I wanted to do a hands-on review of the Blackberry Playbook tablet that I recently purchased. To sum it up: I love it.

I’ll start out by saying that I have been an iPad owner for the past 5 months, and the Playbook has now completely replaced by iPad and I use it much, much more. I’ve owned and used the Playbook for about one month now, and I wanted to make sure I had time to properly use it and experience it before writing my review.

The Blackberry Playbook is a really beautiful device. It is the perfect size, small enough to hold and read comfortably with one hand, but still with a large screen to enjoy videos, browsing, photos and more.

I have read many criticisms of the screen because it does not go all the way to the side of the screen, but after using it for a month and comparing it to the iPad… I actually like it better. When holding the iPad, you tend to accidentally click things on the screen or cover up text by holding the device. The Playbook has a nice “safe” border where you can hold it.

The borders themselves are actually touch-sensitive, so you use them for navigating around the device. For example, to turn on the device or go to the home page, simply swipe with your finger upwards from the bottom border. To multitask, swipe left or right to change programs. You can see in this image that I have the camera on (live!), a game open, and Facebook. I can toggle seamlessly between them just by swiping the left or right border. I love being able to pull down a menu at any time either in a program, or to view settings when on the home screen. I can quickly lock the orientation or access important functions of a program (very similar to the “menu” button on a Blackberry phone). I really prefer this system to the iPad and find it much more intuitive.

By far, my FAVOURITE thing about the Blackberry Playbook is the ease of typing. You can comfortably hold this in your hands and type with both fingers, rather than typing with one finger on the larger screen of an iPad. I took a picture of Allan typing on the Playbook (it’s hard to take a picture of yourself typing!) but you can see he can comfortable reach any letter on the screen with his thumbs. I find my typing speed on the Playbook has almost tripled compared to the iPad.

Of course, being able to view any web page with Flash is a huge bonus. I sorely missed this on the iPad and found I was constantly running to the computer to view certain web pages when I couldn’t see them on the iPad. No longer! Flash is fully functional and awesome in its full glory on the Playbook.

I am a Blackberry phone owner, so for me, this tablet is ideal. It’s less useful if you don’t have a Blackberry phone, but you can still enjoy the many features on the tablet. If you don’t have a Blackberry phone you can’t access the email or calendar functions, although I heard this is coming in an update soon. However, for Blackberry owners, being able to view all your messages and BBMs on the tablet is amazing. I just leave my phone in my purse for the most part now and do a lot of my email reading and writing from the Playbook on the couch.

One of the raddest features is using the Blackberry Bridge Browser. YES! Recently on a trip, Allan and I were frustrated because we couldn’t use the iPad for internet since there was no WiFi and we only had a WiFi iPad. Using the Blackberry Bridge Browser, you can tether it to your Blackberry phone and surf to your heart’s delight… FOR FREE. NO DATA PLAN!

The camera and video are excellent. Crisp images, and 1080p high def video. It also has cameras on both sides so you can easily video chat or take photos of yourself.

It’s thin and I love the rubber backing on the device. It feels bomb proof.

You can see that the Playbook and my phone both fit comfortable inside my very small purse (most of my friends make fun of how small my purse is)… the size is perfect for me. I bring it everywhere!

Summary: Overall, I really love the Blackberry Playbook and I find it is perfect for what I use it for: e-mailing, using social media, browsing the internet, taking photos, traveling, and talking to friends. Although it is light on the apps side of things, I find that for myself, I am not missing any apps as that’s not what I use this tablet for. The size is great, the navigation is extremely intuitive and smart, the device is fast, great form factor and fantastic for typing on. It’s a keeper for me, and I’d highly recommend it, especially for Blackberry phone owners.

Note: I was not paid or asked to do this review in any way. I purchased the Playbook with my own money and wrote the review of my own accord.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Mother’s Day a.k.a “Mom Day” as Allan likes to say Hope all the mothers out there had a special day! To my Mom, you are an amazing mother and I love you with all my heart!

We spent Mother’s Day over at my parents house just chilling, having brunch and watching movies. Allan and I made a special dessert for my mom and we all loved it so much I thought I had to share it with you! It’s probably one of the best desserts I have ever made and I would highly recommend this recipe, especially for dinner parties! It is based on a recipe from Araxi’s cookbook but I have modified the recipe in terms of flavour, cooking times, and also to work for individual portions rather than just one huge cheesecake. Scroll down to see the finished product!

MASCARPONE CHEESECAKE RECIPE WITH HONEY CARAMEL APPLES, ALMOND PRALINE, AND VANILLA CREME ANGLAISE

Mascarpone Cheesecake (enough to make one large cheesecake or 12 mini cheesecakes)

8 oz mascarpone cheese, room temperature
12 oz cream cheese, room temperature
5/8 cup granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped and pod discarded
5 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1/3 cup whipping cream
Optional: Prepared whip cream for serving

Almond Praline

1 cup whole almonds (unroasted)
3/4 cup granulated sugar

Honey-Caramel Apples

4 large granny smith apples
Juice of half a lemon
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean, seeds craped
1/2 cup organic apple juice
1/4 cup liquid honey

Vanilla Creme Anglaise

6 egg yolks
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 2/3 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup whole milk (homo milk)
1 vanilla bean, pod split and seeds scraped

Oven-Dried Apple Crisps
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 apple
Squeeze of lemon juice

DIRECTIONS

Prepare Apple Crisps in Advance

1. Preheat oven to 185 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Slice an apple in half and then use a mandoline or a sharp knife to make very round thin apple slices. Gently remove seeds.
3. Place sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil on high heat. Remove from heat and squeeze some lemon juice in (less than half a lemon, maybe about 1/4).
4. Submerge apple slices and leave for about 5-10 minutes until translucent. Take one slices at a time, wiping excess syrup on the side of the pot and then lay flat on baking sheet. Press down edges and bake for 1.5 to 2 hours until they can be easily peeled off. Cool until hard.

