Great-Grandmother’s Homemade Irish Soda Bread

I am thinking about time travel today and not because I have been watching Cosmos.  I am thinking about time travel because I want to go back to a specific place in time.  I want to go back to Elko, Nevada, March 1960.  My mom would be nine years old.  She would most likely be in the sweetest dress you have ever seen with her hair bouncing in its natural curls.  My full-blooded Irish great-grandmother Hortense would be in the kitchen.  In the kitchen she would be busy but not too busy to be singing.  She would be signing the songs of her homeland while her hands moved quickly.   Not too quickly of course to lift a spoon to my mom’s lips and offer her a taste of the meal to come. 

She would smile and sing and make the foods from her country while my mother watched, helped and learned from the master.  This is the moment I want to go back to.  It doesn’t need to be for long, I would settle for a minute or two. 

So it is with the joyful singing spirit of my great-grandmother and our beautiful Irish ancestry that I humbly offer you a simple recipe to warm your heart, table and tummy on this St. Patrick’s Day.  Here is to making memories that will last for generations.

 

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Serve warm with butter and in the heart of the old Irish blessings

 

May your day be touched by a bit of Irish luck, brightened by a song in your heart, & warmed by the smiles of the people you love.

 

Marcella Rose