Texans still speculating on their Yellow Rose

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Talk about your tough Texans. “Women and the Texas Revolution” shares stories of history makers who stood by their state. Mary L. Scheer edited this University of North Texas Press release with stories from around the Lone Star. Jeffery D. Dunn includes theories of The Yellow Rose of Texas, a woman who could have been with Santa Anna at The Battle of San Jacinto. This chapter is called “To the Devil with Your Glorious History,” a quote from a woman who wanted the losers bodies collected from her property, pronto.

A gem of an evening

Brian R. Alter of Alter’s Gem Jewelry gave a fascinating talk at the McFaddin-Ward Home regarding the myths and lore of gems. My mother and I had a memorable time learning tidbits how ancient cultures used gems for healing. Ground turquoise was ingested to calm the stomach, because of its mineral makeup. Gems pressed to the eye area were used to heal, as the stones were cold. Alter shared how jewelers date jewelry with clues from the clasps, settings, etc. He also had one of those great anecdotes about a woman who brought an old ring in to clean before she gave it to her housekeeper. An appraisal made her look for the matching pieces, which all sold for a huge amount.

I’m heading back to the McFaddin to see “The Birds,” 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25.

ddoiron@panews.com

Your phone's Halloween costume

Does your smart phone have its Halloween costume yet? Dress it up with a Bubble Buttons monster, which has no calories at all. Or those of us “into food” can stick on a fried egg, doughnut or pizza image to help us navigate our phone world better. The resin-coated bubble really does feel good on that home button you push all day. I’d never have guessed a cute little bit of texture could feel so good. Phone fans into sports, music, mustaches, etc. can also turn their concave iPhone, iPad and iTouch button into a bubblicious experience. Visit www.bubblebuttons.com or head to Urban Outfitters.

And now, a word

LIVE is the message on the front of my just-right pink v-neck long-sleeved shirt. Live, Imagine, Value and Embrace (LIVE) is spelled out on the back. Chewy Loud Designs www.chewylouddesigns.com has some inspirational words to wear. Positive thought can heal, believes Alyssa Dinowitz, who created a line after supporting her mother through chemotherapy sessions for breast cancer. Chemo Companions are designed to promote physical and spiritual strength. I don’t think you can have a bad day while wearing such good thoughts. I love the way Dinowitz thinks.

How about your own word?

Some people already romance license plates. MyPlates.com can help you personalize your plates like never before. I spoke to representatives who showed me some cool ideas about branding your ride. They are a Texas Department of Motor Vehicles vendor you might want to check out.

ddoiron@panews.com

Spoon and steam get the laundry done

Did you know a spoon could help you iron around buttons? Rowenta offers laundry tips. This company sells high-end steam irons and other tools that look like kind of space age when placed by my iron. They sure look like they’d get the job done, and therefore be worth the investment. I’ve never used a Rowenta product, but I encourage you to look at their site and they’ve encouraged me to share these:

DIY Ironing and Garment Care Tips

Ironing

· Do not put on the garment immediately after ironing. This can actually cause new wrinkles to form. Instead, let it sit for 5 minutes, which enables the press to set.

· Many people like the extra crispness that spray starch can provide, particularly with shirts. The correct way to obtain that look is to spray the starch on the shirt, roll the shirt into a ball, and wait about 30 seconds before pressing. This allows the fabric to absorb the starch.

· Large items should be ironed at the wide end of the ironing board. To help keep the item clean, lay a plastic table cloth or old sheet on the floor beneath the board.

· To reduce shine caused by over-pressing or wear, soak a press cloth in water, and then ring it out. Place the damp cloth on top of the shiny surface and press. Repeat several times until the area is almost dry, then, using a soft brush raise the nap of the fabric.

· For razor sharp creases, iron the crease and then set it with a burst of steam.

· When ironing over delicate buttons, cover them with the bowl of spoon and press the surrounding fabric.

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· Pleats should be ironed from the bottom, starting with the inside of the pleat, and then moving to the outside of the pleat. If necessary, pin pleats to the ironing board at top and bottom; avoid ironing over the pins. To set pleats, use a burst of steam.

Gee, your hair smells like lemon verbena

Remember the TasselAire I just wrote about? Dip the center of a decorative tassel into a sent and you get the double pleasure of viewing and inhaling. Agraria has a whole line of candles, perfumed burning sheets, bath salts, etc. I just treated myself to a lemon verbena shampoo that has layers of scents. I keep finding reasons to need another shower. Here’s the description from the site: Bright & brisk, Lemon Verbena evokes the fresh, clear exuberance of lemon-scented verbena leaves, enhanced with a touch of Caribbean lime & hints of rose & jasmine.

I want to make this bottle last as long as possible, but there are other shampoos and bath gels to try: Lavender and Rosemary, Balsam and Bitter Orange, which sounds delightful as we head into fall.

ddoiron@panews.com

Ready for lunch and deep fried football

I ran across the old plaid lunch box that I used in elementary school. It had been my sister’s before that, so I considered it a relic of pride. It came with drawings inside of children playing safely and picking up litter. I covered it in stickers. It’s now a little rusty, so I ran it through the dishwasher. The best part was inside, and I forgot about it. Remember those tapes you’d run through a clicker and dial out our message that would get stamped onto the tape? Inside I’d used one of those to spell out “Debbie is Great.” And, I must have loved her a lot, because I used the fancy wood-grain tape that looked like a station wagon door.

Debbie is still great.

Fry up some football

The Dallas pages are offered in the spirit of Thanksgiving, for cowboys and city slickers: Deep Fried Turkey, Deep Fried Stuffing and Deep Fried Mashed Potatoes in Gravy Batter.

Texas Tots on the Houston spread offer a “Taste as big as Texas,” along with John T. Gueseman.

His handy little book is “Driveway Chef’s Cookbook for the Football Season: A Deep Frying Cookbook” and works just as well in driveways outside of Texas.

Our neighbors in New Orleans get a recipe for fried Angel Food Cake, a heavenly food for any Saint.

Gusemen has humor and fry skills, serving up Raven’s Eggs for Baltimore fans. With easy steps and photos of finished feasts, he’ll guide you through frying up meat loaf, spaghetti, apples, potatoes and other touchdowns.

Here’s a quickie “gateway food” to represent St. Louis:

Fried Ravioli

2 pounds ravioli, cooked

Garnish, marinara sauce

Deep fr cooked ravioli for 2 to 3 mntes, depending on the size of your ravioli, stirring often, then drain.

Garnish in a saintly fashion.

Deep Fried Pineapple

1 can lemon lime soda

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon sugar

2 20-ounce cans sliced pineapples, drained and patted dry

Garnish: Powedered sugar

Mix the soda, four and sugar to form a batter

Dip the pineapple slices into the batter

Deep fry for 2 minutes, turning after 1 minute, then drain.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve like you are the best of the best.

ddoiron@panews.com

Pleasure Island Marina is "slipping" for the better

It’s gonna be cool. Pleasure Island Marina, already a lovely spot, is getting a makeover on 300 slips and the place is looking great. Most will have floating aluminum docks that have a wood look. Others will be covered. Also boat owners can get a wave of confidence with a 626-foot floating concrete break wall to cut wave action, Jimmy Dike, Pleasure Island Commission director, said.

Because it’s common that docks have a lot of out-of-town patrons, Dike said commissioners are hoping to draw boaters from the Houston area who want to take advantage of Sabine Lake and Gulf of Mexico fishing and fun. Rita and Ike hit the marina hard, he said.

I just went to take a look see and I’m impressed.

Locals already know Pleasure Island as home to Cajun Cabins, Fun Island Depot playground, a disc golf course and areas for birders, crabbers and fishermen to set up a family picnic. The Pleasure Island Half Marathon, 10K and 2-Miler is set for Nov. 4. Runners will cross over the expansive Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge.

Praise for the Y

“It’s clean, it’s pleasant, it’s happy,” Yvonne Sutherlin says.

She’s talking about the Port Arthur YMCA, where’s she’s been going for water aerobics.

“They work the daylights out of us, but it has helped me more than anything,” she said.

She’s not done praising the Y.

“Everything you see is clean, there are people coming out of your ears, there are people of all ages and they are busy and happy and singing. It’s so nice and people don’t know that we have got that great place out there and I’m just trying to get the word out.”

Sutherlin also volunteers at the Port Arthur Public Library and says their computers are “top notch” for researching ancestry.

“Used to we had to go to graveyards and talk to kinfolks. So much of it is online now,” this historian/genealogist reminds us.

Get to the Fiesta in a “Flash”

Grupo Flash is a big deal in Coahuila, Mexico, and the Mexican Heritage Fiesta planners think they’ll be a hit here, too.

Andrea Velazco said they’ll headline the the evening dance at the 44^th annual Mexican Heritage Fiesta, set for Saturday, Sept. 8, at the Robert A. “Bob” Bowers Civic Center.

Folkoric dancers dressed in regional costumes, pageants and food vendors will fill the center. Ready for menudo? At 2 p.m. Mariachis Magico Mexico will take the stage. Folkloric Dancers will go on from 3:30 to 6 p.m. and guests may dance from 6:30 p.m. to midnight. Bohemios de Michuacan, Kumbo Zelekta and Grupo Enamorate will also play the dance.

