Near the beginning, a strange wee man approaches a crofter's house, seeking a guide to a mystical cave in the mountain.
Sensing something supernatural, the crofter tells his young son to go inside:
"Calum, go back to the house."
"But da --"
"Tell your mother I said she was to give you some tablet. You like that. Go on."
Expressions crossed the boy's face--puzzlement, hunger, happiness--and then he turned and ran back to the white house.
Hmmmm-- tablet? When I think of tablet, it's this:
The current generation thinks of this:
Previous generations might have thought of this:
But, in general, it's something to write on ("quick, my tablet. 'Tis meet I write it down.")
On the other hand, it can be a pill.
Neither seemed to fit in with the context of the story. I assumed it was something to eat, put it in the back of my mind to look up, finished the story, probably read another one, did other stuff, and forgot about it.
For two days. Then, I was perusing Pinterest--that source of all things random. There, amidst the pictures for tightening your butt, keeping the house from smelling of cat pee, how to make a salad in a mason jar, and steampunk costume--was a recipe for Scottish Tablet (did I mention the story takes place in Scotland?)
Apparently it's a cooked milk sweet, similar to the Latin dulce de leche. (Combine milk, butter, sugar, and condensed milk and cook it down. Sounds sweet enough to make your teeth curl)
In the back of my mind, I was hearing the theme music of "Twilight Zone." Seriously--what are the chances that I would hear this obscure term twice in two days?
Now I want to make some. And maybe write about it. On a tablet.
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