Evince Magazine April 2021

Page 2 April 2021

Editor’s Note Communicating through Art

w

e’ve all experienced

difficulty at times in

expressing thoughts and feelings. Yuvi Singh, the young girl pictured on the cover, has partially solved that problem by communicating through art. Her story and drawings are on pages 4 and 5.

How does your creative side display itself? For national awardwinning chef, Annelle Williams, it’s the delicious dishes she prepares in her kitchen. This month’s recipe on page 13 is one of her favorite Italian seafood dinners. Give it a try!

Photo by Michelle Dalton Photography

Evince Magazine Page 3

Public landscaping is an art form that Mack Williams admires in “Red Casino Chips Replace Red Brick Chips” on page 14. How you design, decorate, and maintain your personal living space is a type of art that communicates volumes. Linda Lemery is planning for improvement in her home.

Read “Training for the Decluttering Marathon” on page 8. Art is everywhere and Dave Slayton writes about finding it on the labels of wine bottles. See page 9.

Want to learn more about art?

There are many opportunities this month for taking art classes, touring beautiful homes, viewing exhibits, and participating in a theatre production. Finally, on April 22, do something special for Mother Nature in celebration of Earth Day. No one can match the creative work that She does every day.

Credits: Amber Wilson: hair; Catherine Saunders: skin care and makeup; Genesis Day Spa & Salon, 695 Park Avenue, Danville. Janelle Gammon: nails; Salon One 11, 111 Sandy Court, Danville.

CEO / Publisher / Andrew Scott Brooks Editor / Joyce Wilburn (434.799.3160) joycewilburn@gmail.com Copy Editors Jeanette Taylor, Larry Wilburn Contributing Writers Diane Adkins, Lewis Dumont, Helen Earle, Kimberly Eaton, Scott Jones, Telisha Moore Leigg, Linda Lemery, Josh Lucia, C.B. Maddox, R. Stephen Petrick, Jane R. Reid, Ben Rippe, Dave Slayton, Cheryl Sutherland, Joyce Wilburn, Annelle Williams, Mack Williams, Billy Wooten Art & Production Director Demont Design (Kim Demont)

On the Cover: Photo of Yuvi Singh and Shaurya Singhi by Michelle Dalton Photography

11

April 2021

Content 3 Editor’s Note

Finance Manager Cindy Yeatts (1.434.709.7349)

8

Creighton’s Billboard

Fiction by Telisha Moore Leigg

Marketing Consultants For ad information contact a marketing consultant listed below.

Lee Vogler Director of Sales and Marketing (434.548.5335) lee@evincemagazine.com Kenny Thornton Jr, Account Executive (434.250.3581) kenny@showcasemagazine.com

Training for the Decluttering Marathon

Kim Demont Graphic Design, Marketing (434.792.0612) demontdesign@verizon.net

by Linda Lemery

evince\i-’vin(t)s\ 1: to constitute outward evidence of 2: to display clearly; reveal syn see SHOW

12 Book Clubbing The Paris Library

4

Yuvi Singh

Communicating through Art

by Joyce Wilburn

6 Calendar 7 Trivia Night

9

The Wine Spot Looking at the Art on Wine Labels

by Dave Slayton

10 Spotting Exceptional Customer Service

by Jane R. Reid & R. Stephen Petrick

by Janet Skeslien Charles review by Diane Adkins

Italian 13 Cook Tonight Tuna Puttanesca

by Annelle Williams

Casino 14 Red Chips Replace Red Brick Chips

by Mack Williams

Deadline for submission of May stories, articles, and ads is Wednesday, April 21, at 5:00 p.m.

Submit stories, articles, and calendar items to joycewilburn@gmail.com.

Editorial Policies Evince is a free monthly magazine with news about entertainment and lifestyle in Danville and the surrounding area. We reserve the right to accept, reject and edit all submissions and advertisements.

EVINCE MAGAZINE 753 Main St. Suite 3, Danville, VA 24541 www.evincemagazine.com For subscriptions to Evince, email info@evincemagazine.com.

Cost is $24 a year. © 2021 All rights reserved. Reproduction or use in whole or in part in any medium without written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited.

