Shakes and Twists. Layton Cartoon.

Matt was in the living room and I was in the bathroom. I could hear something clinking which I thought he was doing then I saw the vanity shaking. It was an earthquake – the whole building shook. I subsequently found out the epicentre was near Washington, DC, about 360 miles away as the crow flies. It was a 5.9 magnitude quake and lots of buildings were evacuated – silly thing is it was all over by the time an evacuation would have been complete. Apparently the broad area of its effect was because it wasn’t very deep, approximately 1 km., it was felt from Southern Ontario to North Carolina.

We are doing very well in Ontario lately we had a twister last Sunday which did a lot of damage in Goderich which isn’t too far from here. One person killed and 37 injured. People aren’t too prepared for tornadoes in Ontario although we do get them now and again. We sure aren’t well prepared for quakes.

A friend posted this cartoon on Facebook yesterday, it was from the Toronto Star, I thought it was such a fitting one for Jack Layton who died the day before. Her comment was “he would probably have worn a helmet, but…”  Everyone seems to have thought a lot of him no matter what their politics. He is to lie in state in both Ottawa and Toronto until his funeral on Saturday which will take place in the Roy Thompson Hall, downtown Toronto at 2 p.m.

We have a lot of cauliflower in the house at the moment so I was looking for a soup recipe. I found the following one which involved the most unusual use of Cheerios so I thought I would share it. I will not be making it as I don’t intend to go buy a packet of Cheerios just for it, but if you already have them in your cereal cupboard…..

Cauliflower Soup

Food Network.ca

Courtesy of : Bob Blumer

Yield :  6

Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower, broken into florets
• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
• Butter
• 1 quart vegetable broth
• 3 cups half and half or whipping cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon Indian spices (i.e. garam masala)
• 1 cup Cheerios

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In a sauté pan over medium heat, melt butter and add spices. Add Cheerios and toss thoroughly. Transfer spiced Cheerios to a sheet pan and bake for 10 minutes, or until crispy. Reserve.
3. In a large pot over medium heat bring cauliflower, onion and cream to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer until cauliflower is completely soft.
4. Purée entire contents of pot in a blender until smooth. Thin with vegetable stock until soup consistency. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
5. To serve, pour soup into a cereal-style bowl and sprinkle generously with spiced Cheerios.

Have a great day