Meet Your Neighbor: Passion drives the creations behind local transplant

Long Beach resident Annette Moore is a staple at many community farmers’ markets along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, as she sells freshly-baked biscotti adhering to her grandmother’s recipe. However, one of Moore’s other original creations, spotted next to the pastries, is a children’s book entitled “Bella Mae, You Are Not Alone.”

Originally from Chicago, Moore and her husband moved from California to Long Beach to be closer to the Gospel Revolution Church in Slidell, Louisiana, which they had been attending online.

“We started watching them and getting to know them [its members] from Facebook,” she says.

The duo visited with the congregation in south Louisiana many times and “fell in love with everybody and felt God saying this is where we were going to go.” However, they discovered they liked Slidell less than the Mississippi Gulf Coast. 

The pair discovered that the coast, particularly Long Beach, had a much stronger pull on them. According to Moore, she is less than an hour away from Slidell and only minutes from sand and surf.

“We love our friends and family [in Louisiana], and we are there four times a week, back and forth, and it’s a bit of a ride, but it’s worth it for us.”

Her love for God led Moore to write her current children’s book about a young bird looking for her father. On the back cover of her book, the Chicago native explains what moved her to pen Bella Mae.

“I sat down with my laptop before me, because I felt God would reveal something. Within twenty minutes, my fingers were trying to keep up with what God was pouring out, and this beautiful story of the little bird Bella Mae was born.”

The book, Moore added, is her way of telling about the love God has for everyone. Bella Mae, a young bluebird, falls out of her nest and breaks her wing. She loses her way, and Bella becomes very independent on her journey home. The bird rejects assistance from others and tries to weather struggles on her own. When reuniting with her father, Bella realizes she is wrong. It was her father’s love that she needed all along.

Bella Mae, You Are Not Alone was Moore’s first attempt at writing, and she says the story, or message, came free and easy. The publishing process, however, was more complicated.

Moore said she had so many questions: “Where do I go from here? How do I do this? Do I publish it on my own on Amazon? Do I want to deal with that? I need an illustrator.”

Moore eventually went with a publishing company.

“I paid a lot of money for them to do it, and I didn’t get much in return,” she says.

She worked with an illustrator from Kentucky for a couple of years and was pleased with the results.

“It took about a year and a half to complete it,” she said. “It was the passion of my heart really for kids of all ages, young and old, whoever was reading the book to their child or their grandchild.”

The book, Moore noted, is a story, but also a parable.

“You have the story of Bella Mae and her daddy bird, but the story is of God. I want them to know that He [God] is there for them and can help them whenever they need them.”

The reaction to her book has been highly positive, she reports.

“It’s amazing the people who come and pick it up [at the farmers markets]; it’s usually someone from the church. Little girls may come by, and I ask them if they want to read it.” So, Moore happily gives another book away.

“I give away almost all my books,” she said, laughing, adding that she had not expected to make much money from Bella Mae. She was sharing the gospel with others. The book, released in 2021, is also available on Amazon and is listed at $12.99.

“I had it at $18.99, but I lowered it to make it more acceptable for families to afford.”

In addition to the story of the lost bird, the writer/baker’s biscotti sold in Long Beach, Gulfport, and Ocean Springs has been a hit at local markets. Moore has been making biscotti for almost forty years using her grandmother’s anise recipe.

“It’s a traditional biscotti flavor, that and almond,” said Moore. “Normally, your biscotti is very hard and crunchy, and you dip it in your coffee to eat it. My grandma’s were not; she put in a lot of eggs and a lot of butter. She’s more on the softer side.”

Moore was so accustomed to her grandmother’s recipe that when she purchased biscotti at a popular coffee shop, she was surprised; the pastry was hard. The Long Beach baker took them home and complained that they were stale.

After perfecting her grandmother’s recipe, Moore began experimenting with flavors. Her biscotti offerings now include chocolate chip, turtle (chocolate and pecans), pistachio, carrot cake, red velvet, espresso, and more.

“My turtle biscotti are probably the most popular.” She has also made birthday cakes, wedding cakes, and just about everything under the sun. Moore says she never attended culinary school but has enjoyed baking, and writing soothes her soul.

Neither, however, come close to her passion for sharing the love of Jesus, she says.