Irish Soda Bread – Rosepoint Publishing

Reading Ireland Month 2023 – My Book List and Cathy’s Not-to-Miss All Things Irish Celebration!

I’m participating in #readingirelandmonth2023 this year (as I have the last several) and have put together a list of the books I’ll be reviewing along with their links to Amazon.

The books may be about Ireland, have an Irish protagonist, or be written either by an Irish author or author with Irish roots. Most of the books on my list have already been released. We in the US celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with parades, pub specials, and corned beef and cabbage. In “Chicago-land” (of which we are a part), they literally turn the Chicago River green. (This year promises a rainy day but that could change by next Friday.)

Chicago River turned green for St Patrick's Day parade.

Cathy at 746 Books is hosting again this year and you may want to check her website to see her theme schedule. Additionally, she’ll be hosting a giveaway each week and sharing posts on her Facebook page. She has a monster reading list of 100 books you can peruse and a collection of recommendations. Be sure to use her hashtags #readingirelandmonth2023 and #begorrathon2023.

I tend to wear some green, look for the best bargains for corned beef, and scour my old posts to retrieve some vintage posts, one of which is titled Beans, Beans…(A St Patrick’s Day Revisited) that I’ll repost on March 17^th.

My sister sent some additional work written by my grandfather, Patrick J Rose (aka Stanley McShane) who (as far as we can tell) hailed from Cork, so I’ll try to use new material from him, as well as provide this link to my favorite Irish podcaster, Marc Gunn, the Celtfather. So here is my book schedule of books so far:

Reading Ireland Month 2023

The Strange Courtship of Kathleen O’Dwyer by Robert Temple read by the CE on March 5.
Desert Star by Michael Connelly. My audiobook review scheduled on March 16. (This is a René Ballard-Harry Bosch installment—I’m hooked on that series, last one Dark Sacred Night.
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn. My audiobook review scheduled on March 23. Read my first book by this author in January and was hooked—The Huntress.
The Book of Lost Things by John Connelly. My audiobook review scheduled on March 30. Previously read a couple books by this author—my last—The Wolf in Winter.
A Week in Summer by Maeve Binchy. My audiobook review scheduled on March 21. (This is a short story—very short.) This was very different than the last I read—A Week in Winter.
The Sea by John Banville scheduled for review on Tuesday, March 14.

I must admit to falling back on favorites this year, only John Banville is new to me (Robert Temple is new to the CE). Don’t forget the Irish Soda Bread recipe graciously shared by another of my favorite Irish authors, Jean Grainger.

Have you read any of the above? Any suggestions for one you enjoyed, possibly in a thriller genre?

Cheers!

Chicago River Photo Attribute: NBC Chicago

Happy St Patrick’s Day – Celebrate Safely at Home with Traditional Irish Soda Bread

What in the world were we thinking?

Driving an old Class A RV to the coast where I’d signed up for a craft booth to sell my grandfather’s books on Rockaway Beach, Oregon. Too expensive to stay at a park there, we found a cheaper one a few miles south where we parked and shuttled into the Pirate Festival. One of the other booth sales ladies told me about the pirate festival in Oregon when I rented craft spaces in the Yuma Winter Craft Shows. I thought it sounded like so much fun I put in my reservation and after we got home to Idaho planned the trip for the following June for the CE’s and our son’s birthday.

But, hey, it’s the Oregon coast. Can you say R A I N? (Cold…wind)

Arriving in the rain Friday evening, I was a little dismayed thinking about trying to set up our display in the wind and rain on Saturday. I was prepared with boxes of my grandfather’s books (his books regarding sailing often included stories of pirates), a “treasure chest,” trinkets, and pirate scarves. My daughter got right into the whole scene, hand made hair braiding strings (she even decorated the Jack Sparrow look-alike with one), and we had other pirate related gedunks.

To celebrate the birthdays (son born on my hubby’s birthday), we found a special traditional Irish café and ordered a big pot of corned beef and cabbage. The lady there—SOOO gracious and generous—threw in soda bread for us all. (We bought the cake and candles separately.)

So it is that I remember with fondness the soda bread, though I’ve not done so grand a job as the lady in Rockaway Beach. Just in case, however, that you also have a fondness for traditional Irish Soda Bread, I’ve attached a page here containing a special family recipe from one of my favorite Irish authors, Jean Grainger, who just released Last Port of Call, her first book in a new series she calls The Queenstown Series (as well as a second recipe I’ve yet to try but sounds easy). Jean posted her soda bread recipe a couple years ago in response to requests. Last Port of Call is the #1 Bestseller in the Historical Irish Fiction genre. Do yourself a favor and check out her new book—my review scheduled on Friday, March 19.