How the Irish Saved Ethnic Bread of the Month

Centuries ago, in the green hills of Eire, the early Irish monks were watching as Western Civilization let its scholasticism get seriously lost, with art and literature being forgotten...

That is to say, Rachel and Eric, in their quest to make a new ethnic bread each month in 2008 were facing a serious challenge. After a less-than-full success in March with tortillas, they had gone for an intriguing recipe: Kosai, or Nigerian Black-eyed Pea Fritters. As exotic as this may sound, it seemed like a straight-forward recipe. We're not sure where it went wrong, but never have we had such an unsucessful cooking experiment. As we threw the dough balls into the oil to deep-fry them, they just dissolved. Even a bad cook makes some kind of food in the end, though it may be unsavory. We were left with nothing. Nothing. Our food just disappeared. That, my friends, is failure.

So the monks of Ireland took it upon themselves to preserve all the learning and ancient manuscripts of the West, and thus education and civilization were saved...

That is to say, after two non-successes, our quest stood on the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and we would fail. Then Eunice gave us a recipe for Irish Soda Bread, and on almost the last day of April, cream of tartar, carroway seeds, and a bunch of other magic, came together in a veritable salvific bread. We are back on track.