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 |
Chris Dickson |
Does anyone apart from me consider crunchy (the uninitiated would say "stale") Jaffa cakes far superior to the mushy spongy ones you get straight out of the pack? And does anyone know of any reliable technique to help elevate them from tiny pointless squishy cake to lovely crispy biscuit
without melting the chocolate? All (sensible) advice welcome. |
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Nick Q
Tim Tam vs Penguin Review |
Dear Nicey
Apropos of nothing, the other morning I was driving to work listening to Danny Baker and his highly entertaining breakfast show on BBC London. He was idly discussing the various invitations that came his way and which of those he might consider attending.
Imagine my surprise when he happened across, and proceeded to, discuss his invitation to the UK launch of the Tim Tam. This was to be at some swanky joint in London's busy West End and presided over by some bigwigs from the Australian goverment as well as, I assume, the global Tim Tam marketing machine.
He did speculate about passing on the invitation to some lucky listener, however apparently it stated that only the person specifically named on the invitation (the aforementioned Mr. Baker) would be admitted....."for reasons of security".
I can already hear the whoops emanating from the Earl's Court area as hordes of expat. Antipodeans celebrate this news. I however, am more amused by the level of security afforded to the launch of what I understand to be a tasty, but I'm led to believe, non-dangerous teatime treat.
Are they to be retailed from the back of Securicor vans (or vehicles of a similar kidney)...or perhaps only available to those with an appropriate "prescription" or permit to purchase the product. I am intrigued.
In the meantime Nicey I remain your faithful correspondent and bid you good fortune in your highly entertaing web publishing enterprise..
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Tordy Pie
Oreo Review |
Hello.
I dont' like oreos.
but stuck as i am in this barren bicuitless backwater usa, I have invented a use for them
I call it the "Oreo double double triple doublestuff"
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Bryony Alderman |
After the pub quiz at the Barley Sheaf in my home town, there is nothing nicer than turning over your answer sheet for a round of the biscuit game.
One person draws a biscuit (without anyone looking. No cheaters here thank you!) and then presents it to the group. The first person to guess correctly what sort of biscuit it is is then allowed to draw the next biscuit.
One of the best things about the game is we get to go to safeway sometimes and walk up and down the biscuit aisle 'researching'. It's a very good idea.
I hope you try it out.
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Nicey replies: That sounds like an enchanting way to spend an evening. |
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Kim Morgan |
Dear Biscuit People,
I find your site a truly informative resource and am in awe of the sensible and relaxed website you have built; well done! I was particularly intrigued when I happened upon the review of the "Mikado" as I recently experienced a packet of the straw-type Mikado while on holiday in Venice. When on vacation abroad I take great delight in experiencing the everyday life of the natives, this means taking a little break from the usual fare of cafes, bars, museums, galleries and sex shops (perhaps that last one really only applies in Amsterdam) to explore the fare on offer in the local
supermarkets.
Being a great admirer of the biscuit as a culinary genre I usually make straight for the sweet section; thus has been the case in Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin and most recently Venice. When settling down at the end of a hectic day exploring the art of that most watery of Italian cities, my dear boyfriend and I sat down to try the selection of biccies I had bought from the local supermarket. There was a packet of strange Kinder things, a little like a Twix gone horribly wrong, but pleasant as a change, and a packet of Mikados.
The Mikado, in its non-marshmallow form, is a very interesting confection. Anyone who has carried out heavy-duty arc welding or has played with a sparkler on Guy Fawkes night will be at home with the general form. The milk chocolate covers a thin straw about 2mm in diameter by 8cm long leaving about 1cm uncovered at the end. The material comprising the straw is
reminiscent of a pretzel, or twiglet with all the marmite licked off, and the taste experience is indeed similar to those chocolate covered Pretzels that we saw a few years ago. The taste is pleasant, but nothing special; a little dry - the central straw seems a little "doughy" when chewed, and not completely cohesive with the chocolate covering, although the covering is quite generous. However, this would make a very sophisticated accompaniment to a cup of tea where you want to impress without risking your guests or your self becoming engrossed in the biscuits or the whole thing ending up in a pig-out. Dainty nibbling is the order of the day with the Mikado.
A packet contains some thirty or so in packaging similar to a cigarette pack, plastic covered foil retaining the biscuits freshness. I was also pleasantly impressed by the fact that only one or two had suffered damage; when one opens a box of Matchsticks, one is usually presented with a few
breakages, anything up to 15%, I would say that the Mikados suffered fewer than 5% damage. One flaw of employing the Pretzel centre is that it is no good for sucking up tea (I must admit that I took a stash of Sainsburys Red Label teabags with me, English Breakfast Tea, as sold abroad, leaves a great deal to be desired - flavour for one thing...) as it doesn't conduct the fluid.
All in all this is an intriguing take on the biscuit as it totally eschews many of the traditions of biscuit making - volume and shape being completely outside the normal parameters of most. I only wish I knew of your site before I went away as I would have brought back a selection of foreign biscuits to share with other appreciators of biscuitry. Keep up the good work, and dunk!
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