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 |
Dave Chambers
Ginger Nut Review |
I have had this ginger biscuit wrapper framed on my wall for several years now.
After discovering your intriguing website I thought that I would like to share it with you.
I would like to think that the graphic designer had a sense of humour, but it may be that the Trades Description Act took precedent.
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Nicey replies: Yes serving suggestions are often baffling or ludicrous, however there is usually an explination behind it. I don't think that you are allowed to mislead people as to the contents of the package the are buying so in the case of say an imaginary lemon biscuit, if the pack shows a little slice of lemon then it has to say 'serving suggestion', as there are no slices of lemon within. As the designer of your pack used a cup of tea behind the Gingernuts it has to say 'serving suggestion' just in case consumers thought the pack contained one. |
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Johnny Lothian |
Hi Nicey,
A very good mate of mine is very logical, precise, and deliberate in his own way. One of his particularly ideosynchratic traits is to stir his cup of tea exactly 25 times. This habit always perplexed me and I asked him today via email why he did this.
I thought I would share his reply with you:
I don't really stir it exactly 25 times, that's a bit too precise, even for me. It's more about firstly getting the stirring done while the tea is piping hot (ie before adding milk) and then ensuring you get the tea up to as high a rotational velocity as possible. The reason for doing this is because ease of sugar dissolution improves as both temperature and motion increase. The way sugar (a solid) dissolves in tea (a liquid) is by the sugar particles getting into the gaps between the tea particles. As you are aware everything expands as it heats up, however it remains the same mass/weight, therefore it is actually the spaces between the particles which get bigger, not the particles themselves. So the higher the temperature the more chance the sugar particles have of sneaking into these spaces. Similarly, the motion of stirring causes more gaps between the particles to be exposed, thus improving the rate at which the sugar can get into the gaps. The result of course is a more delicious cup of tea which has an even mix of sweetness throughout the tea in the cup (ie no pile of sugar in the bottom of your cup).
More information than I expected, but enlightening nonetheless, don't you think? |
Nicey replies: Perhaps you should suggest he gives up sugar, as its obviously making him a bit unhinged in a Howard Hughes sort of way.
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Nick Lovibond |
Nicey
It goes without saying that your web site is wonderful.
I would like to own a nice 100ish page biscuit review book for my stylish coffee table. Could you make this possible by Christmas?
I think a square book would be nice. photo on one page, review on t'other.
A matt laminate cover with its own unique tea ring-stain on the front.
Thanks you.
Nick |
Nicey replies: I'm on it look here |
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Daniel Rukstelis
Bakers Tennis Biscuits Review |
Nicey,
Well, regarding why the name tennis for the Bakers Tennis biscuit? Is it because in some countries, the boring game was played against a long, rectangular concrete or brick wall very similar to a squash court without the side walls (ring any bells to a certain shaped biscuit?). And if the tennis ball was wet, it would leave a frilly pattern on the wall exactly like the frilly pattern found on the Bakers' biscuit. Now, it is not at all my intention to remark that the taste of the Bakers Tennis Biscuit reminds my of wet tennis balls and concrete. However, the frilly pattern also can be found on a tie-dyed T-shirt. And we all know the connection of tennis and its fans who wear such clothing. Are they not the very people who sing in the rain at Wimbledon and eat Bakers Tennis Biscuits?
Regards, Daniel |
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Greg Shailes
Bourbon Review |
Hello Nicey & Wifey,
I've been enjoying your site ever since I found it whilst searching for pictures of Bourbon biscuits. "Why?" I hear you cry, well I'll tell you. The company I work for recently decided to name its computers after biscuits, so I was making desktop icons for each one. Your site has been invaluable in providing most of the images I needed - except a jaffa cake. In the end I put a real one through my scanner.
Oddly enough, the biscuit-named computers seem to take on the character of the biscuit its named in honour of. For instance, 'BOURBON' is a solid, reliable performer that rarely lets us down, whereas 'JAFFA' seems to be a bit flakey, almost as if its having some kind of identity crisis. 'HOBNOB' is by far the fastest machine, reflecting the speed at which a packet of those rustic comestibles disappears in our office... and 'PINKWAFER'? Well lets just say that as a computer it's about as useful as the proverbial chocolate tea pot.
Right-ho anyway now I'm off to crack open another packed of custard creams - our company provides biscuits but you've got to be quick to get a decent share... leave it too late and all you're left with is the inaccurately-names 'nice' biscuits.
Greg. |
Nicey replies: That sounds like a very sensible plan. I'm still scarred with the memories of of working at too many places where the computers were named after ancient gods. I think it was something that got drummed into Cambridge graduates years ago. It was a revelation when I found out computers didn't have to named Zeus, Mars etc.
I worked at a place a couple of years back where the computers were named after Aunties whose names began with the letter B, so we had Bertha, Betty, and Beryl. |
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