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 |
Brian Barrett |
Dear Mr Nicey,
If Monika Duhig lives in Melbourne, she'll find lovely hand-made Eccles cakes, made by a pastrycook from Lancashire, at JT's Bakery, Pinewood Shopping Centre, Mount Waverley.
Can't eat 'em meself, now, because of diet restrictions.
Greeties,
Brian |
| |
Monika Duhig |
Dear Nicey,
Thanks for the great site (and thanks to contributing readers/authors). As an Aussie living in your wet islands I came to adore the eccles cake and a hot drink, practically anytime, really. I wanted to know if any Brit company distributes eccles cakes down under - please, somebody......it is too tragic that I and my recently converted sister should be EC free. Specifically the Lancs company that makes them in Manchester and stacks them in a cellophane wrapping - can't think what the brand is and manufactured in Manchester is probably dodgy but whatever they had in them was utterly addictive (heroin?) but really, any EC of comparable quality will do
Ta
Monika Duhig
|
Nicey replies: Monika,
Regrettably I don't think thats a likely scenario. Still maybe somebody knows different. As for the secret ingredient, I think its simply our old friend butter which makes the pastry so tasty.
|
| |
Keith O'Kane |
Dear Nicey and the wife,
Having looked through your feedback, I notice that there are many items relating to various cakes and biscuits but very little correspondence on the subject of toast.
I imagine that for most people, the phrase "A nice cup of tea and a sit down" evokes an image of afternoon tea. This is perfectly understandable as the 3 o'clock cuppa or a freshly brewed pot on arriving home after work are the most anticipated and well deserved breaks in the average day. On these occasions, a biscuit or a nice piece of cake is exactly the right accompaniment.
There are, however, other tea drinking opportunities, particularly breakfast and supper time, when a slice of toast is more appealing. As a child, one of my favourite culinary treats was hot, buttered toast with a sprinkling of sugar. The toast has to be hot to allow the sugar to melt into the butter. Nowadays, I enjoy toast with butter or marmalade for breakfast. Speciality jams are also provided for the younger members of the household.
For supper, I will occasionally top my toast with peanut butter or something more exotic such as cheese (with a dash of Lea & Perrin's), pilchards, plum tomatoes or mushrooms with cream.
Perhaps you could provide a survey on the best "toast topper", including butter, jam, marmalade, peanut butter, marmite (yuck!), mashed banana etc.
As you can see from this short list of options, toast is extremely versatile and should note be ignored.
Keith O'Kane
p.s. Possibe new icon alert. |
Nicey replies: Kieth,
Our mate Nick Parker wrote a splendid book on toast, he also ran the London marathon last Sunday.
Of course Toast falls within the gamut of tea and sitting down activity. Wifey likes tea before, during and after Toast in the morning. Wifey sticks rigidly to Marmite or cheese. I like Bovril, Marmalade, sometimes a spot of jam occasionally Peanut Butter with sweet pickle or fresh ground black pepper. A spot of Heinz Tomato Ketchup is very good also. The whole team enjoys Sardines on toast and we feel strongly that more people should eat Sardines on toast.
I'll try a sweet toppings poll first, but I think I know the outcome already.
Big Woos for the icon fest nature of this message |
| |
Brian Barratt |
Esteemed Mr Nicey,
A local bakery, called ET's for some Italian reason, has started making Eccles cakes. I'm not sure if these qualify for mention, but here goes:
The texture is excellent, the fruitybit superb, but they have sugar sprinkled on the top. Shouldn't this be a cooked glaze rather than a raw scattering?
Ever your 'umble, etc.,
Brian Barratt |
Nicey replies: Mr Barratt
Bit of both I thought, although I would have expected an egg glaze to be mandatory. |
| |
Jim Grevatte |
Nicey
I cannot believe I have only now discovered your site. What a relief to find that there are so many true and dedicated aficionados.
Last spring a friend and I walked a painful pilgrimage to the birthplace of our beloved Eccles Cake. It took us from my doorstep in Nottingham to the epicentre of cake production in Church Street, Eccles, a total of 79.3 gruelling miles in three days. During our crusade we took a vow of abstinence that no Eccles (nor any other fruit based) cake should pass our lips. On our journey we passed many heathen souls as we ventured through areas of heritical cake production (Bakewell), but we did not weaken.
The suffering was more than repayed as we sat to savour six of the finest cakes on this good earth. I lost a toe nail and Big Al several pounds in weight, but we were both richer men for it.
We're thinking of Chorley next.
Jim |
| |
|
|
|