An Interview with March’s #BrawBagel Challenge Winner - Kristina B. Royer!

Our sponsors over at Bross Bagels are pretty darned stellar when it comes to collaboration and creativity - and CreativeMornings/EDI is a community with which they let those talents and values shine! Not just bringing their dangerously delicious treats to our events, but also inviting us to bring our collective, creative talents to their menu! 

Each month, we invite you to submit your Bagel ideas, taking inspiration from the CreativeMornings global theme. The result? The #BrawBagel Challenge! Each monthly champion - hand-picked by Mama Bross herself - wins the honour of having their culinary creation featured on the Bross Bagels menu for the next month! Such delectable glory 🥨 🥇

Our #BrawBagel Champion for March 2019, inspired by the global theme of “Water”, is Kristina B. Royer! 

Kristina’s bagel creation features a Salt bagel, wasabi cream cheese, dried nori seaweed, pomegranate seeds, lox (or without for veggie option). 

Of course, we wouldn’t want to pass up the opportunity to learn a little more about the sources of her creative genius. So, we caught up with Kristina after she received her winner’s announcement. Read on for foodie inspiration, costumed legendry, and tips to spark your creative minds…

📸 Our March #BrawBagel Champion, Kristina! 

Hey Kristina, it’s fab to meet you - and congrats on your wonderful creation! We’d love to learn a little more about your creative journey. The path you’ve taken to CreativeMornings Edinburgh, and becoming a bagel artiste…

- What first drew you to come along and join the CreativeMornings Edinburgh community?

I’m an artist and curator from Washington, DC  and had attended a CM event there. When I realized Edinburgh had a chapter, I joined the email list and started coming to events. I wanted to meet other creative types and get inspired by the talks.

- Which CMEdi event was your first? 

It was Intention with Eileen Hall at Fruitmarket, in July 2018. 

- Which CreativeMornings speaker has been your favourite - in Edinburgh, or any of our fellow 199 chapters around the world? 

Jannica Honey, who spoke at Codebase last year - her energy was amazing as was the photography project she presented. She was so honest about her own experiences, and I felt the whole audience really connected with her.

- Now, let’s get to the tasty stuff - your bagel! What dishes in your dining past influenced such this sumptuous concoction? 

I love sushi and my bagel creation is basically a deconstructed suhi roll housed in a bross bagel. The wasabi cream cheese spread has some heat and coolness to it. The nori sheets offer a salty kick, and the pomegranate seeds add bursts of flavour. The way they pop reminds me of how my siblings and I would burst seaweed pods on the beach when we were kids.

- With regards to the theme of #CMWater, which elements felt the most important for the creative culinary statement you wished to make, and to the balance of flavours? 

Thinking about days spent at the beach, I wanted something that was a little salty and a little sweet. Like drinking a soda-pop or eating ice cream on the beach with the salty air all around you. 

My husband and I have been active stalkers of all Bross bagelries since they opened. We usually haunt the Leith location because of its proximity to our home, but we’re moving to Portobello next month and will probably be at the Porty location every Sunday. The Montreal is my tried and true, but I also love the vegan options when I want to switch it up. 

📸 Kristina & her husband, a.k.a. Hall & Oates 2.0! Creative Costumes for the win! 

- If you could offer the CreativeMornings Edinburgh, and Global, community one creativemessage… what would it be? 

Take yourself on a solo art-date once a week. I learned this from the Artist’s Way book by Julia Cameron and it really helps get your creative juices going. On your lunch break or on a day off or a free evening, visit a gallery exhibition, go see a film, or see live music. There are tons of free arts events all over the city and by making a rule to fit one thing (outside of wherever you work) per week you connect more with the city and people around you. - Do you have any creative works you would like to share? 

Are you looking for art for your creative workspace? I can help you purchase, rent, or commission artwork by local artists. Contact me through my web site https://www.kristinabroyer.com/about 

Well, that was a wonderous, appetite building, creative ride indeed! Thank you so much Kristina! 

If you’d like to try your hand at becoming our next #BrawBagel Champion, entries for April are now open! So, get your culinary thinking caps on, get creative with this month’s theme of “Inclusive”, and send us your best bagel ideas - at: https://cmedi.typeform.com/to/gm7VuJ