Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Irish Soda Bread...Pub Crawl / St. Patrick's Day Celebration..

Top of the morning to you my Irish friends & a very Happy St. Patrick's day!

Thank you to our Irish hostess Kathleen at Cuisine Kathleen for hosting the 2nd Pub Crawl to celebrate St. Patrick's day. Please visit Kathleen HERE to view more green posts.

A stop at St. Patrick's Cathedral is always first on my crawl list when I am in NY. The alter is adorned with a painting of St. Patrick. Time to say a prayer for New York's finest police and fire fighters who risk their lives each and every day to keep us safe.


Off we crawl right out of the front doors onto Fifth Avenue to enjoy the St. Patrick's day parade.


Time to crawl over to a local pub for a few shots of good Irish whiskey, washed down with some Irish Guinness to take the chill off of the windy and cold March day.
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Let's crawl on down to DC to have a look at the green fountain at the White House.


Now we all know that there is a whole lot of Blarney talk going on down there. Those folks up on capital hill sure have the gift of the gab. Sure seems that is all they are doing these days and not addressing the issue of high unemployment rates. Wouldn't you enjoy catching the leprechauns who are making your pot of gold disappear in DC?



All that Blarney talk certainly makes me want to have a shot or two along with two extra strength Excedrin to clear my head before I continue to crawl onto the next location.



Next we crawl on down to Disney to celebrate with Mickey who likes to be called his Irish nickname of "MICK". We find a totally exhausted Mother of a toddler who was tempted to be wearin the green in the form of a very silly Irish hat with ears while doing the Irish jig on Main Street USA. In this case the jig was more in the form of running after the toddler all day!


What better way to end the pub crawl but to crawl home and have some Irish coffee to warm your body and heart.


Let' s share a late night treat of some homemade Irish soda bread too before we crawl into bed and get some sleep and dream about the Emerald Isle!



Irish Soda Bread

4 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoon granulated sugar (I use 1/3 cup because I like it sweeter)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
1 cup raisins
3 tablespoons caraway seeds
2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly grease a large cookie sheet. I use an ungreased silpat mat.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Using a pastry blender or fork, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Add raisins and caraway seeds and toss lightly.

Add buttermilk and toss mixture with a fork until all dry ingredients are moistened. Dough will be very soft.

Form dough into a ball and lightly knead on a floured board for about 30 seconds or until dough is smooth.

Divide dough into two equal portions and shape into balls.

Place them on the cookie sheet and, with a sharp knife, cut an X on top of each loaf about 1/4 inch deep.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until crusty and golden.

Yield: 2 loaves or 4 small loaves.

Go raibh mile maith agat!
(May you have 1,000 good things, many thanks)


31 comments:

  1. Love this post - and a great recipe for Irish Soda bread!
    Susan

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  2. YUM to the Irish Soda bread and I have to comment on your Irish Mickey....I grew up very near to Disneyland and never remeber seeing an Irish Mickey :)

    Blessings!
    Gail

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  3. Hi Joyce! Your bread looks yummy! But I love the green fountain at the White House! lol Happy week!...hugs...Debbie

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  4. When did you find time to sleep??? Looks like you had lots of fun...

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  5. Great post girl, you crack me up! Heeeheehe! Yep, the fountain in DC should be green they have enough of our greenbacks!

    God bless and have a Terrific Tuesday....party on!

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  6. Happy St Patrick's Day from N Ireland.

    I heard of a few rivers being turned green, but did not realize the White House fountain was changed too!

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  7. Joyce-Great post and you are too funny about Washington! Do they really put green dye in the fountain? I have never made soda bread, but it is on my "to try" list! About my brownies--I need to hide them (from myself :)

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  8. Love the recipe! My friend makes this for me every year. I'm getting ready to post Irish Brown Bread to play along :-)

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  9. Oh...yum?? I are almost a whole loaf by myself the other day. And I don't even LIKE raisins!

    xoxo
    Jane

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  10. Cute Irish coffee with the shamrock!

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  11. Now that was a fabulous crawl! Thanks for the great treat!

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  12. I am cracking up here! That was GREAT! Oh yes, and do you know Blarney Fyffe??:)
    I echo your thoughts about our police and fireman, God Bless them!
    Thanks so much for taking part in the party when I know you are feeling GREEN around the gills...
    The bread looks wonderful!

