‘Wish’

December 15, 2023 HPSH Plaid Line Leave a comment

By: Samson Belihu

Are you into fairy tales? Are you into a story you only could dream of or “wish” for? If you are, I recommend the movie called ‘Wish’.

If you still want to learn more about the movie, read the article, but Warning: spoilers ahead.

Disney had an idea of celebrating their 100th anniversary, and putting some reference to other Disney stories in the movie ‘Wish’.

The movie introduced our main character, Asha, who is a female protagonist with a fierce will, strong determination, and a desire to control of her own destiny.

One fateful night, she looks upon the stars when she catches a glimpse of a falling star and decides to take her chance by making a “wish”: a wish upon a star.

The wish she made was to reunite with her mother, her biggest supporter, and her 100-year-old grandfather, putting as much passion as she could into the wish.

But the wish was so big that it couldn’t be granted immediately and she had to go through a process. The process led her to meet the king of wishes “King Magnifico”.

She also meets his wife “Queen Amaya”. Amaya was kind and welcoming so Asha got close to her quickly.

That’s when she starts to see some shifts in King Magnifico who aspires to get more power.

Slowly, even his wife saw it, and she saw how corrupt he was becoming. That’s when we start to realize that King Magnifico is the villain of the story, and that’s when the story takes a twist for the worse.

A girl who wishes to get her loved one back still needs a king who “wishes” for more power, as he is her only chance. He is the only one that could grant her “wish”.

At the end, who shall get their wish truly granted?

Do you like Disney movies? If you do, ‘Wish’ is one you should go see. As Disney’s 100 anniversary movie, the graphics are good, but songs were a bit disappointing. I would give it 3.5/5 overall. You can see it in theaters. It is rated PG.

Events, Getting To Know/History

Why is Hannakkah popular?

December 15, 2023 HPSH Plaid Line Leave a comment

By: Mira Kaufman

“Dre-del, dre-del, dre-del, I made you out of clay” is a song known by many. The lit menorah and latkes are loved across the world. People know these things as the celebration of Hannakkah but why is Hannakkah the only Jewish Holiday you may know?

Hannakkah is a Jewish holiday, celebrating the miracle of light! It takes place in early winter but dates vary because it follows the Hebrew calendar. In smaller communities all around the world Hannakkah is celebrated but why do we hear of this Jewish holiday more than anything else?

In Judaism Hanukkah is not a major Holiday; in fact it is not even written in the Torah (Jewish Holy Script). Hanukkah celebrates the story of the Makkabes taking place in the 160s BCE. The Makkabes had fought two battles and returned to their temple to reclaim it from the Greeks. When they got there they found the eternal light out (a never ending flame) and found only a singular jar of oil left to light the fire. A messenger was then sent to buy more oil and on the 8th day when he came back, the singular jar of oil was still burning, thus creating the miracle of light. Today Jews celebrate this story through lighting menorahs, symbolizing the eight days of lasting oil.

The holiday is well known by society because Christmas falls at around the same time every year. In every location aside from Israel, Jews make up a very small population of where they live and over time have acculturated into some of the traditions of the religions around them. For example, Jew’s gained the tradition of giving presents on Hanukkah from the celebration of Christmas.

Due to both Christmas and Hanukkah falling around the same time every year, stores started supplying decorations for not just Christmas but Hanukkah too. This was because there was money to be made, which opened people’s eyes to more cultures on the store shelves. Target, for example, sells both Christmas and Hanukkah decorations in the same area allowing customers to look at every sale as they shop.

Hannakkah is also known and loved for its traditional foods. Gelt (Yiddish for money) is a classic win in a Dreidel game. The only difference for the traditional meaning of gelt is that it’s chocolate money, not real. Sufganiyot are also very popular! They are jelly filled donuts eaten for dessert. While these are both popular foods, the most well known would have to be latkes. Latkes were originally a Polish dish before being taken on by the Jews, and are known in America as potato pancakes. A common thread you may have noticed is that two of these three foods are fried, which quite in fact has a purpose. To symbolize the miracle of oil, many Jews fry foods on Hanukkah to celebrate!

Travel/Food

Caribbean style banana bread recipe

December 15, 2023 HPSH Plaid Line Leave a comment

By: Natalia Gercheva

Last year, over spring break, I was lucky enough to visit a few Caribbean islands where we got to walk around and learn the different cultures and recipes! In St. Lucia, we stopped by some people selling banana bread. My family bought some and it tasted delicious, so we had to ask how they made it. The people said that it was made with banana essence, which they also happened to be selling.

Ever since the trip, my family only bakes banana bread using banana essence in the recipe. I thought it would be fun to try making a Caribbean style banana bread using some other spices too, so I did some research, made the bread, and am happy to share how it went and what I learned!

This is a super easy recipe that most people will already have the ingredients for in the kitchen. There is no mixer required, all you will need is a bowl and a fork or whisk. The sugar quantities are flexible, and the chocolate chips are optional, but I think they add a delicious sweetness to the banana bread. The banana essence is also optional because I understand that not everyone will have it, but it is available for purchase online and highly recommended.

Ingredients:

2-3 medium overripe bananas, peeled and mashed
1⁄3 cup melted butter, unsalted or salted
1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
1 pinch of salt
3⁄4 cup of sugar
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1⁄4 teaspoon almond extract
1⁄2 teaspoon banana essence (optional)
1⁄2 teaspoon fresh or ground cinnamon
1⁄2 teaspoon fresh or ground nutmeg
1⁄4 teaspoon fresh or ground ginger
1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
1⁄2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1⁄2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Butter an 8×4-inch loaf pan and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, mash the bananas until smooth, then stir in the melted butter.
Mix in the baking soda and salt. Stir in the sugar, egg, and all the extracts and spices. Mix in the flour, and fold in the chocolate chips and nuts.
Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then slice with a serrated knife and serve!

Final thoughts: I am extremely happy with the results after making this new variation of banana bread because it was delicious! I think that adding all the spices enhances the flavor, and if I were to change anything I would have increased the amount of spices. I love this recipe and will definitely start making it more often, and recommend it to others!