Carrot Cake and Caribbean Kitchens

When you travel you expect to see things. Buildings and parks and beaches and markets and jungles and pottery and sea shell necklaces and colorful fish and such. You know, things. But so much better is the kind of travel that connects you with people. Faces. Smiles. Conversations. Mind meeting. And kitchens.

I often find myself in kitchens. I am never sure how I got there. Usually it begins with my butchering a little Spanish in an open-hearted attempt to communicate with someone local. On this particular occasion it began with scuba lessons and meandered through two years of emails and photos and repeated trips to the Mexican Caribbean. But eventually I found myself in the non-non–non-touristy part of Puerto Morelos where every home has bars on the windows and the doors and all the people welcome you in. It is a strange mix, this guarded hospitality. Never-the-less, I did find myself in the kitchen grating carrots and measuring cinnamon amid discussions of quantum mechanics and Mayan traditions. I love those kinds of days. They resonate.



Crescent’s Famous Carrot Cake
2 cups flour
1 ½ cups sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

4 eggs
½ cup oil
1 cup yogurt
Undisclosed amount of rum

3 ½ cups shredded carrots
1 ½ cups chopped nuts (I like pecans)

In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl whisk eggs, oil, yogurt and rum. Add wet all at once to dry and stir. Fold in carrots and nuts. bake for 40 minutes in 350 oven.

When cooled, ice with:
2 blocks of cream cheese
1 16oz (or to taste) box of powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla