Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Irish plays, Irish coffee, and Irish musician

Last night was a night for Irish-ness. At 8:30 the group went to Siamsa Tire (a theater) to see a play all in Irish called Oisean (literally, the Island). It was about how life once was on the Blasket Islands, where will we be going next Friday. The Islands were abandoned in 1953 due to the difficulty of being cut off from the main land. As I said, the show was completely in Irish, but we treated it like an opera and with the synopsis, we all had a pretty good idea of what was going on. The dancing and the music were fabulous, and I was tempted to buy a CD. I would have, too, if it didn’t cost 20 euro.

When the play was over, a bunch of us went one of our favorite hangouts: Sean Og’s pub. A musician we’ve seen several times was playing again, and we stayed for his whole set. It was there that I finally had my first authentic Irish coffee.

To celebrate, I will now post a recipe for traditional Irish coffee. This one is taken from irishcoffeerecipe.com. I have added my own editorializing in italics:

Irish Coffee Recipe

When you are looking for a change in your usual coffee recipe, try an Irish coffee recipe. This will give you exactly the quick (the what?) you need to start off the day or to wind down at night. These recipes are elegant and sophisticated. They are great for when you have a lot of people over or when you are in the mood to make something special for yourself. There are hundreds of coffee recipes including the Buena vista Irish coffee recipe, an Irish cream coffee recipe and a Bailey’s Irish coffee recipe among others.

For starters, you will need irish coffee mugs (these are basically clear glass mugs with handles),
heavy cream, and for each coffee:
six ounces of hot, fresh brewed coffee,
1 teaspoon of brown sugar for sweetness and
1 ½ ounces of your favorite Irish whiskey (I like Paddy's Irish Whiskey, myself).

Here is a basic Irish coffee recipe: Using the heavy cream, whip it until it becomes whipped cream. You can add sugar and confectioner's sugar to sweeten. Place into the refrigerator to chill. Once your fresh coffee is brewed, combine it with the whiskey and sugar. Mix it well until the sugar dissolves. Take the whipped cream out and place it on top of the Irish coffee mixture. And voilá, you have in your hands your first homemade Irish coffee recipe.

Some helpful tips include the following:

• Make sure that the whipped cream does not break the surface of the coffee. This may take some time to accomplish but with practice, you will get there.
• Try using a warm spoon to add the whipped cream.
• Try pouring the whip cream over the back of a spoon to help the cream float rather sink into the coffee mixture.

After my first drink, Elizabeth and Catherine bought me a pint of Carlsberg in honor of my finishing my thesis. I should finish a thesis every day!

The musician was great, as always. He played covers of both Enrique Iglesias and Nickelback, both of which were better than the originals. He also played “Country Roads,” “Galway Girl,” and a bunch of Garth Brooks. I think he was pandering to us a bit, but I’m ok with that if he is.

This is him:



And this is Eleanor, Sarah, and me enjoying his music:

1 comment:

  1. Mmm, sounds de-lish!
    Looks like you are having lots of fun/learning :)
    I miss you bff!

    ReplyDelete