Trump Shooter Tweets. EU Citizen Rights in Transition. Winter Crop. Lighter Wholemeal Bread. Faux Sous-Vide Lamb in Slow-Cooker

A winter cabbage?

President Trump tweeted vociferously today. Among other things, he pointed the finger at the FBI, who missed signals about the Florida school shooter, stating that too much time was given to the Mueller Russia inquiry. He also asked why the Democrats didn't pass gun control legislation and then returned to accusations of Democrat collusion with Russia.

According to an interview on the Andrew Marr Show, the EU's negotiator Guy Verhofstadt said that it was not possible for the UK to restrict the rights of EU citizens coming to the UK whilst the UK had access to all the other benefits of the EU during the transition period. Currently the difference in EU citizen status during transition is a red line for both the EU and the UK, so if there is no movement, it could lead to a hard Brexit. Again, Verhofstadt emphasised that there would be no cherry picking in what the UK would like from the EU and that in particular, the UK financial sector could not be allowed to have a financial advantage.

The neatest description of the UK's situation with Brexit versus trande agreements with other countries was that for example Canada and Japan aimed to CONVERGE on trade and trade conditions, whilst the UK wanted to DIVERGE from the EU.

What does seem to currently be on the cards is that the situation of UK citizens abroad and EU citizens in the UK remains up in the air. This point is relevant with a view to the NHS which is having difficulty retaining and recruiting staff from abroad, whether from within the UK or outside. Non-EU immigration is a particular issue for the NHS as there is an immigration cap whose monthly ceiling has been reached in the past three months. The effect of the cap being reached is to push up the salaries that the Home Office sets as a minimum to qualify for consideration for skilled worker immigration. This makes it even more difficult for the NHS to attract people on cost and salary grounds within its budget.

We took a walk across to Scotsdales Garden Centre in Horningsea and were surprised to see what at first glance looked like a repeat of the bean crop planted in a field the previous year. Looking more closely at the flowers, we realised that it was a different winter crop, with cruciform flowers. We are not sure what it is, the closest we could get was a type of winter cabbage, e.g. Kale. See photo above.

I was also determined to find a solution on the lack of 'bounce' (rising upon baking) of my wholemeal or wholemeal-white flour breads. Googling around, I came across an important article by 'Ask Smithsonian' "What Makes Whole-Grain Bread So Hard to Bake?". It turns out that to bake a lighter wholemeal loaf, you need to use a greater proportion of water, anything from a bakers percentage of 90 to 120% (e.g.90 ml water per 100 g flour to 120 g water per 100 g flour). You also must reduce the kneading as the bran in the wholemeal cuts up the gluten.

I had a go at making a wholemeal loaf with the 90 bakers percentage of water, and with a lower amount of yeast to give a slow rise over the afternoon. The mixture was almost runny, having the consistency of wet cement. It took about 5h to rise in the bread tin and when baked gave more of a rise than usual, though still not spectacular. When cut, the loaf was lighter and moister inside but it also had a larger amount of large cavities as shown in the photo. I will have to have another go sometime, with less kneading.

I also tried another way to cook some lamb steaks. This has always been a bit haphazard as Jane does not like her meat on the rare side, and I didn't want a shriveled cutlet. I'd heard of cooking meat in a sealed plastic bag in a water-bath and googled the method. The term is Sous-vide, where the meat is vacuum sealed in a plastic bag and placed in a water-bath at any temperature between about 56 degC and 75 degC for rare to fully cooked meat for an hour to a number of hours. The meat is then removed and seared briefly before serving.

Lacking a controlled water bath and sealable plastic bags, I improvised and used the slow cooker on max heat, with just a few milliliters depth of water around the lamb cutlets. After 90 minutes, they were definitely cooked, with the meat temperature being above 60 degC. I pan seared them and they tasted delicious and tender. I will have to get some sealable plastic bags for cooking.