Pumpkin spices you haven't considered

 

Pie is just the beginning of pumpkin. If you haven’t been enjoying fall’s favorite flavor in soups, muffins and more, you may have missed a joy ride in Cinderella’s transformative coach. New books cover flavors from around the globe and even how to grow a pumpkin. Cook your décor and don’t forget to roast the seeds. Get spicy with these:

“Homemade Ish” – Her Chex mix has bacon. Sold? Turn the pages in Lauren McDuffie’s book on recipes and cooking tips that keep it real and you’ll get hooked on every page. Take short cuts and don’t be afraid to use can goods and store-prepped finds to get you started. The magic is in what you do at home. Mall pretzels use pizza dough. There’s even a buttery, toasted idea for combining all your cereal remnants. Gourmet and potentially very healthy stuff is in this fun one. Here’s the pumpkin: Pumpkin Patch Muffins with Salted Honey Butter starts with a can of unsweetened pumpkin and spice cake mix. Easy. Good.

Turkey in Pumpkin Seed Sauce - This mole has no chocolate and isn't three pages long, Beth Dooley and Gary Paul Nabhan write in "Chile, Clove, and Cardamom: A Gastronomic Journey into the Fragrances and Flavors of Desert Cuisines." This book takes us around the world and I want to stop and smell the cuisine at each site. Serve this "pumpkin" dish with rice or blue corn bread. Imagine the aromas in Sea Scallops in Tamarind Glaze and Desert Succotash (with cactus and cumin). Your desert pantry should may include legumes, lentils, almonds, pecans, caraway, agave nectar, fenugreek and cihiltepin. 

 Pumpkin Soup from Indonesia - Tinutan uses pumpkin or butternut squash, cassava, rice, corn and bamboo shoots in a soup, good for breakfast or lunch. I've never shaved the corn off a cob for breakfast, but I'd love to get a serving of this hearty bowl of colorful, fresh ingredients. Pergedel Udang is a shrimp fritter, Gang Asam is braised rib and Goreng Ikan Balado is fried fish with caramelized onions and chiles. Sri Owen has updated the artistic big yellow book "Indonesian Food" with newer ways, and I want to try them all. Lots of spices, flavors and textures will make you look at foods we have here with different eyes. 

 Grow  your own pumpkin! Did you ever imagine yourself taking a paintbrush to your male and female pumpkin blooms to pollinate them? Well, did you imagine toasting your own pumpkin seeds and enjoying fresh muffins? The all-new "Square Foot Gardening" 4th edition book will give you the know how. Maybe you crave rosemary, tomatoes, spinach, cabbage and other goodies from your small space? Build your garden with these easy steps with this book, labeled "The World's Most Popular Growing Method to Harvest More Food From Less Space." 

Let's talk tuna. One tip is to take an empty 1-inch tuna can and put it flush with the soil... when you water, you can know when you've given an inch of water!

 Tea Time – Salty Caramel Pumpkin Black happens to be my fave in a batch of indulgence that is extremely low cal, even if you are a sugar and honey type of tea lover. Get packets of beautiful herbals and teas packaged as Blood Orange Rooibos Reserve, Scarlet, Guava Gold, Rose Chamomile, Turmeric Ginger and Mumbai Chai.  Make it in a clear pot so you can watch these leaves and buds unfurl to flavor your brew. Feeling generous? I hope so. Invite friends for tea and review www.tearunners.com for gifts that will as peaceful as your after your cup.

Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie enjoying pumpkin with all the spices. darraghcastillo@icloud.com

What's in a LaBove Mug? A romantic sunrise water-side date!

 

What’s in a LaBove mug?

Listen to this tale of a perfect sunrise date.

Remember Jim LaBove of Cotton’s Seafood? He wrote all those books about catching seafood from Sabine Pass and getting it to restaurants? He’s been updating his illustrated Cajun Christmas cards with recipes and such, and he’s got his and her mugs in his line. That’s just because they are cobalt blue and pink. I’m a cobalt girl myself.

These mugs debuted at Port Neches Art Walk and the hottest cards were a Cajun Christmas Tree, Mosquito Elf, Santa Alligator and a baby racoon. He’s illustrated them all. Look for a recipe on the back of some.

Now, here’s how LaBove would fill a mug at sunrise.

