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 |
Christine Keeble |
I think you are just the kind of person to solve a problem that has been bugging me for ages.
I keep buying teapots and none of them pour properly. Next time I buy one I am going to insist that I can try it out in the shop.
I only ask one thing of a tea pot and that is that it should pour out tea without dribbling all over the table cloth and without the handle burning my hand. (I suppose that's two things).
Since you are clearly the experts in this field do you have any suggestions or solutions?
best regards
Mrs "slightly annoyed" from Paris
PS I love your website which I found recommended as website of the week on Which Online |
Nicey replies: That is an excellent idea, and deserves an icon. The only guide I can offer is that there appears to be inverse relationship between a teapots cost and its pouring excellence. Our quite pricey Denby Pullman pot dumps tea almost anywhere except in the cup, whilst a really cheap and cheerful pot I bought in a value shop works well.
We will all take your good word that we are Which's website of the week, given that only members can see the site contents. Presumably they tried out all the other websites about tea and sitting down and we came out tops. Hoorah! |
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Carol Swift
Tunnocks Tea Cake Review |
Please help! We are desperate to find out who makes chocolate teacakes with JAM. We are aware of the Tunnocks regular chocolate teacake but there is a version of this cake with jam available, we just can't find out the manufacturer's name. Can you help us?
Thanks in advance! |
Nicey replies: Thats no problem, you could try 'Lees' a Scottish based baker of tea cakes, or just good old 'Burtons'. |
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Ruth Horsley
Tunnocks Wafer Review |
I have just seen a comment about Gray Dunn caramel wafers. I purchased a packet some time last year but I cant remember where from. They were still as delicious as my childhood memories recalled. Tunnocks are not a patch on Gray Dunns. The new plain chocolate Tunnocks are preferable to the milk but sources are limited. I would love to know if Gray Dunn still produce their caramel wafer as my father and I would be keen to buy them again.
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Nicey replies: Ruth,
Make sure you are sitting then read this. |
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Sarah Bunn |
Hi there
I just found your fab website which brought back childhood memories of biscuit assortments that my mum used to buy at xmas and birthdays. We usually had Rover, where there were never enough jammy dodger ones to go round, with those vile pink wafers sucking up all atmospheric moisture until you ate them out of desperation at the end of the tin. Sometimes we had Danish all butter that were all a bit samey and those small round ones had sugar crystals that were a touch too big for my liking!
In our house, and some of my family the left over Rover tin would be used as a place to keep importnat papers, bills etc.. Did anybody else do this with their assortment tins. In fact I might have to get one for my filing!!
It would be cool to have assortments on your site and to hear feedabck about them!
Love the site!
Sarah |
Nicey replies: Sarah,
Thanks for a terrific email. We love biscuit assortments but reviewing more than a couple can be quite a task, still you're right its only a matter of time. Good call all the Danish all butter. The Danish seem to have used up all their inspiration on their Bacon and Pastries activities. Evidently when they got to biscuits they were spent, and just managed to make the same thing over and over only slightly altering the shape occasionally. |
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Martin the Muncher
Bourbon Review |
Dear Nicey,
First up, thanks for a most excellent site!
Reading your Bourbon review reminded me I hadn't tried my wife's favourite biscuit of the moment. As a preamble to this mini-review, I must point out that, being lactose and gluten intolerant presents her with quite a challenge in the biscuit munching department.
Anyway, the biscuit in mind is the 'Trufree Bourbon Biscuit', available in Holland & Barret, GnC, Sainsburys and other stockists of 'alternative' fare. These are labelled as wheat, gluten, milk and egg-free, so the Mrs has no problems consuming them in great quantity; vegetable fat and soya flour seem to be the main substituted ingredients. The question in my mind was how they compare to the real thing. Sadly, the shelves of our local Sainsbury only yielded their own inferior brand as a reference so my study will remain slightly flawed.
Well, putting aesthetics first, the Trufree biscuit is shaped exactly like the real thing, right down to the 'BOURBON' stamped onto each side of the sandwich, although the biscuit is only about 2/3 the size of the traditional variety. Colour wise, the biscuits are slightly lighter and the filling slightly darker. Experiment proved that it is perfectly possible to eat these in the deconstructionalist manner (i.e. separating the biscuit and filling layers for separate consumption), although the adhesion of the components is adequate for consuming whole.
The texture, while firm, was lighter and crumblier, although not so 'gritty': the Sainsbury traditional biscuit has a lot of sugar crystals embedded in the biscuit. The filling seems about the same, but I suspect a higher coccoa content. Taste-wise, there is actually little to choose. Due to the lightness of the flour component, the biscuit part seems sweeter, although not unpleasantly so. The filling tasted like (and probably is close to) real chocolate.
The one drawback is that soya flour seems not ideal for creating a dunking biscuit with the result that the test sample dissolved. These are definitely accompaniments to rather than integral components of the Sunday afternoon tea and sit-down.
All in all, then a pleasant little surprise and Mrs will be dismayed to find her stash of these biscuits dwindling fast.
Keep up the good work!
Yours,
Martin the Muncher. |
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