Vanilla Cheesecake

We went out to dinner at Rimel's for Mike's brother's birthday a few weeks ago. It was great but holy mother did they have the world's B E S T cheesecake. It was plain, simple, understated and out of this freakin' world good.

I was telling them how hard cheesecake is for me to make. For whatever reason mine always falls into itself or browns on the top or comes out super thick and gross. I have never made a good cheesecake... until last week.

BOOM SHAKA LAKA! I conquered cheesecake. The trick is patience. Cheesecake bakes for foreverrrr. Literally, this thing baked for about 2.5 hours and then sat in the oven to set overnight. It was worth the wait though.

recipe is here 

MMM... I brought it over to my girlfriend's house while we had a skype party with our friends who just moved to Nashville. I miss them dearly.

Where the Suns So Hot I Forgot to go Home

MEXICOOOO!! 50 days and counting down until I get to spend a week laying on the beach, drinking beers, eating fish that was just caught that morning, and just enjoying my home away from home (and not answering phone calls listening to hotel guests complain because they don't know how to change the TV channel, or didn't know there were taxes in California, and "WTF I can't smoke in here?! What is this?!"). sigh.

I seriously CAN. NOT. WAIT.!!

It has been almost a year since I have been back to Mita and oh how I miss it. If I could describe the happiness this place brings me I would..but I guess you'll just have to go sometime. While I waste away at a cubicle this week, my parents are relaxing and worshiping the sun in the oasis of Punta Mita as we speak. 

Our friend Marcelo opened a restaurant in Mita called "BocaDeli" that has the best sandwiches around. MMM I want one now...mm... Anyway, my Mom sent me a picture of this dessert they are selling right now. It is a lemon and blueberry cheesecake and is apparently deeeelish. 

So naturally, Brittany the competitor has to create something similar to see if I can create these flavors in an edible (hopefully enjoyable) manner. So after another uneventful day at work I book it home to OC to take advantage of my parent's large and fully stocked kitchen (also known as my favorite grocery store).

Lemon blueberry cheesecake bars were the end product. Pretty good and the lemon cheesecake is so fresh. Gotta love it. Marcelo, get ready for me to invade your kitchen in December! :) Hollaa