What’s in Jim’s cup?

“For me, there is only one brand and type of coffee - that would be EIGHT- O-CLOCK brand and their 100% Colombian variety.  When I am feeling like doing something a little different, I will sometime put a teaspoon of hazelnut flavored coffee (again Eight-O-Clock) in with the 100% Columbian.  It gives the coffee a little touch of mysterious.  I was taught by my father, Cotton, to drink and appreciate black coffee but on days when we go crabbing, Dodie and I will bring along a thermos full of hot, Eight-O-Clock, 100% Columbian and a bottle of Carolins Irish Cream.  Just as the sun is rising over the marsh, we will pour ourselves a cup of coffee and a (big) glug of Carolins and somehow it makes the morning's splay of pinks and blues more vivid.  The marsh is home and having a good cup of coffee at daybreak brings back some of my best memories.”

Are you kidding me?

I want to go along for sunrise and this special coffee, but it sounds too romantic to crash an on-the-water morning date with his wife, Dodie. I take every opportunity to mention that she was a cheerleader for the New Orleans Saints.

Want your own mug? Next chance to visit with this family and purchase your haul is Nov. 14 at the famous St. Mark’s Chili Supper & Bazaar. www.cottons-seafood.com is your Christmas Cajun connection.

Racha Siracha Sauce – It’s good to be the king. “Racha” in Thai means “king” and I’m hot for the complex flavors in Racha Organics Siracha Sauce.  This authentic Thai Sriracha sauce grows its own racha peppers on an organic farm in Thailand. They say it is “multidimentional.” I say you’ll want multiple squeeze bottles for home, desk, car, friends…  It’s small-batch, gluten-free and vegan. USDA Organic-certified. Available at  https://racha-organics.com AND Amazon at $11.99 each.

Loving Foods, Planet –  When you want mango salsa and a low carbon footprint? It’s time for a new book that shows you it all starts with your fork. Our choices can help cool the planet, says Cathy Katin-Grazzini. This plant-based chef has a book that should be savored slowly. “Love the Foods That Love the Planet” is full of thoughts and recipes, including: Asparagus Recoup Soup with Crispy Croutons, Salad with Baby Roasted Beets and Citrus, Pretty Apple Packets and things that are new to me and very exciting. Let’s enjoy everything around us.

Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie filling her cup with stimulating coffee, warm pumpkin tea and cozy thoughts. darraghcastillo@icloud.com

Put on your gratitude goggles and keep them on

 

I hope you don’t wait until Thanksgiving to be grateful. “The Gratitude Goggles” is a lovely children’s book reminding us not to feel down for not having what others have. Instead, put on those goggles and be grateful for birdsong, blue skies and the people who love you. Easy, right? A little prompting helps people of any age. Andea Mendoza-Vasconez, PhD wrote this book that Rita Nilson illustrated. I’d suggest kids read up and decorate their own sunglasses with shiny bits and make their own goggles. Look around everyone, there’s good stuff everywhere!

 

Pour Les Enfants Beacon of Hope – The Garth House Mickey Mehaffy Children’s Advocacy Program, Inc. will host its 34^th gala at 6 p.m. Nov. 21. Join the fight against child abuse in our area. Text GHPLE24 to 53555

Gratitude Now! Here are some stocking stuffer ideas and more.

·        Make a date! Rock Point’s National Parks 2025 planner is good to go now. As in November is Arches National Park month and you can plan out your month on pages of orange, blue, mauve and yellow as sun sets on a Colorado Plateau of monoliths, ridgeline, rivers and high desert. This well-planned planner has plenty of space for ideas as you record your days though images of Acadia National Park, Yellowstone, Yosemite and more. Grateful for natural beauty? Take note.

·       Go Sour! - It’s the cans. Shiny round tins with a “press” area to get to the sours inside. I remember them, but from when? Billed as Retro Sours! They are harkening back to childhood era more recent than my own. The kids who loved them are now grown up, so fill their stocking with the tangerine, mano and citrus they’ll recall fondly. This is an Iconic Candy sold on It's Sugar: https://www.iconiccandy.com/

·         Schär GluteFree has three newbies in the line: Blondie Bites, Brownie Bites, and Mini Honeygrams. Wink: You don’t need to be avoiding gluten to enjoy these. Mini Honeygrams are can be counted for a mini snack that will sweetly crunch up you mood. These “honey-kissed cookies also come in on-the-go packs.  These are upscaled versions of your gram’s graham cracker.

