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 |
Brendan McGarry |
Hi
According to a report on the radio just now, the Pope is well on the way to recovery from his latest operation, having eaten breakfast this morning. He apparently had a latte (which I know is anathema to fans of your website) and some biscuits. But the reporter didn't say what kind. What kind of biscuits would the Pope eat? The obvious answer seems to be some kind of biscotti, since he's in Italy. But is there a biscuit that's known to be a bit more holy, or pure? Would he eat Rich Tea because their simplicity and unpretentiousness matches the values his faith professes? Or is he more likely to be a Jammy Dodger man, because the reward for the hard slog of eating your way through the outer biscuit is the jam in the middle (metaphor for struggling through life before reaching heaven)? Might he favour a Penguin, as an ironic reference to nuns?
I'd be interested to hear what the biscuit experts think.
Regards
Brendan |
Nicey replies: Well as the supreme head of the Roman Catholic Church, and given the amount of suffering he has already endured, I hope at the very least they offered him some decent biscuits. Being an old Polish fella who had a tube inserted in his neck last night, then I'm thinking he would probably give the biscotti a miss and go for something a bit easier on the throat. I would have thought something light, devoid of tricky to swallow bits an bobs and not too sweet, I think a nice shortbread finger or two.
Maybe in a day or two if his physicians think he's up for it, he might want to see off a whole pack of Jaffa Cakes, which are a popular tea sort of thing in Poland.
|
| |
The Lovely Rebecca
Mint Viscount Review |
Can I ask you to settle a dispute? My stupid boyfriend thinks that there's a layer of something between the mint and the biscuit in a Mint Viscount. I've told him that I've eaten enough of them to know there's nothing else in there and it's the contact of mint on biscuit that creates that slightly darker line when you bite into it, but am I wrong?! |
Nicey replies: Well if there is something else in there they don't list it on the ingredients which is illegal. Here is a close up cross sectional picture of a Mint Viscount, clearly there is no 'third' layer. A very small amount of chocolate seepage can be seen in the bottom left at the extreme edge of the mint cream biscuit interface but this no more than about 1-2 mm.
We'll be generous and say that his thinking may well be confused by the effect seen in Marshmallow teacakes where the gelatine based mallow interacts with the biscuit to give a shiny and darker surface when the mallow is peeled off. |
| |
Nancy Bea Miller |
Dear Nicey (and Wifey);
I loved your book. It was my favorite Christmas present.
If you lived in the U.S. I am sure the title would have been: "Nice Cup of Coffee and a Rush Off" I am a painter who often paints cups of tea, coffee, doughnuts and biscuits (only I call them cookies, being American).
Here is my most recent cup of coffeee painting:
Best,
Nancy
|
Nicey replies: Nancy,
Glad to hear you enjoyed the book. Your paintings are very nice too. I suppose if you painted a mug of proper tea and some Jammie Dodgers or Custard Creams it would be a bit like when Monet painted scenes of the Thames, or Turner of the Grand Canal. |
| |
Daniel Rathbone
Caxton Pink'n'Whites Review |
Having just read your slightly disparaging review of Caxtons Pink 'n' Whites, i felt the urge to inform you of their implicit greatness. I will concede that the taste leaves much to be desired but they yield secret powers! Simply put one on a plate, put the plate in the microwave and nuke it on high for a few minutes. Just watch it. Watch it i say. All will be revealed.
Danny |
| |
Gareth Yoxall |
Love the site, we all think you're doing a sterling job championing Britain’s primary leisure activity.
I'm probably going over old ground here, but where do you guys stand on the generic size/volume of the Tea Mug? When we go to the pub we all enjoy a weights & measures approved 'pint' of beer, but to my knowledge the government has naively overlooked the question of appropriate tea mug dimensions.
Any help you can proffer to ease my furrowed brow on this important topic will greatly help us understand where we are in this minefield of Tea volume.
Regards
Gareth Y
|
Nicey replies: Yes this is a very important issue, however, unlikely as it seems it is fairly much a an exercise in self regulation. Now when the government says its going to leave things for an industry to to self regulate you can usually read two things into it. One they don't think its much of a problem and two they don't want to spend a penny on it. In the case of mug size however, we all know when we are being handed an undersized mug and will take whatever steps are required to avoid it in the future. If it's being offered to you by an acquaintance or family member then a quick "Your mugs are a bit on the small side!" comment should prevent future run ins with it. Likewise for those ungainly oversized things that look like small saucepans, one is in danger of acquiring an RSI from drinking from. That's to say nothing of the very real danger of slipping falling forward and immersing one's entire head in scalding hot tea. I think probably the real problem in all of this are those tall thin mugs made from thinner porcelain. There seems to be a sub culture around these, and I'm afraid that Nanny Nicey has gone over to the dark side in her dotage. We acquired one from the Macmillan Cancer Relief and she has taken to it preferring a smaller cuppa, when joining in with Wifey's relentless tea schedule. |
| |
|
|
|