Banana Bread

I tried this a few days ago and it was quite good. A really nice banana flavor, and there is no white sugar. This recipe will make a small loaf, but I used just this many ingredients as I was trying out the recipe. You can always double it if you want to make it a second time.

Ingredients:

Flour- 1 cup

Baking soda- ½ tspn

A pinch of salt

Brown sugar- A little over a ¼ cup (you can increase it if you want it to be sweeter but it’s quite enough)

Butter- ¼ cup

Egg- 1

Bananas- 1 ½ cups (mashed)

Method:

1.       Take a large bowl and mix the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

2.       Take another bowl and cream together the butter and brown sugar. Beat the egg and stir into the mixture. Add the mashed bananas and stir well to form a blended mixture.

3.       Now add this mixture into the flour mixture. Stir to combine both the mixtures.

4.       Pour the batter into baking pan. Bake in a pre-heated oven. Mine was done in 35 mins. Ensure a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean before taking it out of the oven.  

The Help

This is an adaptation of a book by the same name. The story focuses on the plight of black maids in early 1960s. So many aspects of life back then have been explored. And there are some pretty memorable performances.

At the forefront is Viola Davis playing Aibileen. You would instantly fall in love with the maid, feeling her every emotion as her life plays out. Then, there is Octavia Spencer playing Minny. She is a tough one, and doesn’t mince her words when she decides to speak out. And ofcourse the one nice white girl, Skeeter played by Emma Stone. She is what you would call a rebel, deciding to pursue a career instead of grabbing a husband for herself and having babies.

Skeeter decides to put together a book, compiling true stories from the lives of different black maids from Jackson, Mississippi. It is a hard enough task to get the maids to agree on the interview, but events play out which convince them to stand up and speak for themselves. It was a moving story. Little tales told that left the biggest of impacts. A story revealing the realities of one of the most horrible times in American history. A tale in which ultimately courage and human spirit triumphed.      

Committed

A kind of a sequel to Eat, Pray, Love. Well, that had been the only reason I picked up the book. Otherwise, the topic wouldn’t hold too much interest for me. And the topic was…marriage.

You would think it would be boring. But I would still say that Elizabeth Gilbert weaved her magic there. She put forward her years of research into a book, neatly divided into appropriate chapters, and explained so much. It was all quite interesting. The woman really worked hard and went back into history to point out a number of interesting things. And well, she managed to convince herself into entering the matrimonial bliss by the end of the book, but admitted that it was only a matter of finding one instance from history that would help her out. And thus one skeptic was convinced.

As with Eat, Pray, Love, the amazing thing about Committed is also the way in which Elizabeth lays bare her life for us all. She has made her personal journeys, both physical and emotional, easily accessible to the reader. And that is what makes her works so good to read.

Apple-Cinnamon Cake

(Not my own recipe, but the original one has been tweaked a little to suit my taste.)

This is a truly tasty cake. Not at all heavy, and a wonderful flavor. You can adjust the amount of apple and cinnamon according to your own liking. Have it tasting just the way you want it to. :)

And really simple to make too. Here is the recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Flour- 1 cup

Baking powder- 1 tspn

Sugar- ¼ to ½ cup (adjust according to your own taste)

Salt- ½ tspn

Egg- 1

Ground cinnamon- 1 to 2 tspn (once again, you can adjust the amount yourself)

Butter- 5 tbspn

Milk- ½ cup

Apple- 1 (peeled and sliced)

Method:

1.       Take the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl and whisk. Leave aside.

2.       Take another smaller bowl and mix half of the sugar with the cinnamon. Leave aside.

3.       Take a larger bowl. Add the remaining sugar and butter. Beat them using an electric mixer. Beat the egg slightly and add into the butter-sugar mixture. Beat the ingredients well.

4.       Now, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk. Beat after each addition.

5.       Pour half of the batter into the baking pan. Spread the slices of apple on the batter. Also, sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture onto the apples. Leave some of it for sprinkling over the top. Pour the rest of the batter and sprinkle remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture.

6.       Place the cake in a pre-heated oven. Bake for about 25 mins or until the cake is golden brown.