I love early mornings, when I'm up and the girls are still asleep. When it's blissfully quiet, so I can hear myself think. Some of my Twitter friends are up early, too. Okay, a lot of them are an hour ahead of me, so it's not quite as early for them. =) This morning, I had a chance to chat with Rebecca for a few minutes. It was actually in a different moment of peace and quiet, after everyone else was out the door but before I had to finish getting ready for work. We exchanged a few tweets about Robert Frost, and before I knew it, I had a bunch of his poems downloaded onto my iPad. I love technology, and how it can put me in touch with friends and poetry at any hour of the day. As I was paging through some of the poems, one in particular caught my eye. It seemed perfect to go with a cup of tea and a bit of toasted soda bread and a chat with a friend.
"When a friend calls to me from the road
And slows his horse to a meaning walk,
I don't stand still and look around
On all the hills I haven't hoed,
And shout from where I am, What is it?
No, not as there is a time to talk.
I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,
Blade-end up and five feet tall,
And plod: I go up to the stone wall
For a friendly visit."
A Time to Talk, Robert Frost
Unfortunately, time to myself--including time to bake--has been in short supply recently. That's why I'm posting this recipe almost a week late. Irish Soda Bread was the featured Tuesdays with Dorie recipe for March 20th. I think lots of people actually made it for St. Patrick's Day, but that just didn't happen here. Since I didn't get to it in time, I had the benefit of my friend Nancy's tips (in her post, here). I did half the recipe, substituted some white whole wheat flour for part of the all-purpose flour, and baked it in a small loaf pan.
The verdict? To make up for my tardiness, I had my soda bread with some Irish butter and Irish Breakfast tea, and really enjoyed it. I'm glad I used some whole wheat flour; I like the added flavor.
This recipe was hosted by Carla of Chocolate Moosey and Cathleen of My Culinary Mission. You can find the original recipe and their variations in their blog posts. To see what everyone else thought of this recipe, check out the Links.
Looks beautiful! Your morning give me hope that one day I'll actually sleep later than my kiddos! ;) But really where would I be without my 5am wake up visits? lol We liked this one, too!
ReplyDeleteYour bread looks great! Especially that last picture with butter. :) Peace and quiet time in the morning sounds awesome. I need some (and I don't have kids!).
ReplyDeleteGlad you got a little bit of alone time, it definitely seems to be in short supply over there. The bread looks wonderful! After seeing your pics on instagram this weekend, I was craving some!
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing like a good dose of alone time! Poetry, chat with a friend, tea and soda bread are the perfect ways to fill some stray quiet moments. We enjoyed this bread too.
ReplyDeleteSo great that you are a morning person. I have tried so many times and failed :(
ReplyDeleteI'm making it my personal mission to try all the soda bread I can in Ireland. I'll report back. I hope that most of them do not contain raisins, or currants, or any other sort of unpleasant dried fruity surprise!
Sounds like you had your own little Irish holiday after the fact :-)
ReplyDeleteI love weekend mornings before everyone else gets up - that hour or two is just heavenly.
Early morning is my favorite time of day...I haven't fallen behind yet, and the day has so much promise.
ReplyDeleteYou're ahead of me, I've made my Irish soda bread but still haven't posted it. Maybe tomorrow... Yours looks fabulous; I wish I'd made mine with whole wheat.