The most wonderful day of the year..

Today was St. Patrick's day (or, more accurately, St. Guinness day as my dear friend calls it), which is in my opinion one of the best days of the year. It's the perfect holiday if you think about it: The whole day revolves around good food, good music and tasty drinks without the obligations of gift-giving, religious observation or making the rounds to passive-aggressive family members. If only every holiday were like this.

Since I didn't go out or get intoxicated with friends (this year...) I made a batch of beef stew for dinner and two beautiful loaves of Soda bread. True to my nature, I didn't take photos, but I *will* share the recipe, which I advise you to make since it is pure amazingness.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a pan with butter and then lightly coat it in flour.

Dry ingredients:
4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into very tiny cubes

Wet ingredients:
1 egg
1 3/4 cups buttermilk

Combine all dry ingredients into one bowl. Mix egg and buttermilk together in separate bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and kneed until a ball is formed. place in pan, slice an 'x' into the top, and pop it in the oven for 25-35 minutes. Let it cool and bask in the glory of the soda bread. If you have a jar of blueberry preserves lying around, use it. Your life will never be the same (it will immediately improve).