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 |
Andrew Bourbon-Cream |
As if news of the impending demise of the Plain Chocolate HobNob wasn't bad enough, one must now face the fact that we are moving out of the Cream Tea Season. Living in the west country, perhaps we lockels are more sensitive than most to this time of year but the sad fact remains that with the passing of the fresh strawberry season, we now must face a sudden down-turn in cream tea uptake.
Wifey-Darling will no doubt become quieter, virtually hibernating over winter until the daffodils and Cream Tea signs start to re-appear next spring. All I ask is that your devoted readers and well-wishers keep in mind the many who shall be suffering these coming months. Some suggest Panettone therapy, but it's not the same, it really isn't.
Here's some lovely crumbly scones Wifey-Darling made earlier this year for a do:
Sincerely
Andrew Bourbon-Cream |
Nicey replies: That really is the nicest picture of strawberry topped scones we have ever seen. |
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Simon Dolega-Ossowski |
Both me and my collegue Mr Nadar have long lamented the disappearance of the celebrated Lemon Puff, which I think was a Peak Freans product. The broad perforated rectangular glazed puff sandwich with its delicious lemon cream filling - a corner-stone of 70s and 80s biscuit tins - was a perfect foil to its heavier based chocolate based counterparts such as the Bourbon.
The Lemon Puff has resurfaced recently, as an inferior roundel I fear, reintroduced by the supermarkets, and it's not the same: we may have been duped about the shrinking size of a Wagon Wheel, but Rich Tea doesn't seem to have diminished in size one bit, and we cannot be fooled for a moment about the shape, and more generous proportions of the old rectangular Lemon Puff.
I await its appearence on your otherwise excellent website.
PS - have you any info on Kunzle Cakes?
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Nicey replies: Indeed as far as I recall the Lemon Puff was a Peek Frean biscuit and so its custodian-ship moved to Jacobs in due course. As I have often said I respected the lemon puff of old, despite not really liking it.. We had a couple attempts at reviewing the modern and inferior round ones but they were too grim.
As for Kunzle Cakes, I never had one but they sound amazing, there is a very good blog devoted to them.
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Mike Armitage |
Hello Nicey ,Wifey and the rest of the team.
I've just come back from a cycling holiday in Oakham, Rutland. I visited the local market while I was there and found a specialist Tea stall. ( Must be because the Oakham School is quite posh!) There were 3 varieties of Earl Grey tea on this stall! I bought some loose tea, a tea caddy and a "Dauerfilter" for making loose tea directly in the cup. Its a permanent filter and is "Auch ideal zum Aufbruhen von kaffee"
I don't remember which variety of Earl grey tea I bought because the stall owner put it directly in my new caddy but it has a very strong scent of bergamot and it quite delicious.
I have been amazed by people far and wide who admit to having seen and enjoyed your site or have read your book.
Mike Armitage |
Nicey replies: We keep passing through Rutland, and Oakham on our way to and from other places. In fact we tried to find somewhere to camp up there two weeks ago but wound up in Derbyshire. If we had of made it to Rutland we would have been cycling round there too..
Just got back from a splendid bike ride this afternoon with both younger members of staff and Nanny Nicey. All off road in the hills between Saffron Walden and Royston. We took half a home made fruit cake and a flask of tea. We pop two teabags in the flask when we are ready to make the tea, and this works very well indeed. |
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Maureen Killip |
Although I love biscuits dearly of course, I am at heart a cake person, and have just returned from a cake & beer themed holiday in Europe. I was pleasantly surprised by the availability of both decent tea & sitdowns, although biscuits were thin on the ground. However, the stunning cakes banished all thoughts of biscuits from my mind, so I thought you might like to see a pic of the truely awe inspiring Russian Cream Torte (from a lovely cafe behind the palace in Budapest). The cream was delicately infused with lemon & the mousse type filling contained rum soaked dried fruit. The memory of this cake will stay with me always...
The beer was pretty good too (mmmm......Staropramen!)
Enjoy
Maureen Killip
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Nicey replies: That was good forward thinking to take the photo of the epic cake before eating it rather than the creamy smear on the plate after you had dispatched it. Wifey and I are big into cakes right now with lots of cake baking taking place at NCOTAASD HQ. Interestingly the last two fruit cakes have both had beer in them, an Ale cake followed by a Guinness cake. We too were minded towards a rum and fruit based job, and even bought a bottle for the purpose although Wifey has seen off quite a bit of it with coke.
In fact our on-going cake activity may well spill out onto the site in some form or another. |
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Monika Duhig
Weston's Wagon Wheels Review |
Hello again nicey and family,
Just perused an email on your site about WWs and realised that here in the Great Southern Land you can buy lots of different types of wagon wheels viz standard WWs - one to a packet in regulation size (largest in the world now? - gotta love it) biscuit sized in packs of 12 in standard WW flavour, strawberry choc (ie they are pink on the outside and taste like it) and vanilla choc (they are white - what IS the purpose of white chocolate?) mini sized in double choc and jaffa
You can also buy Korean 'moon pies" by Lotte - they look like pregnant WWs and taste stange - no jam, funny oriental marsh mallow and a VW bug kind of profile.
Choc bikkies are out of control in this country - saw some Kahlua flavoured slices (a mint slice with Kahlua cream) and a Black Forest gateau flavoured slice as well. Too much
Wish I could get eccles cakes out here....sigh
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Nicey replies: Hi Monika,
Wow sounds like the WagonWheel has really wigged out since joining Arnotts. |
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