Your Views

Keep 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!

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Your e-Mails

Sara Tumalty	Hi Nicey Thanks for clearing that little one up. I think that you should go on with your choice of bicky. I must say I have never been a big fan of the fig roll but I’ll be backing it all the way… Come on Australia!! Thanks Sara
	Nicey replies: Thank you Sara, You are very gracious. I have to say I didn't realise that Jason was actually interviewing me this morning but then I was a bit out of it as the Wife left in the middle of the night (to go on a girls weekend to Poland (she has strict instructions to bring back exotic Polish Jaffa Cakes) ) and a car alarm woke me up twice after that. Then just before waking I was having a strange dream where the girl from Big Brother who was the actress who pretended to be Australian was pinching a variety of sandwich cream biscuits from a conference room which was sited in the middle of a very busy road here in Cambridge. I think one of the biscuits might have been a form of Canadian Maple syrup biscuit, judging by the colour of its cream. I however didn't mind as I was only on my second best bicycle. Have a nice sensible Friday and a lovely weekend. Nicey
Chris Carr Garibaldi Review	I stumbled across your web site whilst ‘Googling’ Peek Freans. It was started by my Great Great Grandfather John Carr with John Peek and Mr Frean and the Carr family ran it right through until the 1970s. I worked there for 10 years but left before the various take overs. Yes, the Canadian Factory was set up by my Uncle Rupert and there are also factories in India called Britannia Biscuits and a factory in Australia, which my father Richard pioneered. I still miss the smell of Ginger Nuts as I go passed the factory on the way to London Bridge station….happy memories. Chris Carr
	Nicey replies: Chris, Thanks very much for getting in touch, you and your family are of course biscuit royalty.
Mrs Sarah Mint-Viscount Kimberley and Chocolate Kimberley Review	Dear Nicey (and Wifey, and NCOTAASD YMOS), As I listened to Today FM's Ray D'arcy Show this morning, I was getting very engrossed in the debate that raged - a debate on the nomenclature of that delicious little delicacy which is made by mixing Rice Krispies with melted chocolate, and dividing the mixture out into little paper cases to set. Now, the many NCOTAASD enthusiasts who don't live in Ireland can't have heard the show, so they won't know that the debate in question raged between those who insist that the perennial party favourite made from chocolate and Rice Krispies should be called Rice Krispie Cakes, and those who are adamant that they are, and always must, be called Rice Krispie Buns. Guest host Jenny Kelly was very calmly handling the situation, as well she might, for she is usually the producer of the Ray D'arcy show, and the show regularly broadcasts very important and controversial debates such as these. But calm as she was, there was no doubt that this debate was getting heated - the emails and texts sent in by listeners were becoming more terse and aggressive by the minute. Even without hearing this show, your NCOTAASD readers will readily understand how my enjoyment of this debate rose to all new levels, when none other than your good self was suddenly introduced to weigh in with your expert opinion. But I must say I was deeply surprised by the opinion you gave. Stating that you would call them Rice Krispie Cakes was bad enough, but to assert that you had never even heard of them being called Rice Krispie buns? It was almost too much to bear. And then, to my delight and relief, Jenny announced that the result of the poll was in, and that a resounding majority of the voters, well over 70%, agreed with me in calling them Rice Krispie Buns. Phew! I wasn't crazy after all. Now, the British and the Irish are usually in full agreement on the subject of Tea, Biscuits and Cakes (or Buns, as the case may be). We're both in favour of them. Lots of Them. Lots and lots of them. But as you had never even heard of Rice Krispie Buns being called buns, and as they are buns to the majority of listeners to one of Ireland's most popular radio shows, I can only conclude that here is an issue which divides these two islands more than the Irish Sea divides us, and perhaps even more than the Jacob's Kimberley divides us. In light of this, I wonder if we on the Emerald Isle deserve our to have our own icon on the NCOTAASD feedback section, as the French, Canadians and Aussies already do? After all we are the only nation to which you have ascribed a national gene allowing enjoyment of a particular biscuit (the aforementioned Kimberley). A little shamrock, perhaps, which would sit so nicely with the other icons, and make my heart swell with pride! Mrs Sarah Mint-Viscount
