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).
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
March 18, 2012
February 8, 2012
Celebration of Solitude (Official Name Pending).
I love holidays.
I'll find pretty much any reason to celebrate anything, and I like to go as far as I can with it. I spend months planning out Thanksgiving and Christmas, and will even go so far as to wear green, plan a special meal and blast irish music in the days leading up to St. Patrics day. The only holiday I am continuously underwhelmed by is Valentine's day (don't worry, the irony is not lost on me). I am not one of those people who typically thinks it's sweet to see the happy couples rubbing my face in the fact that they're paired up while I'm all by my lonesome. I'm not jealous, but I always feel a bit left out. There's no day to celebrate the single life, so from now on, I think I'll begin celebrating it myself. I'm aiming for sometime in June since I've always thought of it as the loneliest month of the year for it's lack of celebration. There's no reason single people should be completely excluded just because the greeting card companies haven't found a way to profit from them. I haven't come up with a date yet, but I will.
I'll even make cupcakes.
I'll find pretty much any reason to celebrate anything, and I like to go as far as I can with it. I spend months planning out Thanksgiving and Christmas, and will even go so far as to wear green, plan a special meal and blast irish music in the days leading up to St. Patrics day. The only holiday I am continuously underwhelmed by is Valentine's day (don't worry, the irony is not lost on me). I am not one of those people who typically thinks it's sweet to see the happy couples rubbing my face in the fact that they're paired up while I'm all by my lonesome. I'm not jealous, but I always feel a bit left out. There's no day to celebrate the single life, so from now on, I think I'll begin celebrating it myself. I'm aiming for sometime in June since I've always thought of it as the loneliest month of the year for it's lack of celebration. There's no reason single people should be completely excluded just because the greeting card companies haven't found a way to profit from them. I haven't come up with a date yet, but I will.
I'll even make cupcakes.
February 2, 2012
No Shadows Please.
Happy Groundhog Day Everyone!
It's a semi-ridiculous made up holiday, but it's a North American tradition for anyone who is unaware. The story goes that if, when the groundhog comes up from his burrough, he sees a shadow, winter will last for another six weeks. There's no scientific credence to this logic, but it's entertaining to see mayors of cities around the nation exclaiming over a small ground-dwelling creature every February. This year, I'm hoping winter will whisk away without much of a fuss, because while I truly adore cold and snow, I don't want to spend the next few weeks freezing my tush off. Since our furnace went out last week, we've been doing more than enough of that, so for the first time in my life I honestly hope winter ends soon.
Though, on the bright side, if Mr. Groundhog predicts a rambling winter, it'll give me more of an opportunity to make nice warm batches of bread before the heat makes baking unbearable. There's always an upside I suppose.
It's a semi-ridiculous made up holiday, but it's a North American tradition for anyone who is unaware. The story goes that if, when the groundhog comes up from his burrough, he sees a shadow, winter will last for another six weeks. There's no scientific credence to this logic, but it's entertaining to see mayors of cities around the nation exclaiming over a small ground-dwelling creature every February. This year, I'm hoping winter will whisk away without much of a fuss, because while I truly adore cold and snow, I don't want to spend the next few weeks freezing my tush off. Since our furnace went out last week, we've been doing more than enough of that, so for the first time in my life I honestly hope winter ends soon.
Though, on the bright side, if Mr. Groundhog predicts a rambling winter, it'll give me more of an opportunity to make nice warm batches of bread before the heat makes baking unbearable. There's always an upside I suppose.
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