Prepare Almond Praline in Advance

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and spread out almonds on the sheet.
2. Toast 8-10 minutes until fragrant. Remove from oven and cool on the baking sheet.
3. Place the sugar in a small pot and combine with just enough water to moisten the sugar (a little less than 1/4 cup). Heat on medium heat without stirring until caramelized light amber (approx 10 mins).

4. Pour the syrup over the almonds and quickly stir almonds until they are evenly coated. Allow it to completely cool.
5. Grind everything (almonds and caramelized sugar) in pieces into a fine powder in a food processor or similar. Set aside in an airtight container or ziploc bag.

Prepare Vanilla Creme Anglaise in Advance

1. Take a large sized bowl (preferably metal) and fill with lots of ice. Fill also with some cold water until about halfway up the sides. Set aside.
2. Separate egg yolks and place yolks into a medium sized metal bowl. Set aside.
3. Place sugar, milk, cream, and vanilla bean into a saucepan and heat on the stove on medium heat and bring to a boil (do not overheat).
4. Use an electric mixer or a hand whisk and start whisking the eggs until very creamy. Slowly pour the heated creamy mix into the eggs and continue to mix well with blender or whisk. Mix until smooth.
5. Return the mixture to the stove and heat on low-medium heat, stirring constantly. Do not allow to boil or simmer. Give it about 10 minutes and it will thicken up very nicely. Don’t worry if it is slightly lumpy, just make sure it gets nice and thick like the consistency of pudding.

6. Pour back into the medium metal bowl and place this bowl over the bowl full of ice. Whisk the contents until smooth and cold. This can be kept chilled in the fridge for a few days. Make sure to whisk this up again just before serving to make sure it is extra smooth.

Make Cheesecake

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. If making individual portions, use small custard cups if you have them or similar. You can also make one big cheesecake if you like. Make sure you line the bottom of whichever baking container you use with a round circle of parchment paper for the bottom. You do not need to line the sides (in fact after testing some lined on the sides and some without, I recommend against lining the sides… just the bottom is enough). If you have springform containers those work best, but I personally don’t have any and mine turned out great with just custard cups. Place containers on a baking sheet.
3. In a large bowl, combine mascarpone and cream cheeses with sugar and vanilla. Use an electric mixer to mix on medium speed until cheeses are very smooth and the sugar is dissolved, approximately 5 minutes.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, and cream. On a low speed, add the egg mixture to the cheese mixture and mix until smooth about 5 mins. Strain the batter into the prepared baking containers (e.g. custard cups or the cheesecake mould). Place in oven and quickly pour some water into the baking sheet without getting any into the containers to create a water bath. Pour in enough water but don’t have it overflow the edges of the baking sheet.

5. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the baking sheet around and bake for another 5-10 minutes. After the 10 minutes, check constantly by inserting a clean knife into one of the cheesecakes. As soon as it comes out relatively clean, the cheesecakes are ready. Do not overcook!
6. Remove from oven, cool, and refrigerate overnight or at least 4 hours.

Make Caramel-Honey Apples

1. Peel the apples and dice into very small cubes (see picture). Place in a large bowl with the lemon juice.

2. In a large saute pan on medium heat, cook the sugar until golden brown about 4 minutes. Quickly add the apples to the pan (make sure to stir quickly), and then add in the vanilla seeds and the pod. Deglaze the pan with the apple juice and honey.
3. Saute the apples, stirring frequently and really cook them down until all the liquid is reduced (about 15-20 mins).

4. Remove the apples and transfer to a steel bowl. Let these cool and set them aside. You can even refrigerate them if you’d really like to prepare everything in advance but I did like the taste of these made the same day as being served.

Plate Everything!

1. Place a scoop of the almond praline onto the serving plate and carefully mould it into a circle shape. Then press down with a plastic bag to make a crust.

2. Take a knife dipped in hot water and run it gently along the outside edges of the cheesecakes to loosen, then carefully flip it onto the centre of the almond praline you prepared. Take a knife and gently press the praline up onto the sides to create a crust. I liked to use all the praline so there are no remaining pieces on the plate but it takes a loooooooong time and isn’t necessary.

3. Take a scoop of apples and gently place it on the top of the cheesecake. I liked to make sure there were none going over the edges and tried to make it flat on top.
4. Place an apple crisp on the top of the apples.
5. Take a spoon and heap a very generous portion of vanilla creme anglaise around the cheesecake. Keep some in a small serving bowl on the side as people will definitely want more of that sauce to go with the cheesecake!
6. Now either take a can of whipped cream or whip the cream yourself and then take two spoons and shape a small batch of whipped cream between the spoons. Carefully place on top of the apple crisp.
7. Now top with a final apple crisp placed vertically and quickly serve it before the crisp falls over as the whip cream starts to melt. Wow your guests!

And there you have it! The taste it absolutely DELICIOUS. The cheesecake is light and creamy, but not too cheesy. The almond praline is crunchy without being hard, and the apple crisps look really pretty. The caramel apples are slightly tangy and the whole thing goes perfect with the creme anglaise. I really think it is one of the most delicious desserts I have ever eaten! Hats off to the team at Araxi.

Voila!

How was your Mother’s Day?