May 11, 2008, 12:03 am | Boreda blant
As my Welsh teacher used to say. Of course I had no idea what she was going on about as my family were all from Essex. Yesterday being St David's day we decided to give Sue Northcotts traditional handed down Welsh Cake recipe a go, and here are the results, with supporting daffodil and leek.
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Made with currants, and butter again
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| Having been raised in Wales, although being English, I really did appreciate the celebration of the Welsh patron saint's day, as it was basically a jolly. In primary school the girls would come dressed in traditional welsh dress, being a long skirt knitted shawl over their shoulders and mad Welsh hat, think Witches hat with the point chopped off. They would also have a daffodil pinned to them.
The boys too came in traditional welsh dress, which was possibly what ever you normally wear with a leek pinned to you. Unlike the Prince of Wales's leek yesterday when he was on the telly, a small delicate affair, most were full size vegetables requiring a couple of safety pins and a bit of string to secure them to the child. Many boys would start eating their leek raw before morning break giving them an authentic welsh dragon breath by lunch time. Some of the boys who had the more feminine daffodils attached to them would eat them too in displays of male pride/stupidity.
By far and away the best thing about St David's day was that it was half day at school. Even now well in to my forties I find that a March 1st that falls on a weekend seems like lost opportunity. I feel that somehow I've missed out on my afternoon off. It was several years into my working life before I could fully stop my self going home at lunch time on St David's day.
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| Biscuit of the Week Blue Riband |  |
The Wife has called an end to this madness declaring it a disgrace that I haven't done a Biscuit of the Week since last year. With summer finally here and the prospect of lots and lots of cycling the natural processes that keep my midriff in equilibrium stand a chance, that is eating biscuits and getting from A to B. So with out further ado lets take a look at a wafer biscuit that we've inexplicably managed to pass over for many a year the Blue Riband.
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Your FeedbackTrina Fitzalan-Howard |
Well done for standing up for biccies everywhere on the BBC website today. I couldn’t agree with you more. A British biccie has to dunk into tea. Everyone knows that. I’ve never heard of anyone dunking biscuits into their milk at work. Who drinks milk at work? Who drinks milk and dunks biscuits into it. Sounds like some sort of horrendous breakfast replacement meal thingy going on and until polite society adopts it as the norm I shall be steering well clear of such behaviour.
So, the Oreo. Not a fan I have to say. The biscuit is like a cinder that should promise chocolately delight but delivers cinders and a distinct lack of chocolate flavour at that. Apparently no one in their right mind in the US has been known to nibble an Oreo. A twist-the-two-discs apart is required, lick off the cream bit and then dunk. They are very crumbly as I recall so the technique has to be nigh on perfect. Well, the cream bit is just a sugar blast. The resulting two disks of cinders are fit for nothing and a soggy Oreo is to be shunned in all but the lowest levels of society. I’m thinking dunking an old Oreo would be like dunking a Jaffa cake.
When I visited friends in the US and was offered an Oreo as the high point of biccie evoluation I did smirk inwardly and knew there is something we definitely do better. My export of Hobnobs drew gasps of approval. Far from importing Oreos to us I think British companies should export our finest over there. We should be hobnobbing everywhere!
Oreo Review |
| Nicey replies: Well Oreos are obviously doing something right, given the amount they sell and the armies of Oreo clones around the globe from other manufacturers. I just think the fact UK market hasn't responded to the Oreo thus far is not because we haven't had a advert telling us how we apparently should be eating them. If anything now that we do have such a 'helpful' advert its just likely to make us more determined when passing them over. Also unless they have revised their pricing significantly then I think they are a bit out of touch there too.
Recently on a visit to the Imperial War Museum I read a war time orientation leaflet issued to US servicemen who were being stationed in the UK. It was full of helpful stuff such as how we call gas petrol and bars pubs and so on. Alas it didn't have a page on cookie / biscuit orientation. |
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| Nice News | |
Nuclear war could have led to weak teaMonday 5 May 2008 Reporter: Nicey |
 |  | In Cold War documents just released from the National Archive it transpires that those tasked with planning and forecasting for aftermath of an all out nuclear strike on 1950s Britain were concerned about the lack of tea. Whitehall officials thought that on the whole the UK agency for the stockpiling and distribution of food could ''with difficulty" cope "with a few A Bombs". | | However, the detailed projections for the supply of tea were for disturbingly low levels of only one ounce per person per week. Half of the WWII ration and only a quarter of the amount considered as normal. Tea was seen as a vital morale boosting aid to the nation, and its no surprise the planners were still preoccupied with it only ten years after the end of WWII. At the start of WWI when supply ships were sunk by U Boats the government took it upon itself to ensure the nations tea supply taking over its importation and controlling its price. Just two days after WWII broke out the government ordered all tea stocks to be dispersed from London to safer warehouses out side of the capital in case of bombing. Those who had particularly thirsty jobs crucial to the war effort such as steel workers or firemen got a bigger ration. |
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World's longest sofa comes to Harrods Tuesday 29 Apr 2008
Fig Roll Crisis goes mainstream Tuesday 22 Apr 2008
Hyper active kids could do for the Battenburg Thursday 10 Apr 2008
Lets make tea for 10 million Tuesday 8 Apr 2008
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| Somebody somewhere thinks you would like a cake
Well its February 14th and the romantic ones amongst us are no doubt planning something wonderful for their special love tonight. Here at NCOTAASD HQ the YMOS and myself see this as a perfect opportunity to bake some cakes whilst Wifey is out earning a crust. It may appear that this is merely a way of circumventing my diet, but it passes as romance here - right!
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Made with Love.. and butter and quite a lot of sugar too
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| 2008 reviews to be waistline neutral
I've never been one for New Year resolutions, or Wifey for that matter. However this year Wifey has made a strict and solemn resolution, that I should go on a diet. A strict limit of only one breakfast a day, no puddings, no cheese and crackers in front of the telly, and although she denies she ever said it, no biscuits.
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These mud huts in fog don't really illustrate this do they
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Yes I was shocked too. However, in order to keep the punishing schedule of sporadic biscuit reviews that you've become used to I will use the clever calorie counting exercise machines at the gym to ensure that biscuit consumption is mitigated by simulated cross country skiing.
Thus all reviews in the coming weeks will be have to 'waistline neutral' until such times as I reach my target weight. Of course my big worry is that my biscuit judgement may become impaired, as any biscuit no matter how ropey will taste like manna from heaven.
Now you may be wondering what incentives Wifey has promised for me hitting my targets? Well obviously most of them are of a distinctly personal nature, apart from the sneaky week long lads ski holiday. So if you happen to be in a French mountain restaurant in the Trois Vallees between the 12th and 19th of this month and see a man eating cake and drinking tea who really should be drinking beer, that'll probably be me.
As for the picture I didn't really have anything appropriate, so here is one we took on Christmas Eve in a small Welsh village. No they don't all live in mudhuts, it was the Celtic village at the open air museum of Welsh life near Cardiff. For some strange reason we were the only family there having a picnic.
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