CULINARY THRILL SEEKING — Valentines tips for more fun

Published 12:04 am Thursday, February 9, 2023

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Hey Valentines and Galentines, be good to yourself.

February is American Heart Month, so we eat well for our health. But you know, treat yourself, too.

I found a beautiful heirloom tomato that looks kind of like a heart and made it a meal. That’s how I like to roll. But then, some of you have Valentines who would appreciate this sort of thing:

Do you smell bacon? Or baking? – I want to kitchen skateboard with Molly of Molly Bz Gourmet Cookies, like she’s doing on her site. But we’re having The Bossman after. That’s her loaded white chocolate/maple frosting/smokey bacon cookie. My instincts were right before I read the package: her gourmet infusions are even better from a pop in the microwave. The heavy Straight Fire s’mores version is as fun as The Tea with Earl Gray and lavender. Hot Mess has mango, white chocolate and a blast of flamin’ hot cheese dust. I’m not making this up. Molly Bz is. She’s in-your-face funny with a Cinnipuns merch area. How about a “All or Muffin” T-shirt? The combos are delish and you can’t help but smile when you go to her site, mollybz.com which, by the way, has “cookies.”

Bacon Chocolate Bar – Upgrade S’mores with TBJ Gourmet’s 58 percent cacao Bacon Chocolate Bar that needs no review. But I’m giving you one: Sooooo good. I can’t figure why anyone who likes both components to find this anything other than the next step in Culinary Thrill Seeking. Make that Valentine feel loved by checking into tbjgourmet.com out of Pennsylvania. I’ll bet you’d figured a Texan came up with this.

Rest up – Give your sweetie a good night’s sleep and sweetie may wake up feeling like serving you breakfast in bed is a great idea. Those cutesy sleep masks never worked for me. The Manta Sleep Mask with amazing roomy eye cuffs and earphones so you can play some deep sleep music and wake up a better person. They truly feel good, no amazing. Like otherworldly trippy and reassuring, even for side sleepers.

Long story as to why I, they feel amazing. I was up at 4:20 a.m., did some housework and then decide to try the freshly-charged new mask at 5:30 a.m. for a quick nap. More than three hours later I popped awake in my firm, dark cocoon. Manta makers say they want you to sleep,  but are also excited about what you can accomplish after you wake up well-rested. Check out this well-made product, and the add-ons: mantasleep.com/upgrade.

Darragh Doiron is a Southeast Texas foodie with a heart for connecting people to good food and fun finds — #culinarythrillseeking darraghcastillo@icloud.com.