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Autumn Tulips

Around twenty years ago I planted some red tulips near to the house. Every year come rain or shine they come back. I have gone through phases of hating them and have come full circle.

This Autumn I decided to plant them up with some clashing reds and oranges, maybe even dark dark purple. But when it came to ordering them, I was seduced by akebono, a lovely yellow tulip with peach tones, streaked apple green.

And princess irene, a lovely orange and purple tulip. Fragrant but maybe a bit too tasteful for the red thugs.

I’m going to stick them into the bed but am not at all certain how it will work out.

Meanwhile in the front of the garden the Angelique bulbs have grown well and put on a lovely show but they could probably do with a few darker bulbs dotted in amongst them. I’ve ordered blue diamonds which are a similar double flower 40cm tall

The tulips in the iris bed have put on a good show, despite a very strange arrival (not ordered) instead of my china pinks. It looks like some kind of green/pink parrot.

This year I’m going to add in some of the china pinks to the new iris bed and see whether it peps up the scheme.

Mostly tulips seem to come back but each year just a little thinner, so my objective is to top up the number of bulbs each year, within the overall colour scheme set up from the beginning white/pink/purple

So this year the collection looked good partly because of the colour combination but also the variation in height. The tall whites really stand out best but are just a little too tasteful for me.

I’ve ordered mainly pink tulips, including don quichottes and yosemites to use to top up the rose and iris beds

Underneath the hedge the little tulip bakeri looked great, but next time I’d better start planting from the magnolia down towards the house to even things up.

This year I should have quite few tulips to combine white/pink/purple in pots and troughs – I missed them last year.

Food

Korean Fried Cauliflower

Korean fried cauliflower, a fiery, ketchupy exclamation point of a dish and God given proof that heaven is deep fried. Toasted sesame seeds garnish the tempura-fried vegetable, which in other realms is often relegated to a much more mundane treatment.

Korean Fried Cauliflower

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE SAUCE:

  • 1 ½ tablespoons gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 6 cloves garlic, puréed
  • 3 tablespoons red yuzu kosho
  • ¼ cup mirin

FOR THE TEMPURA BATTER:

  • 140 grams (1 cup) tempura flour or tempura batter mix
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 150 grams (1 scant cup or 1 cup minus 1 tablespoon) potato starch
  • 150 grams (1 cup plus 3 tablespoons) Japanese wheat flour or karaage ko

FOR THE CAULIFLOWER:

  • Canola oil, as needed for deep-frying
  • 1 head cauliflower, cut into 2-inch florets
  • Toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
  • Lime wedges, for garnish

PREPARATION

  1. Make the sauce: In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the gochujang, sugar, garlic, yuzu kosho, mirin and 1 cup water. Simmer until thickened slightly and reduced by half, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside at room temperature. Sauce may be made up to two weeks ahead and stored covered and refrigerated; bring to room temperature before serving.
  2. Make the tempura batter: Fill a pitcher with 1 3/4 cups ice-cold water, and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine the tempura flour (or batter mix), egg yolk and 1 cup of the water. Whisk to blend, then add the potato starch, wheat flour and remaining 3/4 cup water. The mixture should have the consistency of thin pancake batter.
  3. Fill a deep fryer or large pot halfway with canola oil and bring to 350 degrees. Coat the florets with the batter, and (working in batches if necessary) deep-fry until florets have a dark golden crust, 2 to 3 minutes. The crust should be crispy while the cauliflower retains some crunch.
  4. Remove browned florets from oil and drain on paper towels. Transfer to a warmed platter and drizzle thoroughly with sauce. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and lime wedges. Serve hot.
Political, Rants&Rambles

Nowhere Good to Go

Unsurprisingly, most of the people I know are fundamentally opposed to leaving the EU. However we’ve all had a couple of years now to get used to the idea that we’re leaving and bound for disappointment.

Looking through the more right-wing media outlets what is perhaps most striking is how disappointed people who voted to leave find themselves.

We’re leaving in March 2019, and no one is happy.

But looking around the political landscape, there is a total lack of alternative directions to be found. And there is something of a lack of ideas for what happens once we’ve left.

Part of the problem is the all-encompassing nature of the brexit negotiations which just suck up all of the political air, leaving none for discussing real-life politics.

Beneath the chaos of the Brexit talks, big ideas are forming that will shape the next decade. At last there are signs that politicians are starting to think about the direction that Britain should take after it leaves the EU.

