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 |
Biscuit Man |
The biscuits your military correspondents are talking about may be the MOD iron ration biscuit, officially designated “Biscuits Brown For The Use Of”. I can’t imagine anyone having fond memories of them though, as they are designed to have an extra long shelf-life and provide the user with various vitamins, so they’re not exactly melt-in-the-mouth treats! The MOD put the contract out to tender every year, so production is switched to whichever biscuit manufacturer comes up trumps. Apparantly there are large stockpiles of them in bunkers awaiting deployment to wherever they’re needed. Our boys might not have the latest kit and weapons, but at least they’ll never run short of biscuits….
Biscuit Man |
| |
Trina |
I was an Army brat and my dad would bring home golden cans with compo ration No. 2. The oatmeal biscuit was a fantastic original biccie worthy of a greater audience. My brother who is still in the Forces says they are still made for the MoD. I would love, love, love to eat an oatmeal block, just one more time. My brother says there are recipes for the block including mixing it down into a sweet porridge but it remains the best known gnawing biccie I've ever known. Wonderful. Why can civvies buy some?
|
Nicey replies: Yes those oatmeal blocks keep getting mentioned from time to time, but I think they seem to be strictly a military biccy. |
| |
Matthew Revell |
Howdy Nicey,
Thanks for forwarding the NY tea mails!
I'm writing from an odd place called Kinko's, on 3rd Ave, in Manhattan. I say it's odd as they think $18 an hour for net access is reasonable! Also, someone seems to have swapped the keys around. Only joking, I know that's the way they have their keyboards over here.
Anyway, thanks to everyone who has giving me info on Tea and Sympathy. I'm going to pop over there later on today. So far, I've stuck to orange juice, but my other half, Lyne, has had many cups of tea, all of them good. The trick seems to be to ask for only a small amount of milk. The other thing I've tried is to ask for black tea (which could mean black, as opposed to green or herbal) and then when the tea comes with no milk, I say, "Could I have milk please?" Then, there's no room for the over generous amount milk they'd otherwise give you.
Right, I'm off to stalk Carrie Bradshaw.
Matt. |
| |
Charles Hutchinson |
Dear Nicey,
30 years ago while in the cadet force we had some army field rations. In this there was a truely wonderful biscuit. It was like a slightly oversized digestive and somewhat sweeter. I have not been able to find it since . Any ideas?
It could of been terrible and I could have been very hungry but I don't think so.
Also army tea is a very unusual drink all of its own - actually I'm not sure it really was tea. It was also very sweet and milky; I think they used condensed milk to make it.
I have long since given up on any ideas of military action but wouldn't mind another of their biscuits.
Charles |
Nicey replies: I was talking just the other day to somebody about NAAFI digestives which she described as being like a buttery sweet digestive. Perhaps this is your fondly remembered biscuit. |
| |
Matthew Petty |
A friend told me of the machine in the canteen at his university, which asked you to enter a number code for each drink. 100 was tea, no milk powder crap, no sugar. 101 was with sugar, etc. You get the idea. The machine also served cold drinks like fizzy orange, and hot soups as well. These also had their number codes. The numbers specified the ingredients, whether it was hot, fizzy or whatever. Normally you could only enter the codes listed on the front.
The fun started when the machine went wrong, and allowed any number to be entered. The machine would then try it's best to produce Fizzy Soup, Cold Orange Coffee, and the frankly disturbing Chicken Tea with Sugar.
All revolting, including the standard tea & coffee of course.
Regards,
Matthew Petty |
Nicey replies: Yes I once had to work in a place that had those. I don't think it was a malfunction that they could make stupid drinks, it was all part of the service. You could also make double strength drinks, which were twice as nasty. |
| |
|
|
|