I'm Irish for the Day and Here's some Irish Soda Bread

And it is definetely Ireland's day to shine after that magnificent bash against England, the first major upset of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup!

Ireland managed to beat England's score of 327 with a beautiful innings of 329 runs, most of which were provided by Kevin O'Brien, the new darling of the cricket world!
Not only did he score an Incredible Irish knock of 113 runs, he scored the fastest century in the history of the World Cup.  Well done, Ireland!  Enjoy the victory and may you have many more!  I'm telling everyone, and you should too, that today, I'm Irish in celebration of a great game of cricket!

Anyhoo, in other cricketing news, South Africa are playing the Dutch, and in a few hours, my lovely Canadian lads will be playing my lovely lads of Pakistan.  What a dilema, who do I cheer for?  Well, the Pakistan team is number one in my heart, but I will absolutely be supporting little Nitish Kumar, the 16 year old from Canada.  Yes! May he score many runs today!  And finally, the day before yesterday, Sri Lanka beat Kenya, but we all saw that one coming from miles away.  Keep your eyes open because I'm going to do a little somethin' for quick bowler Malinga in the next few days. 

Right. Now back to being Irish for a day.  As we all know, the Irish are tough, adaptable and good looking and they also make some very nice quickbreads.   Here's one of my favourites, great on a cold winter day, slathered with lots of butter and served as an accompaniment to soup; or you can put lots of butter and jam on a slice and have it with your afternoon tea.  Either way, you'll agree that being Irish, even if it's just for a little while, is a very good thing indeed.  Okay!  Let's get on that culinary rainbow and let's make some soda bread.

That's right, but it's just for today!  Not too much time left!!!

Soda Bread for Celebrating a Day of Irishness

Ingredients
2 cups Buttermilk
4 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Pre-heat your oven to 450 F or 233 C.
Mix the dry ingredients together in a big bowl.
Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, and add most of the buttermilk.
Stir outwards with a wooden spoon or use your hands to mix together and form a dough.
Add more milk if necessary, you want a slightly sticky dough, not too dry.
Put the dough on a floured board and pat it down into a round shape.
Flatten the dough so that it's about 5 or 6 centimetres thick.
Place on a baking sheet.
Cut a deep cross into the dough.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes, then turn the heat down to 400 F or 204 C.
Continue baking at the reduced heat for about another 20 or so minutes.
Tap on the bottom of the bread, if it sounds hollow, it is cooked through.

Serve with lots of lovely butter and jam or however you like it!

So that's how you can start being Irish today, by having a nice piece of lovely, old fashioned soda bread.  Next thing you know, you'll be playing better cricket, dancing the Riverdance, and singing along with Bono at the next U2 concert!  Go Ireland!  Go Soda Bread!

Happy Cricket, Happy Irishness!