2/3 cup strong coffee
2 teaspoons sugar
1 ounce Irish whiskey
1/4 cup heavy cream

1. Combine coffee, sugar and whiskey in a coffee cup or latte mug.
2. Whip heavy cream and add to the top of the coffee.

Makes 1 serving

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried currants or raisins
2/3 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup icing sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease, flour and place wax paper in the bottom of a 9" loaf pan.
2. Cream together butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until fluffy, then the cream cheese.
4. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
5. Use 1/4 cup of the flour mixture to coat the currants and set aside.
6. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet, along with the buttermilk. Mix until smooth.
7. Stir in the currants with a wooden spoon and then transfer batter to the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula.
8. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean and the top has cracked, about 1 hour and 20 minutes.
9. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
10. Prepare the glaze by mixing icing sugar and lemon juice, then glaze the top of the cake.
11. Allow to cool completely before serving.

Makes 10 slices

4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl.
3. Gradually add buttermilk to form a soft, kneadable dough. You don't necessarily need to use all 2 cups.
4. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead it into a smooth ball.
5. Place it on a floured baking sheet, cut a cross in the top and bake until top is browned and center is cooked, about 35-40 minutes.

Makes 1 loaf

4 pound corned beef brisket
4 medium carrots, peeled
3 medium potatoes, quartered
1/2 small cabbage, quartered
4 small onions, quartered
1 bay leaf
8 black peppercorns
1/2 beef broth and 1/2 water

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Half fill a roasting pan large enough for the brisket and bring it to a boil over high heat on the stove top.
3. Add the beef brisket and boil, removing the foam that surfaces.
4. When foam stops, add the bay leaf, peppercorns and beef broth. Turn off the heat and transfer to the oven.
5. Cook uncovered until a meat thermometer inserted in the center of the brisket reads 140 degrees, about an hour and a half.
6. Remove the brisket from the oven, add the vegetables and return to the oven until the vegetables are tender, about 45
7. nutes.
8. Discard the bay leaf. Serve the brisket on top of the vegetables on a large platter.

Makes 12 servings

Tonight's dinner can effectively assist you in preparation for 2 holidays in 1. April is only 2 weeks away and if you save the brown foam from the brisket, you can pass it off as a latte to an unsuspecting victim on April Fool's Day. Oh, how your coffee drinking friends will love you for that one. Of course, today is St. Patrick's Day, so it seems only appropriate to make a traditional Irish meal. Having never had one, I once again have to go under the trusted guidance of the internet to not steer me wrong.

This is a "one pot" sort of dinner, an Irish Corned Beef Brisket cooked with potatoes,
carrots, onions and cabbage. You could easily add parsnips or rutabagas or another root vegetable of your choice and be just as happy with this. I've never bought or cooked a corned beef brisket before and I was actually surprised at how expensive it was; likely due to the whole brine soaking process. This is one way to actually make cabbage edible, since it completely takes all of the flavor out of it! The root vegetables soak up the beef juices and give them a stewed flavor and the corned beef was perfect and ensures us at least a week of sandwiches.

I prepared a loaf of Irish Soda Bread to go with it, but the recipe I had called for an entire tablespoon of salt, which, of course, made it really salty. Either it is supposed to be gross or there was a typo and it's supposed to be a teaspoon. I altered it in the uploaded recipe since I can't imagine it being edible otherwise. The other issue is that I made sour milk (adding vinegar to milk) instead of using buttermilk and this made the bread heavier than I would have liked. Having never had it, I can sort of judge from other pictures that I've seen in that it is supposed to be somewhat heavy, like a biscuit compared to bread, but it's not supposed to be all crust. I can only imagine that my foibles are what ruined this, so I take full responsibility for the downfall of this recipe, which is actually quite simple if you use the ingredients.

Shannon ran to the store to pick up buttermilk so we could properly make the dessert and the results were wonderful. She
made a Glazed Irish Tea Cake. It's essentially a plain cake with raisins, having the texture of a very good blueberry muffin. It is topped with a light glaze of confectioners' sugar and lemon juice which gives it just a hint of bittersweetness that, as Shannon described "Sparkles on the tongue." I couldn't describe it better myself.

I was given a bottle of Jamieson's Irish whiskey around Christmas time and I didn't particularly like it. After several
months I've now found a use for it in Irish Coffee. There's something about regular whiskey that just wouldn't have cut it here. Of course, it's topped with fresh whipped cream and the gentle sips through the cream that cools the coffee is fantastic.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Hoist a green pint for me.