Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes!

I decided to be adventurous and attempt my FIRST cheesecake cupcake recipe from scratch. It was adventurous because I decided to make it not only for myself, but for a soccer team fundraising event that night. I have never made a cake from scratch before. Cookies? Yes. Cake? No. Icing? NO way. I don't know WHAT possessed me to tackle this complicated recipe, but I'm glad I did.
I followed the recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything.
Considering I had no idea what stiff white peaks are (they are what form after beating egg whites for a lengthy period of time), I'm very happy with how my first attempt turned out.
Some notes:
I would definitely add more strawberries to the batter and as garnish.
I would also consider making the graham cracker crust a bit thicker.

That night at the fundraiser, I was watching my platter of cupcakes like a hawk and pretty much hovering over everyone who tried one. I wanted to gauge their reaction, ok?! Anyway, at first, no one was touching my cupcakes! I later found out that they didn't know it was a cheesecake cupcake hybrid. They thought I'd brought plain 'ol cupcakes. Madness! Anyway, once word got out that it was no ordinary cupcake (*curtsies), several people came up to me saying how much they enjoyed it. THAT alone made me forget all about the 4+ hours it took for me to muster up these delicious, but DIFFICULT treats.
Hopefully with practice, I will get even better.


ETA: I personally would not call these cupcakes "strawberry cheesecake cupcakes." They are more of a strawberry cupcake with a creamcheese frosting. So, sorry if that confused anyone who was reading the post. I realized I'd switch between cheesecake and cake. I just referred to the treats that way since that is how OP calls them. Cheers!

Family Reunion!

The De La Garza clan came to Guam for a couple weeks this summer. We've been so busy having a blast!
Here are some of my favorite pictures.

Gina, myself, Mom, and Auntie Debbie. The four of us got scuba certified five years ago, so we decided to book a dive on the Scubaroo chartered boat to the Blue Hole. It was amazing!

Here we all are in the Pagat cave. It's funny--after all the headache and planning it took for us to get a spot for the Liberation Day parade, and to celebrate my Grandmother's huge 70th birthday, it took the least amount of planning to complete the hike. They had the most fun at Pagat AND at the cliffs.

My mom LOOKS happy here, but she was furious with me for making the hike out to be easier than it actually was....Oops!

It was a great summer. Nothing beats the laughs and memories you make with your family.

Cliff Jumping? Anyone?

Today I went with my cousins and some friends to Pagat Cave. Its actually one of the 11 historic, endangered sites from around the country. (http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1989913_2138849,00.html) We hiked to the cliffs, but half way there were the caves with freshwater and inside are hieroglyphics. I don't have any pictures of that because we had to be totally submerged in water to get in to the caves so I didn't bring my camera. It was definitely FUN and I made lots of friends! We hiked all the way to the cliffside. Most of us jumped off! It was insane, tiring and SO much fun! Here are some pics!

Some of us on top of the cliff

It was such a clear day! This is where we swam to after we made the jump.

Getting back up was the tough part! You had to be extremely careful about footholds. It was SUCH a rush!

My hands after the climb up. Next time I'm bringing an extra pair of gloves! 

 

Dolores, Maria and I on top of the cliffs. We took a short break for lunch.

Going back up was tough too. There were lots of ropes previous hikers left to help us up. 

Maria had to use a walking stick most of the way back up because she slammed her knee into some rocks earlier.

JJB LL Fuel Cell came along as well!

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=451746580096

Easter Doings

Travis's first Easter has come and gone. It was hard work hunting for those eggs under the noon sun. (Whose bright idea was that anyway?) 

I just HAD to get him that Easter shirt. He loved it, I'm sure. 

Happy Easter everyone! Until next year. 

Hopefully he'll still fit that shirt. ;)

My Baby's First Halloween

John and I decided NOT to dress him up this year. The only good costumes we found here were either too hot or just too expensive! So we opted for him to wear his Orange jumper and bib: "I love Mummy"

It was cute. We're just going to wait until next year for when he can fit some of the COOLER costumes out there.

Tonight, we went to one of the most hoppin trick or treatin neighborhoods on the island: Barrigada Heights. It was a family event so there was lots of BBQ! We mostly just hung out in the front lawn watching all the little characters come up the driveway, ever so shy! Some of my favorites were the transformer boys, the Hula dancer and Lucy (as in, I Love Lucy)!!

Jeriahlynn was too cute as well. She was a little witch, which was very fitting.

All in all, it was a pretty good first halloween for Travis. I'm also psyched because we took our first GREAT picture together. I love his smile here, if only he smiled that way for our studio pics!!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

My Dad turned 50 this week! The big 5-0. We were supposed to have a surprise party for him at a hotel, but it ended up being moved to my grandmothers house....which was way more fitting for him in my opinion.

I love my dad so much. He's the funniest guy ever. Seriously. He's great with kids. He was great with me growing up, even though I gave him a hard time and hardly appreciated it. When I see him with my little sisters, and how he always ends up making them laugh and think, I think back to when I was their age. I remember when he used to make me eat the mana (coconut) in the yard. I remember when he forced me to read the 3 page long list of common words you should know in 3rd grade....when I was in 1st. I hated it at the time, but I ended up having the highest reading score. I remember when he came to my first science fair, and my second....all the way until my 6th and final one. I remember him helping me with my drawings in 2nd grade and going above and beyond like he always did. One thing I've learned from him is the common : "If you're going to do it, do it RIGHT, or not at all."

I knew I could go to him with almost any problem at all, from a school problem, to a broken toy, to an untuned guitar and he could fix it. He spent more time than I thought was worth, just fixing some broken strings for me. He makes the best fried rice and home made sushi. He catches the biggest and best fish and finds the prettiest cowries. All by free diving of course. He's always wanted the best for me and tries his best to push me in the right direction. And I love him for it.

 

 

Happy Birthday Daddy!