Happy Birthday! and a Great Recipe

He's smart, handsome, charming and successful.

He's a good cook too.  He could make me this.

Warming cinnamon gives this cake its spicy and welcoming flavor.
Excerpted from Bob's Red Mill Baking Book by John Ettinger and Bob's Red Mill Family, Copyright© 2007, published by Running Press. All rights reserved.
INGREDIENTS
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup unbleached white flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups grated carrots
1/4 cup crystallized ginger, minced, optional
PREPARATION
1. Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13-inch pan or baking dish, or line it with parchment paper.
2. Sift the flours, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, spices, and salt.
3. Lightly beat together the oil and butter, then beat in the eggs. Whisk this mixture into the flour mixture to blend. Stir in the carrots and ginger.
4. Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes, invert onto a rack and cool. Frost.

But his most endearing and infuriating quality is hard to describe.  So hard in fact, that we just call it "Ben" as in, "He just did his Ben thing and the waiter brought us a complimentary bottle of wine".  Sorry ladies, he is married to one of my best friends.

Happy Birthday Little Brother.