My crawfish escort

So I’m at the store early on Mother’s Day and trying to buy a bag of crawfish tails. I can’t find them, so I ask the woman at the seafood counter. She says she can get me a couple, they keep them in the back, and asks if I’m done with my shopping.

I was a little confused, thinking she was worried they’d defrost in my basket. Turns out she had to escort the product and customer up to the front, because people had been making off with crawfish. Wow. I asked if there were other foods that merited such attention. Alligator, she said.

I don’t know if there is a name for what I made, but it seemed to make everyone happy. I heated the crawfish with cans of tomatoes, frozen okra, sautéed onions and peppers and some Cajun spice. I served it over rice and we ate it all up.

Pocket full of goodness

I’ve put salad, crawfish, cheese and eggs into my pockets. Oroweat Pocket Thins Flatbread, under the names Arnold and Brownberry, come in Italian Herb and 8 grain. They’re pre-sliced pita pockets that you pull into two just-right halves and fill with your own blend of breakfast, lunch or dinner. By the way, they’re good right out of the resealable bag, with nothing at all in them. Each half is just 100 calories. These are convenient basics to keep in the fridge.

Tangy meets island

I’m so not a “gummi” person, but I can see how sweet lovers could become addicted to Welch’s Fruit Snacks. A little bag packs vitamins C, A and E into 80 calories of fat-free translucent bits of flavor. They’re shaped like tiny fruits, too. You have to see the little, bitty pineapple. Flavors include Tangy, Island and Mixed. Try them as a bright garnish for yogurt.

ddoiron@panews.com

Shelf liner victory

Shelf liner victory

Why is it a product seems everywhere when you don’t need it, then becomes impossible to find when you do?

I stopped at a half dozen stores seeking the perfect shelf paper and found victory with a nice pattern that puts me in mind of a tropical palm weave. It’s like my pantry spices and coffee tins are on vacation. It’s not actually shelf paper at all, but the thick, foamy-backed roll of vinyl are something that’s easy to put down and easy to clean off. If you haven’t shopped for shelf paper in a decade or two, consider replacing.

Shelves in my current home came with a blue, flowery pattern I couldn’t wait to hide. I lovingly cut and measured a marble-look paper with a peel-off back and enjoyed that a while. When it began looking scuffed, I discovered the thick, easy-clean stuff and simply rolled it over the marble. Then I found it in a cork design and put it on upper shelves, until I ran out. I modernized with a roll that resembled stainless steel. When that started to get that dingy look, I went on my latest mission.

Before I found the straw design, I found a lot of options that were practical, but just not to my taste. One was labeled to look like black leather. I don’t know about most kitchens, but that’s a pretty dark look for my small space. A pity, I never found it in purple “leather,” which would have been my pick.

Spring Roll Express

My sister got a well-deserved treat from me. We spent an afternoon at Pleasure Island then I took her to Spring Roll Express in Nederland, behind The Schooner. It was her first experience with the uncooked rice paper wrappers. We shared an order of crab rolls and a grilled shrimp salad. She loved the peanut sauce. The staff was patient and willing to talk visitors through their many selections.

As for our venture on Pleasure Island, we sat under the gazebo with fisher folk. The walk is back in place. It was fun to watch families enjoying the great weather. Back on the mainland, we headed to the board walk behind City Hall, home of Las Posadas, Bethlehem on the Boardwalk.

My sister said she’d take us to a tree where we’d find shade. I’m thinking, “What tree?” It was a palm tree that was shorter than me. It had long fronds and a spiky, scratchy base. I thought she was nuts, but she knew there was the perfect, flat rock under there. We sat in the shade, listened to the palms rustle and the water lap against the rocks as barges passed. It was a perfect Port Arthur Day.

The Schooner

This Nederland restaurant seems timeless. I had the good fortune to dine there on a recent lunch and enjoyed friendly staff and observing the mix of diners. There were office people, refinery workers, families and ladies who lunch. From my line of questioning the server suggested an off-the-menu salmon salad. It was a winner. Go see your old friends at The Schooner.

ddoiron@panews.com

PB&J Vodka

I held a container of clear liquid under my mom’s nose and asked her to guess what she smelled. While her first guess wasn’t peanut butter and jelly flavored vodka, she said it all made sense to her after I told her that’s exactly what it was. I soaked a sliced banana in some of the new Van Gogh product and jazzed up dessert. Later I did what the company suggested and tried over just rocks. The spring debut of this raspberry and vanilla tinged concoction is making headlines, because everybody is into PB&J. I imagine Elvis would have enjoyed this unusual beverage. But of course I keep mentioning it to people with mixed reactions. I suggest you mix it with just ice. Indulge in the beautiful bottle art, too.

