In Guatamala: Massive quake shakes nation and nearby El Salvador.

In Iraq: A shaky calm after mosque bombing.

In Total Information Awareness: FBI wants to create database with six billion records.

In advertising: Kellogg’s says it will phase out marketing to kids.

In Bangladesh: 126 dead in massive monsoon.

In Washington: Congress subpoenas White House and two former aides.

In Iraq: Violence just keeps on getting worse.

In Gaza: It’s getting worse there, too.

In blogs: Apparently, all female bloggers are the same.

In My Kitchen: Two pesto-related recipes of the day.

1) Creamy Cauliflower Soup with Brazil Nut Pesto
from Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Cooking
(via Fancy Toast)

For the Soup:
3 tablespoons clarified butter or extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 large potato peeled and chopped
1 ½ pounds cauliflower, coarsely chopped
5 cups vegetable stock or water
1/3 cup heavy cream
fine-grain sea salt or kosher salt

For the Pesto:
½ cup toasted Brazil nuts (you can also substitute pine nuts; I’m allergic to tropical nuts)
2 handfuls spinach leaves, stemmed
4 cloves garlic
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
generous pinch of fine-grain sea salt or kosher salt

Heat the butter in a soup pot over medium-high heat, add the garlic, onion, and red pepper flakes and sauté for 2 or 3 minutes, until translucent. Stir in the potato and cauliflower and cook for another couple of minutes. Add the stock, bring to a simmer, and cook until the vegetables are tender. Remove from the heat and puree thoroughly with a handheld immersion blender; or blend in batches in a conventional blender or food processor. Stir in the cream and season to taste.

To Make the Pesto:
Puree all the ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Ladle the soup into individual bowls, drop a spoonful of pesto in each one, and use a knife or toothpick to swirl.

2) Italian Grandmother Pesto (via 101 Cookbooks)

1 large bunch of basil, leaves only, washed and dried
3 medium cloves of garlic
one small handful of raw pine nuts
roughly 3/4 cup Parmesan, loosely packed and freshly grated
A few tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

Special equipment: large mezzaluna for chopping (but a good sharp chef’s knife will do)

Start chopping the garlic along with about 1/3 of the basil leaves. Once this is loosely chopped add more basil, chop some more, add the rest of the basil, chop some more. I scrape and chop, gather and chop. At this point the basil and garlic should be a very fine mince. Add about half the pine nuts, chop. Add the rest of the pine nuts, chop. Add half of the Parmesan, chop. Add the rest of the Parmesan, and chop. In the end you want a chop so fine that you can press all the ingredients into a basil “cake.” Transfer the pesto “cake” to a small bowl (not much bigger than the cake). Cover with a bit of olive oil—just a few tablespoons.

Just before serving give the pesto a quick stir to incorporate some of the oil into the basil.

Makes about 1 cup.