OUR SWEET-MAKING CORNER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 7 April 1934, Page 9

OUR SWEET-MAKING CORNER

BRAZIL NUT TOFFEE Everybody like Brazil toffee, so I will tell you how it is made. Cut shelled Brazil nuts into pieces, making a cupful. Put one pound of sugar into a saucepan with half a teacupful of boiling water, and when the sugar has dissolved boil the mixture quickly for a quarter of an hour. Now stir in a piece of butter the size of a small egg, and continue boiling till a little of the toffee tried in cold water hardens at once. Remove the saucepan from the fire, sf/ir the nuts quickly into the syrup, and turn on to a buttered tin to set. MEET KING HENRY I. After William Rufus, we’ll meet Henry, another of the Conqueror’s sons. Although not so tall as his father, Henry was a fine figure of a man, strongly built, and possessing a very pleasant fact. He had a high brow, large eyes, and dark curly hair. His voice was like that of William T, deep and strong, but his speech was much more clever than his father’s, for Henry T. was a man of refinement and learning. Henrv came to the throne in the vear 1100, and the first wise thing he did was to marry Matilda of Scotland, who was a charming ladv, as learned and refined as her husband. The people of England were pleased with this marriage, and still more pleased when the King and Queen set about improving matters at court.

Later on. Matilda died, and then Henry married Adelicia of Louvaine, but that part of history isn’t really important, although it may interest you to know that, this lady was the ancestress of the Ducal House of Norfolk. Henry bestowed upon her the Castle or Arundel, the present Ducal home of the Duke of Norfolk, England’s premier duke. When Henry I. was crowned at the ■age of thirty, he wore a tunic of woven gold studded with gems, arid was later presented with a mantle costing, in present-dav money, about £2OOO. Henry died in 1135. and was buried in the Abbey Church of Saint Mary, Reading. To give you an idea of his character, let me tell you that people prayed: “God give him the peace he loved.” DINE WITH ME IN PARIS Let us go to the restaurant over there, shall me? It isn’t far from the station, and we can watch the night lift- of this great French city from our table. Here comes the waiter, bowing and smiling. Yes, you are right—it seems a pleasure to the French waiter to serve In’s customers! I don’t think we can do better than start with some melon.- What do you say? Right! Melon it is!

Now what? Don’t bother to read the menu. It will only worry you. Just ask the waiter to choose some fish. Wait, and I’ll speak to him!

Don’t be alarmed! These are only tiny lobsters, and you’ll soon see how to eat them. Off with their heads, off with their tails, and there you are. You may be interested to know that these little lobsters are caught only in the River Seine. Now would you like some snails or some frogs’ legs? You don’t want either? Never mind, have some of the chicken you see on the roasting-spit in front of the fire. Good! —Very good, wasn’t it? We will end-up with a real French chef’s ice-pudding and some of his special sauce. Then some Algerian coffee, and we must dash off to catch our train. W;hat do you think of French cooking* TINY WRITING I expect many of you think it rather clever to get a whole letter, containing all your news, on four sheets of paper. But have you heard of the man who once wrote 00,040 words on one side of a postcard? He was an English dentist, and he held the record for the number of words written on a postcard. There are, however, many other examples of clever penmanship. A Bulgarian wrote 12,000 words on a postcard, and a man from Brussels wrote a life of Napoleon on a card the same size as an ordinary picture postcard.

In the library of the. University at Jerusalem, there is another rather wonderful postcard .upon which a young Jew wrote 11,307 Hebrew words..

In the library of the Queen’s famous doll’s house, there is a sample of very small writing. On a circle of cardhoard the Lord’s Prayer has been written six times, though the circle is only half an inch in diameter.

In engraving, many men have performed wonderful feats, including the carving of all the letters of the alphabet. on the head of an ordinary pin.

The most remarkable of all tiny writing, however, was- done by machine, a Fellow of the Microscopical Society having invented a machine that could write so minutely that the writing was invisible to tlie naked eye. This machine was later destroyed by its inventor, although no one seems to know why!