Literary Libations: Irish Coffee & Saint Patrick's Day

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Disclaimer: Unfortunately I got really sick on Sunday around 4:00 p.m., so I didn't get to taste my Irish Coffee. However, the first, 'traditional' recipe is extremely popular and well known so I feel very comfortable recommending it to you. I also want to send a BIG thank you to my husband who made the drinks and took the pictures while I was laying in bed unable to move. Love you!
Happy Saint Patrick's Day everyone! This is the day that welcomes spring. Everything is green, we drink, we party, we revel. We hope that the coming weeks will bring warmth. To help you celebrate this day I will show you how to make a traditional Irish Coffee.

Traditional Irish Coffee is pretty easy. You will need: 6 ounces of coffee, 1 teaspoon of brown sugar or normal sugar, 2 ounces of Irish whiskey, heavy cream. Warm your glass by pouring in hot water. Let it sit for a minute and then pour out the water (this keeps the glass from cooling your coffee). Add your 6 ounces of hot coffee. Mix in the (brown) sugar until completely dissolved. Mix in the 2 ounces of whiskey. Top with heavy cream by gently pouring the cream over a spoon. The sugar and the method of pouring the cream over the spoon will cause the cream to float on top of the drink. Your done!

I actually made my Irish Coffee slightly differently. I used brown sugar and whiskey from Canada. I didn't want to buy another container of whiskey when I already had one around the house. Rather than heavy cream I simply topped with whipped cream. Either method is good, but mine was slightly faster and more economical for me. If you don't already have whiskey around the house, try and pick up an Irish one to celebrate the special day!

Normally I would talk about the book I'm reading here, but since this post lands on the actual Saint Patrick's Day, I thought I'd share some lore and facts about the man himself. For starters, the real man was not Irish, but actually British. His family was well off, owned slaves, and were Christian. Patrick, however, did not receive much emphasis on his faith from his parents. At age 16, Patrick was kidnapped and sent to Ireland to work as a slave himself. During his time in Ireland, Patrick experienced a conversion to Christianity. He stayed there tending sheep until he believed the Lord told him to escape. He ran away, booked passage on a pirate ship, and was returned to his family. Back in Britain, Patrick became ordained as a priest and believed the Lord wanted him to return to Ireland. At this time he went back to Ireland and spent the rest of his life trying to convert the country to Christianity. As lore goes Patrick used the three-leaf clover to explain the Holy Trinity to the natives and that is why the plant is so important to Saint Patrick's Day. If you are curious for more information about Saint Patrick you can check out my sources: National Geographic, History, and Bio.

If you haven't decided what you want to do in celebration of Saint Patrick's Day yet, check out my post from last week where I rounded up a bunch of great ideas form other blogs.