- Nyel’s Irish Soda Bread
During the course of a year, we have a great many houseguests. That’s due, in part, to having numbers of friends who live a good distance from Oysterville. We are enough off the beaten track that visitors from afar can’t easily pop by for an afternoon visit. We have plenty of room and we love having people in this big house, so sleepovers work out perfectly.
In fact, I’ve always thought that the house, itself, ‘enjoys’ having its rooms filled. My grandparents raised seven children here and all of their friends made it the Playtime Headquarters of the village; the sewing bee met here; my grandfather conducted some of his Justice of the Peace business here. And in those days, when getting to Oysterville wasn’t easy and staying for awhile made sense, there was often a relative or two living in the house for a few months at a time.
Right now the house must be totally happy. On Thursday, St. Patrick’s Day, we had some neighbors in for the traditional corned beef and cabbage and Nyel’s fabulous Irish soda bread. Last night, my California-friend-since-eighth-grade and her husband arrived and will be here until Tuesday. And since it was Friday night, the time of our weekly gathering of friends, several others dropped by from 5:00 to 7:00 to check in, catch up, and unwind. We love Friday nights!
Tomorrow, musicians Randal Bays and Davey Mathias are coming to do a House Concert on Sunday afternoon – 35 more people, but only for the afternoon and evening. Randal and Davey, though, will also be here until Tuesday. So, in addition to chatter and laughter, we add music to the mix. Marvelous!
In the summer, our rule-of-thumb is, ‘you are on your own for breakfast and lunch but we’ll meet in the library for the cocktail hour and then have dinner together.’ That frees up everyone to go to the beach, go hiking at Leadbetter Point, take a nap, or whatever. At this time of year, though, we usually spend a lot of time sitting by the fire visiting and settling the affairs of the world. And, mostly, we have three sit-down meals every day.
Eggs, of course, are standard breakfast fare during these months when the girls are laying regularly. And Nyel always has a big supply of his home-made granola on hand. Soup or sandwiches for lunch – or maybe go to Bailey’s Café in Nahcotta. Dinner varies, depending on the desires of our company. It’s surprising how many people don’t really care for seafood. And if there are strict vegans in our midst, planning is sometimes a challenge.
Nyel, the Head Chef of the household, always rises to the occasion. Sometimes visitors pitch in or even take over the kitchen. I’m happy to take charge of clean-up and event planning – my role, I think, is Social Chairman. And, now that the household is astir, I’d better get on it…
It sounds as if you are having a wonderful time, Sydney! Houseguests who can entertain are certainly a plus! I should be happy to clean up if someone else would do the cooking, too. We had our scallop/mushroom pie for St. Patrick’s day with some cole slaw, our version of an Irish diner since the recipe came from an Irish cook book purchased in the ’70s. I used to make a mean loaf of soda bread, but the last time I tried it would have made a better door-stop so I leave it to our Safeway which does a good job and uses sugar instead of the evil high fruitose corn syrup. A tremendous amout has been consumed the last two weeks! Tonight we are tipping our hat to Persian New Years which begins on Monday and having Persian food to celebrate Frank’s birthday a bit belatedly. But I will be thinking of you all being jolly tonight!
Speaking of houseguests, I wanted to answer one of your recent questions. After I asked, tongue in cheek, if others would be staying in MY ROOMS this weekend, you asked whether I’d slept in all four of them. The answer is yes! Once in the pink room, once or twice in the big room, and many times in the tiny but snug “dog” room and the well-appointed twin-bed room. All during separate visits, of course. On another subject — please tell Nyel that his Irish soda bread is gorgeous! It looks more contained than mine. Did he bake it in a round cake pan? And a comment for Stephanie — I read online that baking soda must be very fresh to do it’s work properly — who knew? I used to keep and use the same box of old soda for years! I bought fresh soda for my first attempt at soda bread last week, and the bread turned out perfectly light and wonderful. I used Ina Garten’s recipe.
Nyel says he just uses a 2-quart Pyrex baking dish (square); the bread retains the shape he forms it into. I’m here to tell you that it’s as delicious as it is gorgeous! He doesn’t remember where he got the recipe…