The little carrot cake that could....

So, I made this carrot salad (make it, you won't be sorry) and my first thought was "oh god, yum" followed immediately by "this would make a serious carrot cake".

So, I wanted to take all the flavor elements of the salad and turn it into a delicious cake. I made this thing like 5 different times and then tried to put it out of my mind, because it wasn't coming out like I wanted it to. I even tried a carrot upside down cake (which I HAVE NOT given up on) but it wasn't quite right, but I think it was my pan's fault. This cake has been in the back of my mind for months and months now, but suddenly resurfaced the other day as I was making zucchini bread. I decided to let carrots step in for the zucchini and just subbed in the spices I wanted. Let me just say, it worked out wonderfully...but be warned I ate half a loaf on my own in one day.

Stuff your face with fries!

Yeah I had homemade fries and salad for dinner, jealous? And it was delicious. 

I had another post in mind, to kick off my blog breaking out of hibernation, but I made these again last night and realized I must share. Seriously... Make these bad boys and eat some of the best fries you've ever tasted, I'm not even kidding. They are crisp and almost a bit caramelized on the outside, but creamy and a little sweet inside. I'll admit, I'm not the genius who invented this cold oil method, the props really goes to Cook's Illustrated for that, but, I wanted to pass this on because they are the best fries I've had anywhere, ok, top 3 best fries I'd say. But with the two restaurants being in Bordeaux, France...this is better. The potatoes poach in the oil before frying, doing away with the need to fry twice. They actually soak up less oil and use 1/3 less of it as well (=less fat) than the traditional double deep fried version plus there's no scary dropping potatoes into hot oil!
WIN WIN.
You probably have some sad potatoes in the cupboard right now... so just do it already, you know you want to.