Craving queso? It's Fiesta time

 

If you’ve ever craved a mango dipped in spices, never-ending avocado or some cactus for breakfast, La Vaquito in Port Arthur is at your service. A pinata, tortillas or bakery bread? This market has it.

If you’re planning to head out to the Mexican Heritage Society Fiesta, Sept 13 at the Robert A. “Bob” Bowers Civic Center, you might be craving some of these flavors. Start cooking them at home, and eat some more flavors at the festival. This area is always craving some authentic Mexican or Tex-

Mex foods. We have Taco Tuesday, and nearly every day is queso day. As the weather gets cooler, beans, rice and chili are on the menu. Here’s a book that may come in handy:

 

Calling Tex-Mex Lovers – Does Chorizo Spanish Rice Soup sound good about now? We love our Mexican and Tex-Mex foods in Southeast Texas and some tempting suggestions are mentioned in Eliza Cross’s cute and handy little book, “101 Things to Do with Pork.” A spiral perfect for college students and beginning cooks, it has some dishes we could relate to around here, including:

·       Sausage and Green Chile Breakfast Burritos

·       Chorizo Scrambled Eggs

·       Pulled Pork Breakfast Tacos

·       Chorizo Queso Dip (I love that this includes corn)

·       Pulled Pork Nachos

·       Southwest Taco Salad (with my fave go-tos of black beans and corn)

The Ultimate BLTH implies H is for ham. Into the pickle craze? Ham-Dill Pickle Dip features sour cream and cream cheese, ranch seasoning, deli ham and dill pickles. Also look for fun stuff like BBQ Pork Burnt Ends, Warm Bacon Potato Salad and Hog-Wild Wedge Salad.

 

Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie ready for fall festivals and Frito pie. Share your cravings with her visa panews@panews.com.

Cush Cush - That’s what Cajuns do…

Who remembers A. J. Judice’s “cheer” as a crawfish ambassador?

Hot boudain and cold cush cush.

Come on crawfish, push, push push.

My grandma loved cush cush. Whenever she made cornbread, she would save some crumbles in the lid of the rice pot by the stove for her supper. She’d simply add them to a bowl of milk, with sugar, I guess. I was NOT interested.

I’m also told this is not exactly authentic cush cush, couche couche or coush coush. There’s more ways to spell this dish than boudain/boudin.

I know this staple is part of the Cajun heritage. I’ve never had the occasion or particular desire to try it. Yet, I love hearing stories about it.

Charlene, a reader from Port Neches, shared some Cajun foodie memories, because “that’s what Cajuns do.” As a kid she hated the smell of roux and had to go outside when her momma made it, which was pretty often.

“My mom used to make cush cush for me,” she continued. “She would fry cornmeal and maybe a little salt, in a cast iron skillet. I had my bowl of milk, and the cornmeal was hot and crunchy and would sizzle when it hit the cold milk. You had to eat it quickly before it got soggy. I was never a fan of cornbread and milk... too mushy.”

 Wait, there’s more!

“My dad would get a slice of fresh white bread (Evangeline Maid was sooo good), put cracklins on and top it with syrup for a fold over sandwich.”

“So many other memories, like fish courtbuillon (coobeeon), jambalaya and gumbo. When I was in elementary school, my mom started making boudain and selling it from home now and then, just to make a little extra money. I remember thinking it was a lot of work for not much profit,” Charlene shared.

“My daddy would get sacks of oysters and the men would sit outside with gloves and paring knives to shuck them to be cooked. Cocktail sauce, crackers and beer was involved. I think less than half the oysters made it to the house to be cooked. I can remember my mom commenting that that big bunch of oysters didn't yield very many to cook.”

The secret is out about those oysters, Charlene. Now, I have GOT to try that fold over sandwich.

She ended her memory with this:

“I didn't mean to make this so long, but I guess my whole childhood was lots of food memories. That's what Cajuns do.”

Area author Jim LaBove, a Cajun artist and ambassador hailing from Sabine Pass, stresses cush cush is not simply cornbread in milk. He spells it couche-couche and pronounces it coosh-coosh.

“In Cajundom, couche-couche is a cornmeal batter cooked in a cast iron skillet, often with a lid. It seems like this was kinda used as a breakfast meal, but I’m sure others have served it at other times,” he said.

I figure he’s a good source, having written a whole book on gumbo, available from www.cottons-seafood.com.

On my mother’s bookshelf, I found a copy of “Simply Cajun,” a hand-written book by Judi Benoit of China, Texas. She included the following three-line recipe:

Coose

Mix a tiny bit of water with 2 cups of corn meal. Fry in an iron skillet ‘til crisp. Serve with cream and sugar!  

What’s your cush cush story?

Cush Cush is another open debate.  Variations I’ve heard about include crumbling up your cornbread mush into a bowl of coffee milk… This one is very new to me.

Keep those memories flowing.

Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie who would can’t decide if she likes seafood or chicken and sausage gumbo best. Share with her via panews@panews.com

Chia Pet is fun as it ever was

Chia pudding is a big deal now, but I wonder if these influencers remember the Chia Pet. I got some chia seeds and have been playing with them in salads, on peanut butter and in drinks. Results vary.

