This Irish Coffee recipe was inspired by a weekend trip to Lake Tahoe. Friday morning I stepped out my front door and hopped into a rented SUV. I’m used to driving a spunky, small, city car, so driving a large lumbering 4x4 is a bit of a challenge for me. Nevertheless, I pumped the beast to the brim with $60 dollars worth of unleaded and headed north-east for a weekend in the snow. Although the cabin we stayed at came fully-furnished, it didn't come with the things that make a cabin a home for the weekend. The SUV served as transport for many things required for a long (and comfortable) weekend in snow-packed Lake Tahoe. Things like:
- snow shoes I’ve had since I was 16
- my favorite skillet and metal spatula
- micro-plane grater
- sea salt
- 900 layers of clothes
- good olive oil
- trusty camera
- favorite chapstick
- cozy socks
- music
- someone to cuddle with
So, off we went - 191 miles door-to-door. Across the breadth of the Golden State, across two bridges, through the San Joaquin Valley, up, up, up the snow-capped Sierras and down into the Tahoe Basin – all under crisp, blue skies.
Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe from the highway
A few hours after we arrived, a few of us drove around the lake to Emerald Bay. We parked the car in a lot just off the highway, and then slipped and slid our way down the mile-long, snow-packed trail to lake level where we poked around a shuttered and deserted Vikingsholm. We used to drive our boat onto the beach at Emerald Bay in the summer and tour the mansion as kids – but this is the first time I’ve visited in the winter and it has a completely different feel. You've got this big, heavy, stone house in a deep, quiet slumber waiting for warm weather and vibrant people to come later in the spring and bring it out of its deep sleep.
Hand carved font: detail of a trail map
Over the holidays I received a cute little collection of cold-weather drink recipes assembled in a tiny volume titled Some Like it Hot. It’s filled with the kind of drinks that warm you from the inside out after a long day on the slopes. I had my heart set on making their version Irish Coffee – if you’ve ever had Irish coffee you know why. You get a jolt of deep coffee flavor infused with the sugar-kissed alcohol-powered hotness of whiskey, sipped through a smooth, soothing layer of cream. Need I say more? I did a practice run before making them for my friends, but then in the flurry of activity that happens in a cabin kitchen trying to feed twelve people I somehow got distracted and forgot to make the drinks altogether. So, while my friends missed out – hopefully you won’t. This might be the best pick-me-up cold-weather apres ski drink ever. If it doesn’t look up your alley, flip through the rest of the book, there are dozens of other cozy-sounding drinks as well.
Tree graffiti from a distance
Kiss Me I’m Irish Coffee Recipe
For each drink:
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 ounces Irish whiskey
2/3 cup freshly brewed strong black coffee
1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
Combine the sugar whiskey, and coffee in an Irish coffee glass. In a small bowl, lightly whisk the cream until slightly frothy. Gently pour the cream onto the back of a spoon resting on the surface of the coffee, so that it floats on top of the coffee. Serve without stirring.
Hot hint: Getting the cream to float on top of an Irish coffee may require a little luck of the Irish. To ensure success, don’t omit the sugar, even if you don’t typically take it in your coffee, and remember not to stir in the cream, as the secret to experiencing the true flavor of an Irish coffee is sipping through the floating cream.
0 komentar
Posting Komentar