Page 4 April 2021

Yuvi Singh Communicating through Art

by Joyce Wilburn

T

o all parents and caretakers

who are lamenting the loss

of an in-person academic year for their children because of COVID, Ravinder “Sonya” Kaur, mother of twelve-year-old Yuvi, has some reassurance. Sonya reminisces about pre-COVID school days and compares them with the current situation. “Yuvi was busy all day with school work, with therapies, and doing homework.

This past year, however, she had so much time at home,” she explains.

Using that time at home wisely and with encouragement from her teachers at the Center for Pediatic Therapies and The Madeline Centre, the young girl who has difficulty with verbal expression, has learned a new skill.

page). She may also read about something, for example, a fish or the moon, take a picture of it, and then draw it.” On occasion, Yuvi reads a poem, memorizes it, and then draws a picture to accompany it.

Yuvi’s father, Kirpal “Vinny” Singh, jokes, “COVID taught her how to read!” With extra time on her hands, Yuvi would repeatedly say a word to her parents, ask them to spell it, and then memorize it.

“Now she can read books and type words without a problem,” says the proud dad, adding, “and she’s even helping her six-year-old brother to read!” He then elaborates wistfully, “If she could just make that connection between reading words and speaking them, everything would be fine.”

That’s where art forms the bridge.

In fact, some days, Yuvi creates fifty to sixty drawings. Vinny cites sources of her inspiration: “If she reads a book, she likes to draw a picture of it (at the bottom of the

Yuvi Singh and Shaurya Singh create chalk drawings on the driveway. Photo by Michelle Dalton Photography.

Evince Magazine Page 5

Ravinder “Sonya” Kaur and Kirpal “Vinny” Singh look through Yuvi’s drawings. Photo by Michelle Dalton Photography.

As Sonya flips through a large collection of art work from her daughter’s younger years, she remarks, “Yuvi draws more on the phone now than on paper.

If you ask her, she will tell you what’s happening. It’s clear in her mind. If I don’t understand, she can explain it. Drawing calms her; she’s relaxed when she draws.” Listening to Indian music also has a calming effect. “She

always has music on,” comments Vinny adding that she sometimes dances to the tunes.

At a pause in the conversation, Yuvi and her six-year-old brother, Shaurya, flit past the doorway— he with a mischievous smile on his face, she with long, black, shiny hair flowing behind her. It’s apparent that they are happy and are enjoying each other’s

company. “Ninety percent of the time, they are loving, but kids will have their moments,” says Vinny with an understanding smile.

With the upcoming warmer weather, parents and kids are both looking forward to the enjoyment of being outside and finding more ways of communicating through art.

Page 6 April 2021

April

The Bray Barn at 3685 R & L Smith Road is on the Danville Garden Tour.

Calendar of Evince Abbreviation Key

• AU=Averett University, 434.791.5600 www.averett.edu • DMFAH=Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History, 975 Main St. 434.793.5644 www.danvillemuseum.org • DSC=Danville Science Center, 677 Craghead St. 434.791.5160 www.dsc.smv.org572.8339, www.prizery.com

Ongoing

Guided Walking Tours: Millionaires Row, Holbrook Street and Tobacco Warehouse District. 434.770.1974 www.danvillehistory.org DMFAH: self-guided audio tours Camilla Williams Exhibit: Exhibit features her opera costumes including Madame Butterfly. DMFAH Danville Civil Rights Exhibition: The Movement on permanent display.

DMFAH DSC: Learn about “Water”--its chemical makeup, the power it can generate, and the ecology of the Dan River. “Go!” highlights the intersection between the physics of machines and the biology of the human body. The J.T.-Minnie Maude Charitable Trust Creativity Lab is a makerspace offering hands-on access to craft and design tools.

Extension office 434.799.6558 or email danvillemastergardeners@gmail.com.

April 2 thru 30

WANDERLOVE: A Stitch in Time A free collective knitting project DMFAH Wednesdays & Fridays 10am-noon

April 3

Egg and Rock Painting DMFAH noon-2pm

April 10 & 11

DMFAH free admission

April 11

National Pet Day Treats will be offered at the Coates Bark Park, 1725 Westover Drive, Danville 434.793.3646

April 13

Free Rock Painting Class Making Danville Smile 5-6:30 pm hosted by Main Street Art Collective, 326 Main Street, Danville Register 434.602.2017

April 17

Shred Day hosted by Riverview Rotary; location tba

Street, noon-8pm Thursdays through Saturdays; noon-5pm Sundays DMFAH free

DMFAH Attic Sale Drop-Off Email davidc522@comcast.net for a time.

