Nexus

Pureed Cauliflower Soup with Mushroom Crostini

1 head white cauliflower, chopped
1 potato, peeled & chopped
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
4 bay leaves
1/2 cup 35% cream
2 quarts vegetable stock
2 tbsp butter
Salt & pepper to taste
4 cups focaccia, diced ½ inch cubes
Olive oil
1/4 cup dry mushroom (porcini or any other edible type)
1/4 cup grated parmigiano

1. To Make Soup:  In a stockpot on med-high heat, add the butter, onion and garlic, then cook until translucent.
2. Add cauliflower, potato, bay leaves and enough vegetable stock to cover the cauliflower.
3. Simmer gently for about one hour. Add more stock if needed.
4. Add the cream, and using as immersion blender, puree the soup well. If needed, you can strain the soup. Be sure to keep the soup warm.
5. To Make Crostini:  Put the dry mushrooms in a coffee grinder and blend they turn into a powder, and then store in a shaker.
6. Season the focaccia with olive oil, salt and pepper, then bake at 400F until crisp.
7. While still hot, sprinkle with cheese and mushroom powder, and then serve.

Pasta & Cauliflower

4 cups white cauliflower, chopped
1 cup white onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, crushed
6 filets anchovy
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
1 pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 chili pepper, chopped
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
1 lb pasta
Parmigiano

1. In a preheated skillet, add onions, garlic and anchovies with some olive oil. Stir well until translucent
2. Add the chili peppers, cauliflower, then season with salt & pepper, and gently sauté until soft.
3. Boil the pasta in plenty of salted water until done to your liking.
4. Strain the pasta and add to the sauce. Add parsley, tomatoes and toss well.
5. Just before serving add a generous amount of grated parmigiano.

Weekend Wrap-up

The weekends just fly right by. Wouldn't it be nice to have a three day weekend every weekend? I had a great busy weekend. On Friday night we went to a Christmas craft show. This is an annual event - I go with a couple of girl friends. S's husband is an artist and always has a booth at the show. We each bought a few things - I picked up a couple of pieces of silver jewellary. One of the most fun booths sells Mennonite Cookies. There must have been 50 huge bins of all different types of Christmas type cookies. You tell the ladies what you want and they fill up boxes of cookies for you. They were totally yummy. I bought 2 dozen and they were all gone by this morning. We wandered around the show - up and down the aisles until we had seen most of what was there.

Saturday I went downtown to get my hair done - I got it quite a bit shorter than usual and I'm not sure if I like it yet or not - it will take me a few days at least to figure out how to style it. Then I rushed home to get ready to go for dinner and to the Mississauga Symphony. I have a friend who plays in the orchestra and he got me very inexpensive seat for the concert.

Today, I was feeling very lazy and spent a few hours lazing around the house. It was nice. I went out to dinner with several of my girl friends tonight - I hadn't seen most of this group since the beginning of the summer so it was nice to catch up again. One of them caught someone breaking into her car as she was leaving - she left a few minutes before the rest of us - she went out and came right back in again - she decided it was best not to disturb the person in the middle of the break in - we sent the restaurant manager back out with her - by then the thief had left without actually taking anything.

So here I am - watching Desparate Housewives and not feeling at all like working tomorrow. Can't I have one more day please?

Part Of The Wait

Part of the wait is over ... the next level down in the org chart was released today - thankfully my boss is on it. That was a relief. I was actually in the first day of a two day training course on 'Communication Skills for IT Professionals' with my boss today. Good course - we spent several hours doing a quiz that determines which of four different communication types we are. I found my type surprising, but, after I thought about it, I realized the type assigned to me by the quiz was quite accurate. I learned something of myself from it. It is interesting to take this type of course with your boss. The next level of the reorg (my level) won't be announced until January - although I know I will have an inkling of what's coming as some discussion of this has already happened.

We are still reeling from the news of our former president - it has been confirmed that he has terminal cancer. This was our biggest shock - most of us can't even talk about it without getting emotional. I don't know him as well as some, but like and admire him tremendously. You really never do know what's coming. As the song currently on the radio says 'live like you're dying'.

