ST. PATRICK'S DAY

I'm Linking today to Beverly's PINK SATURDAY, so there's a little garnish of PINK amongst the GREEN.

The above picture is the lovely gift which greeted us first thing this St. Patrick’s Day morning.   The bread’s from Caro’s bakery and it’s called Irish Breakfast Bread.

The note’s in GREEN, probably written when she arrived at home about three, and all left on the counter for us:

Top O’ the Morning to you!   A Little Something Irish to start your day!  And a smiley-face.

I couldn’t resist setting the table to befit such a serendipitous, apt feast, and so the green Melmac squares, the pink napkins and creamer, the apple-green teapot filled with Earl Grey.

I thought at first it might be a loaf of Soda Bread (that IS one of the ingredients, however) encrusted with salt, but when I opened the package and tasted the crystals on my fingers, it was that crumbly large-grained sugar which makes such a lovely soft crunch between your teeth.

The crust is nice and chewy, and the texture is rich and smoothly heavy, slightly sweet, and reminiscent of a wonderful Pannettone, without all the dried fruit---just soft raisins.

Chris ran out to take a few snaps in the sunshine while I put on the kettle, and came back with one of our FOUR JONQUILS which have been nodding merrily in this wonderful sunny weather.

  

We enjoyed bread and butter and cheese and tea---an echo of the thousands of mornings of my Irish ancestors, but probably on a much more sumptuous note.   I remarked that the beautiful little loaf was just perfect, and that I would imagine the women of those long-ago households might have had to supply a loaf EACH for the morning meal for her hard-working, off-to-field-and-flock-and-mine menfolk.    And bread and cheese was probably the entire content of many a lunch-pail as well, and “glad to get it,” as my Mammaw used to say.

I’m off now to cut a twist of cheesecloth for the spices and herbs to go into the Corned Beef Pot---we somehow have THREE sturdy cabbages in the fridge and a basket of little potatoes, and I think a bit more of this Irish bread and cheese might round the day off nicely.

I wish you all a sweet, sunny St. Patrick’s Day!!