April 22

April 28

Garden Club Tour Danville www.vagardenweek.org $20 online; nine sites: 2175 Hunting Hill Road, Atkinson Barn & Lodge, 680 Halifax Road in Chatham, 220 Fairview Road North in Chatham, four rescued tobacco barns & pack houses, DMFAH Printmaking Workshop DMFAH 6:30 to 9pm $15 Register at info@danvillemuseum.org.

Earth Day Celebratio Learn how to reduce, reuse, recycle and save the planet. Make recycled art. Swap a gently used ageappropriate book. Ages 7+ Register at 434.799.5195. Danville Public Library, 511 Patton St. 5:30-6:30pm free Also at Ballou Rec Center, 760 West Main St. 11:30am-1:30pm $5 Register at 434.799.5216.

April 24

Dan River Spring Clean-up gloves, litter getters, and trash bags will be provided. cosponsored by the Dan River Basin Association, Danville Science Center and Danville Parks & Recreation. 9:30-11:30am Register by April 19. 434.799.5150 free

Smokestack Theatre Company Read a role in a classic play or enjoy watching. 2 Witches Winery & Brewery, 209 Trade St. Danville 6pm free

April 29

Life Drawing Class DMFAH 6:30 to 9pm $15 Register at info@danvillemuseum.org.

w Riveryvie Rotar

May 1

Car c i s s a l C

Show

Rods & Rides classic car show hosted by Riverview Rotary Club Ballou Park, 760 West Main St. Danville 8am-4pm

May 3 thru June 14

Forms in Clay This pottery class is held every Monday 6:30-9pm $95 for DMFAH members $105 for others. Call 434.792.5355 to register.

April 1 Thru 30

Voice Line Project Display a project to raise awareness of violence against women, children, and men; located near the White Mill on Memorial Drive in Danville at the MLK Bridge and organized by AU and Haven of the Dan River Region.

Decorated shirts will honor and memorialize victims and help with healing.

April 1 thru October 31

Danville Master Gardener Help Desk Master Gardeners love to research gardening problems. Anyone with gardening, lawn, or landscaping questions can call the Cooperative

Cars & Coffee hosted by Dominion Classic Sports Car Club. See classic cars, sports cars, muscle cars, and more in the parking lot at Crema & Vine, 1009 Main St. Danville 9-10:30am 434.548.9862

April 22 thru May 23

That’s Pop’s Money a Veronica Jackson Exhibition at Gallery Space, 536 Craghead

Rock Painting - April 3 & 13.

Evince Magazine Page 7

Trivia Night submitted by Scott Jones

Before and After

1. Thomas Paine pamphlet and a Jane Austen novel 2. An ancient King of Macedonia and an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel 3. Hillary Swank movie and Sir Mix-a-Lot song 4. Clint Eastwood role and a Daniel Radcliffe role 5. A 1978 movie starring Robert de Niro and Christopher Walken and the author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 6. A 2007 Tommy Lee Jones/Josh Brolin movie and a 1997 Tommy Lee Jones/Will Smith movie 7. Krusty the Clown’s sidekick and

a Nobel laureate who is Blowing in the Wind 8. Jack Webb’s character in Dragnet and a horror movie franchise with Jason Voorhees 9. A 1959 animated Disney movie and a 1991 animated Disney movie 10. NBA team located in Florida and a collectible card game introduced by the Wizards of the Coast

Answers to Before and After 1. Common Sense and Sensibility 2. Alexander the Great Gatsby 3. Million Dollar Baby Got Back 4. Dirty Harry Potter 5. The Deer Hunter S. Thompson 6. No Country for Old Men in Black 7. Sideshow Bob Dylan 8. Joe Friday the 13th 9. Sleeping Beauty and the Beast 10. Orlando Magic The Gathering

z

oom in on the next Trivia

Night on Monday, April 5,

and again on Monday, April 19. For more information, email scott.jones@richmond.edu.

Your health means everything.

And now is the time to address those concerns you’ve been putting off. We’re here to help, with services ranging from routine screenings, to surgeries, to emergency care.

Don’t make your health wait. Get the care you need now.

