BrewDog AGM 2013

Yesterday, a few friends and I attended the BrewDog AGM (Annual General Meeting) 2013 and celebrated it's 6th Birthday.

Gerald invested in a few shares of BrewDog a couple of years ago and we've been following them ever since. Their beers are good and is so is their motto...

The AGM gives a chance for shareholders to hear from the BrewDog founders and at the same time, for the founders to market their beer to shareholder's guests. This AGM isn't like your typical business, suit and tie event. They had a couple of bands on hand, bars set up, and were passing out tastings of new beer during the talks. For the most part, its fun but also informative. Yesterday's talk was a bit too long for my liking, but we had a great time nonetheless. I could have done without the lesson on how their beer was made during this event. Don't get me wrong, it was interesting, but with so many people around and things going on, it was hard to pay attention. I guess that just means I'll have to attend the beer school they're setting up in London soon =)



I saw James, one of the co-founders talking to some people after the AGM and decided to go chat him up a bit. Mainly because I wanted a picture =)



Anyhow, after taking a picture with him, I asked him what he thought about the craft beer scene in Houston and if he'd ever think about setting up a St. Arnold's like brewery tour and tasting . He replied with..."I enjoyed the beers in TX, it was just HOT! Flying Saucer was a pretty cool bar, and yes, we are thinking of doing something similar in the future." I think it would be something different to do in Aberdeen, but who knows if it will really take off...hehe.



They do plan on opening a restaurant in 2014 and also have a TV show they will be airing in the States soon, called "BrewDogs." These guys seem pretty cool and they make great beer so we look forward to what more they have to offer. If you want to invest, click here.

Cronut

So, I heard about this cronut while I was visiting Houston and thought it was quite interesting. Croissant + Donut = amazing! Too bad you can only get them in NYC, and if you're not willing to stand in line for hours, then you're looking at paying $100 for a scalper to get ONE and deliver it to you! No thanks. I searched Pinterest for a recipe and turns out, there's quite a few. I decided to choose the easiest one, involving Pillsbury {Jus-Roll in the UK} croissant dough, and got a few girlfriends together to try it out.

Folding the dough in layers

Cutting the dough into donut shapes





Frying the dough



We filled the dough with vanilla pudding and iced it with a brown butter glazed. To finish it off, we added chopped pecans and created our version of the CRONUT! Next time, we'll have to remember to bring the salted caramel and drizzle some on top as well.  It was pretty darn good, but you definitely can only have a little bit =) Jessica, Taryn, and I split this one below. I would love to try the real version one day, but I'm not sure that won't happen anytime soon.





In the meantime, for all you Houston folks, there's a bakery in Pearland called Pena's Donut Heaven & Grill {no relation} that is making their version of the cronut, called "dosants." Check it out if you get a chance.

Cooking {live} Lobster

So...this was Gerald's and my first time actually cooking a LIVE lobster. We bought 1 big lobster and 6 smaller ones.

The big one took up the whole sink!

little claw, big claw, but we love them just the same

We didn't know what the best way of doing this was, so we YouTube'd it and read that after cleaning the lobster, you must place the lobster {upside down with it's back into the water first}, in a pot of boiling water 3/4 of the way full. Oh yeah, and the water should be salted, just like the sea. Easy enough, right? Not really, considering the first one we cooked was about 4 lbs! When Gerald tried to put it in the water, the tail was so big and strong, Gerald couldn't hold on to it and had to drop it on the stove top. Out of control lobster! He attempted again and it was still fighting hard. He then decided that he couldn't do this, but we had no choice; we had 7 lobsters to cook. So after a few more attempts, with me holding the lid to cover the pot as soon as Gerald put him in, we were able to finally boil our first lobster. We did feel a little bad, but at the end of the day, someone's gotta do it!

First boiled lobster!

The next 6 lobsters were easy to do since they were a lot smaller.

After all was boiled and put into ice baths, we grilled up the big one with some chipotle-cilantro-lime butter for dinner. Delish!

I picked apart the other 6 and made some lobster mac and cheese with them. We had lobster mac for dinner the next night and the rest I freezed in little ramekins for future sides with meals. For £40, you really can't beat the lobster deal we got. The meat was super sweet and juicy and well worth the episode of "boiling of the lobster."