·           “Birdsong” is a layered view book with Margarida Esteves’ art that will wow little kids. Thick pages with cardinals, mushrooms, flowers, robins and the like accompany a rhyme to inspire children to listen to the dawn chorus our birdies create.

Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie ready for all that all the upcoming holidays bring. Mosty family, friends and flavors. darraghcastillo@icloud.com

As the spirit moves you

     

Skeletons are big this year as décor. Towering big. My husband has acquired his first two bendy ones that have been a source of entertainment. A small one is on the door and the big guy is arranged on the couch, holding the stuffed possum from the Museum of the Gulf Coast gift shop. Skeletons don’t scare me much as I appreciate the one that lets me walk around.

Eat chocolate responsibly this season, and think about dearly departed as we observe All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Here are some tidbits to consider, as the spirit moves you.

Hot, Hot, Hot – A friend accepted an invitation and asked if there would be an array of hot sauces available. Challenge on. I arranged a turntable of red sauces, green ones, powdered and flaked peppers. I’ve been two occasions recently where jarred, pickled jalapenos have knocked people out. I have to keep in check lest I eat half the jar’s contents.

I just ordered a meal in another state labled as “Hot, Hot, Hot” and the server made sure to mention it had “long” peppers. Long peppers come out between pepperoncini and poblano on the Scoville Scale of heat, I learned later. So the delicious dish fell on my own “mild to sweet” rating that I would share with a toddler. Regional difference.  -

Also, don’t ask me if a dish is “hot.” I hit heat different.

 

Bruises easily – Subarashii Kudamono Gourmet Asian Pears rock their own myth/legend. Rounded and not what we call “pear shaped,”  they are crisp and soft, sweet and solid all at once and are known as a symbol of beauty and longevity. A well-packed box of the fruits arrived intact and tempting. With varieties named EliSan, New Pear, SuSan and the like, pears come with textures from juicy and firm and tastes such as mild, richly sweet, complex and clear. Oh wait, try the “lush.” We should all take time to slow down and enjoy such as culinary experience. www.wonderfulfruit.com will let you in on this.

Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie. Share your ideas at darraghcastillo@icloud.com

Sucker for Screams

 

                 

                  I can’t say why buttered popcorn and an old horror flick is so appealing this time of year, but Iphigenia Jones gets it. The author of “The Turn of the Screwdriver” gives us fun quotes and cocktails inspired by Anne Rice, Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe.

                  Try sips of:

                  Wuthering Flights, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mudslide, Greyhound of the Baskervilles and White Russian is for Witching. Here’s a cool grog just right for the season:

                  The Legend of Slushy Hollow

                  2 ounces dark rum

                  1 ounce water

                  One half ounce freshly squeezed lime juice

                  One half ounce honey or simple syrup

 

                  Combine water, dark rum, lime juice and honey or simple syrup in a blender. Add a generous amount of ice cubes to the blender.

                                                                                                 

Blend the ingredients until you achieve a slushy consistency. Add more ice if needed to reach the desired texture.

                                                                                                 

Pour the slushy grog into a glass.

 

 

                  Vegan Chocolate Brownie Mix – The Mightylicious brownie mix called for vegan yogurt, melted palm or coconut oil and perhaps the addition of nuts or chocolate chips. The think I forgot was to use coffee instead of water when stirring up this easy mix. If you’re avoiding gluten but seeking flavor, www.mightlicious.com has some options you’ll love. These brownies mixed up as quickly as they went off the platter.

 

Buckstin Brewing Company - Brewski fans who love the Nederland site, know that the Beaumont hangout is also chill. It was the cauliflower crust pizza that drew me in. My table loved the thin crust and the way all the other toppings merge for a crispy burst of flavor. The staff could not be more friendly. It seems like everyone on the clock is there just to serve you. 

 

Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie who can enjoy pumpkin spice season both truly and ironically. Share with her at darraghcastillo@icloud.com

Pumpkin spice gets competition

 Pumpkin spice gets competition

A carved out pumpkin bowl holding a cream cheese and pumpkin spice dip was the hit of a recent party. The maker suggested this sweet dip with graham crackers. The flavor was exceptional and the presentation was an upgrade.