Sisters & Friends

I saw both the sisters of Sisters & Friends at work. This Orange eatery is small, so it’s a good thing the group I was with phoned ahead. The steam table was ready for us with smothered pork chops and the like. But they’d already sold out of something like 40 crawfish pies for the day. Oh well. That’s another road trip back to Green Avenue. I ended up with chicken in a thick, sweet barbecue sauce and mac and cheese as one of my sides. Both the cornbread and cake came in little cubes of yellow wrapped in paper. They looked alike and both were sweet, but when you saw that good icing, you knew which to go for first.

A little birdie in my kitchen

I’m hooked on Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know,” and I confess, it was a “Saturday Night Live” parody that introduced me to the real thing. I had it playing on my phone to greet my husband from a long flight. I noted the spot where he heard and recognized the song. Then, I hooked up ChicBuds’ Fauvette Platinum Edition amplified LOUD speaker in the guise of a plump black crystal birdie. All of a sudden, my song was blasting over a good portion of my front yard. The neighbors could be jamming. And the best thing, was I figured out how to use this electrical device all on my own. I’ll be plugging this little birdie into my kitchen for parties of one. That means I can crank up the music and make cleaning out the fridge fun. Chicbuds’ products are girly, yet completely high quality. You can get the birdie in other forms, such as an aqua and gold mottle. Chicboom is a keychain speaker. They’ve also got sparkly ear buds you can rock at the YMCA.

ddoiron@panews.com

Fave Fiasco

Fave Fisaco

Fave beans make me think of the local Italians’ St. Joseph’s altars, not so much the Hannibal Lecter character from “Silence of the Lambs.” I’ve kept the same bean in my wallet for years, because the legend is that if you have one, you won’t be without God’s gift of money, therefore food. I hear it goes back to thanking St. Joseph for good crops after a famine.

I’d never had a cooked fave bean, so when I found some at Whole Foods, I thought I’d give it a shot. I looked online for recipes and came up with a blog called How Not To Cook Fave Beans. I had already started them cooking when I learned that spring beans are tender, and dried beans have a hard casing you have to soak off. So I stopped the hot mess and got to peeling them. It was a messy job that burned my fingers but don’t think I was anywhere near giving up. What was left in the pot didn’t look much like beans, but they tasted okay.

My adventure into Italian beans ended up with a Mexican spin. I served the final round up as nachos.

Egg tip:

A tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese extended and flavored my Friday omelet. I mixed it into the batter with Italian seasonings.

Prison camp

I had my annual prison date with my husband. Inmates prepared and served an appreciation dinner for volunteers at the camp at the Beaumont Federal Correctional Complex. The gospel singing was great as usual. This time the menu had an Asian theme with egg rolls. I can’t get over how the egg rolls had a crispy cornmeal coating all over them. I don’t know how they did it, but I hope they do it again.

ddoiron@panews.com

Products go for natural stuff

There’s a popular brand of powder that you mix with water and turn in to “peanut butter.” I tried it and found it overpriced and not that tasty. I didn’t think I’d go there again, until Just Great Stuff came into my life Betty Lou’s distributes this organic powdered peanut butter with 85 percent less fat that traditional peanut butter. Coconut sugar and sea salt make the difference. A little of this goes a long way to fill you up with flavor. It’s a keeper.

Get saucy, not sweet

Who needs low-sugar products? Those who want to take control of their health and keep the flavor. Ali’s All Natural of Phoenix is aiming high and healthy, one sauce at a time. Three barbecue sauces from their line have 95 percent less sugar than the leading barbecue sauces. How does 1 gram of sugar sound? Pretty tasty, in Ali’s Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce. I heated up meats in the spicy and homestyle versions and left the table satisfied. I’ll be honest about Ali’s sugar-free strawberry flavored pancake syrup. I would have rather had them with no syrup at all. I give them credit for using purple carrot extract, beet juice and stevia, but if I had to have it with pancakes again, I’d have eggs instead.

