Einstein, Sylvia Beach & 'I only told you to.....'

On March the 14th 1489, the Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sold her kingdom to Venice.

In 1794 the inventor Eli Whitney was granted the patent for his cotton gin. Here is an original illustration of the patent:

Albert Einstein was born on this day in 1879 in Ulm, Germany. He would publish his Theory of Relativity in 1905 and later in 1915 his paper on General Relativity. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921.

I'm developing a rather odd interest in signatures, here is Einstein's:

Also born on this day in 1887 was one Nancy Woodbridge Beach who came to be known as Sylvia. She went on to found the bookshop Shakespeare & Company in Paris in 1919. The shop would acquire a strong literary following and a degree of fame following the publication in 1922 of James Joyce's Ulysses.

On March the 14th 1933 Maurice Joseph Micklewhite was born in Southwark, London. He would go onto enjoy huge commercial and critical success as we know him - Michael Caine.

Today is the Feast Day of Saint Boniface of Ross.

On a recent trip to Paris we had the most sensational dish of hot smoked salmon with aubergine. I've included a similar recipe here : smoked salmon with aubergine.