Ireland information for culture fair

[motherhubbard]

Culture fair is coming up soon and one of the classes I’m working with is doing Ireland. Can anyone help me with simple, inexpensive, and portable recipes that would be appropriate to quickly pass out to about 300 students? I’m also looking for a Kindergarten teacher who would like to correspond. The classes could exchange letters and pictures (drawn or photographs.) I’m interested in any suggestions!

[motherhubbard]

bump! come on.

[Niamh]

What exactly are you looking for MH?

[Lokasenna]

Here a some simple-ish Irish dishes for you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barmbrack

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_stew

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colcannon

I've made all of these with relative sucess, and if I can do it then anyone can!

[Niamh]

Here is a recipe for Dublin Coddle.
http://homecooking.about.com/od/porkrecipes/r/blpork20.htm

[motherhubbard]

Loka- THe barmbrack looks like something that could work. Thanks.

Niamh- I was thinking of a cookie or something like that. We will have 10-15 minutes with 13 groups of 25 kids. We need something they can eat with their hands. Do you know any Kindergarten teachers that would be interested in a letter exchange?

[Niamh]

Not really much cookie/ biscuit wise... I'd go with the Brack. Thats real Irish. We traditionally would eat that at Halloween...but we do eat it all year.
There is a veriation called a tea brack were you soak the fruit over night in cold tea. (yeah the irish are a bit obsessive when it comes to tea!) and spread some butter on the brack with or without jam.
I dont know any kindergarden (preschool/ playschool here) teachers...... we'll my sister is kinda one but shes more of a carer. and those kids are given a lot of junk! :p

there is always potato cakes... (boxty) there are a couple of recipes on this site
http://www.fantasy-ireland.com/Irish-potato-recipe.html

Or soda bread

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1432/irish-soda-bread

Soda Farls

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Irish-Soda-Farls/Detail.aspx

[motherhubbard]

Thanks so much Niamh. I was thinking about soda or potato cakes. We make potato cakes at my house any time we have leftovers. Does your sister work with a group of kids? What age group? I think a picture/letter exchange would be exciting to both sets. Ireland sounds so faraway and mysterious to us. I can't imagine what Arkansas sounds like to you. Actually, I think there we have a lot of Irish custom in this area. It’s hill country and historically a poor country. The Irish were often discriminated against, but many found a sort of refuge here. But, being Irish was still kept a secret. I had bright red hair when I was born and my great grandmother was so sad for me. She would fuss at my mother if she took me out without a hat to cover that hair.

[Niamh]

These kids are between two and four. They come from poorer families. Its council run.
I can ask around for you and see if i can find a primary school teacher who teaches the infant classes (classes where kids learn to read write and basic Math) that might be interested in helping. :)
See, thats an old common misconception that people with red hair have Irish origins. The redheads in Ireland geneologically are decendant from the Danes that settled here. So it is more likely that there be scandinavian blood, than Irish blood flowing threw a redheads blood.
Of course a lot of the red heads in the states probably do have irish geneology! :D there are a lot of Irish decendants in the states. More that in Ireland! :D
I think people with red hair should be proud of their colour. Its beautiful. :)

[motherhubbard]

I would love for you to look around, if you don't mind. And I do like my hair. It's a darker red now but when I was young it was like a ripe peach.

[Niamh]

I'll see what i can do for you! :)