Get set phoTet with cultural flavors

Dried baby sardines make Taiwanese bar snacks and ramen stacks make burger buns. If you like a little rap with your marbled eggs, Canadian Trevor Lui will set you up. He’s so fusion his Chinese history has gotten Nashville hot. “The Double Happiness Cookbook offers “88 Feel-Good Recipes and Food Stories” that can help flavor your lunar new year season. Stories and flavors sound so good you’ll want to hang out with this tattooed globe trotter who seems to have a different sassy T-shirt for every global market he shops. I’m so endeared to his “food saved my life” concepts that I’ll forgive him the one think in this book I could pass on: NOLA-Style Vegan Gumbo. In Texas, we’re too close to NOLA. It’s too soon, Mr. Lui. But I still want to hang with you.

TET Time Friday, Feb. 12 is the new year with Port Arthur’s Vietnamese shops prepping for the year of the ox/buffalo, said to bring prosperity and wellness. Bring it. Here are some other flavors the spark your senses: Noods A couple of self-proclaimed dorks and their friends are inviting you to shop their noods at viteramen.com They’re a mix of chefs, gamers and fun folk who think paying a fare wage and producing good ramen noodles is a good thing, because sometimes “everything you eat can have everything you need.” The future of food is nutritionally complete, says their entertaining site offering mixtures such as Vegan White Miso and Garlic Pork Tonkotsu. This means quick noodles in a packet that takes just as long as those famously cheap and highly processed versions. But these taste fresh and do have some essential vitamins, minerals and protein without artificial preservatives or frying. In a few minutes you can be slurping your noodles, just as these dorks invite you to. A friend of mine cooked some up and his guest proclaimed, “It’s like eating health.” Ricante Everything Sauce Is noting three times over the course of a meal now good the pineapple sauce is normal? For me, yes, but my husband also could not stop saying it. Ricante’s new line of Everything Sauce got him going in the Tropical Pineapple Habanero-Infused version. The thick sauce from a bottle dressed up some leftover turkey like you wouldn’t believe. It's actually from Costa Rica but the sweet and spicy of it all fits in with this Culinary Thrill Seeking theme. In addition to the flavor, I loved the yellow colors with colorful red and green specs that celebrate Costa Rican paradise. New flavor profiles let you “come to the rescue in a variety of culinary situations.” Yes! Tropical Guanabana ChimiChurri will likely be my favorite. I feel like I’m on the beach. Everything means dipping, marinating, salad dressing, reducing, etc. How freeing that word can be. I’m using the “approachable spice” and it does leave you wanting more. While New Year’s cabbage was priced right, I used the Mango Cocoa version in a slaw. Tamarindo went on eggs. Guanabana Chimi Churri went on “everything” like the makers suggest. Look for ricante.com products at Whole Foods. They are Keto-friendy and Whole30 approved. It’s like Tex-Joy with the local steak seasoning. We do use it on “everything.” Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie who loves to experience other cultures. Tell her about yours at darraghcastillo@icloud.com

Hearts and the Year of the Pig

                              
 Vers

                             If you’re of the mind that a Valentine’s Day celebration – held on Feb. 14 or thereabouts – absolutely must include red wine and chocolate, I’m with you.

                             We’d be good friends. Let’s do this.

                             Everything in moderation, right?

                             But just saying, I’d be happy with a good Judice’s burger with and chips. Or a fudge malt from Dairy Queen. Gumbo is always good.

                             But Valentines, like relationships is about compromise. Pizza would be my sweetheart’s pick.            

                             Also just saying, I hope that if that’s the way the night goes, he knows about the obligatory wine and chocolate thing. 

Tet m                Tet made me head to Port Arthur’s Vietnamese markets to stock up on spices. I was there a day before the dragon dancers and focused on fresh vegetables including eggplant and mini bok choy.

                             I looked up how to make egg drop soup the right way. It turns out the translation is “flower” so you don’t really drop in that egg and swirl it in the soup pot. You crack it into a bowl first and then swirl and pour it in to the bigger pot. A bit of cornstarch makes it thick and a tad of turmeric gives it the golden color.

                             The Tet season also inspired me to cook a pot of rice flavored with all the fish powder I had in the pantry. After all, the new year is a time to make way for the “new.”

                             Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie with a heart for exploring new flavors. Reach her at darraghcastillo@icloud.com