Hello. I'm writer Antoinette Beard/Sorelle Sucere. Welcome to my blog, which is dedicated to all the loving, intelligent, brave, wise, strong, gentle, kind, sweet-and-geeky, humble-and-patient, whether they have hands, paws, hooves, wings, fins, or even flippers and to all eager readers and hard-working authors, everywhere. Scroll down to see all the good stuff! ;)
Meanwhile...
I love all creatures. I consider them, all of them, to be sentient beings... I write thrillers, fantasy, mysteries, gothic horror, romantic adventure, occult, Noir, westerns and various types of short stories. I also re-tell traditional folk tales and make old fairy tales carefully cracked. I'm often awake very early in the morning. A cuppa, and fifteen minutes later I'm usually writing something. ;)
Katherine Hepburn was notoriously private. Especially at her country home, she had plenty to keep her busy outside the spotlight. The actor played tennis, golf, and swam into the ocean into her 80s. “I swim all winter, so the season is never closed to me,” Hepburn once said.
Spaghetti alla Puttanesca, --- the authentic Italian recipe >>>
If you speak or understand Italian you’ll know that Spaghetti alla Puttanesca literally means prostitute’s spaghetti. ‘Puttana’ in Italian means prostitute or whore.
However, despite the name, this is a very popular pasta recipe in Italy and abroad. Although, out of Italy, many recipes include other ingredients, which often has Italians up in arms.
What is Puttanesca?
Like so many other Italian dishes there are various opinions on how this pasta dish got its name! Some believe that it was a dish made by a brothel owner in the Spanish quarter (red light district) of Naples.
Although it's not clear, if he offered it to his patrons or used it to entice customers through the door with the spicy, pungent aroma produced by its ingredients.
Others believe that this was the easiest thing prostitutes could prepare between customers because the low cost, easily stored ingredients required little shopping or preparation.
More believable, perhaps, is the story that this very popular sauce originated in Ischia around 1950. It was created by Sandro Petti, the co-owner of the restaurant, Rangio Felon.
The story goes that some customers arrived late to eat and because the restaurant had run out of many fresh ingredients, they asked Petti to prepare ‘una puttanata qualsiasi’, which literally translates as ‘a whore’s any’ but means any rubbish/ garbage.>>>
Two rules for authentic Puttanesca
Italians love to talk about food and they are very vocal when it comes to discussing the correct ingredients for traditional dishes. Because there are regional versions of many popular dishes, they can often be heard disputing among themselves what is the correct way to cook something!
However, when it comes to Puttanesca there are a couple of strict rules Italians all agree on. No Parmigiano cheese if you make it with anchovies (Italians don’t usually use cheese on seafood pasta dishes) and no basil.
Ingredients:
Pasta: Use a good quality Italian branded pasta if possible. Traditionally spaghetti is used for Puttanesca, but you can also use other long pasta types like linguine.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Extra virgin olive oil adds a lot of richness to the puttanesca sauce, so it's important to use a good-quality one.
Garlic: Thinly slice or chop the garlic to ensure it melds seamlessly into the oil, creating a fragrant base.
Anchovy Fillets: These add a lot of richness and umami to the recipe. If using salted anchovies, rinse off the excess salt; if using oil-packed, drain them well.
Peperoncino Flakes or Fresh Peperoncino: Adjust the heat to your liking.
Capers: If using salted capers, rinse under water to remove excess salt. Capers add a necessary unique flavor to the dish.
Olives: Black or green olives work well. I used Taggiasca olives for their rich flavor and firm texture.
Fresh Tomatoes: San Marzano or datterini tomatoes are ideal for their sweet flavor and low acidity. Peel and deseed them for a smoother sauce.
Fresh Parsley: Use flat-leaf parsley for its stronger flavor.