Doors will open at the center, 3401 Cultural Center Drive, at 9:30 a.m. and opening ceremonies will follow at 10 a.m. Pageants are scheduled from 10:20 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for seniors and children 11 to 17. Children younger will be admitted free. Tickets will be $20 after 6:30 p.m.

Sept. 8 is a busy day in the Port Arthur area. Friends of Sabine Pass Battleground will host Dick Dowling Day, a re-enactment of an 1863 Civil War battle, on Sept. 8, in nearby Sabine Pass, down the road from Sea Rim State Park, Port Arthur’s beach.

ddoiron@panews.com

Texas Road Trip

I love seeing miles and miles of Texas, and just rounded out a road trip along Texas105 to the heart of it all. With hay rolls, cattle clusters and the mandatory cemetery stop, the only thing that could have made conditions more perfect would have been cool, fall weather. I was rewarded with a rainbow as I approached Southeast Texas.

I got In a treat at the Texas Stop Sign, or Dairy Queen as I call it when I’m not on the road. A mini Georgia Mud Fudge held me from Belton to the barbecue stop planned for later in the evening.

I made it to Killeen in back. I saw for myself that it’s true what they say about Aggie maroon in the Bryan/College Station area. The Whataburger had a strip of maroon on its angled roof to offset that orange design. They wouldn’t want to be mistaken for Longhorn fans.

After agreeing with Texas Monthly that Schoepf’s in Belton puts out some great barbecue, I tried to keep up with the Electric Slide dance at a concert in their big open-air picnic yard. Earlier, I rode a golf cart to Real Deals Home Décor, where I picked up a vintage-look hook, but resisted a plaque bearing the sentiment “Life is a cabernet.”

The sun was beating down on Ocker Brethren Church Cemetery near Rosebud. It’s attached to a lovely wooden church and the markers show Czechoslovakian heritage. Little beds filled with gray pebbles surrounded markers. So this is how they do it where there’s less water around.

The old depot visitors center in Hearne was a step back in time, and the woman there directed me to Toodie’s Barbecue, across the road. The ribs were as good as she promised, and I took a window seat. The busy road was a few feet away and every other mouthful I took I’d hear a roar, then feel cooler temperatures. The 18-wheelers that whizzed past would block out the sun.

I hope everyone had some good road trips this summer. As good as it is to go, it’s always good to get back home to Southeast Texas.

ddoiron@panews.com

Never get tired of salads, or cupcakes

My Little Cupcake

Who doesn’t like those cake pops and balls that look like miniature, sugary art works? I know of two people in the “never again” category. They once loved them so much they tried to make them. After hours of investment, they threw their burned hands up in frustration over gooey product and messy kitchens. Now there’s something so easy I did it. Visit mylittlecucpcakepop.com for an eye full of crazy-simple gadgets to launch your creativity. Colorful snap-shut little molds let you fill and chill, decorate and pop on a stick. The best part is the easy recipe: Ground up Oreo-type cookies and cream cheese. I tried a variation with graham crackers and Neufchatel cheese, with almond extract. My mom wants to borrow my molds and have a party for her classmates. Shape up your treats into the cupcake, heart, ball and party hat mold. If I can do it …..

Something new for salads

I could eat my own recipe for vinaigrette every day, but sometimes you want to mix it up a bit with your tossed greens. Bolthouse Farms has something for those who realize you aren’t eating as healthy as you thought if your dressing has hidden calories. Yogurt is once again to the rescue. They have a line of dressings that are 45 calories or less per serving – meaning they contain at least 55% fewer calories and 75% less fat than the leading mayonnaise-based brand. My husband loves the blue cheese version and I’m all about the ranch. We’re using both of these as both dips and dressings. They do a light vinaigrette, too.

Asian twist to barbecue

Sometimes kids have issues with vegetables. It was a sweet and sour Chinese sauce that got me to ask for more. As an adult, I can douse a little San-J on any vegetable I want. The line, headquartered in Richmond, Va., features amazing Japanese-inspired sauces, dressings, brown rice crackers and more to make it easy to travel across the globe for dinner.

Now makers are encouraging cooks to extend the barbecue season by marinating meats in San-J’s Asian BBQ, Teriyaki, Orange, or Sweet & Tangy Sauce. “You won’t find any questionable ingredients on their labels. Plus, all San-J sauces are gluten free and certified kosher,” the company reports. Look for recipes such as Szechuan Guacamole to Polynesian Kabobs and Asian Country-Style Ribs at: http://www.san-j.com/summer.asp

They’re making it easy to go gourmet, but I’ve done something easier still. I cooked up a big batch of Jasmine rice and simply have a stir fry flavor of the night. Polynesian Glazing and Dipping Sauce gave my carrots personality. These are great to keep on hand.

Ddoiron@panews.com