To find a healthcare provider, call 844.GO.SOVAH To learn more, visit SovahHealth.com

Page 8 April 2021

Training for the Decluttering Marathon

by Linda Lemery

d

ecluttering is not an art I’m

good at--neither is my

husband, Steve. When someone suggested I write a column on decluttering, I was aghast. (I’d written a note to this friend admiring her baseboards because I hadn’t seen mine in decades.) Just like in the Eagles’ song Hotel California, things come into our house and never leave.

There’s nobody on the planet less likely to voluntarily enter into a decluttering contract than I, and yet here I am, tiptoeing forward with trepidation, caution, and a wispy sense of hope.

Where did all this junk come from? Steve and I raised a family here. We stored our mothers’ things when they passed away (precious memorabilia that our

boys callously refused to take); my textbooks (which nobody in her right mind would ever electively read again); our favorite books (they’re all our favorites); Steve’s CDs (they’re all his favorites); years of clothing (waiting for the Right-Sized Me or the Mending Fairy to “Abracadabra!”); holiday decorations (“I can’t get rid of this.

It was Mom’s.”), broken stuff Steve uses to fix other broken stuff; and unusable supplies for hobbies long dead. To carve out space for separate remote workstations when the pandemic hit, we sacrificed part of the dining room and kitchen, shrinking our free space even more. We’ve lived in this house for thirty-plus years. It’s full.

Readers, Steve and I cannot

Note that some bins are partly or entirely empty. That represents progress. possibly be the only ones with too much stuff. Some of you must be in similar situations. This column is going to be about our steps to gain baseboard sightings inside our home’s horizons after too many years of not seeing baseboards at all.

Like any marathoner gearing up to compete, I started training early for this declutterathon. Depending on my diet-du-jour, my clothing sizes have bounced up and down for years like a rubber ducky in a storm-filled bathtub. I’ve lost weight over the last few years and have stored unused clothing in a range of sizes. To train for this declutterathon, I eliminated those clothes over a Certain Secret Size (CSS). I don’t intend to be larger than that CSS ever again. I started going through greater-than-CSS garments. I went through megatons: more than the five nighties, twenty pairs of long pants, fifty-five longsleeved and forty short-sleeved sweaters and shirts I’m ejecting from my universe. “People can use this clothing,” I chanted like a mantra. “I can get rid of clothes that benefit others.” I tried on every item, looked in the mirror, and then either blessed (kept) it or busted (ejected) it. I kept training

until 121 busted clothing items had been ejected (donated to a neighbor, to Averett’s Center for Community Engagement and Career Competitiveness as student interview clothes, and to local thrift stores where I gritted my teeth, dropped off items, and ran). Even at this first pass, there’s progress. I haven’t missed any of it and can’t even remember what I’ve given away. Readers, if I can do it, you can, too. I haven’t seen any baseboards yet, but I’m scanning for sightings.

I don’t know what I’m going to declutter next month, but I’m excited about reporting my progress because you, Readers, will keep me accountable. We can all enjoy the Lemery pain separately yet together, just like getting vaccinated. You can write to Evince to tell how you’re decluttering and how others will benefit. Decluttering is an art.

Maybe by practicing, we’ll all improve as artists. And maybe even Steve will get rid of stuff.

Woo-hoo!

About the Author: When she’s not trying on clothing like a whirling dervish, Linda Lemery llemery@averett.edu works as Circulation Manager at Averett University’s Mary B. Blount Library in Danville. She welcomes reader comments.

Evince Magazine Page 9

Wine Spot Looking at Wine Labels as Art

by Dave Slayton

a member of the Master Court of Sommeliers

w

just a few miles from one of her greatest creations, the deep, blue Pacific Ocean.”

while his partner’s dress is in a full swirl.

For me, it is an image of concentration and grace.

True Myth: This winery’s label pays homage to Mother Nature. On its website they state: “In our location on California’s Central Coast, we are eternally awestruck by the magic of her omnipresent influence; from the dry heat of the vineyards in Paso Robles, to the coastal influence on our vineyards in Edna Valley, our grapes are grown

Intrinsic: From the town of Paterson, Washington, on the north bank of the Columbia River comes a cabernet sauvignon wine with intense flavor resulting from an experimental process used by wine maker Juan Muñoz-Oca. Intrinsic’s label was designed by famed Brooklyn street artist, Zimer. Zimer writes, “A woman in a red dress is as timeless and sensual as a glass of wine. My job was to reimagine that in a modern, street art fashion.” A friend said it is a combination classical style and modern street art edginess. I say, “Yes, kind of like Diego Velazquez meets Andy Warhol.”

