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 |
Nick Q |
Dear Nicey
Re the email from your correspondent Hel Moo. This is a variation on the theme of the use of tap water in hot beverages.
Many, many years ago I recall watching a film. I don't remember the name (it was one of those bleak and depressing 1960's black and white jobs) but I remember Glenda Jackson was the leading lady - I guess that makes it of a "certain age". There is in fact only one thing I remember about the whole film. In one scene, it is early morning and she is rushing out of out of her dreary bedsit accomodation and makes a cup of coffee using hot water from the tap (and drinks it as well!) That particular scene has stuck in my mind for the last 20 years and put me off Glenda Jackson for life - that's a bit of a bummer as she is now also my MP. I thoroughly agree with you and I couldn't express it better myself - Yeeerrrchhh.
Keep up the crusade!
Yours etc.
Nick |
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Hel Moo |
Hello!
Money is still around, yay! They told me I was mad! Thank heavens for your authority.
I'd like to bring to your attention something that has horrified me for some time. I'm not sure who started it, possibly someone with no time for a sit down.
This horrific practice involves pouring upto HALF of the tea away and refilling with cold water. It's obvious that the strength, flavour and overall enjoyment is diluted along with it. Not only this, but the surface becomes covered in bubbles and transforms the brew into a money infested "teappuccino". The aim of all this is to cool the tea down and drink it as quickly as possible, but at what cost?
Has anyone else seen this done? Did it chill them to the bone?
Please alert the public to this appauling habit and let us take action. Think of the children!
Thank you
Hel
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Nicey replies: Yeeerrrrchhh, the horror. Such people will pay the price for such chemical abuse in later life, we would hope. I hesitate to use the Cup if Tea icon. |
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liz
Malted Milk Review |
Round our way, Malted Milks were always served at nursery schools and toddler's groups. This was because malt and milk were Good For You. They had a cow on them to tell you!! They weren't just any old frivolous biccky, but an Improving Food. Definitely regarded as a Cut Above by local education authorities and bossy ladies. |
Nicey replies: I was quite excited on a trip to the Bass Museum of Brewing in Burton on Trent to see a packet of Malted Milk biscuits in the display case about malt. They had tried to increase the 'wow' factor of this already gripping exhibit by using chocolate covered Malted Milks. So not only are they good for you but they use some beer technology in their manufacture. Of course I took a picture.
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Wez |
Morning,
been a b3ta lurker for quite a while, and watched your site grow and the accolations it deserves. Nice.
We're not big biscuit eaters in our house. We like tea, as do many of our friends.
We employ the 5 minute rule (if a person enters within 5 minutes of you making a cuppa, you must make them one).
We generally don't use a pot, one bag per person, unless there's about 5 or 6, which is when the pot comes out.
Without wanting to cause conflict, I also am a firm believer of the milk in first method. I think you get a smoother tasting cup, and don't get little floaty bits on the top.
The common argument against the milk in first (MIF) method ("its too milky") doesn't hold with us, and I think most people who disagree with MIF haven't tried it for a few days.
We aren't fans of traditional teas such as assam, darjeeling and lapsong. Nor are we 'proper' tea drinkers, i.e. the tea snobs that think tea + milk is disgusting, and loose leaves are standard. Sod that.
Then there are people that say they like it strong, when in fact they don't like much milk. Milk and strength are seperate parameters, like sugar.
Anyway, I'd like to see tea reviews, and especially including the trend towards fair trade tea.
I used to be a tetley man. Liked me yorkshire tea, could drink PG/Typhoo, but Tetley was the one for me.
I even had a tetley mouse mat.
And once in a moment of tea driven madness, stole a tetley caffetiere thing from a motorway service station.
Oh the shame... :)
Being semi-social conscious, I decided to buy some fair trade tea, as I don't think its right that young children are forced to pick leaves so they can eat that day.
I bought some clipper and some cafe direct fair trade bags from tezzo's I think.
Clipper was OK, on a par with any mainstream tea. The cafe direct then came out. From that first cup I haven't looked back. The smell, the flavour. It was like I'd been drinking bland tasteless tea for all those years, and at last I get a sense of what it should taste like.
