Making Spaghetti? Here are some PRO TIPS to help make it BETTER!

Spaghetti! Who doesn’t like it?

Spaghetti is an easy-enough meal to prepare, and it can be as simple, or as complex, as one desires.

And despite that, as some things often are, they can be deceptively simple, or even challenging to master.

While with recipes, whether found online, on boxes, or in magazines and books, there seems to be a somewhat straight-forward approach to making certain dishes, even with renown and very popular ones, sometimes, the “Whys & Wherefores,” i.e., the rationales, the reasons why one does a certain thing a certain way, are typically omitted. And, that can be to the detriment of a burgeoning cook, or aspiring chef.

So, we’ll set out to, at least in small part, make a correction… at least as concerning spaghetti.

1.) Salt

Salt the water which the noodles boil in — HEAVILY, not a mere sprinkle, or a dash, or two. Lay it on!

Why?

Salt is hygroscopic, which means that it draws, or attracts, water.

And the noodles should be cooked to an “al dente” consistency, a translation meaning

Woman Is STILL The Nigger Of The World: Violence Against Women, A Global Problem

What do Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Angela Merkel of Germany, Brigitte Macron of France, Aung San Suu Kyi of Indonesia, and Sonia Gandi of India have in common?

If you guessed that they are subjects of Italian artist Alexsandro Palombo, then you’d be correct.

In the images, all the women all have black eyes, numerous additional wounds to their face, cuts and bruises to their neck and upper torso, including fresh blood… it is explicitly clear that they all have suffered at the hands of an abuser.

Fortunately, the pictures are pure fiction.

In each of the images of the women, the artist digitally altered photographs of them to make it appear as if they all have been victims of savage assault.

The artist Alexsandro Palombo‘s work is on display in Milan, Italy, and his FaceBook site is linked to his name.

Using a computer software to alter the images, the

Versace Recycles J’Lo’s 20-year Old Green Dress

Steven Tyler (right), the 71-year-old legendary lead vocalist of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, makes a clandestine appearance in drag alongside Jennifer Lopez at fashion designer (House of Gianni) Versace’s latest runway show by Donatella Versace – in their Spring 2020 Ready-To-Wear collection – during Fashion Week, recently in Milan, Italy.🤣

By the way, J’Lo’s Versace-designed green dress seen here, is

All We Need Is Love

Today is the anniversary of the birth and death of a towering intellectual, theological and biblical scholar, orator and polyglot fluent in speaking, reading, and writing Latin, Italian, Hebrew, Greek, German, Bohemian, Spanish, and French, renowned preacher, nuncio (diplomat of the pope) to Bavaria and Spain, minister-general of the Capuchin order, missionary, evangelist, who established Capuchin monasteries in Germany and Austria, was said to have known the entire original text of the Bible — Lorenzo da Brindisi, also more commonly known as Saint Lawrence of Brindisi (1559-1619), who died on his birthday exactly 60 years later – and whose parents Guglielmo de Rossi & Elisabetta Masella gave him the birth name Julius Caesar Rossi – pretty much did it all. 

Aged 16, he

Share Our Sacred Trust

Apse Mosaic in Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe, near Ravenna, Italy; Saint Apollinaris of Ravenna was the city’s first bishop, and is depicted in the central portion of the mosaic. The basilica was consecrated May 9, 549 by Bishop Maximian and dedicated to Saint Apollinaris, first bishop of Ravenna and Classe.

Today we honor the first bishop of Ravenna in Italy. Originally from Antioch, Saint Apollinaris of Ravenna was given his assignment by Saint Peter to continue to make inroads in the spread of Christianity. Apollinaris faced constant persecution and was eventually martyred by the Romans. The city where he served, Ravenna, has become renowned for the beautiful mosaics that adorn its churches and monuments. Named a UNESCO World Heritage site, the city’s sacred art is

Forgiveness Transforms And Redeems Lives

Photo of St. Maria Goretti attributed to February 13, 1902, about five months before she was attacked by Alessandro Serenelli.

