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

Taco Hugh's Day

                             London and a movie?

                             My husband was sharing a story of a mutual friend who went to London and it was snowing and she was having trouble getting in to see “The Greatest Showman.” 

                             Clarisa Chavarria overcame several multiple snags to getting inside the theater and I was thinking “why was she all the way across the pond in  London watching a movie?” It must have been to cold to ride the London Eye.

                             Then I thought that this story is going to end with Hugh Jackman being in the theater, live. Guess what? It did.

                             The theater stopped the movie and the audience thought it was a tech problem and that Australian charmer danced in. My front-of-the-rows friend even showed up in the background of Hugh’s Instagram.

                             Everybody and my Mom is talking about this show, so I decided to host a theme night for her. Mom has great memories of the excitement when the big tops came to town and set up, and that made me crave peanuts and popcorn, but more substantial fare was in order.

                             Then it came to me. It was a Sunday, so we had not a Taco Tuesday, but a Taco Hugh’s Day showing of “The Greatest Showman.”

                             Let me say it once more: Taco Hugh’s Day. It doesn’t quite roll off the tongue with the same grace as the acrobat flipping through the air in the movie, but we weren’t “clowing” around.

                             It got us to thinking of how the classic image of a “taco” has changed over the years, even in this Tex-Mex stronghold.

                            I’ve always been partial to a crunchy taco and loved the innovation of wrapping a soft flour tortilla around a hard shell so as to keep your toppings from crumbling out from your first mouthful. And who wants all those extra calories?

                             Then there’s always the flour vs. corn tortilla issue and within that my house there’s a  white flour vs. whole wheat flour side debate. Who wins? Eventually we all did.

                             We served coriander-heavy beans and ground meat and I ended up with a loose taco salad over shredded lettuce, scooping it all up with tortilla chips.            

                             While Hugh Jackman won’t be invited every time, I could see how a regular Taco Tuesday is becoming an American favorite, because there’s a never-ending variety of ways to get your Tex-Mex.

                             Let me know yours via darraghcastillo@icloud.com