food & film for a low-key evening

over the past 4 months i've been tweaking my way toward the perfect banana bread recipe.
i needed some downtime last night so i baked a new variation and watched a very inspiring french film.

banana bread—here are my discoveries:

• i do not need any extracts in my bread.
  i've tried butter, almond, vanilla, and banana. they don't seem to add the right flavor for me.
• playing with spices is so much fun!
  spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and last night's pinch of ginger have made such delicious differences.
• using oil instead of butter makes a very moist bread.
• the uglier (riper) the banana, the better the bread tastes.

overall i find it amusing that i had over-complicated the basic recipe with a lot of *fluff* and that the basic ingredients
really do stand strongly on their own. (baking imitating life perhaps)


movie:




Seraphine - http://www.seraphinemovie.com/

(it is very worth the sub-titles. i got so caught up in the film that i forgot i was even reading them... so don't let that stop you from watching. i watched via netflix)

Séraphine Louis is a cleaning woman who one day is asked by her guardian angel to paint.
Entirely self taught, Séraphine's paintings captivate with their pattern, movement and color.
her trees and flowers take on entirely new forms.

here is a sampling of her work: