Your ViewsKeep your e-mails pouring in, it's good to know that there are lots of you out there with views and opinions. To help you work out what is what, are now little icons to help you see biscuit related themes. And now you can see at a glance which are the most contested subjects via this graph (requires Flash 6.0 plugin). Please keep your mails coming in to nicey@nicecupofteaandasitdown.com | If you like, you can use this search thingy to find stuff that matches with any of the icons you pick, or use the fantastic free text search, Yay! | Your e-Mails |
Robin
Iced Gems Review |
Dear Nicey
I've been a long and avid fan of the site (good work my friends!) however, for the very first time I've been compelled to write. I've just come across the 'Superstions' section and am somewhat bemused by the history surrounding bubbles in tea. There seems to be lots of stories related to a possible income of cash when bubbles appear in tea. Not here in Oxford, I'm afraid. My Mum, and Nans (on both sides) all announced when making a fine cup of tea, should a bubble appear it was a 'kiss'. I have carried on this tradition and on my regular tea runs at work if a bubble or a two appears I always place it in front of the recipient and announce 'Your tea has kisses, as it was made with love'. I like to think of this as a less greedy and more caring suggestion to the bubbles mythology.
In addition the lady I sit next to at work causes an abomination every day by loudly 'crunching' her packets of Iced Gems. It hurts my very soul to even type their name, surely they are the ultimate so-called biscuit of evil.
keep up the tremendous work
kind regards and dunkages of joy
Robin |
Nicey replies: I wonder if the size of the bubbles has any bearing on the amount of money or the degree to which you are going to get kissed. Occasionally you get a really big one with lots of tiny ones round the edge you see. |
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Hiromi Miura |
Hello, Nicey,wifey and YMOS.
I have known that some NCOTAASD.com fans were missing the "Play Box" biscuit. I love its lovely biscuit tin thatIwas able to see in your Paleolithic Biscuits section. I wish I could see the biscuits themselves hidden in the tin...... The lovely tin shipped square biscuits ,didn't it ?
Well,recently, I found an uncommon type of square shaped biscuit at my local shop in Seoul Korea.
It is a "Hoo-gam" biscuit, which was released into the Korean market by CROWN on October yesteryear.
(It is manufactured by Dong Guan Kam Tai in China)
We can see a description of "Potato Biscuit" on the outer box. So, here, 7 % of potato are used as one of ingredients. This potato biscuit comes in a purple box with a drawer. On sliding over the drawer, inside are six individual portion packs including five square biscuits. The biscuit is super-slim at 1.3mm thick.
Its thinness and smell look like a popular potato crisp that comes in a tublar can. It tastes slightly sweet and slightly salty with an aftertaste like that of the potato crisps I have had.
Unlike usual potato crisps who have curved oval faces, this "Hoo-gam" biscuits have flat square faces.
Anyway, this potato biscuit is really unique with the subtle taste, textute and looks for a biscuit.
So, I feellike doubting if we may call it a biscuit. However, it will be a biscuit as CROWN says so. I believe that CROWN must be a reliable confectionery. Actually, the "Hoo-gam" biscuit is not as crisp as common potato crisps.
I guess that those individual packages are done so that even once you open you CAN stop! And I'm not sure what caused the baker to pop such an idea of the potato crisp-like biscuit. But I imagine that a fluffy thin-sliced potato may have suggested to the manufacturer that he cook the 1.3mm-thick-potato into a potato biscuit instead of a potato snack. So, an another description on the outer box says like this; "A slender potato proposes."
By the way, I hear that the U.K. has a great number of potato lovers as well as biscuits lovers.
Has your country had a potato biscuit, yet?
Thank you for reading.
Hiromi Miura (Seoul Korea)
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Nicey replies: Hello Hiromi,
Yes Playbox biscuits were square and very much missed by many NCOTAASD readers as are Iced biscuits in general.
Your Potato biscuits sound like they would make better companions to cold glasses of beer than hot cups of tea. Certainly the only products that I know of in the UK that are comparable in recipe would be savoury snacks rather sweet or even savoury biscuits. With Wifey being Irish we do have extensive potato experience in the NCOTAASD ranks. Indeed Granda Wifey is basically powered by potatoes, boiled floury ones. These are required with virtually every meal, (it used to be every meal but he has become slightly more liberal in past years).
Another Irish staple is potato bread which includes some mashed potato in it. Looking more like a thick heavy square pancake rather than a loaf, they are usually fried with bacon or sausages and eaten for breakfast.
We also hear that the Japanese version of our book is at long last to be released in Japan this month, and we hope to have our copy soon. |
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Marmite lover |
Dear nicey and wifey,
I have recently tried out Yorkshire Gold tea. It's quite strong isn't it? And I wasn't even sampling the hard water version. Is it true that northerners drink stronger tea than southerners?
yours
marmite lover |
Nicey replies: Well Yorkshire tea is a very acceptable brew, and they don't cut any corners as far as we are concerned. Mind you I think you'll find most brands produce quite a powerful cuppa when they produce a Premium blend. This was certainly the case when PG Tips produced a special blend for their 75th anniversary, its teh only logical place to go really.
We haven't had a good North South battle royal since the last one, (the interpretation of the term bun I think..) so lets have at it. You might want to leave the Welsh / Irish and Scots out of this one though and draw the battle lines between the Wirral and the Wash. |
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Mary Ann Lund |
Dear Nicey,
I thought this 'Tidy Tippist' [sic] keyboard might be just the thing for the taking of afternoon tea at work
As you can see, the doily design adds a touch of refinement to proceedings, while the handy wipe-clean surface prevents dangerous tea spillage and the perennial problem of biscuit crumbs getting stuck between the keys.
With best wishes,
Mary Ann Lund |
Nicey replies: Yes those are some barking mad products. I think I could manage to live out the rest of my days with out a combined tablecloth / keyboard but I'm sure for others its a must have item.
I like the laptop bag designed to look like a rubbishy plastic bag to prevent thieves spotting it, but again I find myself perfectly able to imagine a future that doesn't include it. |
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Chris Greenshaw
McVities Milk Chocolate Digestive Review |
Hello,
At tea this morning one of my colleagues picked up a McVities plain chocolate digestive which had the chocolate on the wrong side. How often does this happen? Are there any collectors of such biscuits? Do biscuit manufacturers keep statistics about these occurences?
All the best,
Chris |
Nicey replies: Chris,
Judging by the glaring omission of a supporting photograph we can only assume that the poor little chap was quickly and humanely dispatched. Unfortunately I don't have the statistics for such things to hand. I suspect they are impressively low as this is I think the first time it has been reported to us, and that the mighty McVities wouldn't tell us even if they knew. |
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