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  13. I so enjoyed going along on your pub crawl Joyce and seeing all the Greens, I am cracking up with your commentary along the way too lol. The delicious soda bread is just what's called for at the end of a very enjoyable St Patrick's Day Pub Crawl. xoxo Kathy.

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  14. What a fabulous blog! I love ST. Patrick's Cathedra in NYC & went there alot for Mass when I lived there. Your recipe for the Bread looks great & love your photos. I just signed up to follow you - come visit me sometime at www.stephaniesavorsthemoment.com. Looking forward to your next post!
    Stephanie

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  15. I do like the green fountain - in Chicago we used to color the river green.

    I just bought some soda bread from Harry's yesterday!

    Happy St. Pat's Day.
    sandie

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  16. What a crawl!!! Great post - really enjoyed it! The soda bread looks delicious!

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  17. Hey Betty....No wonder your sick from all the crawling you have been doing....Love the Mickey hat but how come you weren't in the picture...after all we love our crazy hats...Glad your back!.....Sandra

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  18. Oh yes, the blarney that's being spewed in DC! Email and call your Representatives! Let 'em know. Vote No on Obama-Care and get to work on jobs, jobs, jobs. Real jobs!

    ♣♣♣Happy St. Patrick's Day♣♣♣

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  19. For many many years I worked on Fifth Avenue at 48th St ... I hated St Patrick's Day because between the puking by under age kids drinking green beer, the noise of the High School bands lined up waiting to join the parade and crowds on the sidewalks making it near impossible to go out to get lunch ... the insanity of trying to get home through the drunks ... I cant tell you how much nicer it is not working anywhere near Fifth Avenue now ...

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  20. I'll have to try this bread too. (I just finished another slice of your oatmeal bread. See, it's a REALLY GOOD recipe so I made it again already!) However, I also picked up some Irish soda bread at my local Publix. Theirs has bits of red and green candied fruit along with the raisins and a bit of white icing on top... quite tasty, for sure!

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  21. Wow, what a big celebration! Love those kilts and the green fountain! I hope people drink in moderation and have a designated driver!

    Happy St Patrick;s Day!

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  22. Hi Joyce, I found your blog through Amelia's.. I just north of you in Crossville, TN... My hubby and I are retired and love traveling, hiking, waterfalling, etc. I love birds and George grows roses. Hope you will check out my blog sometime.

    I enjoyed reading your thoughts on what is happening in Washington DC... Scary--isn't it???? Our lives are never going to be the same --if the government keeps getting more and more control over us.

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  23. Great St.Patty's post! We just loved your irish soda bread! Looks like the flower show was spectacular. Are ya ready for some more ...woof...woof on Tuesday? Just kiddin' with ya!

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  24. Hello, Joyce, thank you for coming back to give me those sweet comments. You and the rest of them give me inspiration to go outdoors, enjoy what I love to do and that is photography, local travel and now hiking.
    It is through your critique that makes my pictures improve.
    Southern California is so diversified, be it rural or urban. I am very accessible to almost everything "Hollywood" has to offer. Do come back, it is always my pleasure.
    Enjoy your weekend. We will be hiking to Mt. Hollywood this Saturday and will have a star gazing party at the Griffith Observatory and hope to post some photos of sunset and streaking lights from the sky.
    Thank you again.

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  25. I didn't cook anything yesterday because I thought we were going out for corned beef and cabbage. Turned out they weren't serving it for lunch, so I had a Reuben. Good, but not the same! Hope it's not bad luck to make Irish Soda Bread AFTER St. Paddy's Day because I intend to try this.

    Prettiest Irish coffee I've ever seen!

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  26. I love all your images. I always enjoy coming to your blog, always fun stuff!

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  27. Oh, I need one of those yummy looking coffees right now - and some soda bread to go with it! :-)

    Thanks for stopping by Book Dreaming. I love making new blog friends.

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  28. How fun!
    I hope you had a happy St Paddy's Day.

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  29. I hope you had a great St Patrick's day. I'm going to give that soda bread a try one of these days!

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  30. Love your St, Patrick's Day post, Joyce! I adore Irish Soda bread. I saw Denver's fun St. Pat's parade this year ...it was a western holiday!

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