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 |
Hiromi Miura
Japanese McVities Digestives Review |
Dear Nicey,Wifey and YMOS
Some Mcvitie's biscuits seemed to decide to spend summer season in an ice-cold place in Japan!
The other day, I found some Mcvitie's biscuits being in an ice-cream case ay my local "Queen's Isetan" supermarket.
How wise they are!
They must see that summer in Japan is humid and hot, well. Therefore, I suppose that some Mcvitie's' determined to move into such a paradise, away from the usual biscuit shelf.
Inside the red box, you can see six ice-cream sandwich biscuits individually wrapped. If you rule that the side of "Mcvitie's stamp" is its face, you might see six pairs of biscuits taking a peaceful snooze, cooling their oven-baked biscuit backs on/under the chocolate ice.
The chocolate-flavoured ice-cream is smooth and rich. However, the Mcvitie's biscuit looks like losing their original crunchy texture of plain Digestive biscuits on/under the ice-cream.
They are soft, moist and soggy.
But it is enjoyable for me to eat such loose Mcvitie's biscuits once in a while in hot summer.
The ice-cream Mcvitie's is approximately 5.8cm in diameter.
Thank you for reading.
Sincerely,
Hiromi Miura (Tokyo,Japan)
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Nicey replies: Hiromi,
Yet another exotic Japanese Digestive. I wonder if chocolate digestives would fair better? The layer of chocolate might help stop them going soggy? |
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Trina Fitzalan-Howard |
Hiya Nicey
I was fumbling through my old Delia Smith book the other day and came across a Neiman Marcus Cookies recipe which came on an email in 1998 from a friend. With the recipe was a story about woman who had enticed by the cookies to ask for the recipe, was given it and charged $250 for the privilege. It would seem disseminating the recipe was her revenge on the Neiman Marcus corporation. Anyway, long story short I made the cookies (halving the recipe because it claimed to make 112 cookies per batch). They were delicious and soon disappeared at work, at home, with friends, with neighbours etc etc. Fine crunchy biscuits made with nuts and chocolate chips and (substituted by Cadbury) Hershey bars!
So here’s the thing – was the Neiman Marcus Cookie recipe email a true story? Does anyone else remember getting this email or hearing about it on the web about 10 years ago – and would anyone like me to transcribe it in full. (Beware the biccies are more-ish and horribly fattening). |
Nicey replies: Hiya Trina,
Yes somebody did forward on that mail to me. I remember thinking that it was entirely fabricated for many reasons. How could they just charge her all that money without her permission and if they did then she should have taken them to court. Also she must have been a bit mad to write to a company and seek their recipes as they are subject to change and not disclosed to anybody. Also the company must be mad to do that, for the two reasons stated.
Finally people receiving recipes in unsolicited messages was basically the plot for the monster movie Species. |
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Uncle Greg
HobNob Review |
After several trips to the UK, I grew to realize that my firm belief that Mulino Bianco made the best breakfast biscuits in the world was being seriously challenged by the chocolate HobNob. But, I've had to rearrange my priorities before - having grown to realize the superiority of overseas cookies vs the ones we have here in the USA. I was more than happy with the Stella Doro Swiss Fudge Cookie back in high school in the 70's, and moved on - as I'm sure so many others did, as well - to the Pepperidge Farm Mint Milano in the 1980's. It was during my first visits to Italy that I discovered the Pan di Stella Breakfast cookie and fell madly in love.
Now, a cup of coffee just wouldn't seem complete without a handful of those crumbly, hazel- nutty delights on the side. But, tho' aware of the concept of afternoon tea, I still confined my snacking to morning-time.
But then - two things happened. I began to wean myself off the strong Italian coffee I'd been consuming, and gradually moved to drinking tea ... and I discovered that many tea "biscuits" had very little in common with my plain, dry perception of what a biscuit was. From Jacob's Ginger Biscuits to McVities Chocolate Covered Digestives, these were as far away from saltine crackers as I could have imagined. Then my good friend Pam in San Francisco introduced me to the Chocolate HobNob. Luckily, they were hard to get in the USA. Luckily, they were expensive. It didn't seem that they'd have a chance at knocking my beloved Mulino Biancos out of first place, as any time a visiting relative would fly over from Abruzzi they'd always know to bring several bags along with them. I was even starting to find a few stores in the Chicago area that stocked them ... all seemed safe.
