Esquire

Esquire's Augmented Reality Issue

.....

GO BUY THIS RIGHT NOW!

As soon as I heard about this issue I had to go get it. I was skeptical about it working, but I was very very wrong. It not only works it's ridiculously amazing!

This is by far the most ingenious idea to come from the minds of our entertainment district.

The issue lets you hold up sections of the book that have the white and black box to your web camera and it reads it! Depending on the corresponding codes you get different 'video clips' you could say.

Robert Downey Jr. was clearly the only way to go for the star of this book (I mean come on! He's Tony Stark!)

The software for the magazine is smart enough that it can read sometimes 24 hours later and give you something new, A.K.A the section on jokes by the lovely Gillian Jacobs.

There are even advertisements that you can scan in!

Definitely a great buy! I hope they come out with more!

Pumpkin Cheese Cake

For Halloween I decided to make some

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes with handmade whip cream!

These are really easy to make and are a real crowd pleaser!

I decided unlike a lot of other cheesecakes I wasn't going to make more of a mess and make a crust by crushing any cookies. Instead I used ginger snap cookies. It really adds a nice flavor to the cheesecakes. I also don't have any fancy mini cheesecake tins so I just used a 12 and a 6 cupcake tin (so this makes 18 cheesecakes) and lined them with cupcake paper. If your worried about them sticking add some nonstick spray. I didn't use any and I think they turned out fine!

Ingredients:

18 Gingersnap cookies

1 (8 oz. ) pkg. cream cheese, softened

1 cup Pumpkin Pie Filling *the canned one*

1/2 cup Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg

1 teaspoon Vanilla

2 Eggs

350 mL Whipping Cream

1 tablespoon Sugar

- Place your ginger snap cookies at the bottom of each cupcake paper.

- Preheat oven to 325 Degrees

- In a large bowl use an egg beater and beat the cream cheese until it is smooth.

- Add the pumpkin, sugar, spices and vanilla and continue to beat.

- Add the eggs and continue to blend until everything is smooth.

- Pour the batter into each cupcake tin until it is a little over half way full (i used an ice cream scoop to measure)

- Put them into the oven and cook for about 20 - 25 minutes. This isn't a poke with a stick and it comes out clean type of thing. Your just trying to set the mixture so it isn't soupy.

- Take then out and let them cool in their tins, DONT REMOVE UNTIL THEY ARE COOL.

- Then place them in the fridge.

WHIPPED CREAM:

- Pour milk and the little bit of sugar into a large bowl and start beating on low, slowly raise the pace on your egg beater until you get to medium high. It will eventually get thick and start to bubble up.

- It can take some time so don't worry if it doesn't work right away! If it just never works, add a little more sugar and keep going.

- DO NOT BEAT IT TOO MUCH THOUGH! If it gets very thick it will look like butter and taste like butter, which doesn't taste so great.

- Once its thicken put it in the fridge and let it chill to set up a bit more

- Then add as much as you want to each cheesecake and sprinkle on a little extra cinnamon and eat up!

Cinnamon Maple Cupcakes

Thursday I made some Cinnamon Maple Cupcakes the lazy but still tasty way.

Basically I took a box of Cake Mix and added a tspn of cinnamon and about 4 tblsp of maple syrup. My mix called for 3 eggs and 1 and 1/3 of water or milk. I decided to use 1 cup of water; in which i soaked a few cloves in first, and 1/3 a cup of milk.

For the icing I just added some orange food coloring, cinnamon and a splash of maple syrup to make it match the cupcakes color and taste. 

For the icing I just put it in a ziplock bag and cut the end off of one of the corners. No fancy piping bags for me!

Then after icing I sprinkled on some extra cinnamon and sprinkles and VOILA!

Candy Corn Nails

Today I made a set of Candy Corn fake nails.

You can find them on my Etsy at www.Bata668.etsy.com

Roasted Potatoes

Today I made Roasted Potatoes 7 different ways.

I was inspired by all the nice green herbs in my garden. 

I went about cutting some. I picked out some rosemary, oregano and yerba buena.

I made this recipe up as I went, it's super easy and delicious! You can modify it any way you want depending on your preferences.

Roasted Potatoes:

- Fresh and Dry Oregano

- Fresh Rosmary

- Fresh Yerba Buena (optional)

- Montreal Steak Spice

- Paprika Powder and Paste

- Garlic Powder

- Salt

- Pepper

- Extra Virgin Olive Oil

- Yellow Potatoes 

Toppings:

- Sour Cream

- Dried Cranberries

- Shredded Cheese

- Freshly Chopped Tomatoes

I didn't put a precise amount for each ingredient because I didn't measure it. It's all a matter of preference. My tomatoes and fresh herbs are all straight from my garden, but it doesn't mean store bought won't taste good. I tend to be generous with my salt and pepper because it really brings out a nice taste. Don't be stingy on the Olive Oil either, it's what sticks all that seasoning to the potatoes and help them cook nicely in the oven.

Make sure to chop your potatoes thick, about a half inch thick is good. 

If you prefer take the skin off, but I leave mine on.

Mix all the seasoning together with the potatoes in a big bowl. Now you could just stop here, put them on a baking sheet and cook them up. Simple and easy, but if you want something to work as an appetizer to impress you friends or a nice treat or snack there is one more step before you toss them in the oven!

Place all your potato slices on a non-greased baking sheet and preheat your oven to 350 C.

Here I have chopped tomato covered in shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream with cranberries plain and with shredded cheese. I also made ones with just shredded cheese on them. But try different variations of other things you may like, you never know until you try!

Bake these in your 350C oven for about 30 minutes.

Once they are all done you can take plain ones and put sour cream and cranberries on it, so that you have an uncooked sour cream topping, both taste amazing, but again it really depends on what you think taste better. You can top others with fresh uncooked tomatoes and add a little more salt and pepper.

Altogether this took my about 10 minutes to prepare, so it's really super simple even the most rookie of cooks can make this dish!

So go ahead and try it, send me your variations if you find any and have fun! : )