I Don't Eat French Fries

I don't have too many food philosophies but I can summarize my eats in 3 rules:
1. I have to know what's in it (except tart fro yo.  I don't want to know, so don't tell me).
2. It has to taste good- this encompasses the 'worth it rule for extra fancy chocolate splurges'.
3. It has to be good for me.

For these reasons, I am not usually tempted by things like french fries.  Perhaps it is my cultural upbringing in which potatoes were a central theme, or maybe my recently acquired snobby tendencies, but I am never crazy about french fries.  Chocolate or cake is another story.  Chocolate and cake together and I'm sold.

However, when we went on a trip to the Asian grocery store, I needed to buy this obnoxious veggie- which I later found out was a yuca root:

(The long potato-looking thing right in front of the sriracha)
Here is what my dear friends at Wikipedia told me:

Yuca is also known as cassava and is native to West Africa and South America. Cassava is the third largest source of carbohydrates for human food in the world. The soft-boiled root has a delicate flavor and can replace boiled potatoes in many uses: as an accompaniment for meat dishes, or made into purées, dumplings, soups, stews, gravies, etc.  

Pretty cool, right?  As soon as I realized this was potato-like, I figured fries were the way to go.  I chopped up the sucker- which was a workout all in itself, and created Coconut Butter Yuca Fries:

Directions:
-Cut up one yuca/cassava root into fry pieces
-Season with salt and pepper and 1 Tbsp coconut butter (I used my lonely Artisana jar)
-Place fries in a single layer on a sprayed cookie sheet
-Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until crispy- flipping throughout

I loved the subtle coconut flavor on the fries and ate them for breakfast this morning. 
They were quite starchy but extremely filling and good!  I can't wait to experiment more with this root!  For those who care, the veggie is extremely dense at 330 calories per cup.  I can see why it's such a source of sustenance throughout the world!

On another note, I needed this carb replenishment after I took a class at 24 Hour Fitness on Saturday morning.  They had a spin class on the schedule called "Last Chance Workout"- the name that the contestants kindly call the crazy workout session before their weigh-in.  I thought it would be lame, but went anyways.  I loved that our instructor, a very burly dude had no idea what The Biggest Loser even was but managed to kick my smug butt so hard that I looked like a wreck when it was all over.  We spent 7 minutes on the bike and did plyometrics and various other obnoxious things that had me wanting to toss my cookies halfway through.  I didn't quit and loved pushing myself.  I was instantly sore and spent Sunday finding new muscles that ache.  Awesome. 
Since I don't find enough ways to embarass myself in a public forum, here was the 'After':

That shirt was a much lighter orange when we started.  Another point- my hair.  Let's just say I got a little roughed up:

Yep, straight out of the mental hospital.  If this is what the Loser contestants do, hats off to them.
Questions for you: Do you like group classes? What are your favorites?
Do you like french fries?