Some of the fundamental ideas that have underpinned Western governments of all stripes for decades are being questioned from right and left. A party which could come up with persuasive answers might dominate British politics for many years.

The people have spoken

The Leave campaign’s demand to “take back control” resonated because it applied to more than just Britain’s relationship with Europe. It chimed with those sick of a hyper-centralised state, where feeble councils take marching orders from an out-of-touch London. It tapped into growing anger at the outsourcing of public services to remote and incompetent private companies. It pointed to the firms that bypass employment law by treating staff as “gig” workers with few rights. And it reflected a feeling of impotence in the face of a system of global capitalism which, ten years ago, sent Britain into recession after bankers thousands of miles away mis-sold securities that no one, including themselves, understood.

On becoming prime minister in 2016, Theresa May assured voters that she had heard their cry, and boldly vowed to reshape “the forces of liberalism and globalisation which have held sway…across the Western world.” She has not kept this promise. Her lack of imagination, squandered majority and the all-consuming Brexit negotiations—the ones with her party, rather than the EU—mean that, more than two years on from their great howl, the British people have seen nothing in return.

When Brexit day comes next March, and Britain is left with either a bad deal or with no deal at all, the call for revolutionary change will not have been sated—it will be stronger than ever.

Meanwhile the Labour Party is marching ever further and more confidently to the left. Many of the ideas in its manifesto last year recast old policies, such as renationalising the railways, which would not answer the fundamental new questions being asked of the state. But since then Labour’s economic plan has evolved. The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell now proposes “the greatest extension of economic democratic rights that this country has ever seen”.

McDonnell correctly identifies that power has drained from labour towards capital in recent years. But his proposals to redress this balance would see the state strong-arm its way deeply into the economy.

Companies would have to nominate workers to make up a third of their boards, while pay would be determined by collective bargaining. 10%  of companies’ equity would be expropriated and put in funds managed by workers’ representatives, that would become the largest shareholders in many of the biggest firms.

Workers would receive some dividends, but the majority would go to the government.

The Treasury would be “reprogrammed” to channel money to favoured industries despite the history that shows us government is lousy at picking industrial “winners”

Coupled with a plan to raise the minimum wage so that it embraces 60% of employees under 25, the package represents a transfer of power not just to workers but also to the state and the unions.

It all feels a bit too “big state” for my taste.

“The greater the mess we inherit, the more radical we have to be,” Mr McDonnell told the conference. Brexit is likely to provide the mess required to justify a socialist shock-doctrine.

The Tories have been slower to regroup. Some want to dust off the free-market principles of Thatcherism and apply them to new areas, lifting planning restrictions to encourage housebuilding, say. Others want the party to blunt capitalism’s sharper edges, for instance by mimicking the trust-busting of Teddy Roosevelt, whose target today would be the overmighty, rent-seeking tech monopolies. Still others believe the remedy for Britain’s fractiousness is to update Benjamin Disraeli’s “One Nation” Conservatism, arguing that its modern mission should be to unite a country whose deep divides—by age, class, region and more—were exposed by Brexit.

These ideas could mark a dramatic break with the past.

But whereas an insurgent Labour has united behind a growing list of detailed plans, the Tories’ thoughts are ill-defined, and the party far from agreed on which to pursue. Their leader, on the rack in Brussels and fighting for her job in Westminster, has no time for philosophising. She is unlikely to make way for a successor until Britain has left the EU. Yet there is no time to lose.

Too many Tories doubt that plans as drastic as Mr McDonnell’s could ever be enacted in Britain. That is complacent. The grotesque folly of Brexit will be enough to persuade many wealthy Britons to ditch the Tories, even if it means electing a far-left chancellor. And Britain’s winner-takes-all system lets governments quickly and dramatically reshape the country. Mr McDonnell would not face the checks and balances that have restrained President Donald Trump.

Britain is at last getting the battle of ideas that the referendum result demanded. That presents big opportunities, but also grave risks. It is time for those who dislike the sound of the future described by Labour this week to do some hard thinking of their own.

Food

Lentil Salad With Roasted Vegetables

A simple salad made by combining lentils (can be pre-cooked) with some vegetables you’ve roasted in the over. As with all salads, the key is the dressing.

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE LENTIL SALAD:

  • 1 small whole acorn squash, peeled if desired, halved, seeded and diced into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 1 medium celeriac, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 3 small beets, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 sprigs thyme
  • 1 sprig rosemary, cut in half
  • 2 cups brown or green lentils
  • 2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt, more to taste
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper

FOR THE SHERRY VINAIGRETTE:

  • ¼ cup balsamic vinegar, more to taste
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil, more as needed

FOR SERVING:

  • 2 heads radicchio, sliced
  • 2 scallions, thinly sliced (whites and greens)
  • Parsley, roughly chopped, for garnish
  • Flaky sea salt, to taste
  • Cracked black pepper, to taste
  • 1 tangerine, halved and seeded

PREPARATION

  1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place vegetables in one layer on one or two large rimmed baking pans, toss with olive oil and salt. Place thyme and rosemary on top of vegetables, cover pans with foil and roast for 25 minutes. Remove foil, stir in bacon and bake for 30 to 40 minutes longer, until vegetables are tender and golden all over.
  2. In a large pot, combine lentils, 6 cups water, garlic, bay leaf, salt and pepper and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, until lentils are tender.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, mustard and salt. Then whisk in olive oil.
  4. Drain lentils and discard bay leaf; keep or discard garlic as you like. Toss lentils with half of the sherry vinaigrette while still warm. Add more salt, olive oil and vinegar as needed.
  5. Toss radicchio with enough of remaining vinaigrette to lightly coat it and arrange it on a platter. Combine lentils and roasted vegetables, adding more of the vinaigrette to taste; spoon mixture on top of radicchio. Garnish with scallions, parsley, sea salt and black pepper. Squeeze tangerine juice over the lentils and drizzle with more olive oil if needed.
Travel

Iceland South East

At the end of our trip we circled back towards Reykavik and found ourselves with some time to cover the more standard day trip tours from the city.

This included a trip to visiting the original geyser, which unsurprisingly stinks to high heaven of sulphur (rotton eggs)

There were plenty of witches cauldron pools on view plus some spectacular high eruptions to be viewed. Just be sure to stand up-wind unless you want to get very wet indeed.

Then of course there is the amazing Godafoss waterfall, with it’s crevasse plunging at right angles.

And last but not least, a trip to the wonderful folk museum to add a bit of context that might have been better understood at the beginning rather than the end of the trip.

It is surprising how very poor Iceland was up to relatively recently with famine an ever-present danger. Even now, the country is rich is terms of hydrothermal-energy and in the education of its people, but poor in terms of land resources. It is still very economically vulnerable to global shocks with it’s main sources of income tourism and fishing still.

For a country dependent on tourism there was very little to see by way of quality service.

Similarly there was very little to be found in terms of excellent food. It is a country that focuses on selling it’s natural features with very little adornment, very little added value exhibit or tourism attractions.

So far, that’s been enough. But the friction that inevitably results from dealing with so many visitors in such a short space of time, to such an empty country are bubbling up. Its history plays out in a very stoic, pragmatic attitude towards life within the people we met but they can see the damage that tourism can cause. How they manage to mitigate that damage will determine whether the tourism industry continues to thrive.

It was an amazing trip to a beautiful unique country, surprisingly different to expectations but well worth visiting.

Food

Marble Bundt Cake

Continuing to explore the options for my new bundt tin, I had a go at making a marble bundt, basically two slightly less wet cake mixtures added spoon by spoon and vaguely stirred with a chopstick. Cake making for dummies that looks pretty expert.
The only difficulty is the need to convert from American cups (why?) to metric.

 Prepare time:

 Cook:

INGREDIENTS

  • All purpose flour – 2 cups 
  • Baking powder – 2 tsps
  • Salt – 1/2 tsp
  • Butter – 3/4 cup, unsalted, room temperature
  • Sugar – 1 1/2 cups + 3 tbsp, superfine, divided
  • Eggs – 4, large, lightly beaten in a small bowl
  • Vanilla extract – 1 tsp
  • Cocoa powder – 1/3 cup (dutch processed)
  • Hot water – 1/3 cup espresso
  • Vanilla extract – 1/4 tsp

METHOD FOR MAKING MARBLE BUNDT CAKE

Preheat oven to 175 C (350 F) and position a rack in the center of the oven. Grease the bundt pan thoroughly including the creases and flour it well and tap out the excess flour.
In a small bowl, add the hot water, instand coffee powder, cocoa powder and 3 tbsps sugar and mix till smooth with no lumps. Add almond extract and mix. Set aside to cool.
In a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a large bowl, add the butter and beat it till smooth for 2 mins.
Gradually add sugar and continue to beat for 3 minsmi. Add the vanilla extract and beat till light in color, approx 4 mins.
Gradually add the egg mixture and beat on low speed for a mt.
Gradually add the flour in four additons and beat on low until just combined and smooth.
Transfer a little less than half of the cake batter to the cocoa mixture and mix with a spoon until smooth.
With the help of an 2 1/2″ diameter ice cream scoop or large spoon, alternate scoops of the vanilla and chocolate batters into the pan. Take a chopstick and create a swirl all through the batters taking care not to touch the sides of the pan. Smooth the top lightly.
Bake in the preheated oven for 55 to 60 mts till a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Check from 50 mts onwards. Cool on a wire cake rack for 10 mts and invert the cake onto the rack to cool completely.
Home

Bulbs re-visited

The bulbs ordered in Summer have arrived and it’s time to dig out the original plan and decide what to do with them.

The tulips will wait. The later you plant them in the year, the less chance there is of something going wrong whether that’s some kind of disease or just the squirrels digging them up to re-plant next door.

The snowdrops will need to be dug into the bed nearest the house. There’s just no point planting them further away where they won’t be seen.

I’ve also ordered three types of anemones:

  • anemone blanda blue (blue 15cm)
  • anemone blanda “white splendour” (white 15cm) and
  • anemone coronaria “the bride” (white 25cm)

The original plan was to  add them to the border up by the roses at the back but surely I’ve ordered too many? I’ll put in the blanda blue up at the back but will add the blanda whites to the front of the new rose bed. They flower early in the year and maybe I should just focus on the beds I can see from the house.

Underneath the hedge the small white muscari didn’t really work  well so maybe I planned to add in some white anemone coronaria. I’d considered planting woodruff but once it’s in, it will never be possible to get it out again, so will put off that idea for at least another year.

Then come the alliums to think about:

  • 9x Allium Mount Everest(white, 90cm) 5/4 for each of the two rose beds;
  • 10x Allium Aflatuense (purple, 80cm) 5/5 for each of the two rose beds;
  • 10x Allium Purple Sensation (purple, 70cm)
  • 25x Allium Oreophilum (pink, 25cm) planted at the front of the white rose bed; and
  • 25x Allium  Roseum (pale pink, 30cm) planted with the oreophilum

But what on earth did I plan to do with the 25x Triteleia Corrina (blue 30cm)?

 

Food

Apple Pie

My NYTimes subscription came with a free trial of their food magazine and recipes which is about to run out, so I’m scrambling around trying to make as many of the recipes on my to-do list as possible. A good apple pie is a wonderful thing, especially at this time of year, and this is one of the best that I’ve found. Itreminds me of my grandmother’s baking.

Double Apple Pie

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE CRUST

  • 2 ½ cups/300 grams all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon/2.5 grams kosher salt
  • 2 ½ sticks/20 tablespoons/285 grams unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
  • 4 tablespoons/60 milliliters vodka(optional – it helps keep the pastry flaky)
  • ¼ to ½ cup ice water

FOR THE FILLING

  • 3 pounds/1 1/3 kilograms apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced crosswise (1/8-inch)
  • ½ cup/99 grams granulated sugar, more as needed
  • 2 tablespoons/30 grams dark brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons/30 grams quick-cooking tapioca
  • 1 ½ teaspoons/3 grams ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon/3 grams ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
  • Pinch ground cloves
  • 1 ½ tablespoons/22 milliliters lemon juice
  • 3 tablespoons/45 grams apple butter
  • Heavy cream or milk, as needed
  • Whipped cream, sour cream or crème fraîche, for serving

