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 |
Dear Nicey,Wifey and YMOS
It seems to me that "whether biscuit or cake" is still arguable topic in the U.K. And I wonder if the "Biscuit-cake" is popular in many other countries outside Japan. The "Biscuit-cake" is a familiar as a simple, easy, safe but delicious "home-made" cake suitable for beginners in Japan.
The cake doesn't need the oven. I'm sorry if you have already known , but I would like to try to introduce the "Biscuit cake", here.
(INGREDIENT)
* Rich tea/Marie type biscuits
* whipped cream added sugar ( Luckily,ready-made whipped cream is available at my local E-mart in Korea)
* strong brewed coffee (or milk), room temperature
(DIRECTIONS)
#1 Dunk the both faces of a biscuit lightly in coffee (or milk).
(Be careful not to make it too moist, please!)
#2 Spread some whipped cream on top of the biscuit.
#3 Continue piling with slightly moist biscuit and whipped cream alternately as much as you like, finishing with the biscuit.
#4 Fill the gap between biscuits and spread on top with cream, stylishly.
(If you prefer a "low-calorie" cake, you can skip #4.)
#5 Cover the yummy tower with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least three hours until the biscuits successfully change into a soft moist texture like a sponge cake thanks to the whipped cream.
#6 Adorn with your favourite fruit before serving.
If you create your cake longer like a log and lay it and then spread cream all over it, I think that your cake can be something like a Buche de Noel. To tell the truth, I have never baked even home-made biscuits and I know that my home-made "biscuit-cake" is extremely out of touch with elegance.
However, it was enjoyable for me to fix this cake. I hope many people will enjoy making your own "Biscuit-cake". By the way, as much as we the Japanese call the Biscuit-cake "cake", some people outside Japan may consider it "biscuit".
How do you feel about that, Nicey?
Cordially,
Hiromi Miura (seoul Korea)
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Nicey replies: Dear Hiromi,
I think that biscuits can be ingredients in cakes, as the digestive biscuit and ginger nut often form the base for Cheesecakes. So biscuits are quite prepared for this treatment. I don't think it can go the other way though. Perhaps the closest is the sponge fingers that get used in desserts which are very dry and brittle which have almost entered a state where by they could be used as biscuits. Even so that is no the same thing as smashing them up or treating them with a solution that would turn them into biscuits.
Perhaps some of the people outside of Japan should think about that, although you might have to do the translation again.
P.S. I like the strawberry on top, very tempting.
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Ian Ashcroft
Garibaldi Review |
Dear Nicey,
After unanimously voting the Garibaldi the title of 'Most Underated Biscuit', my colleagues and I inevitably moved on to the link between the biscuit and the Italian hero of 19th century liberal nationalism. Here things became more fractious as two rival theories emerged. The first that
Guiseppe Garibaldi instructed his cook to create a robust, lightweight, durable and high energy foodstuff for an army on the march and the second that an english biscuit manufacturer created the biscuit to celebate Garibaldi's visit to London. My questions to you are therefore:
1. What is the true link between liberator and biscuit ?
2. Are you sure you have spelled Garibaldi correctly in your review ?
3. Is it true that the Garibaldi is the only biscuit certified for space
travel by NASA ?
4. As the Garibaldi is dead fly biscuit and the eccles cake is dead fly pie,
are they somehow related and why are we calling a cake a pie (or vice versa)
?
Must rush as my tea seems to have cooled.
Ian
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Nicey replies: 1) Don't know the interweb didn't help me much either
2) I'm sure I spelt it incorrectly as most people tell me that
3) No I think the fig roll is cleared for use in zero G
4) Yes they are related, and you called it a pie not me |
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MessRoom P2 South Croydon |
Can you recommend a biscuit that is rich in both sustenance and taste, because the life of a paramedic can be one of low blood sugar and the need for high energy. Taste is a big issue as you need something to look forward to whilst doing various shift work patterns and in my opinion there is nothing quite like half a packet of good quality bourbons with a lovely cup of tea, whereas my colleague opts for the malted milk (both of which in our opinion is better than taking the wife upstairs). In order to get you into the mindset of a paramedic... picture the scene... It's raining, someone is quite seriously injured, people are crying, screaming and generally looking at you for guidance and inspiration and all you can think about is what biscuit shall I purchase from the all night Tesco's. The only thing that gets you through is the thought of getting this poor chap back to biscuit eating status.
We will give you a new biscuit idea if it makes you rich just a mention on the packet will do. The Space Dust Biscuit, Shortbread base with copious amounts of space dust. This is not a biscuit for the faint hearted, pregnant females, anyone with a history of heart disease or those fitted with pacemakers.
P.s. Please don't mentionLincolnsor Nice as these are crummy incarnations of the devil himself.
Yours truly, W.H. Warlord and R.Mellie
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Nicey replies: Well I'm most inclined to send you off to a Sainsbury's rather than Tescos to get a pack of their own brand Fruit Digestives. These are substantial biscuits which come in a big pack and a have a malty fruity taste that will bring you back for more, I'm intending a review at some point.
If you have to go to Tesco's then your choice is not as great, as their own brand stuff is fairly standard fare, and you have to really relly on branded biscuits. I would keep a look out for special offers on such things as McVitie's Caramels and HobNobs, as there is nothing like a bargain to add to the enjoyment. |
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A T Lewney |
Dear nicey,
i like to cook, and i like to bake, biscuits and cakes (tho really im crap at anything thats not sponge, but thats ok, cause i dont like fruity cake anyway much) but ive never come accross xanthan gum, can i ask you or her or whoever, what it is and can i get it in my local londis/spar/moronisons etc? and whats it used for other than the recipe provided, it all sounds very exotic
cheers
Al
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Nicey replies: Good question. Stuff beginning with X is rocket science by definition. I have never seen Xanthan gum for sale, but I have seen it in stuff, Sunny Delight for instance as you might expect contains it (I once read the ingredients of Sunny Delight to try and figure out if it was indeed as sinister as it appears to be). Whether or not they simply added it because it begins with X and they were working through the alphabet in some kind of sick ingredient stunt or maybe it is to do with 'mouth feel' which I think is the term for industrial chemists would use when building vats of Sunny Delight. Maybe it is part of the emulsification of the vegetable oil in the solution of sugar, and chemicals which is central to the production of Sunny Delight. Perhaps it is a by product of the production of Sunny Delight, which spontaneously gives rise to stuff that begins with X, and Sunny Delight itself is presumably a by product of detergent manufacturing.
You could try Holland and Barrett. |
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