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Your e-Mails

Hiromi Miura	Hello, Nicey,wifey and YMOS. I have known that some NCOTAASD.com fans were missing the "Play Box" biscuit. I love its lovely biscuit tin thatＩwas able to see in your Paleolithic Biscuits section. I wish I could see the biscuits themselves hidden in the tin...... The lovely tin shipped square biscuits ,didn't it ? Well,recently, I found an uncommon type of square shaped biscuit at my local shop in Seoul Korea. It is a "Hoo-gam" biscuit, which was released into the Korean market by CROWN on October yesteryear. (It is manufactured by Dong Guan Kam Tai in China) We can see a description of "Potato Biscuit" on the outer box. So, here, 7 % of potato are used as one of ingredients. This potato biscuit comes in a purple box with a drawer. On sliding over the drawer, inside are six individual portion packs including five square biscuits. The biscuit is super-slim at 1.3mm thick. Its thinness and smell look like a popular potato crisp that comes in a tublar can. It tastes slightly sweet and slightly salty with an aftertaste like that of the potato crisps I have had. Unlike usual potato crisps who have curved oval faces, this "Hoo-gam" biscuits have flat square faces. Anyway, this potato biscuit is really unique with the subtle taste, textute and looks for a biscuit. So, I feellike doubting if we may call it a biscuit. However, it will be a biscuit as CROWN says so. I believe that CROWN must be a reliable confectionery. Actually, the "Hoo-gam" biscuit is not as crisp as common potato crisps. I guess that those individual packages are done so that even once you open you CAN stop! And I'm not sure what caused the baker to pop such an idea of the potato crisp-like biscuit. But I imagine that a fluffy thin-sliced potato may have suggested to the manufacturer that he cook the 1.3mm-thick-potato into a potato biscuit instead of a potato snack. So, an another description on the outer box says like this; "A slender potato proposes." By the way, I hear that the U.K. has a great number of potato lovers as well as biscuits lovers. Has your country had a potato biscuit, yet? Thank you for reading. Hiromi Miura (Seoul Korea)
	Nicey replies: Hello Hiromi, Yes Playbox biscuits were square and very much missed by many NCOTAASD readers as are Iced biscuits in general. Your Potato biscuits sound like they would make better companions to cold glasses of beer than hot cups of tea. Certainly the only products that I know of in the UK that are comparable in recipe would be savoury snacks rather sweet or even savoury biscuits. With Wifey being Irish we do have extensive potato experience in the NCOTAASD ranks. Indeed Granda Wifey is basically powered by potatoes, boiled floury ones. These are required with virtually every meal, (it used to be every meal but he has become slightly more liberal in past years). Another Irish staple is potato bread which includes some mashed potato in it. Looking more like a thick heavy square pancake rather than a loaf, they are usually fried with bacon or sausages and eaten for breakfast. We also hear that the Japanese version of our book is at long last to be released in Japan this month, and we hope to have our copy soon.
Marmite lover	Dear nicey and wifey, I have recently tried out Yorkshire Gold tea. It's quite strong isn't it? And I wasn't even sampling the hard water version. Is it true that northerners drink stronger tea than southerners? yours marmite lover
	Nicey replies: Well Yorkshire tea is a very acceptable brew, and they don't cut any corners as far as we are concerned. Mind you I think you'll find most brands produce quite a powerful cuppa when they produce a Premium blend. This was certainly the case when PG Tips produced a special blend for their 75th anniversary, its teh only logical place to go really. We haven't had a good North South battle royal since the last one, (the interpretation of the term bun I think..) so lets have at it. You might want to leave the Welsh / Irish and Scots out of this one though and draw the battle lines between the Wirral and the Wash.
Mary Ann Lund	Dear Nicey, I thought this 'Tidy Tippist' [sic] keyboard might be just the thing for the taking of afternoon tea at work As you can see, the doily design adds a touch of refinement to proceedings, while the handy wipe-clean surface prevents dangerous tea spillage and the perennial problem of biscuit crumbs getting stuck between the keys. With best wishes, Mary Ann Lund
	Nicey replies: Yes those are some barking mad products. I think I could manage to live out the rest of my days with out a combined tablecloth / keyboard but I'm sure for others its a must have item. I like the laptop bag designed to look like a rubbishy plastic bag to prevent thieves spotting it, but again I find myself perfectly able to imagine a future that doesn't include it.
Chris Greenshaw McVities Milk Chocolate Digestive Review	Hello, At tea this morning one of my colleagues picked up a McVities plain chocolate digestive which had the chocolate on the wrong side. How often does this happen? Are there any collectors of such biscuits? Do biscuit manufacturers keep statistics about these occurences? All the best, Chris
	Nicey replies: Chris, Judging by the glaring omission of a supporting photograph we can only assume that the poor little chap was quickly and humanely dispatched. Unfortunately I don't have the statistics for such things to hand. I suspect they are impressively low as this is I think the first time it has been reported to us, and that the mighty McVities wouldn't tell us even if they knew.
Sue Northcott	Welsh Cakes I got this recipe from my father's mother, Mary Blethyn, who had it from her grandmother in Hendy Gwyn (Whitland), Pembrokeshire. 1 pound of Flour 6 ounces of Sugar 6 ounces of Fat (1/2 lard, 1/2 butter) (I generally use all butter these days, though) 1/2 a teaspoon of raising powder a pinch of salt 1 large egg a generous handful of dried fruit milk to mix Rub the fat into the flour until it's like fine breadcrumbs. Mix in all the other dry ingredients. Beat the egg well, add gradually to the mixture. Add the milk until you have a stiff, manageable dough. Knead well. Turn out onto a floured board and roll out to 1/2 an inch thickness. Cut into rounds about 2 inches across. Cook on a well greased plate (a thick frying pan will do if you don't have a bakestone) over a low heat until brown on both sides. Some people sprinkle them with sugar or let them get cold and have them with salted butter, but in my house they don't even reach the serving plate. I like them warm and still soggy in the middle, preferably a bit burnt too. Some strange people even go as far as leaving out the fruit and spice, then cut them down the middle and fill them with jam. This is a ‘jam split’ and is an abomination, so we won’t delve too deeply into that
	Nicey replies: Sue as you know we hardly ever, ever put up recipes on NCOTAASD as we would soon wind up swamped with them. However this is definitely one time when we happily bend our arbitrary rules. We used to borrow Aunty Marilyn's griddle (and recipe too) and make a big batch of Welsh cakes. They definitely cooked best on the griddle, but with St Davids day a month away now I may well see if our big frying pan is up to the job.
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