I have read that art’s purpose is to produce thought and that wine’s purpose is to produce joy. The blog, Well Said Wines, states: “Like art, wine is meant to be shared and to tease and excite the senses.” Here’s my toast to wine and art. May they always be together and always be with us.

Cheers!

ine bottle labels are very

diverse. Some are humorous,

others are serious, a few feature athletes and rap stars and many double as art. Three of my favorite labels that I consider art are:

Los Dos: Borsao is a large Spanish wine producer that creates a series of wines named, Los Dos, Spanish for “the two” or “both”. The distributor’s website describes it: “Like two dancers coming together to create the perfect dance, Los Dos celebrates the intricate steps in the dance of winemaking.” The label shows two dancers from an overhead perspective with one stepping back

Page 10 April 2021

Back row: Phillip Ashworth, Tim Luketic, Curtis Pritchett, Kevin Sexton, Joel Bryant, Caleb Bryant, Carl Hearn, Chris Amos, and Paul Hancock. Front row: Crystal Sexton and Annette Morris. Photo by Caulier Ashworth

Spotting

Exceptional Customer Service

by Jane R. Reid & R. Stephen Petrick

w

e would like to nominate the

staff at Newcomb Carpet

and Flooring, 1491 West Main Street in Danville, for the Spotting Exceptional Customer Service Award.

For several months we have been in the process of having flooring replaced in our home. On each trip to the showroom at Newcomb Carpet and Flooring we were met by a helpful and friendly staff. The office staff has been efficient, informative,

and professional in advising and arranging work schedules to meet our needs. The installation crew are artists. Their excellent workmanship has been exceeded only by their care and concern for our home and the job at hand.

Newcomb Carpet and Flooring is a visual representation of exceptional customer service performed by a local hometown team and they deserve this recognition.

Evince wants to encourage and recognize exceptional customer service. When someone gives you exceptional service, please let us know. In 300 words or less, tell us what happened. Email your story to joycewilburn@gmail.com.

Evince Magazine Page 11

Creighton’s Billboard fiction by Telisha Moore Leigg

not until ten or so miles down the road out there on 29 before he starts speaking.

I

“

do.” (Fallon Ross, at her re-wedding to Allan on the third week in November, 2021)

For as long as I can remember, in Boris, North Carolina, all my now thirty-two years, Creighton’s billboard out on Highway 29 has been there, next to Larry’s Stop and Shop now torn down, next to a dirt-and-gravel road leading to what used to be the Creighton Farm. I drove past that billboard year after year, just past where I used to work. The billboard messages were sometimes shiny and new, sometimes peeling, or even missing when no one paid the fee. Still, even with the occasional new messages, the billboard always seemed old, with a rusty pole holding it up, with its two small spotlights illuminating from the bottom. I drove by it for years, but guess I never gave it much thought.

Today, I do.

Today was another wedding day, mine again, reception over, and it’s time to go. Looking back at the church, the people waving, in love with rekindled love, I think I’ve done this rodeo before, but

still I’m surprised at the regular dings of the open car door pinging deep soprano. Allan, my former ex-husband, my just now newly remarried husband, turned to me and held out his left hand. “Fallon, ready to go?” he murmurs. I nod.

The light was dying down in November; my pale gown was sweeping the crispy gold and red leaves; Allan’s gold band, the one he never took off despite our divorce years ago, was even still gleaming. Reception over. Our daughters, seven and almost nine, were safe with Mandy Blue and Mean Keisha. I don’t take Allan’s hand, and he puts it in his suit pocket, but I get into the car.

The Creightons tried to have that billboard moved in 2000 when their only son, a popular boy, 18, who used to drag race, crashed alone there and died. The plastic flowers, sun-dried teddy bears, other stuffed animals, and those small white crosses planted in the dirt, by the entrance to the road to her home nearly broke Edna Creighton. But it couldn’t be helped because people need grief even when it’s not their own.

When the reverence for the event and lost youth grew, folks started calling it Creighton’s billboard. It stuck. The Creightons sold out ten years ago, moved to some state that was always warm, California, Florida maybe, though folks say it didn’t help much. Pain will do that to you. I know this; I do.

Allan, thin, 38, with sandy hair a little more than slightly balding, has always been a blunt man, too blunt in fact, even though he doesn’t talk much. I think in all the years we were first married, all seven years, he told me he loved me maybe five times. As he has gotten older, he continues to like his silence, people have been known to feel shuffle-feet foolish around him. I have felt foolish around Allan; it was part of the reason I left him the first time.

But I’ve had time to come to silence too, to hold and harbor wounds that gouge and don’t heal, things I will never unlock to anyone else, things I carry like briar wire soaked in sobs. I want a place comfortable and quiet to mull them. Today, my second wedding day, I put my seatbelt on, and Allan grips the wheel.

We drive in that silence, and it’s

“Fallen, I know you don’t love me,” Allan says as he looks face first into the sunset, straight into that light, and twisted his ring finger wedding band with his thumb while driving with his other hand. I look straight ahead too, and we live in this silence so long that I realize that I should respond. That’s what women do, yes? But, Allan takes my hand closest to him over the built-in cup holders and squeezes it.

On our re-wedding night, we sat there for an hour at Creighton’s billboard, well into dusk, stopped by the side of the road, at the bottom and edge of the big billboard. The lights beneath it were turning on as cars passed.

The two lights illuminating the sign were already on, but it wasn’t the message I noticed because there were just the rusted metal sheets; it was the post. Someone had cleaned it up, painted it a sturdy black, and the lights were different.

I realize we now own a billboard, that one day and every day that there will be some words for me and some kindness for me here every time I pass and every time others pass tendering something teeming sweet. And I can hardly wait for it. For the first time since all the sadness in my life, since the re-wedding I really didn’t want, since all the bad, I swallow this love like water; I do.

Page 12 April 2021

faculty to make people see with other people’s eyes.” Books build bridges. When the war is over, though, Odile discovers betrayals that upend her life and lead her to move to Montana.

Book Clubbing

The Paris Library

by Janet Skeslien Charles review by Diane Adkins

M

y daughter, an art

historian, has often said

that art saves lives. I don’t doubt that. Libraries also save lives and The Paris Library can be read as a tribute to that power.

The story moves between Odile Souchet’s life in Paris during World War II and later in Montana. Odile applies for a job at the American Library in Paris (ALP). It is there that she feels most at home, having been a visitor from an early age.

Socially awkward elsewhere, the library is her safe place where a love of literature and the life of the mind are valued even in a woman.

The staff and patrons form the cast of characters. Surprisingly, some of them are based on actual people who worked at and used the ALP in the 1930s and ‘40s. The author has retained their names, even if she has fictionalized their lives to some extent. Indeed, Janet Skeslien Charles worked at the ALP in 2010.

Once Odile joins the staff, she welcomes Margaret, a British attaché’s wife, on her first visit to the library. Margaret is thrilled to find a place where women don’t ask, “What does your husband do?” but rather “What are you reading?”

Margaret becomes a volunteer, the library her refuge, and Odile

her best friend. Odile’s parents and her twin brother, Rémy, and especially her beau, Paul, are also key to the Paris parts of the story.

When the Germans occupy Paris, Odile and the rest of the staff join the French Resistance. Jewish patrons are eventually banned from the library under orders from the Nazi regime. Odile joins the others in delivering books to the regular Jewish patrons. They also conduct a burgeoning service of sending books to French soldiers and prisoners of war, one of whom is Odile’s twin brother Rémy. Why books and not wine? “Because no other thing possesses that mystical

In the 1980s, Odile has been living a reclusive life for decades.

Then her teenaged neighbor, Lily, interviews her, opening a door to friendship. Odile sees in Lily a version of herself at that age— headstrong, judgmental, and passionate for what she believes to be right. Together, they learn “Love is accepting someone, all parts of them, even the ones you don’t like or understand.”

The setting and the connection with the actual ALP history make this a fascinating story. It shines a light on the choices we make, the ways we hurt and even betray our friends by our jealousy, and the power of books. They can shape our lives, inspire us to be better persons, and connect us with others. Maybe even save us.

Diane S. Adkins is a retired Director of Pittsylvania County Library System.

Evince Magazine Page 13

Cook Italian Tonight Tuna Puttanesca

by Annelle Williams

R

ather than a disclaimer,

I’m going to begin with a

“claimer.” This picture shows very rare tuna. My husband and I like tuna quickly seared. You might enjoy your tuna cooked to a different temperature. I wouldn’t want anyone to miss this delicious sauce thinking it depended on rare tuna! Prepare it as you like.

