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 |
Tomsk |
Chris Capon talked about "She also refuses to drink the last few sips of tea insisting she's finished
when there is still some left in the bottom of the cup." and many others spoke of family customs relating to tea
Well, my mother-out-law (yes, the mother of my unmarried partner) coined a word for the unpleasant sensation of drinking the last dregs of a cuppa only to find that the strainer hasn't done its job.
The day this happened, she drank down the dregs and immediately made a pinched face and said "nimnimnimnim" So for ever after, the dregs in the bottom of a cuppa are nim-nims.
Anyone else have local or family words associated with a nice cup of tea (or even an unpleasant one - don't get me started on UHT milk...)
cheerio
Tomsk
|
| |
Donald Recchia
HobNob Review |
Dear Nicey,
I came across your site about a month and a half ago and found it quite interesting and amusing. You see, I’m American and we usually don’t make such a fuss over cookies, biscuits or what-have-you. Well, I was shopping the other day and came across a box of HobNobs and put it in my cart. A little further down the isle was a box that said ‘Original Chocolate Digestives’ It wasn’t McVities but a Spanish label, anyway, into the cart it went (must have been the Spanish manufacturer since the biscuits were stamped “McVities”). Suffice it to say that I now understand exactly what you are talking about. These were by far the best biscuits I have ever eaten (I’ll call them biscuits even though I know better). I thought that I would get some oatmeal type dry biscuit that would have to be drowned in coffee or milk to enjoy, but quite the contrary they are absolutely delicious dry out of the box. Kudos to you and your website for turning me on to a new taste sensation and a newfound respect for British baking prowess.
Donald Recchia
Madrid, Spain
|
Nicey replies: United Biscuits have a acquired a lot of Spanish bakeries in the last few years which explains why Digestives are now turning up in Spain. McVities Chocolate Digestives are the biggest selling biscuit in the UK so its probably a good plan to try and get the rest the world eating them. Who knows one day they might even catch up with Oreo.
Maybe someday we'll even see reciprocal 'biscuit cruises' from the continent to balance out our 'booze cruises' to it. Probably not. |
| |
Suzy |
Hi Nicey,
While I was working in a pub I was honoured enough to receive a lurid orange 'World's Sexiest Woman' mug from one of my customers (although I'm not, but it's nice to think I am when I'm drinking tea). You can only imagine the problems it caused. It seemed to be a honey trap for all the female employees, and I was incensed to see them fighting over MY mug - MINE, dammit! After things had calmed down, the atmosphere became rather frosty and I decided to take my mug home so I could drink from it in safety and comfort.
Strange, it isn't even a nice mug. I'd prefer if it was white inside so I can see exactly how strong my tea is. But it's the first mug i've had that hasn't come with an Easter Egg, and that's something that has to be defended at all costs.
On the teaspoon issue... I used to have tea round my Mum's and catch her using some of the skankiest, most vile and mucky teaspoons ever. Eww.
Suzy.
|
| |
Nick Marsh |
When I was an engineering student in the early nineties, I lived on the twelfth floor of a block of flats. Often, after lectures, my friend Neal would often drop by to discuss studies..... or, perhaps more honestly, to partake of a nice cup of tea and whatever I had in the cupboard (biscuits were too expensive in those days). Following the brewing stage, we got into the habit of dropping our teabags out of the window for entertainment, preferably when other students were coming out of the rear entrance. However, I was most disappointed with the impact of standard square teabags
and, with my aerodynamic knowledge to hand, decided to try out round teabags - a relatively new design concept at the time.
My hypothesis was correct; the round teabags made for a much more satisfactory splatter on both glass and concrete! Although I never conducted proper experiments, my theory was that the higher mass to surface area ratio, and more streamlined shape, made for an improved drag
coefficient, resulting in better acceleration and a higher terminal velocity (although an improvement in directional stability could also have been a factor).
My question therefore is: What importance do teabag manufacturers place on the flying characteristics of their designs - indeed was this the reason for patenting the round teabag in the first place? Since I now live in a conventional house, my post-brew bombing opportunities are limited, nevertheless I would be very interested if anyone has any official data on the subject, or perhaps has even conducted their own tests. If not, this area has much research potential as there is evidently a market niche worth exploiting. |
| |
Emma Wolfson |
Hello,
I'm writing in response to your mail from emily cole about bubbles in tea ('spooky welsh tea money'). i am a brit living in tajikistan and even here in central asia, there are a number of similar traditions about tea. for example, if there are bubbles in the middle of your tea, it means that you will get money, but you have to pinch the bubbles out with your fingers and throw them over your shoulder. however, if the bubbles are around the edge of your tea cup, it means debt, which is obviously not a good thing.
other than black tea - which is drunk without milk and in a small handle-less cup called a 'pial', green tea is also popular here, and if there are sticks from the tea (i don't think that's the technical term for them, but do you know what i mean?) floating in the cup, it means you'll have guests.
tea drinking is a big thing in central asia and there's a ritual that when you have a guest round, you should pour the tea into the guest's pial three times before serving it. there are various reasons for this, none of which make a huge amount of sense to me. and in tajikistan, the amount of tea you pour into the pial is an indicator of how much respect you have for the other person.
I hope this is interesting! Emma. |
Nicey replies: Emma,
That is wonderful stuff indeed, and shows that these superstitions are much more wide spread than we first thought, probably an indicator of their antiquity. Hoorah for you and Central Asia. Big Woos on being our first correspondent from Tajikistan. |
| |
|
|
|