Peeled and chopped tomatoes in white bowl and other prepared ingredients in white bowl. >>>
Expert Tips
Tomato Preparation: To deskin and deseed fresh tomatoes, start by scoring a small "X" on the bottom of each tomato. Blanch them in boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds, then transfer them to cold water. The skin should peel off easily. After, cut them in half horizontally and use a small spoon to remove the seeds. >>>
Pasta Water and Sauce Consistency: Don't discard the pasta water after boiling the spaghetti. This starchy water will help make a silky and well-emulsified sauce. If the sauce is too thick, gradually add some pasta water to reach your desired consistency. Conversely, if the sauce is too thin, allow it to simmer slightly longer to reduce it to your liking. >>>
Step by Step Instructions
1) Start by boiling water for the spaghetti. Once boiling, add salt and return to a rolling boil. Add the spaghetti and cook according to the package instructions until just under al dente. Reserve one cup of pasta water before draining. ---
2) Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large deep skillet. Add the garlic, anchovies, and peperoncino. Cook over medium heat until the garlic is fragrant and the anchovies have dissolved, about 5 minutes.
3) Add capers, a bit of parsley and olives and stir to combine.
Chopped garlic, anchovies, peperoncino and parsley in frying pan with olives and capers.
4) Add the tomatoes to the pan and bring the sauce to a gentle simmer.
Peeled and chopped tomatoes in frying pan with other puttanesca ingredients.
5) Add the drained spaghetti and a splash of pasta water to the sauce.
6) Cook, stirring and shaking the pan and adding more pasta water as necessary to keep the sauce a little liquidy until pasta is perfectly al dente. Sprinkle in more parsley and taste to season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately with a rich red wine like grappa or chianti. --- From "The Pasta Project".
...BUT, once they were thought of as heroes, as they carried messages in World War I and World War II. Now, they have been discarded, forgotten, even hated... :(
Dawn Rae Schyller was born in the year nineteen hundred on May eighth, just at dawn. Because of this her daddy named her Dawn. And, when she drew her first breath, her mama drew her last and passed with a long, drawnout sigh. Her daddy, Brewster Hawley Schyller, dropped to the bedside of her mama, June Rae, and sobbed bitterly. At that moment, Brewster vowed to give Dawn Rae the best life he could, and she was spoiled everafter. Brewster was very wealthy, but an only child himself, and he and Dawn lived in an elegant white anti-bellum mansion on the outskirts of Brownsville, Tennessee.
Brownsville was a poor rural town with only one industry, the canning factory. Practically everyone in town worked in the canning factory, which Brewster Schyller owned. Dawn had only one friend, Gardner Tremolen, a boy her same age who delivered the Brownsville Peek, the little weekly town newspaper. When Gardener died, at the age of sixteen, a drowning accident in Millers pond, tangled among the water lilies, Dawn was disconsolate. She withdrew deeply into herself. Not even her European born tutors or a fancy psychologist could snap her out of it. Then, her daddy took her to Italy, to lush, vibrant Tuscany. When they returned, Dawn was a changed girl. She was now nineteen and an eager, exquisite beauty. Dawn had taken to wandering the woods, and using her sketchbook, drew the scenery and even the woodland creatures. One day, in the woods, she meet James Newell. At least, he said his name was James Newell. His real name was Percy Gilhooley and he was the type of man who was a natural con.
He wooed Dawn and seduced her. He promised to marry her. Of course, and she believed him. But, when he got tired of her, he moved on. Dawn asked her daddy to try to find him. Her daddy refused. Brewster knew James-Percy's type of man. Dawn never got over her one lover and retired quietly into the big house. After her daddy died, Dawn began wandering again, pink roses always fastened in her hair.
This time Dawn began wandering into the town of Brownville, always carrying her carefully packed alligator suitcase. She said she was looking for romantic and handsome dark-haired James. The townsfolk shook their heads when Dawn sat for hours and hours, waiting at the Delta Street bus stop, on the green painted iron bench at the corner of Caster and Delta. She was still young and beautiful. People began calling her "Delta Dawn" and she became an Appalachian folk legend because she continued her peculiar behavior, more or less, until she died at the venerable age of one hundred and three. --- Copyright 2025 by Antoinette Beard. >>>
THE TRUE HISTORY BEHIND THE SONG:
"Delta Dawn" is a song written by musician Larry Collins and country songwriter Alex Harvey. The first notable recording of the song was in 1971 by American singer and actress Bette Midler for her debut album The Divine Miss M. However it is best known as a 1972 top ten country hit for Tanya Tucker and a 1973 US number one hit for Helen Reddy.