But I did remember I had a three-legged chia ram as garden décor. It’s been in the family for decades. He grew a nice chia coat and went returned to guard the garden. Good times!

Chia looked great in the kitchen. Now here are some books that will inspire you to create the kitchens, gardens and homes of your dreams:

“The Vintage Farmhouse Garden” - A silo bar in the back yard might be nice. Maybe I’ll adorn the dining room lighting with evergreen and ribbon next Christmas. Now, that garland fashioned from vases and ribbon I can do. Rhonda Kaiser attended Texas A&M University, found her flower expertise in Bishop, Texas and became a Master Gardener. Then she and her husband bought a farm. Now Kaiser is the “Southern Home and Farm” expert and she should be proud of her new book. A rose arch, petrified wood water feature and raised beds are some visuals that make you want to go dig in the garden. She shares how to work with plants, make botanical candles by pressing flowers into pillar candles, guides you to entertaining and color schemes and throws in some recipes I aim to grow enough product to make Easy and Authentic Jalapeno Salsa by boiling peppers and blending them with avocado oil and salt. That’s what I need.

 “Slow Style Home” – Find your style, add. Houseplants are handy… Display something from your heritage… You get it. Like the slow food movement, slow style considers the time involved developing the right stuff as kind of the point of it all. Maybe it means you’re never done, and I like that, too. Zandra Zuraw offers great tips throughout this book showing exactly what she means and how your “old” stuff can be considered in a new light as you continue to define your style. I love some pages that allow you to test your vignette skills. This justifies my own “style mash up.”

“California Beach House Luxury” – Disco balls – plural – in the kitchen? Breeganjane had me there. I’m into graffiti and rock-climbing walls for a boy’s bedroom and a beaded book nook for me. Pet snake? Your family do you all, Breeganjane. You don’t have to live on the coast to enjoy clean lines and gold fixtures. But who wouldn’t mind planning décor for your rooftop sitting area?

“Embracing Southern Homes” – Color can open up a room, décor size matters and calm and luxury are ideal bedroom themes. Some of this is instinct, but Eric Ross can guide homeowners toward grand scales in this book. He shares how the jobs described benefitted his clients and the photos enhance his description. Sometimes we haven’t even asked ourselves how we came to choose the furnishings we’ve lived with for decades. Here’s a revelation. Decorating requires math. But this one was easy. Strive for the amount of seating in living areas that would accommodate the number of people your home sleeps. Now, you’re ready to entertain in your Southern home.

“Iconic Rooms: Kips Bay New York Decorator Show House at 50” – I got an education and a back-in-time flashback to animal print rugs, fabric-heavy drapes, torch lamps and twiggy branches. Before perusing this coffee table book, I was not aware of the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club or the fierce competition to design a showcase to benefit its cause. Comments from decorators and photos of these spreads are inspiring as the décor changes over time. I’d live in any of these. Funny to us down here in neighborhoods, as elegant as these NYC interiors are, there are still views of neighboring brick buildings right outside the windows.

Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie who thinks a Pet Rock could contribute to any home’s nostalgic décor. What’s your best decorating tip? Share with her via panews@panews.com

Buggy or cart? How do you roam the aisles?

 

 

The Good Buggy - I walked into a grocery store and a woman handed a cart off to me, pronouncing it, "the good buggy." She was right, that was one smooth ride. What are the chances I'll get it next time? 

I'd been in the same store earlier in the week, and very early in the morning. "Footloose" came on. I was a tad disappointed by how few shoppers broke into dance. It was just one. Just me. 

Right after that I’ve seen all kinds of queries regarding if people shop with a cart, buggy or basket. That thing on the wheels… It seems like southerners of a certain age are going with “buggy.” Thoughts? Share ‘em.

Unite – I love this different approach. A world tour in a breakfast bar? Unite can back it all in a bag. Churro, Mexican Hot Chocolate, Bubble Tea and Baklava are flavors of nutritional bars to get you out of bed. If  you’re a classic, go with PB & Jelly. Protein is a trending topic. Flavor is always my topic. These are fun, healthy and tasty. Put some in your buggy. www.unitefood.com

Alter Eco has a Classic Blackout  – Can you relate to this chocolate adventure? I just melted a chocolate square onto a roll I’d pressed in a mini waffle iron. I used one of these:

Branded as “The Cleanest Greenest Chocolate,” I’d start with Crème Brulee Truffle Thins. They get creamy stuff into squares of organic dark chocolate that indulges the nibbler and restores forests. Burnt Caramel, and Brown Butter, both at 70 percent cacao gets your motor revving. But let’s go deeper. Classic Blackout at 85 percent cacao is something I wanted to investigate. Intense. This bar will last a long time. I’ll break off a square when I’m feeling sophisticated. Raspberry Crème Truffle Thins had the opposite effect. This bar vanished in a hurry. All good. All with a cause. Get tempted at www.alterecofoods.com 

Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie roaming the aisles to fill that buggy with good eats. Cart or buggy? Share with her via panews@panews.com