I knew that I would be baking Irish Soda Bread on March 17 for St. Patrick's Day. I used a traditional recipe with some diced white, sharp cheddar cheese. I used a small dice instead of grating it for a little more cheesy flavor There's also a great Cabot cheddar soda bread recipe at King Arthur. What a tasty bread. I know I'm supposed to let it cool, but warm out the oven -ah heavenly. We had cabbage, boiled potatoes and lamb to go with it. No corned beef for us; we went a little more traditional. Wayne suggested we have snake. He said that would be perfect since St. Patrick chased all the snakes from Ireland. Then he said snake wouldn't work, because they were all chased out.
I love telling people that I'm Hispanic, and have them look at me like I'm goofy. I mean look at my profile picture, don't I look Hispanic? My grandfather's last name was Santa Cruz, and he was from Cuba. My maiden name, however, was Murphy and my great-grand mother was a McConnell. That would explain my complexion (but not the red hair - that's straight out of the bottle). I have to say that since I have started my bread baking, Murphy's Law has not gotten me (knock on wood).
I always loved the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New Orleans when I was young. Where else could you go home with a bag of green beads, cabbage, potatoes, and onions thrown from floats. You did need to be careful not to get beaned with a flying vegetable, just ask my buddy Keri. Several years ago Keri was hit in the head with a potato. When I worked at St. Bernard High, the counselors, Rhonda (home ec teacher) the assistant principals, and the principal would eat lunch together. We would occasionally have teachers join us. The Monday after Keri was hit with the potato at the parade, she was showing us the knot on her head, and telling the story of how she got hit. Being mature adults, we all laughed at her injury. Keri said, "It's not funny. I swear the potato must have weighed 5 pounds." Julie, one of the assistant principals said, "I saw that potato in the grocery the other day. It was just one big potato in a 5 pound bag," to which one of the teachers (initials KT) said, "Really, that must have been a huge potato." The thing is KT thought Julie was serious. I thought we were all going to fall on the floor. Someday I'll tell you about traveling with KT and the trip to the Texas Renaissance Festival. An Irish Blessing for you: May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night, and a smooth road all the way to your door. Hope you all have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day.
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