Your Views

Keep your e-mails pouring in, it's good to know that there are lots of you out there with views and opinions.

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Your e-Mails

Jenny Hall	dear nicey & all at ncotaasd, i was confused by what you said about snowballs having a biscuit base.  i'm not sure what happens south of the border, but up here in sunny aberdeen our snowballs are most definately cake-like.  they are sponge, filled with jam (of varying quality) and covered in coconut.  is this some sort of sassenach meddling with a scottish baking institution?!  i feel some sort of braveheart inspired pun would be appropriate here and yet words fails me. anyhooooo, love the site! jenny ps any chance you might make a st andrew's flag icon?!
	Nicey replies: Looks like you are right to be confused, I'm talking about the ones like a naked teacake covered in coconut. Perhaps somebody else can come up with a pun as I can't think of one either, but then it is quite late. As for flags, as I have said before we have one for Canada because its ironic. As for anybody else, no sorry or they'll all be wanting one, I've had to turn down the Welsh for example on a number of occasions. If I had to choose an icon for Scotland I might base it on the swarm of Midges that attacked me at half past four in the morning on Rannoch Moor in 1978, as we tried to make a get away without them noticing we were up. Obviously that would be a bit too borne out of personal experience and it would just look like black dots.
Keith O'Kane	Dear Nicey and the wife, Having looked through your feedback, I notice that there are many items relating to various cakes and biscuits but very little correspondence on the subject of toast. I imagine that for most people, the phrase "A nice cup of tea and a sit down" evokes an image of afternoon tea.  This is perfectly understandable as the 3 o'clock cuppa or a freshly brewed pot on arriving home after work are the most anticipated and well deserved breaks in the average day.  On these occasions, a biscuit or a nice piece of cake is exactly the right accompaniment. There are, however, other tea drinking opportunities, particularly breakfast and supper time, when a slice of toast is more appealing.  As a child, one of my favourite culinary treats was hot, buttered toast with a sprinkling of sugar.  The toast has to be hot to allow the sugar to melt into the butter.  Nowadays, I enjoy toast with butter or marmalade for breakfast.  Speciality jams are also provided for the younger members of the household. For supper, I will occasionally top my toast with peanut butter or something more exotic such as cheese (with a dash of Lea & Perrin's), pilchards, plum tomatoes or mushrooms with cream. Perhaps you could provide a survey on the best "toast topper", including butter, jam, marmalade, peanut butter, marmite (yuck!), mashed banana etc. As you can see from this short list of options, toast is extremely versatile and should note be ignored. Keith O'Kane p.s.  Possibe new icon alert.
	Nicey replies: Kieth, Our mate Nick Parker wrote a splendid book on toast, he also ran the London marathon last Sunday. Of course Toast falls within the gamut of tea and sitting down activity. Wifey likes tea before, during and after Toast in the morning. Wifey sticks rigidly to Marmite or cheese. I like Bovril, Marmalade, sometimes a spot of jam occasionally Peanut Butter with sweet pickle or fresh ground black pepper. A spot of Heinz Tomato Ketchup is very good also. The whole team enjoys Sardines on toast and we feel strongly that more people should eat Sardines on toast. I'll try a sweet toppings poll first, but I think I know the outcome already. Big Woos for the icon fest nature of this message
Sarah	Following Sue's impressive story of her 25 year old personal Kermie mug, I thought I would share the ultimate mug-revenge story with you.  My friend Little Claire got into work at our law firm the other day to find that her lovely mug had a huge great crack in it.  Being the ace detective that she is, she found out that the culprit was a partner whom, not wishing to sully the name of an otherwise great solicitor, we shall call H.  H thought he would remedy the situation by covering Little Claire's lovely mug in copious amounts of packing tape - as I'm sure you can imagine, Little Claire was unamused...  So, seeking revenge in her own inimitable way, she photographed H's own mug and put it up for sale on e-bay.  Apparently it got 12 hits! So, if ever your own personal mug goes missing, check e-bay - you never know who might be trying to flog it as an act of revenge... Sarah Exeter P.S. From another Cornish girl in exile, not only does the jam always go on before the cream, it's pronounced 'scone' to rhyme with 'gone', not 'scone' to rhyme with 'own'.  I thank you.
Victoria Williams	Hi Nicey,   Just have to lend my support to Nicola's point here. I can't say I've grown up with cream teas (though never say no if I get the chance to indulge) but in my limited experience, and preference, it's got to be cream first! Surely this is just practical as well as more aesthetically pleasing? Think about it, jam, while fresh, can be pretty slick stuff. If you try to spread something rougher over it (i.e. clotted cream, surely the stiffest off all creams?), the whole topping ends up sliding all over the place. This is bad news, as evidenced by the mixed up pale pink creamy jammy goo (and worst of all with scone crumbs worked into it) that one could so eaily end up with in this kind of practice. However, treating the cream as one would butter on the scone and then dressing it up with runny jam ensures that all three compents retain their individual contiguity until they are devoured. Mixing is then allowed.   Ta.
	Nicey replies: I understand what you are getting perfectly only the cream we had in Cornwall was quite runny and the jam quite stiff. Perhaps rather than hard and fast rules this is really a case by case judgment. Why can't one simply apply jam to one half and cream to the other in which ever orientation pleases you, no confusing mechanical issues.
Nicola	Dear Nicey, I am a regular reader but first time contributor to yours, the best website in the world. On seeing your picture of a "typical" cream tea I felt the need to comment on the disastrous placement of clotted cream. Originally from Devon (and therefore highly qualified on the subject of cream teas) I was always taught that the cream goes on first, then a small blob of strawberry jam is place atop (certain heathens may use raspberry jam but the least said about those people the better!). You're picture clearly puts jam first, then cream! Quelle horreur! Despite this comment I am pleased that your horizons have broadened during your trip. Keep up the difficult work!
	Nicey replies: My Auntie Edna who has local knowledge of the issue did warn me that I might be inciting unrest. However, yours is the first mail I've had advocating cream first so it would appear you're in the minority. If you are right then my reply should really lead to widespread unrest.
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