Though the song is attributed exclusively to Collins and Harvey, the melody of the chorus is virtually identical to the Christian hymn "Amazing Grace". >>>
Content...
The title character is a faded former Southern belle from Brownsville, Tennessee, who, at 41, is obsessed to unreason with the long-ago memory of a suitor who jilted her. The lyrics describe how the woman regularly "walks downtown with a suitcase in her hand / looking for a mysterious dark haired man" who she says will be taking her "to his mansion in the sky."
Reddy's recording in particular includes choir-like inspirational overtones. >>>
The song's writing
Alex Harvey said he wrote the song about his mother:
My mother had come from the Mississippi Delta and she always lived her life as if she had a suitcase in her hand but nowhere to put it down.
Ten years before Harvey wrote the song, he was performing on TV and told his mother not to come, lest she get drunk and embarrass him. That night she died in a car crash, and Harvey believed it was suicide caused by his rejection.
For years Harvey suffered from guilt over the incident, until a cathartic incident the night he wrote the song. He was at fellow songwriter Larry Collins' house, who was asleep while Harvey noodled around on his guitar. He believed his mother then came to him in a vision:
I looked up and I felt as if my mother was in the room. I saw her very clearly. She was in a rocking chair and she was laughing...I really believe that my mother didn't come into the room that night to scare me, but to tell me, 'It's okay,' and that she had made her choices in life and it had nothing to do with me. I always felt like that song was a gift to my mother and an apology to her. It was also a way to say 'thank you' to my mother for all she did.
After writing the first few lines of the song, Harvey woke Collins and they finished it together. >>>
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there!
He wasn't there again today.
I wish, I wish he'd go away!
When I came home last night at three,
The man was waiting there for me.
But when I looked around the hall,
I couldn't see him there at all!
Go away, go away, don't you come back any more!
Go away, go away, and please don't slam the door!... (slam!)
Last night I saw upon the stair,
a little man who wasn't there!
He wasn't there again today.
Oh, how I wish he'd go away.
--- William Hughes Mearns.
Gardener captures precious photos of unexpected visitor in plant patch: 'Adorable little guy' >>>
When you grow native plants in your garden, you might be surprised to learn who is admiring them.
In a Reddit post to r/gardening, one gardener shared photos of a charming and cuddly opossum that visited her home.
"Little cutie visitor in my garden today!" the OP wrote.
The opossum is America's only native marsupial and a beneficial animal to have around. According to Gardening Know How, opossums are skilled at ridding gardens of pests and small insects. They regularly eat beetles, snails, and slugs that harm garden plants.
An especially enticing benefit of the opossum in the U.S. is its ability to control increasing tick populations. Ticks are known carriers of Lyme disease and put gardeners at risk while working outdoors.
The OP's opossum photos help inspire others to grow native gardens and attract beneficial species to their yards. Meanwhile, other gardeners have shared footage of attracting beautiful birds, foxes, and turtles to their outdoor spaces.
Supporting local wildlife is just one of the many benefits of rewilding your yard with native plants. When you grow a natural lawn, you also save time and money on garden maintenance while conserving valuable resources like water.
Native plants growing where they're meant to live also often require less pest control and fertilizer so that you can keep toxic chemicals away from your plants and home.
There is no shortage of proof of the benefits of native lawns on social media platforms today, and seeing these creatures thrive in their habitats can instantly brighten your day.
Reddit users were thrilled to see photos of the OP's opossum and shared their feedback in the comment section.
Do you think kids learn enough about gardening in school?
Not even close
There could be more focus
It's probably about right
It doesn't belong in school
Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.
"Adorable little guy and so trusting," one Reddit user wrote.
"They get rid of ticks in your yard, so welcome these shy, gentle creatures into your space," another Redditor shared.
"I'm hoping once I plant my native garden that I get an opossum," someone else commented. "They eat so many insects."
--- Cool Down.