Roasted Beet Salad

Oh my god - this is just awesome! My mashed sweet potatoes from last weekend were so good that I decided I needed to make more tonight. Then I saw some nice bunches of beets in the shop when I was in getting the sweet potatoes. I hadn't had beets in a while so picked some up. This was the result ...

Roast a bunch of beets in the oven until they are tender - they should still be quite firm. I peeled mine before roasting - peel either before or after roasting - both ways work.

I sliced them into a (stain resistant) bowl and added
- a bit of toasted sesame seed oil
- some lemon juice
- some Braggs seasoning (tamari would also work)
- salt & pepper

Stir well and let it sit for a bit until the flavours work in .... the flavour is very intense because the beets have been roasted and they are just awesome.

What a Difference

I was lucky to get some great advice from Mike and Paul about computer security. I spent a couple of hours the other night and another few this morning. I downloaded free but reliable software to add a firewall and a couple of spyware blockers. The three products I installed were those mentioned by Mike in the comments of my post a couple of days ago - Zone Alarm, Spy Bot and Ad Aware. Paul followed up by sending me detailed instructions on how to install and initialize these products. It was all accomplished with no pain at all. I highly recommend protecting your computer. Spyware is a huge problem and is getting worse all the time. I used to find my computer would just suddenly go off and churn away on some unknown task - I always wondered what. It was slow all the time. Today - it sits there quietly behaving itself. I am so glad I spent the time getting it fixed up. And thanks so much to these great guys for sharing this advice.

Meeting Up

I am looking forward to meeting my blogging friend Ann this weekend. Ann and her husband are visiting Toronto from Boston - this is their second visit since Ann and I found each others web logs last spring. During their last visit I passed along some restaurant recommendations - we decided the we should meet up during their next trip.

This is a really fun part of blogging - I've been lucky enough to meet a few bloggers now. I'v got a little disposible camera on the go - this one since last spring - believe it or not it is the same roll of film I have pics of two other bloggers who have visited Toronto this year.

Spyware

I've just spent most of my evening so far updating my computer with some spyware protection. I have Norton System Works already, and I purchase, with an annual fee, virus updates. When I went to their support page, to try and find out about spyware, it was most unhelpful. I was trying to determine if their product included any spyware protection. Since I couldn't find an answer there, I found this site through Boston University. I downloaded 'Spybot' and ran the checker program - I had six instances of spyware on my PC. I would have considered myself a fairly low risk user - I do not download music, games or other programs (well except this spyware program) so I imagine six is not considered a lot. Let's see if my system performance increases now that these instances have been deleted.

This all started at work with an explanation from one of our techies on how serious and widespread the spyware problem is. It impacts performance a lot as this software watches what you are doing using your system resources. I was concerned about my own computer after having this conversation. I do intend to do some more research on the issue.

This CNN article is an interesting explanation of the issue.

If any of you have any spyware experiences I would be happy to hear them.

Bridget Jones

We laughed our way through this movie - it is very funny. The movie has gotten some very bad reviews - ignore them and go see it anyhow. The theatre was full - I noticed mainly groups of women - a few men - those who are still trying to impress their girlfriends I suppose.

Colin Firth is impossibly good looking. The review I read said there was no chemistry between him and Renee Zellweger and that is true enough - the reviewer went on to say there was more chemistry between Hugh Grant and Colin Firth and she had a point. Hugh Grant plays a very good cad.

One of my favourite things about the movie - I can actually recognize a good number of the London locales. By the end of the movie I think I could tell where her apartment was - roughly.

Anyhow ... it was a great piece of fun and fluff and made me laugh through the entire thing - well worth the price of admission.

Home-made Boursin Style Cheese

One 8 oz pkg cream cheese softened
2 tbsp butter softened
1/2 tsp lemon juice
2 cloves garlic minced
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp chopped fresh parsley

Combine by hand or with a food processor. Serve on crackers. This makes a fantastic addition to soups & stews.