For St. Patrick's Day, I decided not to make the Shepherd's Pie I had been contemplating, and instead made an Irish Stew. Quite delicious. Hadn't done one of these in several years. Just the other day, I stored the last of it in my freezer. Always good to have something like this on hand.

Unfortunately, behind nearly every silver lining lurks a cloud. In this case:

The Irish Soda Bread Disaster

I am groaning out loud right now, as the memories come flooding back to me.

Now, I am usually a pretty good cook, but when it comes to baking from scratch, I can be (and usually am) incredibly bad. It takes me several attempts at a recipe until it comes out of my oven in an edible form. My wife had a near-magic touch when she baked. My touch can be more like the kiss of death.

And, so, this past St. Patrick's Day, I decided to try my hand at making soda bread for the very first time. I've been saving various recipes for over thirty years, and found one for soda bread that appeared to have promise. Nothing too elaborate, just a basic traditional recipe that seemed appealing. I figured it would go well with the stew simmering on the stove top.

Wrong.

I followed the instructions just about to the letter, but ultimately ended up with a round loaf that was rock hard on the outside, quite undercooked on the inside, far too dense... as a matter of fact, if I had drilled a hole through the middle, it would have made an excellent barbell plate. But, as an edible item, it most certainly fell short. I actually broke my favorite steak knife on it. The drill bit probably would have broken, as well...

Since it was of no use - other than as a possible doorstop or lethal projectile (think OddJob from the movie "Goldfinger"), it was consigned to the trash.

But, since I absolutely hate to admit defeat in the kitchen, I will go back to the drawing board and, more than likely, make several trial runs between now and St. Patrick's Day 2013.

Live and learn.

Signor V.