Dried fruit, artisanal cheeses, fig compote and candied walnuts make up this cheese plate at The Truffle Pig.

I had a great view of the ski lift and the mountain where snow boarders and skiers came crashing into new snow!

There was a lovely selection of goat, sheep and cow cheeses.

The First Snow was a local sheep cheese; mild yet piquant and delicious with fruits.

All theese great cheeses and beautiful fruits yet the bread was less than mediocre.

A hardier nutty bread would have been nice.

An afternoon of wine and cheese? No problem!

The cold winds are blowing and coffee and carrot cake is the only remedy.
This tastes best after a long walk in the chill autumn air.
It’s so cozy and yummy and feels like Fall to me.
I added a little yogurt and butter to make it extra moist and have been enjoying this all week.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
3 cups shredded carrots
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts
½ cup raisins

Cream cheese frosting

1 package cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
enough milk to soften

Method

Heat oven to 350 fahrenheit
Grease and flour 2 loaf pans.
Mix sugar, oil and eggs until well blended. Beat for 1 minute
Stir in remaining ingredients except carrots, nuts and raisins.
Beat 1 minute then stir in remaining ingredients

Bake 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean

Frost with cream cheese frosting if you’d like