Magnolia's Buttercream Cupcakes

I've kind of lost the urge to blog as much. So what have I been doing lately besides working? Mostly mountain biking and baking. Great combo,eh? Crystal and I biked from Hyatt to Suicide Cliff and back last weekend! It's about 23 miles. A huge improvement for me considering I could barely make it up the hill towards Bird Island before. I'm learning to love the hills and enjoying the ride down!

So since we train two short rides during the week and one long ride on the weekend . . . we can afford to eat some sweets! I went to Manhattan, NY with my friend, Nikki, a couple of years ago and fell in love with the cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery. Here's my favorite cupcake recipe that I made for some friends this weekend.


Magnolia's Buttercream cupcake Ingrediants:

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

ICING:

Vanilla Buttercream (recipe follows) or Chocolate Buttercream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers.
3. In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
5. Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing. At the bakery we ice the cupcakes with either Vanilla Buttercream or Chocolate Buttercream.

Vanilla Buttercream Icing:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. (Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled.) Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.


Mmmm, Enjoy!

Warm Sun and Mtn. Biking in Bali: Day 6 & 7

Day 6:

I have discovered the yummiest cafe and bakery in Central Ubud! Its a place called Casa Luna. This bakery serves a delicious range of fresh bread, pastries, cakes, and more. Its the perfect place to just chill and people watch while sipping on a Cafe Latte. The Balinese people are very nice and the customer service is excellent. Way better customer service in Bali than in Saipan. Why is that?

Anywho, the highlight about this Casa Luna is that it offers Balinese cooking classes. Everyday of the week is a different meal that is taught. The first thing you do is tour the Ubud market place for your ingredients and then head back to the restaurant where Janet de Neefe teaches you how to cook an authentic Balinese meal! This is a must do in Bali if you love to cook! I am enjoying eating out here more than shopping =)

The sun finally came out today and I decided to be lazy and relax by the pool for the rest of the afternoon. Good news is that I finally ran into my friends, Rebecca and Ben, and we had dinner together with some other friends at a place called The Lotus Cafe. It was so nice to see familiar faces in Bali.



A few words about this restaurant is that the food wasn't all that and it was pricey. The only thing I enjoyed was a traditional Balinese dance show that you can see right in the back of this restaurant. The dance show is called Chandra Wirabhuana. Great entertainment and exquisite costumes! Loved this show.

Day 7:

My friends and I decided to go on a three hour 45 km mountain bike excursion from the top of Kintamani all the way down towards Tegalalang. I was suppose to meet my friends at their hotel at 8:30 am but I was late! By the time I got there it was 9 am and they had already left. The tour company sent a young fellow to shuttle me up the mountain on a moped! This was the only case where tardiness paid off because I had a blast riding on the back of the moped racing up the curvy roads like the locals do.


By the time I got up there Rebecca, Ben, Autumn, and Ana had just finished their breakfast on a terrace that had an amazing view that overlooked the active volcano Mount Batur and the lake. I was so glad that I came up here again because last time I came up it was too cloudy to see anything.

Now keep in mind that I thought this was suppose to be an easy downhill and fun bike ride. I only came to Bali with my flip flops. We started down the road and passed through a lot of traditional villages and through the countryside. The kids from the villages would come out and give us high fives as we zipped on by!
They were so cute. It was beautiful scenic ride until we hit this steep hill that looked exactly like Navy Hill. We had to walk our bikes all the way up this hill. We tried to race through some muddy pathways but ended up walking in the mud. Normally I wouldn't be complaining about this but I didn't exactly have the right shoes and gear. Wish I had my bike here.

To make a long story short I was racing and peddling really hard up this one hill. My bike chain popped off and my foot crashed against the street. I'm only wearing flip flops mind you. Ouch. I stopped and realized that I bashed my big toe really bad that it was bleeding. They ended up taking me to the hospital so I wasn't able to finish my bike ride =( This bike ride was fun but it was alot more technical than I thought.

So the damage was that I didn't quite break my big toe. I just really bruised it and 3/4 of my toe nail practically was hanging off. The doctor had to yank the broken part off. That part hurt really bad. So now I'm walking around with a white big bandage on my big toe=( So sad. But the good news from my doctor is that I will still be able to dive!





I'll spend New years Eve in Ubud tonight with my friends and then make my way up towards Tulamben and the Gili Islands in a couple days. Until then, Happy New Years! Cheers to a new chapter and exciting adventures to come in 2008. So far this was the best year ever!!

My First Icon Mtn. Bike Ride in Saipan

Saipan is zzzzz best place to be if you are a sports maniac and are into Mtn Biking, Running, Beach Volleyball, and Scuba Diving. There is plenty to do here. Sometimes I feel like there is not enough time in the week to fit it all in.

After Greg's month long hiatus in the states, he finally built my bike and took me on my first Mtn Bike ride in Saipan. I couldn't wait to get my bike dirrrrrty! Its rainy season so alot of the roads and trails are nice and muddy. We started off the run at the entrance of Lau Lau Beach Road heading towards the dive site. If anyone has gone diving at Lau Lau they will know how rocky and bumpy that road is. It kind of reminds me of a Toyota Tacoma truck commercial offroading in the jungle somewhere.

Ok, maybe it wasn't that extreme but it was really rough. So we made it to the Lau Lau beach dive site and went towards GapGap Road. There is this really steep gravel hill that just about killed me on the way up! Actually I had to stop and walk my bike up the hill for a bit. Then I got really tired and just stood there wanting to go back down. Greg ended up towing my bike along side him on his way up while I walked up.

After conquering that GapGap hill we went through Kagman village and headed towards Forbidden Island. Guess what another killer hill towards the look out. I was on the "granny" cycle all the way up and was going so slow! I felt my legs burning. We finally made it to the look out to take a quick picture and then raced back down since we spotted rain coming in from the distance. Overall the ride was only 10 miles but it felt longer than that. Not too shabby for my first Mtn bike ride, eh?! Hell of the Marianas Race is this weekend and bikers will be racing 100k! So crazy. Here's a little map of my morning ride from Lau Lau all the way to Forbidden Island and back.

I think i'm starting to get use to the different gears. Throughout the whole run I kept switching from gear to gear. Also I was practicing how to brake without losing control on the gravel and dirt roads. My disc brakes are sweet! I dread wiping out but know eventually it may happen. Greg raced down the steep hills flying over rocks and dips. Not ready to go that fast yet.

One thing I love about Mtn biking is that you don't have to have someone always with you. You can just take off whenever and wherever. I enjoy morning rides especially on the north end of the island.

Rota Blue Triathlon

Lewie has inspired me to start training for my first tri! You know what that means, no more slacking off or sleeping in. I've been waking up at five am in the morning to swim or run. The Rota Blue Triathlon is coming up this November and I am going to sign up for it and compete. I'm so hyped up about my first tri! I just know that I'll become addicted. Here's a couple of pictures of Rota when I went diving this past March. Such a beautiful little island. Everyone is so friendly.





I started my three month training schedule last month so I think I should be ready by November. I still have to figure out the diet part though. Not sure what supplements or power gels to use. I've been mostly running and swimming for the past couple of weeks. I haven't gotten a chance to train on the bike yet because I am still shopping for one. Should hopefully get it soon. So far I am gear lusting over this bike. Its a Specialized Rockhopper Comp Disc Bike.



If I can't find anything else than I will probably end up getting this one. I've been saving my pennies. I really really want this one!