Lee and Justin Visit Scotland

Dates of these adventures: June 29- July 2, 2013 

I jumped for joy when I found out that our friends, Lee and Justin, were coming to visit us in Scotland! James and I chose all of our favourite places and planned out four full days of Scottish adventures for the four of us.

We started out at Dunnottar Castle, admiring the beautifully dramatic, ruined castle.

Scottish thistle

Photoshoot on the beach near Dunnottar

The Bay Fish and Chips in Stonehaven

They had to try their first savoury Scottish pie as well!

Puffins at Fowlsheugh

University of Aberdeen

Slain's Castle

Shetland ponies

Glenfiddich Distillery Tour

Slainte!

Glenlivet Distillery Tour

St Andrews Castle

Learning about the Sinclair tartan

St Andrews Cathedral ruins and cemetery 

Cheers!

St Andrews Golf Course

My favourite hot chocolate at The Elephant House in Edinburgh

The Scotch Whisky Experience is definitely a place to visit whilst in Edinburgh! Instead of going on the tour, we quite like to go down to Amber, the restaurant downstairs, for a whisky flight learning experience and really good Scottish food. During your whisky tasting, the bartenders teach you how Scotland's diverse landscapes and climate affect Scotch.

Haggis, neeps and tatties, cullen skink, smoked salmon, and lamb stovies

Cup, my favourite tea salon in Aberdeen

Crathes Castle

Burn O' Vat

Lee and Justin, thank you for traveling to visit us and letting us introduce you to Scotland! James and I absolutely loved every minute of your visit!

Baking Apple Pie

Date of this event: June 27, 2013

Liz agreed to teach us how to make apple pie!

I'm pretty sure we used Paula Dean's Apple Pie recipe.

We made two pies so that we would each have a bit extra to take home.

Filling in the pie crust

Liz carefully cutting pastry strips for the top of the pie

Delicately layered lattice top pie crust

Freshly baked apple pie

Delicious!

Scottish Leaving Do

Date of this event: June 23, 2013

Our Aberdeen friends took us out to brunch at Malmaison for our leaving do. The brunch was delicious, and the company was lovely. Thank you to these sweet friends who embraced us, encouraged us, and blessed us during our short time in Aberdeen. I don't think I can ever say thank you enough.

We will always remember your kindness and will cherish your friendship! 

XOXO,

Jessica and James

Easy Homemade Cronuts

Date of this event: June 21, 2013

Nary is quite a foodie and fabulous chef so when she told us she wanted to have a go at making cronuts, Liz, Taryn, and I were excited to join in on the bake. Cleverly, Nary picked up ready made croissant dough to save us a bit of time. Here is a Pillsbury recipe that has similar steps to how we made our cronuts.

Nary and Liz shaped the croissant dough into flattened balls and then cut out the holes.

Cronuts ready to be fried

Nary fried the cronut dough in a bit of oil for about 1 1/2 minutes on each side until they were golden brown. They puffed up beautifully like croissants! Once they were cooked through, she set them on paper towels to drain. After she was finished cooking the cronuts, Nary fried the doughnut holes!

Delicious mini-pumpkin doughnuts we for an extra bit of fun

Final product: cronut filled with custard, topped with a vanilla glaze and chopped nuts

I definitely recommend this as a quick way to make your own cronuts!

Success! Delicious.