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 |
Peter Hill
Bahlsen Hit Review |
Hello Nicey,
Great work on the site, I've been following it for about 8 months now. It was great to see you on Richard and Judy, and I've been quoting you regarding Jaffa Cakes.. "The clue's in the name".. I got a biscuit barrell for my birthday (with a proper knobbly handle on the lid and all..), with lots of fantastic biscuits, including Golden Syrup, Golden Crunch and Caramel Crunch as well as Jaffa cakes and Maryland Cookies.
Anyway, recently people have been asking where they can get Prince biscuits in the UK, and you've suggested "Hit" as an alternative, but I have found these elusive biscuits here! These rare specimins come from that most strange place known as Lidl. That's right, that odd, cheap, forgien supermarket sells Prince biscuits, as well as some other French biscuits. I bought a pack, as when we go to France, I make sure we get some as they are brilliant. By the time we had driven the 5 miles or so home, I had eaten half the pack.
Well, so long, and thanks for all the biscuits,
Fido Dido [Peter]
(biscuit fanatic and your humble fan)
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Nicey replies: Yay Peter,
Thanks for the Lidl tip off, we have one about 20 miles away, but my Mum who lives in South Wales has one dead near by so we raid that whenever we are there. |
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Megaloguru |
Can it be that you have in your tea section a cup of tea in a plastic mug with the teabag masking in it.
Too cruel. Remove this monstrosity at once.
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Nicey replies: Yes British Rail tea is a bit scary isn't it? Still you'll just have to to deal with our hard hitting and gritty style of tea realism. |
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Sebastian Johnson-Cadwell |
Hi. Great work Nicey.
In response to Christine Keeble's leaky teapot misery: it is possible to end those dribbling spout nightmares. Unfortunately this comes at a cost. My mother-in-law cuts a small section of durable, plastic tubing and seats this half over the end of the spout - which effectively gives you a short extension. I can't claim to understand the wonder of such an technology, but it greatly reduces seepage. However, this is detrimental to the overall aesthetics of your teapot. Would the Vicar approve? I don't know.
Personally, I am resigned to making a great deal of mess during the whole making-a-nice-cup-of-tea process, as the final result is worth all the tears shed during it's production. |
Nicey replies: Woo. I really should do a teapot icon to honor such a tale.
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Julia Long |
Is a biscuit the same thing as a cookie?
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Nicey replies: Some would say so, but not us. Biscuit is derived from the French 'bis' for 'twice' and past participle of the verb 'cuir' to cook, and so means twice-cooked. This described the process by which flour could be preserved by making ships biscuits. An initial baking of a simple flour and water dough was followed by a long second drying process, hence twice cooked.
Now comes the pure speculation on my part. Presumably the same derivation led to the naming of biscuits in the southern states of the USA by French settlers where a 'biscuit' is somewhat like a British 'cobbler', a small floury baked item which is enjoyed with savoury dishes to soak up gravy. As the word biscuit had already now been used for something in the American cuisine, a new word must have been needed to describe what the rest of the world thinks of as biscuits. Many American cookies would be recognised as biscuits in the UK, however, the large diameter soft baked variety, are what we think of as Cookies. |
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Tom |
Firstly what a great site and brillaint idea. I thought that I would pass on a little bit of inspiration that I discovered whilst in the Alps this year for some skiing. they are the joy that is "Longue du Chat".or as we on this Island know them, " Cats Tongues".
they are brilliant for dunking, imagine the skill that is needed for a hob-nob so it doesn't breakup and the chocolate Rich tea. Fabulous! as the tea is soaked up into the body of the biscuit the tea turnms the sugar into a slightly caramalized yumminess that to this day still needs to have an entire packed eaten, it is nigh on impossible to leave any of them in the packet. If needs be I make another cup of tea and have another sit down.
It is imperative that you try some of these in the near future and may I take the libertly to recommend those produced by Fortnum and Masons of london
Enjoy and kind regards.
Tom
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Nicey replies: Yes those old Cats Tongues are nice little butter biscuits aren't they. If they didn't look like cats tongues then maybe they would have been called 'petit beurre' instead. They often make appearances in desserts as they are very good for eating with mousse. |
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