	Nicey replies: Well yes I came to much the same conclusions in the news item I posted after the interview. Anyhow you're right the time has come for a proper Ireland icon. I'm normally fairly reticent about dishing out icons based purely on geopolitical boundries but as you all seem to have this weird rice krispie bun thing going on over there in addition to Kimberleys I think you've finally earned it (its a pity you had to mention the others as protocol dictates that they need to go up too (Also the Welsh will be after me again (...oh you left out the Kiwis))).
Paul Fairall Dad's Cookies Review	Hi there, I was an avid eater of Dads Cookies as a child in the 1950’s and until they went AWOL in the 70’s. Imagine my delight when I re-discovered them on a recent trip to Canada. I had intended to buy a load before coming back, but due to some unforeseen circumstances, and a distinct lack of time, it just didn’t happen. I just read a write up that you guys did about them a couple of months back. However is there a grocery organisation, or indeed the company themselves, to whom I could write in order to obtain some more. Not just a packet, but a whole box will do for a start! ( my sister also remembers them and also wants some if we can get them into the UK). The tourist shop in Covent Garden sounds not the best move! Any help very much appreciated, Kind regards, Paul Fairall
	Nicey replies: Paul, Really the shop in Covent Garden seems to cater for all those Canadians, Kiwis and South Africans who are resident in London and prepared to pay for some reminders of home. It's a bit like a horrendously expensive cornershop that sells tee shirts too. There is one in the next street that caters exclusively for Australians, and is a good place to get hold of exotic Tim Tams. Apart from this though we haven't come across another source of Dad's cookies in the UK.
Peter J. Hexter	Dear Nicey, A nice site, though distressingly bare of Peak Freens. I have only just returned to drinking tea after a 20 year hiatus (my parents were obsessed with tea and I was force fed from an early age), and I am now in search of a dunking biscuit. Growing up in Canada we had a brand called Peak Freens, who produced arguably, the three best and tastiest biscuits ever for dunking: the Shortcake, the Digestive and the ne plus ultra of dunkers - the Bourbon Cream. The latter being a thin layer of chocolate cream between two chocolate biscuit wafers and named for the House of Bourbon, rather than the rotgut whiskey. Since my youth I have travelled the world. I lived in England for many years, and am now settled in Australia (which despite claims to the contrary, is a biscuit wasteland). Alas, I have yet to find the equal of these fine friends. Now you may scoff and pre-suppose that Canadian biscuits would be of inferior quality but bear with me here. At the time, British Columbia had an enormous population of English ex-pats that demanded only the finest biscuits. Competition was fierce, much blood was shed (metaphorically of course) and PF emerged as the favoured brand. IMHO its success was based on three things: Most PF biscuits are made from hard winter wheat that is superior to any other for baking biscuits. Being a land of farmers we were awash with real butter and much of it found its way into PF biscuits. PF biscuits seem much lower in sugar than others allowing the true biscuit flavour to come through. So if any others of you have a thing for PF lets here from you. Peter J. Hexter
	Nicey replies: Peter, Peek Frean is of course an old British Brand dating back to 1857, which manufactured biscuits and christmas puddings in Bermondsey in South London. Peek Frean formed associated biscuits in 1921 with Huntley and Palmer, and were joined by Jacobs in 1960. In 1982 Nabisco took over Associated biscuits. I'm not sure on the history of the Peek Frean brand in Canada, but given what I know of their portfolio of products I'm fairly sure that Nabisco's involvement is key. Anyhow, none of this in any way diminishes, your praise for their biscuits. In the UK the name Peek Frean is vary rarely seen, it used to be trotted out by Jacobs for such things as selection tins, but I haven't seen that in over 20 years.