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)