Fish You were Here to try all this:

Fish You Were Here, to try some of these fun new spice blends and other new foods with me. Keep your social distance and keep bonding however you can as these new flavors and products roll out: Build Your Own Edible Playlist Hit the Roast Jack, You’re so Spain, Moroccan ‘Round the clock and Lavender Fields Forever should get you cooking. Healthy On You’s sustainable keepsake bamboo box of blends with an olive wood spoon just “spice” things up even more for those who didn’t think they could play kitchen. Samantha Binkley is into flavor as much as she’s into health and humor. Organic spices season your world and you can crank up the volume as you create themed dinners. I love the fragrance of Middle Eastern Spice dubbed while My Za’atar Gently Weeps” and how it elevated my rice salad with sesame seeds, oregano, coriander, etc. Let the Good Thymes Roll made the whole house smell like an Italian restaurant. Fish You Were Here, trying this flavor. You’ve got to love it when you can combine so many senses at once: taste, hearing, smell…. Thanks Ms. Binkley! Healthyonyou.com Kitchen Crafted This brand is so focused on leaving out stuff such as gluten and GMO, that they’ve even left out some letters from their globally-inspired BLND and Sprd spices and blends. Living on the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast, I’d say they got Bayou Catch Seafood Seasoning good enough to make you want to cast a pole, but the Sriracha Lime Spice has been my top pick of a batch of samples. It’s a breakfast-to-dinner spice for me. I like their story and 8 signature flavors that include Chimichurri Seasoning (a fan fave) and Kansas City Smoker BBQ Rub. These are flavors are in their new category and are Kosher-certified. We love to play with our spices here and I’ve enjoyed the company of these versatile bottles. Kitchencrafted.com A Couple of Outlaws Did you ever have a crush on the couple who makes your soaps? I want to hang out with Russ and Danielle Vincent, who pose with guitars and cooking utensils, wear funky glasses and make cowboy boots look a little punk. They live in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I bet you thought I was gonna say Austin, because they are keeping it weird. They actually do have ties to Austin and have noted the city’s favorite scent of their line is The Mountain Hideout. Their soaps come in packaging both masculine and humorous, with hidden John Wayne quotes. The products are very fine and have components such as whiskey and leather and sage. I feel as though their soaps, handwashes and colognes will just naturally make you feel better from seeing them online at LiveOutlaw.com and holding them in your hand once they arrive and that’s all before you put them on your body. Their giant campfire mug has the call to “Wake up. Kick Ass. Repeat.” You can even get a car scent that shows you are living Outlaw. Hey Russ and Danielle, call me! Liveoutlaw.com Shrewd Keto When you puff something and it crunches and the calorie count is conceivable, you feel pretty smart. “The Smartest Way to Keto” is actually how Shrewd Keto markets such 90-calorie packets of balls that keep in the flavor of much more junkier food. But in this case, Baked Cheddar, Brick Oven Pizza, and Nacho Cheese Protein Puffs will leave you with crunch, 2 grams of carbs and 14 grams of protein. You doing this? Then your later reward can be Shrewd Keto Dippers in both dark and milk chocolate. It’s snack, dessert and a shot of protein as well. I love crunching my chocolate. Shrewdfood.com will get through crunch time. Shrewdfood.com Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie always looking for something new. Reach her at darraghcastillo@icloud.com

Fish makes Taco Tuesday list

                             My niece has been doing Taco Tuesdays for years in Rhode Island and North Carolina, and I often think of her when I see a crispy taco. I can’t say why it didn’t occur to me to have a standing Taco Tuesday in Texas. Who doesn’t have tortillas in their home stock around here? They keep forever. There are so many options, if you can get around the corn or flour thing. My husband likes flour only and I’d pick the corn based on health alone. When I do flour, I crave them fried up a little so that adds even more calories.

                             But for insides, there’s beans and rice and peppers and cheese and varieties within those varieties.

                             Turns out we had another debate the first time I announced the Castillos would be indulging in Taco Tuesday on a regular basis. I rolled out fish tacos and Mr. Castillo proclaimed a fish does not make a real taco.

                             Really? Immediately I texted the niece.

                             She took my side.

                             Fish will remain in the rotation.

Shrewd Keto

When you puff something and it crunches and the calorie count is conceivable, you feel pretty smart. “The Smartest Way to Keto” is actually how Shrewd Keto markets such 90-calorie packets of balls that keep in the flavor of much more junkier food. But in this case, Baked Cheddar, Brick Oven Pizza, and Nacho Cheese Protein Puffs will leave you with crunch, 2 grams of carbs and 14 grams of protein. You doing this? Then  your later reward can be Shrewd Keto Dippers in both dark and milk chocolate. It’s snack, dessert and a shot of protein as well. I love crunching my chocolate. Shrewdfood.com will get through crunch time.

                  A Couple of Outlaws

                  Did you ever have a crush on the couple who makes your soaps? I want to hang out with Russ and Danielle Vincent, who pose with guitars and cooking utensils, wear funky glasses and make cowboy boots look a little punk. They live in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I bet you thought I was gonna say Austin, because they are keeping it weird. They actually do have ties to Austin and have noted the city’s favorite scent of their line is The Mountain Hideout. Their soaps come in packaging both masculine and humorous, with hidden John Wayne quotes. The products are very fine and have components such as whiskey and leather and sage. I feel as though their soaps, handwashes and colognes will just naturally make you feel better from seeing them online at LiveOutlaw.com and holding them in your hand once they arrive and that’s all before you put them on your body. Their giant campfire mug has the call to “Wake up. Kick Ass. Repeat.” You can even get a car scent that shows you are living Outlaw. Hey Russ and Danielle, call me! 

                  Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie counting down the days until the next Taco Tuesday. Reach her at darraghcastillo@icloud.com