The Big Field Trip_Ireland

Homeschool Corner

Ireland

...Why the Irish are endowed with this gift of gab, whereas the rest of Northern Europe seems to have been skipped over, I assume stems from their proximity to the celebrated Blarney Stone. The stone, which apparently bestows the gift of eloquence upon all who kiss it, was only miles from our route days ago down south. We could easily have stopped by. Being practical Americans of German descent, however (with insufficient Cherokee in the mix to convince us otherwise), we had calculated the 27 extra minutes that a detour to Blarney would have cost, added in the value offered by the alleged gift of eloquence, and then subtracted the gross-out factor involved in kissing a boulder dampened by centuries of slobber. Ultimately, we opted to take the quick road around the town, thereby breaking Rule #2 of traveling in Ireland…

...We ate soda bread daily in Ireland. At its best, soda bread is an airy hybrid of a fine yeast bread and a southern style biscuit. At its worst it more closely resembles a sturdy building material. Soda breads began to appear in the mid-nineteenth century as sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) became available as a leavening agent. In order to act as a leavening agent the soda needs to be mixed with an acid, in this case buttermilk. Since the mid-eighteen hundreds, soda breads have caught on in many parts of the world because they are cheap and easy to bake...

Irish Soda Bread

Awards & Publications

About Us / Contact

"Hamams and Sacrificial Altars”

SLAB, Fall 2016

"Which God Is Ours"

Summer 2016 Colere

"The Mysterious Crotch-Grabbing Handshake: Hard Lessons in Vietnam" 2015 Literal Latte Essay Award

"Halloween in Bulgaria"

2015 Travelers' Tales Solas Awards

"Thanksgiving on the Bosphorus"

Santa Fe Writers Project, February 2016:

"Garlic Naan for Hanuman"

Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition 2015:

"Escaping the Swine Flu, Nearly"

Halfway Down the Stairs, December 2015:

"Farewell to the Highlands"

Your Life Is A Trip, October 2015:

"Homeward Bound"

Your Life Is A Trip, May 2015:

The Big Field Trip

"Escaping the Great Mosque of Uqba" World Press Review, April 2015:

"Homeschooling on the Road"

International Living, August 2014:

AWARDS & PUBLICATIONS

Stories and Photos from

The Big Field Trip

Front-page feature story

Santa Fe New Mexican, March 2015:

"Which God Is Ours?"

2015 Travelers' Tales Solas Award and

published in Asia Literary Review, Spring 2015:

"The Scorpion Whisperer"

Eventus Magazine, June 2014:

The Big Field Trip

What do you get when two blissfully-ignorant lovebirds get the harebrained idea to schlep three children,

five backpacks, a guitar, and a garlic press on a two-year journey around the world?

Awards & Publications

About Us / Contact