And then, my local supermarket added some English products in a specialty section. Creamed Rice, Branston Pickle, Malt Vinegar - and, yes - several rows of McVitties biscuits.
Tho' still pricey enough to be considered a treat, I would treat myself - and stock up like crazy whenever I was lucky enough to take a trip over to Great Britain. But then - an amazing thing happened. My supermarket began to undergo a remodeling. Bins began to appear at the back of the store stocked with products they no longer intended to carry. Malteasers. HP Sauce. Lyon's Tea. Somehow, I had a feeling HobNobs would be next, if I could just remain vigilant enough. It took patience - and several visits. But one day I made my way to the back of the store & stumbled upon a sea of delicious blue cardboard tubes - Yes, Chocolate HobNobs!! And Chocolate Digestives, as well as Plain - plus Jacobs Ginger Biscuits, to boot. All for 69 cents each. Which is roughly 38 p, for you all. I abandoned all forms of self control & bought every package they had. Even tho' I'll actually be coming to London this fall, where I may - presumably - buy a few more packages of HobNobs. Because it is possible I could eat my way through the 25 tubes I have in the next 7 weeks. They're just that delicious.
Greg Di Loreto |
Nicey replies: Righty ho then. Maybe you want to let McVities know when you are coming over and they'll make a couple of thousand extra, which should take them 20-30 seconds. |
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Carola Langford
Lidl's Choco Softies Review |
Hi
Well, I've been eating these for nearly 50 years!
The Dickmann quite rightly used to/is still called Negerkuss or Mohrenkopf (Negro's head), not very PC!
They used to be (and in some places are still) freshly made by bakers; sometimes you see them with a sprinkling of coconut on the chocolate. And you can get them with white chocolate and milk chocolate. But the proper ones have a dark chocolate covering, and are big.
When I was a kid in Germany they were not for eating but we'd squash them into some unsuspecting victim's face. All German kids love them.
When I first moved to the UK you could not buy them here, and one year my sister took pity and posted a box to me - unfortunately this was in the pre-bubble wrap days. I'll admit that I was so desperate that I used a teaspoon to scrape the remains out of the box. Sad or what?!
The proper way to eat them is to carefully peel off the chocolate covering, eat that first, and then slowly eat the white stuff. The wafer is just a "tray" and can be discarded.
But they are definitely not to be eaten with a cup of tea! Best eaten on your own, the whole box. Guten Appetit ! |
Nicey replies: Yes I had understood that they changed the name. It sounds like a very similar operation to eating a chocolate teacake.
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Alison Debenham |
Dear Nicey and Co
We will be despatching our younger daughter (aged 14) to the Cantabria area of Spain (Northern coastline) in a few weeks' time, and wondered whether there were any interesting biscuits she could look out for? She visited Washington last October, and returned with a suitcase almost entirely filled with different types of Oreo cookies (including a variety with double-thickness filling). Obviously there will be a distinct lack of nice cups of tea, which she will be unhappy about. Do any of your esteemed correspondents have any suggestions?
Many thanks in anticipation
Alison
PS: Had a very nice cup of tea made with fresh goats' milk the other day at a friend's goat farm. The choccy biscuits provided made an admirable accompaniment, apart from when they started to melt in the sun! |
Nicey replies: Alison,
Well everything I've ever had from Spain has been truly grim, so really I just hope hope she survives the episode with out too much biscuit trauma. If she finds something passable to eat in the way of biscuits that would be a major find indeed and worthy of further study.
I'm pleased to hear you know somebody with a goat farm. Wifey and I were once surrounded by goats whilst cycling in France, and I feared for the baguette strapped to the back of my bike, as I ploughed through them. Afterwards I thought that I may never experience that particular emotion (goat bread stealing fear on a bike) ever again.
I'm slightly miffed I don't have a goat icon. |
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