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 |
Nicky Bramley |
Wow, I’d love to know what type of jam is used in Russian tea.
Strawberry? Lumps of strawberry hunkered at the bottom of the cup
Raspberry? A layer of pips to sieve through your teeth when you get to the bottom
Rhubarb? Stringy floaters
Blackcurrant? Little bouncy purple balls popping to the surface from time to time
Aren’t other countries wonderful?
Nicky |
Nicey replies: Yes it does raise many questions, doesn't it? |
| |
Isabel Stainsby |
Dear Nicey,
I'm glad that you have decent jam at NCOTAASD HQ - this means you can try drinking tea Russian style. I lived in Russia a few years ago and when I first came across tea-with-jam, I thought "Yuck!" - until I tried it. It's easy to make - make ordinary black tea the way you like it best, then stir in a generous teaspoonful of good-quality, preferably home-made jam. Don't add milk, and obviously you won't need sugar.
Incidentally, the Russians don't always drink tea like this, just when they have people round for tea. The jam (in Russian, varenie) is provided in bowls and people also put it on slices of bread - and it's always home-made and extremely nice.
I do hope you like this new tea-drinking experience. I'm going to go and eat some biscuits now.
Isabel
|
Nicey replies: That is so much more impressive than fruit tea. |
| |
Andy Hoyle
 Chocolate Caramel Review |
After having browsed your website, i noticed many comments suggesting 'we appreciate your comments' i thought this was too good to be true and i therefore decided to write an email. I firstly must thank you whole heartedly for writing your book. As a lover of tea and biscuits, and of course, sit downs, i was immensely thankful to find your book in the most prestigious waterstones in Cork in Ireland whilst on a recent backpacking holiday. In all fairness, during the long travelling and quiet hostels, your book did in fact provide me with just the sort of humour, comfort and general light-heartedness that i needed on my holiday (even if it did return a little more battered than i would have liked after surviving the cross channel journey in my rucksack).
I would very much like to be able to give an opinion on many of the biscuits you have mentioned, however i do not believe that i have the time to write it, nor you the time to read it. I shall therefore be brief and selective.
Firstly, the Fox's Jam Cream, as reviewed by your excellent selves, i find to be a fantastic accompaniment to any form of tea (herbal not included) as its cream innner draws the eater forwards before surprising him/her with the fruity jam centre that simply begs to be left in the mouth as its flavours work away upon the taste buds.
Also, The McVities Chocolate digestive with caramel. I find to be a rather peculiar biscuit. Its main selling point i believe, is that its caramel centre works as a steel girder allowing it to be left in the tea for any length of time as the biscuit itself will not dop off. However, upon eating, you do find the usual flavours of the digestive biscuit, grown to be a favourite among many, but you do find a rather sweet caramel slice hiding betwen the chocolate and the aforementioned biscuit. I believe perhaps, that the sweetness can be a little too overpowering.
Myself and my College friends in Buxton, Derbyshire have spent many an hour sampling the delights of many biscuits (Unfortunately when this time should be more wisely spent on coursework) and have often suggested that a website should be set up for those in the same opinion as us. However, after finding your site, and also, your book, i find our work is done! and also done to a much better standard than we could have probably done. Thank you again for taking the time to share your interests with the world! |
Nicey replies: Hoorah for Ireland and Cork, or Cork as the locals call it in their own special accent. Actually we met some people from Cork once and their accents were so strong I thought they were Finnish. I was unable to speak to chap directly and he unable to speak to me, his wife had to act as an interpreter.
Also Hoorah for Derbyshire. We had a very nice weekend camping just above Matlock Bath about two weeks ago, and had a lovely cup of tea at the National Tramway Museum in Crich. |
| |
Racheal Oliveck |
Hello!
Glad to hear others are as keen on jam making as me. This year I have put up a couple of pots of greengage plus six of cranberry jam, made using bags of fruit frozen at Christmas. Needless to say this will propel me into a frenzy of jam tart making which is always a good thing. I still have a stash of last year's jams, including victoria plum, damson and mirabelle so I need to get baking sharpish.
|
Nicey replies: The younger members of staff tell me that 'Big cook little cook' just made some Jam tarts so I have tart making tension now. We took the end of the last batch round to Biscuit Enthusiast Mandy, who managed to have a couple of them before the younger members of staff saw them off. |
| |
Bewildebeeste
 Jammie Dodger Review |
Reading your review of Jammie Dodgers, you say "This also makes attempts to part both biscuits somewhat futile, due to the adhesive jam". However following the biccy barrel being replenished, I discovered the elusive technique. Gripping one shortcake biscuit in each hand, one simply twists each biscuit in opposing directions, therefore stretching the jam until breaking point. The method wasn't 100% successful, the bottom biscuit has a tendency to crack if you try to pull the biscuits apart whilst twisting, but the majority of the time, i was successful. The anticlimax to all this however is that the jam is impossible to lick off wach shortcake half, rendering the process rather pointless, unless one desires to stick jammy dodger halves to the wall, in a sort of baked treat dado rail...
Yours twistingly,
Bewildebeeste |
| |
|
|
|