If you like calming pumpkin spice on everything this time of year, consider another spice blend sure to snap you awake. Tajin is the spicy chili lime and sea salt blend rimming glasses and leveling up street corn. Love for the fiery Mexican flavor has spread across the country. Oregon’s famous Tillamook Country Smoker Beef Jerky has a Tajin version that will surprise those who get lunch boxes packed for them. It’s a “yes” for me. 

OREO Addicts - I don't often go down the cookie aisle, but when I do there are OREOs. They used to be my husband's favorite and now we simply try to have smaller bites of "everything in moderation." I came across some OREO Thins Tiramisu Creme Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with that creamy, coffee flavor. I shared a few with a friend so I would not eat all the handful I had brought with me. Nice try. She loved them so much she went to the store and shared some with me so that she would not eat them all. Another irony is that I was originally looking for the Coke Oreos, which I later found and the sharing happened all over again.

"Turtle On a Post" - The late Senator Carl Parker shares memories of growing  up in the "golden" age of Port Arthur. He notes a booming economy of the '40s and '50s. 

"Downtown was thriving, and big bands made regular visits to our world-famous ballroom at Pleasure Pier," Parker recalls," in "Turtle on a Post." 

This ”back when” section mentions movie theaters, Nacol's Jewelry, the Sabine and Goodhue hotels, The Port Arthur Club, clothes lines, Texaco Reservoir as a swimming hole and the Brown Ice Cream Wagon, pulled by a horse.

The book of myriad topics is a collection of memoirs as told to Jim Sanderson, writer-in-residence at Lamar University. Museum of the Gulf Coast hosted a book signing. You can pick up your own copy in the gift shop.

Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie savoring fall flavors and scents… until it is time to enjoy the same at Christmas. Share with her at darraghcastillo@icloud.com

El Refu is a Port Arthur Tex-Mex Extravaganza

The Mexican Heritage Festival kicked off a season. More ways to honor Hispanic Heritage Month, through October 15, include a visit to Our Lady of Guadalupe’s shrine, honoring Lucian Adams and other heroes with a reflection at Golden Triangle Veterans Memorial Park and enjoying the culture’s food and music. Have you tried this still-new Port Arthur venue:

 

El Refu – This restaurant is a Port Arthur Tex-Mex extravaganza. This place is fun. Your eyes don't know where to go with all the interesting decor on the wall, the sizzling food passing by or the friends you're likely to see. As a foodie, I've enjoyed everything I've tried. This place is fun from the parking lot to the table. Bring on the salsa. Please notice the benches offering shout outs to area groups.

Beatles at Church - Here Comes the Son was the general theme for the recent annual Beatles Service at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Beaumont. Bright colors and joyful voices included a service with music including "Help," "We Can Work it Out" and "In My Life." If you sing these classic pop tunes at church, they take on a personal, spiritual meaning. Parishioners were so friendly. I met a man who lives along the Port Arthur seawall. A Beatlemania foodie like me had to love the creative after party buffet labels. Themed dishes included Get Back Mac casseroles, Please Pease Me Salad, Hello Jello and I Am the Eggman deviled eggs. Hard to pick a fave, but I was a "big fan" of what looked like a traditional southern pecan pie made with walnuts instead. It was labeled "I Am the Walnut." I'll have to wait a whole year for the next Beatles service. 

The World's Better Cup - There's bunches of reasons to try Cambio Roasters. The taste and is a huge one. The packaging is another. Aluminum K-Cups can be recycled. Though I've got my eye on fashioning tiny succulent planters from what resembles wee garbage cans. These cups hold  Cambio Roasters, an eco-conscious coffee brand with some 100 percent organic arabica beans micro-sourced from family farms. 

 Pretzel Pick - Ever heard of an extra-dark pretzel? Could it be for people like me, who like everything just a little bit more crispy? Why that's just what they mean at Uncle Jerry's, where they are making Pennsylvania Dutch pretzels in classic ways with newer preferences. They're all impressive. I mean, I want more. Try whole wheat low salt, oat bran regular and all the things Uncle Jerry 's is cranking out in Lancaster, Pa. www.unclejerryspretzels.com 

Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie who considers October through Mid-January some of the most flavorful months of the year. darraghcastillo@icloud.com