Irish Soda Bread

420 g wholemeal flour

375 g plain white flour

1 t salt

1 t baking soda (bicarbonate soda)

680 ml buttermilk

sift flours, salt and soda into large bowl

stir in enough buttermilk to make a firm dough

turn dough onto floured surface, knead until smooth

shape into 8 in round and place on floured or greased baking tray

cut 1/2 in deep slashes on round in a cross shape, brush with milk

bake at 430F (220C) for about 50 minutes

lift onto wire rack to cool

banANNA bread

Banana bread for breakfast today. This is mostly the same recipe as the one I made in 2008, but slightly different.

3/4 c butter

1 1/4 c sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 C mashed banana

3 1/2 C whole wheat flour

5 tsp baking powder

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, add mashed banana. Sift dry ingredients together and add, blending well. Butter two loaf pans and turn half of batter into each. (or dust pans with flour) Bake in moderate oven 350F (175C) for 1 hour or until tested done.

In the previous recipe I used whole wheat flour. In Ireland, they have either white, self-rising white, or "whole meal" which is whole wheat but not completely ground smooth. I used 2 1/2 C whole meal flour and 1 C regular white flour. And in the other recipe it called for 4 t baking powder, 1 t baking soda, but since I didn't have as much banana, I used an extra t of powder and left out the soda. I read here that the difference between baking soda and baking powder is that baking soda, bicarbonate soda, is a base and it reacts with an acid to bubble up and act as the leavening agent in a recipe. Well with less banana than the recipe called for, I used baking powder which already has the "acid" in the mix, or cream of tartar. So there you have it... Banana Bread!

Farmhouse Spinach & Double Cheese Plait

500 g spinach

15 g butter

1 medium leek, finely chopped

2 t chopped fresh thyme

300 g self-rising flour

80 g finely grated parmesan

1 t seasoned pepper

3 T chopped fresh basil

150 g feta cheese, crumbled

250 ml milk

*add spinach to pan of boiling water, let simmer for about a minute, drain and press out water

*heat butter in a frying pan and sautee chopped leek and thyme until soft; add spinach, stirring on medium heat for about 5 minutes or until excess water is evaporated

*stir flour into medium bowl, stir in parmesan, pepper, basil, three quarters of the feta, spinach mixture and enough milkl for the dough to mix to a soft, sticky dough.

*turn dough onto floured surface, knead untli smooth. Divide into three pieces, shape into 14" sausages. Plait sausages together on greased baking tray, sprinkle with remaining feta.

*bake for 40 mins at about 220C (430F)

Very tasty bread, I will put up the conversion for "American's" some time this week. I recommend letting your bread cool for about 20 minutes before cutting into the loaf, or you'll be like me and get nicely squished slices that haven't finished setting.

Recipe from The Australian Women's Weekly 'Muffins and Breads' 2011

Bray Head

4 1/2 x 6" View of Bray Head from the coast.

For Ann McNulty

From Bray Head looking towards Greystone

4 1/2 x 6" drawing looking fro on top of Bray Head towards Greystone in County Wicklow.

For Magdalena

St. Patrick's

4 1/2 x 6" Graphite drawing of St. Patrick's Church, Wicklow, Ireland.

Thank you card for Ann and Joe F.

Pouch no 2

Draw-string pouch made from red denim and yarn. Perfect for collecting sea-shells!

Graphite drawing, Wicklow

4 1/2 x 6" Graphite

Sent to Emily S.

Black Castle

This used to be a really big castle in Wicklow... now it's not. You can read about it here.

This one was sent to Erin T.