#happinesses

Moist Banana Cake with Caramel 🍌🍰 This Moist Banana Cake with Caramel is a delicious treat that elevates the classic banana cake to a whole new level. With layers of moist banana cake, luscious caramel, and topped with cream cheese buttercream, it’s sure to be a crowd-pleaser! Ingredients Banana Cake: 2¼ cups (280 g) all-purpose flour ¼ cup (25 g) cornstarch 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda ½ tsp salt 2 tsp ground cinnamon 3½ large (410 g) ripe bananas, mashed ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature ½ cup (105 g) unflavored vegetable oil (canola) 1½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar 3 large eggs, room temperature 1½ tsp vanilla extract ½ cup (125 g) Greek yogurt, room temperature Caramel: ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar 2 tbsp water ¼ cup (60 g) cream, room temperature 2 tbsp (28 g) cold unsalted butter Pinch of salt Cream Cheese Frosting: 1 batch of cream cheese frosting (use your favorite recipe or store-bought) Instructions

Prepare the Cake: Preheat oven to 160°C (320°F) with the fan on. Grease and/or line two 8-inch cake tins. In a bowl, sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix well and set aside. Mash the bananas and set aside. In a large bowl, cream together butter, vegetable oil, and sugar using an electric mixer until light and creamy (about 2 minutes). Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in mashed bananas, vanilla, and Greek yogurt until combined. Gently fold in the dry ingredients until just combined, being careful not to overmix. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake tins. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the tins for 15-20 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the Caramel: In a small saucepan, combine sugar and water. Heat over medium heat without stirring until the sugar dissolves and turns light amber (about 5 minutes). Once caramelized, carefully whisk in the cream (the mixture will bubble up). Add cold butter and salt, stirring until the butter melts and the caramel is smooth. Transfer to a heat-proof bowl and let cool. Cover with cling wrap touching the surface to prevent a skin from forming.

Speranza, anzi felicità.

Ho iniziato a rappresentare queste mani perché volevo rappresentare la speranza, perché capita che io veda in questi giorni un minimo di miglioramento. La farfalla c'è, anche se non sono ancora riuscito a prenderla. Poi però ho capito qualcosa in più.

La felicità consiste nell'accompagnare la bellezza, esserne complici, conviverci pacificamente. Delicatamente.

Le mani non vogliono possedere la farfalla, che è meravigliosa proprio perché libera, indipendente, capace di volare. Le mani accompagnano la farfalla, la affiancano e diventano affascinanti e delicate grazie alla sua danza.

Mi ha fatto riflettere perché molte volte ho pensato che la gioia arrivi quando si esaudisce un sogno, quando le mani raggiungono la farfalla. In realtà il sogno potrebbe consistere nell'affiancamento della realtà, la felicità si prova assecondando la realtà, provando a guidare i fatti che accadono con serenità, provando ad essere custodi di quella danza.

Troppe volte ho faticato con impaccio per acchiappare un sogno e, una volta preso, ho pensato che non ne fosse valsa la pena. Perché era il sogno ad avermi consentito di vivere esperienze indimenticabili (ad esempio la laurea) ed il suo compimento rappresentava la fine di un periodo, il periodo della danza degli eventi.

This sounds like a memory.. of a visit to your grandparents' house in the countryside. It's a fairly large abode with acres of yard, grown just the right amount with trees and tall grass. Flora and fauna. You might've been able to spot squirrels or wild hummingbirds in the trees and bees relishing in the sunflowers, but that wasn't what you came for.

You came for summer to your grandparents' quiet little sanctuary. Your parents sent you there because they saw how you hid and suffered when they fought each other and both of them still cared enough to leave you out of it. Your grandparents were.. old but were still healthy and actively cared for at least a small part of their yard and oh how kind they were. Their voices, coarse with wisdom and reassurance, calmed you. Whatever they said, they said with absolute unbridled love tonally. Your grandparents and you had very different lives and views but they were open minded to you and they accepted you. They let you live in the house, on the yard, in the forest; anywhere you fucking pleased. All of you don't talk every day but knew you could if you wanted, just talking about the beauty of the leaves unkempt on the ground; how school was; nothing with much of any significance yet now it feels like the most significant conversation you ever had.

Back then, one night, under the stars, partially disturbed by stray branches of the great sycamore forest, you felt the strangest sensation of oneness. You did not realize it then but you realized it now: how important those few months were. At your worst, you received a second chance of unconditional acceptance and now you clutch onto it with all your strength. The memory of that summer has been there with you all your life: when you rejoined society, when you graduated college, when you got your first job at that studio and when you found that boy that was made in the same stars that you were made in.