Earthquakes, Barley, and Soup

Today was one of those odd November days that do not occur very often.  As in never.  The temperature this morning was 18 with a wind chill of 1.  That is degrees fahrenheit.  Brrr.  Bravely, Kathy Dunlavy and I set out for our morning walk, and surprisingly, it was not nearly as cold as either of us had anticipated.  I wore my Russian hat from London, which was the perfect thing, and Kathy was wearing her Eskimo coat, so we looked appropriately warm.

I decided that the perfect thing to ease the cold would be to make soup for tonight's dinner.  I pulled out my soup book, which I rarely use, and found something that sounded good - Mushroom Barley.  The purple barley I purchased in Oregon has been sitting in the cabinet awaiting a good recipe, so I pulled it off the shelf to use.  What I did not realize was it needed to cook considerably longer than pearl barley - in the neighborhood of an hour longer - so the soup was a little crunchy.  The taste was good, though, and I will try it again.  Best news is that it was so filling, we did not even eat the chicken I bought.  That means I will be able to make Chicken Curry soup tomorrow night.  Yum!

While I was making the soup, I suddenly heard a large bang.  I thought someone had run into the house, but there was no sign of anyone around.  It occurred to me that it might have been an earthquake, and sure enough, it was.  The neighbors both felt shaking at their homes, but for me, it was definitely like a sonic boom.  Don says it must have been something in the house - a truss, a wall, or something else - but we have yet to find it.  I am hoping it was just an anomaly!

Then the cleaning bug hit again, and Don and I hit the refrigerator.  I am not real good about keeping the refrig clean, and this was a great opportunity to do so.  Needless to say, I have a lot of empty shelves now.  Hallelujah!