I’ve never tasted Irish Soda Bread until a few days back. There was a tasting at my local natural foods store, I tasted it and I liked it! The first thing I did coming home was to do some research into its history and to find a recipe similar to the one I had tasted.

Then I heard there’s an Irish Soda Bread competition in my town. I love food competitions! It’s amazing how different people cook the same item in different ways. I decided to take part.

Now the Soda Bread had become a challenge! I’ve studied several recipes, baked a couple, and come up with my own versions. I’ve decided to enter one traditional and one with raisins and lemon.

No matter how the judges think about my breads on Sunday, I’ll let you know what they thought and if they’re any good, well, they are, but good enough to be called Irish, I’ll post the recipes too.

What would St.Patrick’s Day be without the luck of the Irish! Here’s how to crochet a shamrock. It’s fast and easy. Make a lot and place them all over the place. Wear one on your lapel! Or attach them and hang them up on the wall.

Crochet Shamrock

Use any kind of green yarn and a crochet hook that fits the yarn. The thicker the yarn, the bigger the shamrock!

Chain 4. All stitches go into the first Chain.
Make 2 Triple Crochet (TC) into the first chain.
Chain 3.

Make a Single Crochet (SC) into the first chain.
You now have your first leaf. Make two more leaves by twice making *Chain 3, 2 TC, Chain 3, 1 SC* into the first chain.

Make the stem by making a chain of about 6 stitches.

You can finish it now or you can make the stem thicker by making a SC into the second Chain from the hook, then slip stitch all the way back to the leaves.
Weave in ends.

Happy spring! Cheers!

~ Marina

So, did they like my bread? Click here to find out!