A bit o' the Irish

Kathryn was unpacking and found her Irish Coffee mugs and said we should do Irish Coffee.  So she went to the liquor store and the guy there steered her toward the Jameson's Irish whiskey.  Said it was smooth and versatile.  I said we should have an Irish dinner and make it a theme night, so we decided on loaded baked potatoes and Irish beer.

Went to Fred Meyer to get some beer and the guy stocking the shelves asked what we needed and then spent 10 minutes or so looking for Irish beer and making suggestions. Finally settled on Killians, even though I was skeptical about a red.

It was hot and we didn't want to heat up her house, so we googled how to bake potatoes on the BBQ and found this link:

http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/potatoes/baked_potatoes.html

We thought were wouldn't want to wait 90 minutes to eat, so we cooked them for 5 minutes in the microwave first, as he suggested to save time.  We then changed out her kitchen faucet and it took us 90 minutes, so the potatoes were slightly overdone but still a perfect baked potato - creamy on the inside and crispy chewy skin.  We cooked up some dead mushrooms I had, some bacon and added cheddar, chives and sour cream.

 

Ate it on her front porch - perfect!  Then it was time for Irish Coffee.  She put in coffee, a half tablespoon of brown sugar and a jigger of the Jameson's.  Topped it off with whipped cream sweetened with a little powdered sugar and salted caramel vodka.  She even heated the glasses as directed.  It tasted so good, we had to have a second.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/follow-that-food/original-irish-coffee-recipe/index.html

 

I think I could get used to theme nights......