As a matter of fact, you can also make this meal using the best canned tuna you can find or not add tuna at all. Pasta bathed in this sauce can definitely stand on its own.

I love the recipe for the sauce.

The first time I made it, I used the dramatic all-day-in-the-sun method. I put all the ingredients

in a small crock, covered it with a plate to keep the bugs out and the heat in. The crock sat in the sun all day long and when we gathered for dinner it was an exciting moment when we poured the warm sauce over cooked pasta and had an outdoor feast. Since

then I have used a slow cooker set on warm and let it marinate for several hours. I’ve also made it on the stove top in a regular pan and cooked as you normally would cook sauce. It’s still good but not as good as giving the flavors several hours to blend.

We’re

Tuna Pasta Puttanesca (4 servings)

24 oz. fresh tuna (4) 6 oz. pieces pepper and salt olive oil 16 oz. pasta Parmesan cheese for garnish

SAUCE 4-6 garlic cloves, chopped 1 cup olive oil plus 2 T 1 1/2 cups black Greek pitted olives (not canned!)

1 T anchovy paste (or two-three canned anchovies)

3 cups chopped tomatoes, the most flavorful you can find 2 T capers 2 T chopped fresh parsley 1 1/2 to 2 cups fresh basil, torn

Make the sauce 4-6 hours ahead of serving: Pour 2 T oil in pan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes, just until you begin to smell the garlic. Take the pan off the heat and add remaining cup of oil. Stir to combine and set aside. In crock or slow cooker, add black olives, tomatoes and anchovy paste. With hands, mash olives and tomatoes with paste until olives and tomatoes are smashed and combined. Now add garlic with olive oil, parsley, capers, and basil. Stir to combine, cover and set crock in sun or set slow cooker on warm.

Cover. Simmer for 4-6 hours.

Cook pasta according to package directions when sauce is ready. Drain pasta. Combine pasta and sauce and serve with tuna. Sprinkle with a little Parmesan cheese.

Cook the tuna just before ready to serve. Sprinkle both sides with pepper and salt. Heat 2 T olive oil in skillet over high heat (or brush grill grates with oil over high heat). Cook tuna on both sides to desired doneness. You can look at the sides of the tuna and see how much the tuna has cooked. Remove tuna from heat and let rest. Serve with crusty bread.

on Danville!

Donna Gibson Owner

HOLLEY & GIBSON REALTY COMPANY

339 Piney Forest Rd., Danville, VA 24540

Office: (434) 791-2400 Fax: (434) 791-2122 Visit our website at

www.holleyandgibsonrealty.com

Page 14 April 2021

Red Casino Chips Replace Red Brick Chips

by Mac Williams

I

t all started the other day

when on my way to

Ballou Park, I drove by Park Avenue Elementary School and noticed the trees in its front yard.

They had been mulched with some of the reddest small rocks I’d ever seen, even redder than the rocks pictured by our roving robots on The Angry Red Planet (1959), or in other words, Mars! At another place along

one of Danville’s main thoroughfares, distant, decorative trees and shrubs seemed to have more poppies growing around them than in Flanders Fields. Again, these were the same types of red stones used in a massive mulching operation.

Then I remembered when I had last driven by the former Dan River Mills Schoolfield site and noticed that

the huge piles of broken red brick fragments once making up the mill buildings were gone. Of course, this is where Caesars Virginia casino will be built. I’m sure there are other places in Danville where these re-purposed

red brick chips can be seen in the form of both mulch and landscaping decoration around business entrances.

If old work places, just like old homes, can sometimes seem to absorb the emotions of those who once lived there, I’ll have to pull off the road and pick up one of those red brick Schoolfield Mill fragments. I’ll hold it to my ear like a conch shell and listen for the soaked-up sounds of longgone mill-working friends bidding “Hello” and “Goodbye” to each other at their work shifts’ beginning and end. Perhaps I’ll even hear them sharing some small talk while they eat their homemade lunches or maybe eavesdrop upon their gripes about an overly strict supervisor.

Without a doubt, even though they be plastic, not brick, some of the Caesars Virginia casino roulette chips will also be red.

Evince Magazine Page 15

Page 16 April 2021