You know where you can tell you've had a good cuppa?
You pick up the cup to finish off that last mouthful, and are gutted upon realising its empty?
It used to be a rare occurence. Now its commonplace. |
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Mrs Joyce Hoover |
Dear Mr Nicey
You might remember that I wrote to you back in June about the matter of embossed names on biscuits and the vital linguistic and cultural support that it gives to the 'challenged' overseas visitors who lodge with me at number 179 Davigdor Road here in Hove. I don't myself own a computer and I penned my thoughts, in the traditional way, on a couple of sheets of deckle-edged Basildon Bond; it was my neighbour, Martyn Ford, who very kindly rendered these into a modern e-mail communication to send to you. Anyway, a few days afterwards, Martyn came round to 'Joyles' in a state of great excitement saying that you had 'published' the letter in your
readers' contributions section. He doesn't often get worked up about anything and so I was a bit taken aback by his bulging eyes and the spittle in the corners of his mouth. "Don't you realize, Mrs. Hoover," he said to me, "this is one of the top sites in the country! It gets thousands of hits a day!" I'm afraid my response must have seemed rather lukewarm, but to be honest I had no idea what he was on about. He tried to explain what a website is and what 'hits' are, but I'm afraid my eyes must have glazed over as he soon gave up and we sat in my kitchen together and had a nice cup of Assam and a half-covered milk chocolate digestive each.
However, he did ask me if he might be allowed to send you a thing called a J-PEG. I thought it might be something you use to hang dishcloths up to dry, but apparently it is a way of sending a photograph to someone without using an envelope. Martyn wants to send you a picture called 'Mrs Hoover's Teatime Assortment' which he thinks may interest you, owing to the prominence in the foreground of tarts, buns, biscuits and other 'four o'clock fancies'. He also suggested I mention to you that I do an occasional theatrical presentation at the Komedia theatre here in Brighton, called Mrs Hoover Entertains. I was against the idea until he pointed out the important role that tea and
biscuits play in my show. And it is indeed true that a lot of time is given over to educating the
audiences in the lost arts and etiquette of the traditional English teatime. Moreover (as it is partly a musical entertainment) I include a song composed by myself called 'The Biscuit and Cake Song'. Which goes something like this (could I have an A, please?):
Introduction (spoken)
The experts tell us cakes are wrong
And those who eat them won't live long
A cake-free diet we should try
But I for one would rather die
Why-?
Because I like biscuits, I like cake
And all the patisseries patissiers make
I've had a sweet tooth since I was eight
And now I have a sweet dental plate.
Jaffa cakes and custard creams
I even eat them in my dreams
I feed my husband and my lodgers
On battenburg and jammie dodgers.
CHORUS
I like biscuits, I like cake...etc.
The doctor says I've put on weight
From all the sugary things I ate
The Church condemns it as a vice
But I don't care, 'cos cake is NICE!
CHORUS
I like biscuits, I like cake...etc.
Someone we should not forget
Is good Queen Marie Antoinette
She told those peasants: "Eat some cake!
And cheer up, for goodness' sake!"
She liked biscuits, she liked cake
And all the patisseries patissiers make
Those boring peasants wanted bread
And so Queen Marie lost her head!
Well, whatever turns you on
But treacle tart and a sticky bun,
Victoria sponge, with royal icing
And raspberry jam - well, that is MY thing.
CHORUS
I like biscuits, I like cake...etc.
To have your cake and eat it too
Is quite a difficult thing to do
To have some cake and then to chew it
Is easier - why don't we do it!?
CHORUS
I like biscuits, I like cake...etc.
To feed the world and save the planet -
It can't be all that difficult, can it?
I dream that all men shall be free
At 4 o'clock for scones and tea!
CHORUS
I like biscuits, I like cake, etc.
Yours sincerely
Joyce Hoover (Mrs)
P.S. My next performance at Komedia, Brighton, is on August 19th. The only
show in town with free biscuits! |
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