CURIOSITIES

During the last mid-century, Arenys de Munt has got a craftsmanship representation in the glass branch. It is a shining
craftsmanship, not only for the beauty of its creations, but also for the curiosity of the crystal treatment by means of
some millstone and a steady hand.

The objective is to do what you want in the position you want. First, the craftsman draws freehand the picture that you
choose, and later, with and a cutting millstone, the craftsman makes holes in the lines of the picture.

Besides of the beauty of the present, the most pretty of the piece is that you choose the drawing. You can find more
beautiful things in the supermarket, but nowhere else you’ll find it dedicated to the chosen person.

     History of the point lace

Although point lace does not have a specific birthdate, we have some news about it in the XV century. At that time, it
was called "passamaneria". We have as well some texts in the Old Testament that tell about something that looks like
point laces, and in the Old Testament there is also one picture of a woman with bobbings in her hands.

Inside the pyramids of the ancient Egypt, there have been found funeral pictures and these pictures show clothes of
golden thread. The oldest pictures that show something that looks like point lace are from 2000th b.C.

At the moment, different countries make point lace; the most important are France, Belgium and Spain. Each country
has got its different characteristics to make the point lace.

In Spain there are different ways to produce the point lace depending on the place where they are made, too. The most
famous producers inside Spain are the villages of Camariñas and Almagro and the automous region of Catalonia. In
our autonomous region, Catalonia, also there are villages with more tendency than others to make point lace: Arenys
de Munt, Arenys de Mar and l’Arbós del Penedès are some examples. Each village has got its characteristic way to
make point lace, but the Arenys de Munt point lace is the finest. Long time ago this tradition passed from mothers to
their daughters, but now, there are some schools that teach you how to make point lace.

The point lace is worked on a straw cushion. On this cushion, we put a mould and we thrust the needles in the mould
to hold the work that is made by bobbings. The geometric point lace is the most easy because its pictures are
geometric figures. The most difficult point lace is the blond lace because it is made by a very thin thread and its
manufacture consist of cut and add bobbings.

We can find clues of old point lace in Catalonia in two places: in the Pedralbes Monastery and in the Tarragona
Cathedral. In the Pedralbes Monastery there is a golden and silk thread point lace from the XIV century made by the
Elisenda de Montcada Queen. In the Tarragona Cathedral there is a picture from 1426 that shows a woman who
wears a point lace neck of 10 cm in her neck.

     The recipe of the "RELLENO" (stuffed apples)

INGREDIENTS for 20 apples:

     20 of "ciri" apples (5 kg).

     200 g of mince pork.

     3 eggs.

( the following ingredients depends on the consumer taste quantity)

     ½ glass of brandy, anisette, and sweet wine.

     Sugar.

     Salt.

     Milk.

     Chocolate without milk.

     Scraped lemon.

     Different kinds of "turrons".

     Toasted almonds and hazelnuts.

     Pine nuts.

     Biscuits.

     Cinnamon.

     Laurel.

     Scraped nutmeg.

     Oil.

     Water.

PREPARATION:

Mix the milk, the chocolate, the scraped lemon, the different kinds of "turrons", the toasted almonds and hazelnuts,
the pine nuts, the biscuits and some sugar. Mix the half of this mass with the pork and the eggs. Later, we add in the
mass ½ glass of brandy, anisette, and sweet wine, and we put salt in the exactly measure. We fried this mass to the
suitable point.

Later, we make a hole in the middle of the apples and we fill the hole with the ½ of the mass.

Afterwards, we put the apples in an earthenware pot. We put the rest of the mass in the earthenware pot, too, and we
put water in the pot until we cover half of the apples with some cinnamon, some laurel, some fried apples oil, some
fried pork oil, some scraped nutmeg, some scraped lemon, not much salt and not much sugar.

We cook the apples during half-hour at not much fire. Later, we put some pounded of toasted almonds and hazelnuts,
of pine nuts, and some grated chocolate and biscuits. To obtain the best results you need to cook the apples several
times.

Now, you know the magnified recipe of the "Relleno" and you can enjoy oneself of this delicious dessert.

Enjoy your meal!

(It is important to mention that there are a lot of different recipes. We showed you only one, as an example)