Could Putin Pardon Trump? Strawberry curd

Ensaimada for breakfast.

I haven't really been following the news today, though I did hear that President Trump had looked into the possibility of a presidential pardon as a solution to the nagging and ever present Russia investigations. A neat solution, though there is the difficulty of the president pardoning himself. However this could be solved either by calling the Pope to give his confession, which should appeal to his followers of faith, or asking a peer to provide absolution. President Putin of Russia seems a good choice, it would also help reset relations with Russia, killing two birds with one stone!

No, today was a slow day, finally an opportunity to do nothing serious. I came down to see that the ensaimada had risen substantially, covering the whole baking tray. It was put into the oven for 15 minutes and, after cooling for a while, served for breakfast. The very light rich bread was OK with butter and jam. It worked much better with butter, jam and whipped cream in the afternoon, with a nice cup of tea and conversation with a visiting friend.

Apropos jam, the pectin powder I had ordered arrived today. This was prompted at the Stammtisch last week, after hearing about making very fruit rich jams with a ration of 2:1 fruit to jam. Tescos was selling 600g packs of Strawberries at a reduced price, so I set about making some jam with pureed fruit and the new pectin. The jars are cooling but a sample on a plate suggests that I might have actually made a strawberry curd.