I feel very lucky to have Betty as my friend…she is a teacher at our school and makes 24 Loaves of Irish Soda Bread for staff members at our school, every year for St. Patrick’s Day!!  It takes her two days and she uses 4 stainless steel cookie sheets to alternate baking in the oven…she bakes 2 at a time and it takes 1 hour for each rotation!!

IRISH SODA BREAD RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

4 Cups flour
1 Teaspoon salt
3 1/2 Teaspoon of baking powder
1 Cup sugar
1 Cup raisins
1 lb sour cream
1/2 Teaspoon baking soda
Milk, if bread is too dry

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease and flour cookie sheet pan
Sift flour, salt, baking powder, sugar. Add raisins, mix with sour cream. Add a little milk if too dry.
Transfer to pan, Betty shapes the dough in a square.
Bake for 1 hour.

So she gave me my loaf on Thursday…when I got home, I immediately unwrapped it from the aluminum foil she wraps each loaf in and sliced it, slathered real butter on it and ate several pieces??? Then I got an idea…

A St. Patrick’s Day Sandwich for lunch on Friday!!!  So this is it…brown mustard on top and bottom then layered from bottom to top… butter lettuce, corned beef, cold slaw, sliced avocado and swiss cheese…next, I put it in the oven for about 4 minutes on 375 degrees to melt the cheese and toast the bread…I took a little bite when it came out of the oven, so delicious with the sweetness of raisins in bread and savory filling!  After it cooled, I wrapped it in parchment paper, to pack for lunch…   Even though it was the next day, it was sooo delicious…

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So another lucky thing that happened at school yesterday…we had a visit from 2 World Class Irish Step Dancers!!  Our classroom teacher, Jen, has connections!!  Allison Crawford on the left and Meghan Evans on the right are both New England Regional Champions in Irish step dancing.  They attend Harney Pender Keady Academy of Irish Dance in Walpole, Massachusetts, under the teachings of two-time world champion, Liam Harney.  They both started dancing when they were 5 years old, now at 20 they have enjoyed traveling the world in dancing competitions, which they have placed in the top 20 individually and their team has come in 1st…ultimately they would like to dance with Riverdance!!  Enjoy this video below…

They are lovely young ladies…they were very poised when answering questions from our kindergarteners and their 5th-grade buddies, then taught them all a few Irish dancing steps!!!

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I saw this plaque in my doctor’s waiting room this week and just had to take a picutre of it…I knew it would be inspirational in some way…and so it is… I’m lucky, but we are all lucky just to have people like Betty in our world that will give selflessly their time and efforts to make 24 loaves of Irish Soda Bread and give them out to hard working teachers that will share it with their families and friends…she touched so many lives and spread joy and  happiness that the world needs.  And we are also lucky to have young ladies like Allison and Meghan as our new generation, who will share their time and talent to teach our young children how passion and practice for a craft and a good healthy lifestyle can lead to happy and fulfilling living…they had the power to make us happy and did it…