to hit all the summer grills. Share your crazy ideas with her at darraghcastillo@icloud.com

Squirrel away some snacks

Squirrely Shirley is what I’ve been calling our nightly visitor. You might hear a leaf rustle as she pokes around a flower pot, or catch movement above if she approaching from the awning. Then comes that look. “What have you got for me tonight?” Cute as can be, I made a platform for her with a little half brick as a step. No steps needed, she’s a leaper. If I can get her to nibble at a raw nut from the flat piece of marble, it’s like her stage. Hey, if I’m providing snacks, no fair if you haul them off to enjoy. I’d like to have a little cuteness show. I’ve really come to anticipate her antics, but my husband draws the line at her hopping up onto the metal swinger while he’s sitting right there. A little “shoo” gets her back on the ground and inquiring about the next handout.

We like our snacks, too. Our friend is careful to give squirrels on his walk unsalted, raw peanuts. Too bad humans tend to reach for more sugary, fatty goodies. But I’ve heard of “ingredients-only households” as a term. This means your pantry doesn’t have bags of chips and boxes of cupcakes ready to rip open and devour. You have to work for your snacks a little, such as: open a jar of nut butter and spread some on an apple you had to cut up. Or shred some cheese and melt it onto a tortilla. This isn’t too much extra work in my thought, but just way too difficult for some snackers. A note is that healthy options are often more expensive and less accessible to those in a food desert.

What are your snacks? – As a kid, I’d never have guessed celery and hummus would be a favorite. Hated the stuff in my youth. Popcorn is a snack, or a dinner. Fruit is the tops. If you figure that some snacks make you more healthy and others drag you down, it gets easier. Readers, share what you go to. Here’s an example, below:

Snack Attack - I met a man eating from a beat up bag that looked bleached by sunlight as though it was in the far corner of a parking lot the past decade. I wondered if it was actually "chew" the way he was moving his jaws. Fascinated, this foodie had to ask. He willingly held out a hand of what looked like super-coarse sand, or cornmeal. Well, it was nearly cornmeal. Turns out he's “addicted” to corn nuts and his dentures can't deal with it. He says he tapes up bags of his fave snack and takes a sledgehammer to them, pounding those corns into near dust. Could I make this up? Foodies are everywhere!

Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie headed for “ingredients.” It’s snack time. Got snack ideas? Share them to darraghcastillo@icloud.com

Otaku draws anime fans to Port Arthur

 

 

You are otaku about something…

The Otaku food and anime festival has hit Central Mall twice now. This second time, May 11-12, I had to go. After hearing of great crowds and tempting food offerings, I wanted to see all the costumed fans and vendors. Super cute keychains looked like bowls of ramen. It was great fun to see people of all ages having some fun and the mall was packed.

Otaku is a Japanese word for people with consuming interests, such as manga, video games or computers. I’ll bet you are otaku about something.

So, here are some foodie, travel and gadget topics for people like us:

                  Let’s Go – Explore the World in Your Kitchen is a tagline I can go with. Also, Doro Wat intrigued me. Spices to make a red lentil stew over brown rice, a citrus reamer and a pin of the flag of Ethiopia got me cooking and researching. The adventures at www.eat2explore.com help young ones shop, cook and research crafts, culture and places of various countries on the list. How fun is that? The Explore Ukraine version touches on pysanky decorated eggs, embroidery, stuffed cabbage, meatballs and includes a cookie cutter. www.eat2explore.com

Move It! - Do I really need to tell you that you'd probably feel better if you moved more? 3DFitBud could be your motivation. I've tracked 10,000 steps a day for years and would not feel right if I didn't hit my mark. It's bragging if it's true, and I know plenty of people of all ages with higher goals than that. This product is old school and modern at the same time. Clip on this 3D sensor with extra large display get going. It doesn't record your life story, it counts your steps. That's just what I wanted it to do. 

 Alarmee – Hook this sleek baby on your keychain to have an alarm and flashing light that could help out in an emergency. It’s a simple safeguard and I see how it could be of aid to seniors who have fallen. 

 Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie who would love a tour of Japan’s cherry blossom and ramen hotspots. darraghcastillo@icloud.com

Salad from scraps

I’ve been saving and potting onion bottoms for years, and snip off some lovely fresh greenery from a patio pot. This year I branched out after finding a broccoli stem in the compost had offered up some green leaves. I’ve had fun watching celery, garlic and ginger come up from pots and I’ve enjoyed a salad or two from my efforts. If I can get excited over this project, imagine how much fun kids could have. Give it a grow!

For Goddesses –  Two baggies of green herbs arrived in a package at my door and the aromas hit me with a blast. This was the good stuff, a note advised, full flavor and not like that dry stuff commonly circulating out there. I’m talking abut oregano and basil, y’all, From Demeter’s Pantry. When you name your business after the Greek Goddess of Agriculture, who was said to teach men to make flour and women to bake bread, you’ve got high standards to live up to. I don’t think I’ll have a meal without these two spices until my baggies are empty. Go to www.demeterspantry.com and see if you can find your own spice.

A Good Marble – Who doesn’t love a good marble? This question is posed on the site promoting Dr. Schär's Gluten-Free Marble Cake, which I haven’t yet tried, but I trust. The line, born in the heart of the Alps, stems from good-for-you food that tastes good, too. I enjoyed a dinner starting with their gluten-free spaghetti and will continue to pick up this brand, found in local markets. I simply hadn’t noticed it before. After finding www.schaer.com, I’m getting educated.

"God's Earth is Something to Fight For" - Start a compost heap. This is a great foodie tip to help children understand how to protect our earth. Sadly, this basic love of earth is sometimes controversial. Amy Houts explains the situation in this children's book.  Kris Smolskaya's illlustrations, that include Jesus talking to folk, bring the message home. Biblical quotes and people being kind to one another work for me. Share with the children: Other ways to reduce your carbon footprint: Save water. Stop food waste. Recycle.  

Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie saving her scraps to regrow. Salad anyone? darraghcastillo@icloud.com