Community (Season 3-Episode 12)

This episode saw the return of Chang. He looks for reinforcements to his security team at the college. Abed gets into trouble due to his over-spending in hiring celebrity impersonators. The gang has to play a gig, impersonating real life celebrities. Jeff plays a handsome Seacrest, Shirley is Oprah, and Britta and Troy are the two versions of Michael Jackson.

Now during all this, Jeff has been put on anti-anxiety meds and he cuts a calm figure. Yet it is only Britta who realizes that taking the meds is a bad move. Owing to her psychology expertise (she’s taking the classes, remember!), Britta knows that Jeff’s anxiety keeps his vanity in check. Without it, his ego would take over and exactly that happens. Jeff creates quite a scene when that happens, ripping off his shirt and running off.

And Troy talks to Abed regarding the over-spending he had been doing. Now Abed is not one who likes to be told how he should act. And we saw just a little bit of annoyance between the two best friends.    

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.