Maria Goretti was not even 12 years old when she rebuked the attempted rape by her 18-year-old neighbor July 5, 1902. After the death of her father, she and her family became so poor that they had to move in with neighbors. Alessandro Serenelli, the 18-year-old who attempted to rape her was so angered at her refusal, that he used an awl and stabbed young Maria more than a dozen times. She was rushed to a nearby hospital, operated upon without benefit of anesthesia, and died less than 24 hours later… but not without first forgiving her attacker. And upon her deathbed she received the sacraments, and offered forgiveness to her attacker. But her forgiving was not yet fully complete.

Judges in Serenelli’s case considered

Could Climate Change help the Global Economy?

Raise a Glass of Scottish Wine to Global Climate Changes

By Rudy Ruitenberg Mar 25, 2014 11:00 PM CT

Thanks to climate change, Christopher Trotter will make history later this year by pairing a Scottish white wine with the local spoots.

The razor clams harvested from the nearby shores of the North Sea will go down nicely with the first bottles from Trotter’s vineyard north of Edinburgh. The 2014 vintage will be special for Scotland, where Highlanders have distilled whisky and brewed ale for centuries.

“Scotland has probably been more of a beer-drinking nation than anything else,” said Trotter, a chef and food writer. Wine hasn’t been part of the culture, he said, “until now.”

Christopher Trotter, Scottish Chef, Vintner and food writer, stands in his vineyard in Fife, Scotland
– Source: Christopher Trotter via Bloomberg

Trotter might as well pour a splash on the ground in memory of a vanishing world. Climate change, which scientists say is caused by heat-trapping gas accumulating in the atmosphere, is transforming dinner tables and scrambling traditions in the $270 billion global wine industry. In Europe, warmer seasons are chasing Italian and Spanish vintners up hillsides, making a winner of Germany, encouraging growers in Poland and spreading the cultivation of wine grapes to latitudes friendlier to belly-warming whiskies and ales. And it’s raising the alcohol content, and altering the flavors, of famous wines in France.

Vitis vinifera, the common grape vine, is a finicky crop. Vineyards flourish where average annual temperatures range from 10 to 20 degrees Celsius (50 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit). Too much dry weather, hail or too much rain can downgrade or wreck a vintage.

“Scotland has probably been more of a beer-drinking nation than anything else,” said Trotter, a chef and food writer. Wine hasn’t been part of the culture, he said, “until now.”

Trotter might as well pour a splash on the ground in memory of a vanishing world. Climate change, which scientists say is caused by heat-trapping gas accumulating in the atmosphere, is transforming dinner tables and scrambling traditions in the $270 billion global wine industry. In Europe, warmer seasons are chasing Italian and Spanish vintners up hillsides, making a winner of Germany, encouraging growers in Poland and spreading the cultivation of wine grapes to latitudes friendlier to belly-warming whiskies and ales. And it’s raising the alcohol content, and altering the flavors, of famous wines in France.

Vitis vinifera, the common grape vine, is a finicky crop. Vineyards flourish where average annual temperatures range from 10 to 20 degrees Celsius (50 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit). Too much dry weather, hail or too much rain can downgrade or wreck a vintage.

Fine Wine

“Wine is very responsive to climatic factors,” said Karl Storchmann, a professor of economics at New York University and managing editor of the Journal of Wine Economics. “This is especially true for fine wine, when weather-induced vintage-to-vintage price variations can exceed 1,000 percent.”

Over centuries, growers in the top producing countries — France, Italy and Spain — selected grape varieties that now account for 75 percent of the world’s wine plantings, according to a database prepared by the University of Adelaide in Australia.

Pope Benedict XVI shocks Catholic faithful, announces resignation

Peace be with you, Papa, and bless your for your honesty by acknowledging that “…both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.”

May your successor be more than four times as strong as you, ten times as wise, a hundredfold more personable than John Paul II.

—

Pope Benedict XVI left a meeting at the Vatican on Monday, February 11, 2013, when he announced he would resign. –
Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Pope Benedict XVI announced he will resign at end of month:

“I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.”

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Pope Benedict XVI on Monday said he plans on resigning the papal office on February 28th. Below please find his announcement.
Full text of Pope’s declaration

Dear Brothers,

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that