Day 17: Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Today, with a four-leaf clover, a pot of the gold at the end of the rainbow, and the luck of the Irish, we celebrate the day where everyone wears green and celebrates, well, Saint Patrick!



In our IED class, we were supposed to have a quiz. Thankfully, that was postponed (shoutout to Shane Patrick Dolan!), and we ended up having a party where we ate Irish Soda Bread! So, in honor of St. Patrick's Day and the postponement of the IED quiz, I'm going to blog about Irish Soda Bread!
Irish Soda Bread is a dense bread made notoriously with baking soda (hence, "soda") rather than yeast in the leavening process. This makes the bread less airy and light. In most loaves, raisins are added to make the bread taste sweeter and better. Irish Soda Bread was once popular because it was relatively cheap, and the soda made the bread less likely to perish. Essentially, it was perfect for the days where supermarkets were not 5 minutes away in driving distance.
Below is a recipe for Irish Soda Bread by Ina Garten, otherwise known as "Barefoot Contessa" on her show on Food Network. She's one of my mom's favorite chefs, and I know that my mom gets a lot of recipes from her. The second link has a brief history about Irish Soda Bread and a few recipe variations. Have fun, and happy Saint. Patrick's Day!

• http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/irish-soda-bread-recipe.html
• http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/holidays/stpatricks/sodabread

So the night ends now, with me writing yet another blog post. Until next time, this is Rachel Ma, and, in the words of Alton Brown, I bid you good eating.

Song I'm humming tonight: Just Give Me a Reason by P!ink (feat. Nate Gruess)