The year of the big wind...

My mother's grandmother Kitty O'Shaughnessy did not know how old she was. My mother told me that Kitty was born in the "year of the big wind" in Ireland.

As a young girl the momentum of that big wind blew her over the wide, wild ocean from Ireland on a big boat and landed her right smack in the middle of Brooklyn, New York. She grew up and married an Irish brick layer, they had a daughter and named her Kate. My grandmother Kate was blind from birth and Kitty loved her girl right up. She taught her everything she knew and empowered her in a time when women were not easily empowered. Kate grew up under her mother's mighty wings.

Kate met my grandfather Walter at the Lighthouse International, a gathering place for the blind in New York. Walter was blind and made his living as a musician and piano tuner, the two fell in love, married and had my mother Florence and my uncle Walter. Their love was so strong that they adopted and raised another son Thomas.

Kitty was an ever present force of nature in their lives, their rock, their shelter in every storm, this woman who had survived the biggest wind that Ireland ever had and a trip across the ocean on a big boat.

This is a recipe that I have adapted to gluten-free from a traditional Irish Wheaten Soda Bread. It is deep and dark like Kitty's eyes, rich and delicious like her sense of humor and it's delicate crumb is light like her beautiful and giving heart. This is for you Kitty, Thank you from a girl who is so glad you were born.

Kitty's Buckwheat Soda Bread:

(I really do prefer and recommend Bob's Red Mill flours for this bread)

1/2 cup Buckwheat flour,
1 1/2cup Millet flour
1 cup Rice flour
6 Tbsp. Sweet butter
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Salt
scant 2 Cups of Buttermilk

~Mix the Buckwheat, Millet and Brown Rice Flours together in a bowl.
~Add the Baking Soda and Salt.
~Cut in the butter until completely worked into the flour.
~Add the Buttermilk and mix together gently. As with any quick bread, do not beat, knead or over mix the batter or the ensuing bread will be tough.
~Gather the shaggy mess into a loose ball and place into a buttered pie dish.
~Cut an x into the top of the loaf with the back of your knife.
~Bake in an oven preheated to 400 degrees for about 45 minutes.

This bread is wonderful when eaten warm right out of the oven. It is also quite scrumptuous cold or toasted and served with butter the next day. Utterly delicious when consumed with a cup of Meskill coffee "strong enough to stand a spoon on it's end" and that's a story for another day!

Have an ever so beautiful gluten-free day!