Soda Bread – Rosepoint Publishing

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.