PREPARATION

  1. Make the crust: In a food processor, pulse together flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add butter and pulse until mixture forms 3/4-inch pieces. Mix vodka with 4 tablespoons ice water (or use 1/2 cup ice water). Add half the ice water mixture to dough, pulse a few times, then continue adding liquid a tablespoon at a time until dough just comes together (you might not use all the liquid). Dough should be moist, but not wet, and hold together when pinched. If there are visible pieces of butter in the dough, all the better.
  2. On a lightly floured surface, gather dough into a ball. Remove a third of the dough and form into a disk. Form remaining dough into a disk. Cover both tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 5 days.
  3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out larger disk to a 12-inch circle. Transfer dough to a 9-inch pie plate. Fold over any excess dough, then crimp edges. Prick crust all over with a fork, then chill crust for 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.
  4. While dough chills, heat oven to 400 degrees. Line chilled crust with foil or parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes; remove foil and weights and bake until pale golden, 5 minutes more. Cool on rack until needed. (You can bake the crust up to 24 hours in advance.)
  5. Toss apples with sugars, tapioca, spices, 1/2 teaspoon salt and the lemon juice. Fold in apple butter. Transfer apples to crust and press gently to make sure fruit is tightly packed.
  6. Roll out remaining dough disk to a 10-inch round. Use a knife to cut strips 1 3/4 inches wide. Arrange strips over the filling in a lattice pattern. Brush top of crust with heavy cream or milk. Sprinkle with granulated sugar.
  7. Place pie on a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil. Bake 15 minutes; reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking until crust is golden brown and juices are bubbling thickly, about 1 hour 15 minutes more. Let pie cool on a wire rack for at least 2 hours before cutting. Serve with whipped cream, sour cream or crème fraîche.
Political, Rants&Rambles

Disenfranchised

Voted Labour all of my life but cannot imagine myself voting for the current leadership.

I have friends (Jewish) who genuinely feel that they will be threatened if the current Labour leadership comes to power. They feel their citizenship will be questioned, violence against them will increase and be tolerated (not just the verbal kind) and that one way or another they will be encouraged to leave.

If you’re not Jewish, it can sound absurd, but then you pause and remember the Windrush scandal where British citizens, people who have lived here legally, all or most of their lives, were literally rounded up and deported within the last decade.

And then you think about the millions of EU citizens being held hostage to the current brexit negotiations and the hostile immigration policies being implemented to encourage people to leave.

And you see the rampant anti-semitism expressed on line and in the Labour Party where Jewish MPs are routinely harassed and threatened, where they require bodyguards to attend their own political conferences.

I’m not Jewish. It’s a religion with a tiny minority in the UK, and mostly people just don’t recognise the problem because they personally don’t have to deal with it. But an intolerant society doesn’t stop with just one religion, just one minority group.

And if we tolerate racism against one group, where does it ever stop.

At some level, Corbyn may or may not be anti-semitic himself. Either he is, or he is so incompetent a leader that he can’t seem to stamp it out amongst his own supporters.

Is that the choice: an anti-semite or an incompetent? Because at this moment in time, I can’t vote for either.

Food

Caramelized Tomato Tarte Tatin

Sometimes you just want something simple for supper. This taste satin actually works either way up, as a straightforward tart or an inverted tatin – just be careful that it doesn’t get too wet.
Caramelized Tomato Tarte Tatin

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 14-ounce package all-butter puff pastry
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 3 red onions, halved and thinly sliced
  • ¼ cup plus a pinch of sugar
  • ½ teaspoon sherry vinegar
  • ¼ cup chopped pitted Kalamata olives
  • 1 ½ pints (about 1 pound) cherry or grape tomatoes; a mix of colours is nice
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thymeleaves
  • Kosher salt, to taste
  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

PREPARATION

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Halve and part roast the tomatoes for 30 minutes or so to reduce water content. Unfold puff pastry sheet and cut into a 10-inch round; chill, covered, until ready to use.
  2. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and a pinch of sugar and cook, stirring, until onions are golden and caramelized, 15 to 20 minutes.  Transfer onions to a bowl.
  3. In a clean, ovenproof 9-inch skillet or tarte tatin dish, combine 1/4 cup sugar and 3 tablespoons water. Cook over medium heat, swirling pan gently (do not stir) until sugar melts and turns amber, 5 to 10 minutes to make the caramel. Add vinegar and swirl gently.
  4. Sprinkle olives over caramel. Scatter roasted tomatoes over olives, then sprinkle onions on. Season with thyme leaves, salt and pepper. Top with puff pastry round, tucking edges into pan. Cut several long vents in top of pastry to allow steam to escape.
  5. Bake tart until crust is puffed and golden, about 30 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes, then run a knife around pastry to loosen it from pan, and flip tart out onto a serving platter. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.