Monday, March 17, 2008

Top O' the morning to you

St. Patrick's Day


Oh! St. Patrick was a gentleman,
Who came of decent people;
He built a church in
Dublin
town,
And on it put a steeple
His father was a Gallagher;
His mother was a Brady;
His aunt was an O'Shaughnessy
His uncle an O'Grady.
So, success attend St. Patrick's fist,
For he's a saint so clever;
O! he gave the snakes and toads a twist,
And bothered them forever!

The Wicklow hills are very high,
And so's the Hill of Howth, sir;
But there's a hill, much bigger still,
Much higher nor them both, sir.
'Twas on the top of this high hill
St. Patrick preached his sarmint
That drove the frogs into the bogs,
And banished all the varmint.
So, success attend St. Patrick's fist,
For he's a saint so clever;
O! he gave the snakes and toads a twist,
And bothered them forever!

~ Henry Bennett


Clover leafs and the Trinity

In honor of St. Patrick, the children (as mentioned in another post previous to this), have been creating artistic works of art (aka: coloring up a storm) and required a perfect spot for displaying their works of art, complete with green clover leafs for all to see. After the children were viewing how my friend Denise's daughter displayed her vast artistic collection on birds and florals, each placed within the individual glass framed areas on their French doors, our children thought it was a brilliant idea and heh, we had some doors like those mom! Its a far from a complete showcase, but it's a perfect place to start. (wink) Thank you Denise, my creative friend, for another brilliant idea!

French door window displays will only
grow and grow here, thanks to Denise.

They also thoroughly enjoyed viewing our movie titled “Patrick, brave shepherd of Emerald Isle”, and accompanying him on his journey through pirate ships and slavery, onward up to eventual Bishop who rid the isles of the snake infestations and so much more.

Books here, books over there, and even
more books elsewhere. Lots of reading today!

Their very own original paper doll crafts.

Cute huh?


Passing on a very easy and favorite recipe....

Irish Soda bread

3 ½ cups flour

½ c bran

2 tsps baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. sugar

1 ¾ cup buttermilk

  • Combine the flour, bran, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.
  • Add the buttermilk to form a slightly sticky dough.
  • Turn out on to a floured surface and knead very lightly (10-12 times). Too much kneading will toughen the bread (oh, and even if you are tempted, it’s not playdough even if it is really fun to knead!)
  • Shape into a round shape, about 1 inch thick.
  • Drag a sharp knife through a bit of flour and cut a cross shape on top of the formed dough, and then place it on a greased baking sheet.
  • Bake at 400 degrees about 30-35 minutes or until brown and a wooden pick comes out clean when entered into the center.

Serve warm with Irish cream embellished coffee (wink) or Irish cream hot chocolate.

Makes one loaf.