Coyote Oaties sound as good as they taste

The Coyote Oaties people sent me a message that everything might be bigger in Texas, but some things are just better in Glendale Arizona. I’ll say this, the big mound of chocolate chips in these weighty cookies made even my baker friend howl. The mother-daughter creators include a wooden oval with the company logo that has a bite taken out, presumably by the satisfied coyote stamped on it. They claim those who take their first bites are on their way to becoming Coyote Oatie junkies. I want to try all variations of this cookie, and White Chocolate Macadamia is next. Sure they’re fun to eat. It’s even fun to say the name.

ddoiron@panews.com

Smoothment goes free radical

Smoothment goes free radical
If the notion of whirring hemp seeds into your breakfast smoothie still sounds like a prank from the ‘60s, then you haven’t been to a health food store lately. Navitas Naturals invites us to “join the smoothment.” They don’t make your father’s Power Snack. Those little seeds of weed jokes are now a popular add in. Try a Chco-Maca-Nana smoothie for energy. I downed Blueberry Hemp Superfood morsels in the parking lot of the Bush Presidential Library. Enjoy your hemp in the open and let it fuel you. The seeds have a nutty flavor for delicate desserts, or let Navitas cook for you and order bags of ready-made snacks.
Navitas Naturals has an extensive line that includes coconut palm sugar (great for Cherry-Berry Vitalilty free radical fighter smoothie) and lucuma powder for a Tropical Detox smoothie.



Eye on the VOGA
To spy the cylindrical VOGA bottle on the shelf begins one’s curiosity. This is unique, the bottle tells you. The cap re-seals itself. I was pleased with my old favorite, merlot, but the award-winning Italian line also offers pinot grigio, moscato, Quattro and sparkling from $10.99 to $15.99. Once you unleash it, don’t stop there. Try one of these easy, colorful concoctions to entertain guests:

Spring Sparkler

2 ounces VOGA Sparkling

½ ounce vodka

½ ounce Raspberry Liqueur

½ ounce Soho Lychee Liqueur

Combine vodka, raspberry liqueur and soho lychee liqueur in the bottom of a champagne flute. Top with VOGA Sparkling Pinot Grigio.



Life’s A Peach Sangria

1 Bottle of VOGA Moscato 


1 12-ounce bottle of Peach Beer (VOGA recommends using Dogfish Head’s Festina Pêche or Lindemans Pêche Lambic)

3 ounces triple sec

2 sliced peaches

2 sliced apricots

1 sliced Granny Smith apple

1 sliced lemon

1 sliced lime

1/2 liter club soda



Pour VOGA Moscato and beer in a large pitcher and add sliced peach, apricot, apple, lemon and lime. Next add triple sec and stir gently. Chill mixture for at least one hour, and top with club soda and stir before serving.



Go Red

We just don’t have or eat rhubarb around here. How about drinking it instead? I’ve learned to read a wine label so I can search for the “tasting notes.” I savored every last drop of Apothic Red Wine with hints of “spicy Zinfandel and lush Syrah combine with bold Cabernet Sauvignon and smooth Merlot to create this dark, red blend.” TI got the cherry, mocha and vanilla. Each sip was like a red garnet of pleasure. Somehow I missed the rhubarb reference until that bottle was long gone. I love it. It’s a $14 treat.

Have Mercy, not a hangover

A trim little can of Mercy comes with a sexy, winged “angel” from a sailor’s tattoo, and a warning to drink alcohol responsibly. That said, the idea behind this clear libation of amino acid, antioxidant and vitamin supplement is designed to consume during your night out, to counter the after-effects of up to four alcoholic beverages. For you, dear readers, I tried one on a night I had nothing stronger than tap water. It tastes much better than the energy drinks those kids seem to love. I’d have Mercy again. I just saw “The Rum Diary” with Johnny Depp. His character certainly could have used Mercy so he wouldn’t have to wear sunglasses his first day on the job after a night of wrestling the hotel mini bar.

ddoiron@panews.com

Have Mercy, not a hangover

Drink your tea, quinoa and wine, then have Mercy
Today’s column covers some unusual beverages, and a way to sooth potential problems with some of them. Let’s begin with a cup of tea:

Tea for pleasure and health
“Ten Healthy Teas” covers ginger, lemon, peppermint, goldenseal and even garlic in the tea cup. It’s a thin little idea book from Valerie B. Lull, and tea sippers could build weekly gatherings around the different recipes until it was time to start at the beginning again.
This author is not alone in the theory that different teas can promote weight loss, relax the pelvic and uterine area and help with diarrhea and yeast infection. Here are a couple of quick ideas you might not have tried:

Chocolate Peppermint Tea
1 peppermint tea bag
2 teaspoons chocolate chips or chocolate milk mix or 2 squares from a candy bar
1-2 cups boiling water
Pour boiling water over the tea bag. Add the chocolate. Stir and let steep 5 minutes. Drink and enjoy.


Peppermint Lemon Tea
1 peppermint tea bag and ½ lemon squeezed
Sweetener to taste
1-2 cups boiling water, depending on how much tea you want
Pour boiling water over the tea bag and lemon Let steep 5 minutes. Serve and enjoy.



Fun with quinoa
My family just likes saying the word quinoa. It sounds like KEEN-wah, and Incans apparently called it gold, or the mother crop, because it is so healthy and life giving. Quinoa mixes can be pricey, but I buy it in bulk for pennies a serving. A little goes a long way, and “Quinoa Cuisine,” by Jessica Harlan and Kelley Sparwasser will go a long way to help Americans get into this tiny grain with so much possibility.
Shrimp with Pimento Cheese Quit-Cakes is a variation of Southern shrimp and grits. Go figure. Spinach and Black Olive Calzones gives children a chance to play with dough and you can even get the stuff into a triple chocolate bundt cake and other desserts.
While my husband, who is currently just quasi-quinoa tolerant has his eye on banana pancakes, I think I’ll try another breakfast item:
Tri-Berry Smoothie
1/3 cup white quinoa, rinsed
2/3 cup water
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
2 tablespoons honey
In a small saucepan over high heat, bring the quinoa and water to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook until the water has been absorbed and the quinoa is tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the quinoa sit for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Turn the quinoa out onto a rimmed baking sheet, spread into an even layer and refrigerate to cool completely.
Combined the cooked quinoa and the milk in the jar of a blender and puree until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add he berries and honey and puree until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Thin with additional milk, as needed. Pour into four glasses and serve cold.

Eye on the VOGA
To spy the cylindrical VOGA bottle on the shelf begins one’s curiosity. This is unique, the bottle tells you. The cap re-seals itself. I was pleased with my old favorite, merlot, but the award-winning Italian line also offers pinot grigio, moscato, Quattro and sparkling from $10.99 to $15.99. Once you unleash it, don’t stop there. Try one of these easy, colorful concoctions to entertain guests:

Spring Sparkler

2 ounces VOGA Sparkling

½ ounce vodka

½ ounce Raspberry Liqueur

½ ounce Soho Lychee Liqueur

Combine vodka, raspberry liqueur and soho lychee liqueur in the bottom of a champagne flute. Top with VOGA Sparkling Pinot Grigio.



Life’s A Peach Sangria

1 Bottle of VOGA Moscato 


1 12-ounce bottle of Peach Beer (VOGA recommends using Dogfish Head’s Festina Pêche or Lindemans Pêche Lambic)

3 ounces triple sec

2 sliced peaches

2 sliced apricots

1 sliced Granny Smith apple

1 sliced lemon

1 sliced lime

1/2 liter club soda



Pour VOGA Moscato and beer in a large pitcher and add sliced peach, apricot, apple, lemon and lime. Next add triple sec and stir gently. Chill mixture for at least one hour, and top with club soda and stir before serving.




A trim little can of Mercy comes with a sexy, winged “angel” from a sailor’s tattoo, and a warning to drink alcohol responsibly. That said, the idea behind this clear libation of amino acid, antioxidant and vitamin supplement is designed to consume during your night out, to counter the after-effects of up to four alcoholic beverages. For you, dear readers, I tried one on a night I had nothing stronger than tap water. It tastes much better than the energy drinks those kids seem to love. I’d have Mercy again. I just saw “The Rum Diary” with Johnny Depp. His character certainly could have used Mercy so he wouldn’t have to wear sunglasses his first day on the job after a night of wrestling the hotel mini bar.

ddoiron@panews.com