Happy Eating!

Johnshaven, Scotland

Johnshaven is a small village located a short drive from Aberdeen. I first heard about Johnshaven from a fellow AWA member who once drove out there to buy lobsters. I always told myself that I will go one of these days and that day finally came. Gerald and I were out at Fowlsheugh, searching for puffins, and after we had enough of looking at the cute little birds, we decided to explore a bit further down the coast.  Our intention was to stop by at Johnshaven, pick up some lobsters and maybe head out towards St. Cyrus for a quick walk or something. However, our plans were changed when we ended up spending a good hour and a half in this small fishing village.

First, pictures of my cute little puffin friends. It was Gerald's first time seeing the puffins so that was exciting.  I sure do love these beautiful birds.

Driving out from Fowlsheugh to Johnshaven, the fields are covered with beautiful rapeseed in burst of bright yellow. So pretty!



Now, on to my lobster adventure. We arrived in Johnshaven and was looking for a fish monger type shop to buy our lobsters at a discount, but couldn't find a store in sight. We walked into the village and only saw little cute houses so decided to come back out towards the harbor. There were creel baskets everywhere so I was sure there had to be someone selling something out here!  The village was dead and we decided that they probably don't sell anything over the weekend so we should head off and come back another day.

On the way out, we decided to stop by the convenience store to get a drink and snack and I ask the checkout guy about these lobsters. He directed me to the blue shed at the end of the street so I made Gerald turn back around to check it out.

This is what we found....

The guys were busy packing away lobsters for shipment to France so we spent a good 30 minutes just talking to the owner and his friend about the lobster business. After all the good ones were packed away, he had two buckets of not so perfect lobsters to sell to me. Some of them had only one claw and others had different size claws, but at $6 a pound, who can complain? We bought £40 worth of the crustaceans and headed home to cook them up! Cooking them was also an adventure in itself. I"ll save that story for another time! If you want lobsters and have a chance to get out to Johnshaven, I suggest you do. It was a fun day. They actually have a fishing festival in August that looks fun.  The guy also told me that they will deliver to ABZ for free! You just have to pick it up from one of their carriers, so that's something to keep in mind.

Baking Love

I've been on quite a good baking streak lately! I think I finally perfected the chocolate salted caramel cupcakes that I first made for Gerald's 31st. I made 2 batches for Gi's showers and everyone loved them.

 For the second shower I decided to bake them in little ketchup containers and it was a hit. Perfect size and super simple because you don't need a cupcake tin!

I've also been making cookies. I saw this recipe {http://www.bakerella.com/chip-chip-hooray} on Bakerella and thought it was super cute so just had to try it. I couldn't find the confetti sprinkles in Aberdeen the first time I made it so used little butterflies instead. 

For Gi's second shower I made it with the proper confetti's and loved it. I brought some back to the 'Deen with me so I can make some here too!

The recipe for the batter is so good and can be used for anything! This week, I made some cookies with Heath Bar toffee bits and chocolate chips for Gerald's coworkers and they tore it up! 

And finally, here are some marshmallow pops we made for Gi's shower as well. It's  not baking but looks like it. So fun and super easy to make! Cake pops are history; just kidding, I still love cake pops. They're just a pain in the arse to make.

Next on my list to bake are mini donuts and cronuts! I can't wait! Happy Baking:)

The Courtyard Aberdeen

We finally made it out to this little eatery in the 'Deen! With me just getting back from the states and Gerald eating dinners alone, it was nice to catch up over a yummy Anniversary meal:) Gerald came home with flowers and off we went...

Love the bouquet, but the strong scent from the lilies are getting to me :) Sorry, G!

Starters

Scallops /w pineapple salsa - as Gerald would say, "Top 10 in my life!"

Pot of Mussels

Main

Sea bass with tomato risotto and olive tapenade

Ribeye steak w/ peppercorn sauce

Dessert

Ferraro Roche ice cream

Pistachio panna cotta w/ gin & tonic sorbet

We were one of two couples in the restaurant that night so service was great! That's what happens when you eat at 6:30 pm...cheers! I forgot to mention that massive pile of onion rings Gerald got as well; reminded me of Sonic onion rings! Also, please excuse the blurry pic, our waiter didn't know how to use an iPhone camera?!