Scotch. Bacon. And other manly things. - Dairy Foods

Erik and I had an awesome, long weekend.  One of my favorite events was a BBQ with our good friends Kiefer and Diane.  Diane and I drank cocktails, the boys had scotch and I tested a new, very easy appetizer recipe (bacon-wrapped lil' smokies, Erik's idea!).

Kiefer was a natural in front of the camera.
Quick back story.  Diane and I became friends through work.  Diane met Kiefer (one of Erik's best friends) and they immediately hit it off.  Unfortunately, Diane had plans to move to NYC shortly after they began dating.  So now they're seeing each other long distance, but it's working well.  We love hanging with them when Diane is visiting MN. Kiefer is potentially moving out to NYC so they can be together but Erik and I secretly (or not-so-secretly) hope they eventually settle in MN so we can have hundreds more BBQs like ths one.

Diane made Palomas, these were refreshing and perfect for sipping on a patio. 

Palomas

Ingredients

3 oz fresh grapefruit juice
3 oz club soda
2 oz silver tequila
Lime juice (from half a lime)
1 teaspoon agave nectar

Preparation

Mix all ingredients and pour into a glass with ice. 
Villeroy and Boch sent me these awesome scotch glasses and Erik was THRILLED.  We decided to do a "manly" post and I asked him to think of appetizer idea.  He said anything wrapped in bacon would suffice but we wanted to try something new. We've had bacon-wrapped shrimp, bacon-wrapped chesnuts, bacon-wrapped scallops, etc.  So he thought of lil' smokies.  GENIUS. 

Ok so bacon-wrapped lil' smokies don't really pair well with scotch but the scotch drinking happened before dinner.  The guys loved the glasses and the scotch. They would be a great Father's Day or birthday gift for the dudes in your life. 
Can you believe how cooperative they were with my annoying blog antics and all the picture-taking?  I suppose since they got bacon and scotch out of the deal they were fine with it.

It was Erik's idea to drizzle BBQ sauce over the smokies.  

Bacon-wrapped lil' smokies

Ingredients

1 package bacon
1 package lil' smokies
BBQ sauce
toothpicks

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Cut the bacon in half. Line a baking sheet with tinfoil and coat with cooking spray.  Wrap each smokie with half a piece of bacon and secure with a toothpick.  Bake for about 45 minutes or until the bacon is cooked to your liking.  Dip in BBQ sauce.

Disclosure: the scotch glasses were given to me by Villeroy and Boch, but the opinions expressed are my own.