COBH, IRELAND . . . and Irish Soda Bread

Setting sail from Southampton

The Caribbean Princess's second port of call was the town of Cobh (pronounced Cove) which is the on the south coast of Ireland.

The town rises up a steep slope to the neo-Gothic St. Colman’s Cathedral which was started in 1868 and took over 50 years to complete.  Children started arriving all dressed up for their first communion service.  Seeing all the little girls in their white dresses and the boys in their grey suits took Bryan back to his childhood, and we stayed for the whole service.  

  We were drawn also to the Queenstown Story Heritage Centre because it tells about the emigration.  Cobh was the port of departure for 2.5 million of the 6 million people who emigrated from Ireland after 1848.

 There was a lot of good stuff in it but there was also a lot of smallish print on the walls – when I want to read, I prefer a book to squinting at a wall.  A museum display is more effective, I think, if it gives me a large picture and a short comment in large print. 

There was a street fair on the shore  with entertainment, and we loved the friendly pubs.  It was a good day . . . pity I forgot my camera on board.   

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Our trip inspired me to delve into our Irish cookbooks and I chose a new recipe for Sweet Irish Soda Bread. 

Fresh out of the oven, to me it seemed a bit disappointing.  One of the reasons may be that I reduced the salt from 1 tsp to ¾ tsp.

So I looked back and found that we gave a very favorable review to a different recipe.  See:

http://eleanorstadnyk.blogspot.ca/2012/12/chef-lovik.html

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Here's a lovely First Communion picture of my first cousin's granddaughters: