“I don’t know, but it can’t be this”

Thank goodness– again, I didn’t know what I was going to do. It’s hard to find clips that don’t have potential spoilers. As always, you come up with something overlooked and unexpected, like so many other moments. There’s no one-liners, no posing, no cool, no flash to the scene. Just two favorite characters, Cutty and Slim Charles, holding it down. Of course, it’s hard to understand if you haven’t been on board with the story and the characters since the beginning of the series, but if you have, you know how much heart is in here. This scene exemplifies one of the cornerstones of the show, to me, anyway, which is that you can’t typify people, because you don’t know where they are from. Just because you think you know someone or something doesn’t mean you do.  Authority does not automatically equal good, street does not always equal thug. If you want to presume upon a person’s character from a cursory glance, just make sure to do so in your head, unless you want to open yourself to criticism, or expose yourself as closed-minded.

What’s impressive about the power of this scene, other than its simplicity, is knowing the context. The two soldiers here have just come from a hit, where one of them dropped a fucking 12- or 13-year-old kid, and yet, I am still moved– by the responsibility, the honesty, the respect, and, above all, the heart. The world may seem cold and shitty, but it can’t snuff out every flame.

Butter-less cinnamon cocoa raisin banana bread

In ascending order of ingredient prevalence. After the disappointments for easy concoctions of last week (excuse: I was ill, hence I was distracted), I feel good and proud to make something mostly successful, especially when trying something new. It’s not too drastic a change, I’d just been wanting to replace butter with applesauce for a while, save my heart some trouble in the future. But, baking relies on a balance of lipids, carbohydrates, waters, emulsifiers, etc., so you can’t go willy-nilly in taking out something as prominent as fats, blind to possible effects. That being said, I might make my quick fruit breads this way from now on. The replacement was made 1:1, with a little more soda thrown in due to the increase of fruit and, consequently, acid, with the rest being a kitchen sink approach that I usually refrain from– cocoa (I had a teeny amount to get rid of, which was bugging me, since I don’t use choco too often, for personal reasons), cinnamon (why not?), raisins (I didn’t have any nuts, and also, why not?). Except for the one cup of sugar, this is pretty damn healthy, and I didn’t notice much of a difference in taste– i.e., I didn’t miss the butter one bit. And here I’ve been, for years, suffering and subjecting others to chest pains for nothing!

3 bananas, mashed good
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c applesauce
2/3 c mixed jumbo raisins (bigger ones chopped in half)
1.5 c, less 2 T, flour
2 T cocoa powder
1.5 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1/2 superfine sugar
1/2 c brown sugar

In one bowl, stir the banana, egg, applesauce, and raisins. In another, sift together the flour, cocoa, soda, and cinnamon, then mix the sugar into the flour mixture. Stir the dry ingredients into the moist just until no loose flour remains. Bake in a loaf pan at 350° for 70 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

I was quite afraid that the added water in the applesauce might result in gooey innards and that I’d regret not adding a little more flour because of all the moisture, and that I’d have to leave it in longer (normal bake time is 55-60), which would in turn increase the risk of a tough crust, but fortunately, all turned out fine. If you like moist bread, this is for you, though I personally would add a little more flour. The bread came out darker than I expected, I guess two tablespoons cocoa is enough. Because of that, the final product is not terrible photogenic, just lots of brownness with raisins interspersed. But it’s tasty, that’s the best you can hope for.

“I stank I can, I stank I can”

Song: Humble Mumble
Artist: Outkast featuring Erykah Badu
Album: Stankonia

Ah, 2000, the days when the music press all saying how Stankonia was here to save hip-hop, even if it didn’t really need to be saved. And still fresh. Overshadowed by all the singles, not to mention stashed in the middle of the album, but sleep on it no more. I love Andre’s opening, that “oo-hoo” is hilarious. But the joker is quite capable of putting stereotypers in their place, as well: ”…she thought hip-hop was only guns and alcohol… don’t discrimihate ’cause you done read a book or two.” Yeah, there are plenty of people like that. Snaps aside, it’s empowering too, talk about freedom and self-expression, work your dreams, roll with the punches– to borrow from another song, “make a fat diamond out of dusty coal.” Hell, Big Boi’s whole verse is one big rah-rah:

“Life is like a great big roller coaster
everything in life don’t happen like it’s supposed to
trials and tribulations make you stronger, live longer
you wanna reach the nation, nigga, start from ya corner
everything in life don’t always happen like you planned it
demand it, overstand it, then you handle it
fuck wishing, you missing the ambition on your mission
now you switching– why you quitting, ’cause it’s heated in the kitchen?”

One love, thank you, sir. Normally, “positive” hip-hop borders on cheesy and touchy-feely, which is why you keep it funky like this– then you got real power. Everyone’s on point. Hold off on the dancing at first, though, you gotta wait until 1:36 to get down and cut loose. What a great track. Feel it, yow!