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 |
MK Young
 Dad's Cookies Review |
hi! Bought your book and love it, though I'm Canadian there are so many similar cookies between Canada and England (thank you Peek Frean!). FYI, Dad's Cookies can be shipped to the UK via canadaonly.ca. I was looking for the Dad's chocolate chip in a white dough, which are hard to find in Canada now, though the oatmeal are still easy to find.
My personal madeleine are those gorgeous Playbox(?) cookies I had when I was little, but no one seems to remember: square, coverered in hard, coloured, thick icing with a picture stencilled on (clock, etc.). Tasted divine!! Were they Engish or Canadian? Thought they were Peek Frean (strange, the Peek Frean brand name is still used in Canada but not in UK).
Thanks,
MK Young |
Nicey replies: We certainly remember the late Playbox biscuit, which other NCOTAASD readers mention frequently too, and have an entry in our Paleolithic Biscuits section which has a nice picture of a Playbox tin.
Peek Frean in Canada was a conseqence of the thriving export business in British biscuits to the now commonwealth nations in the early part of the 20th century. Peek Frean based in Bermondsey South London, built a bakery in 1949 in O'Conner Drive, East York, Toronto, and started supplying 'fresh baked' biscuits into the local Canadian market. When Peek Frean, Huntley and Palmer then Jacobs merged to form Associated Biscuits the brand began to take a bit of a back seat in the UK as iconic products from all three jostled for attention. However in Canada which lacked this sibling rivalry Peek Frean continued to be the recognised brand. Take overs by Nabisco, then Danone kept the names both here in the UK and in Canada. The last set take overs saw Danone selling Peek Freans Canada back to the Kraft Group who owns Nabisco too. |
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Romie |
Please tell Mark I have had good luck removing tea stains with baking soda and a damp cloth. The mild abrasiveness is enough to remove the buildup, but not enough to damage the china, and it rinses clean with no aftertaste. Perhaps in addition the mild alkalinity interacts with tea's mild acidity, but I hesitate to make such a grandiose claim. I believe this is one of those tricks that is passed down by great grandmothers, or in my case a little old lady at my mother's church. It has the advantage of being easy, cheap, and immediate (no soaking needed).
Regards,
Romie |
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Sue Northcott |
Hi Nicey,
Have a Welsh Cake & make a difference!
It's Bobath's "Bake for Bobath" week from the 1st to the 8th of March. Bobath Children's Therapy Centre Wales is a registered charity that depends on donations and the fundraising efforts of their friends and supporters to enable then to see every child with cerebral palsy who needs them.
At EDS's office in Swansea we'll be organising a cake trolley on the 29th of February (a bit early, I know, but there you go.).I'm sure we'll be downing plenty of tea too! If anyone would like to organise something similar they should email 'fundraising@bobathwales.org' for an information pack.
Every little helps! |
Nicey replies: Sue,
Of course we could really use your Welsh Cake recipe so that we can all join in. |
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Nicky Bramley |
Lemon juice is very good at removing tea stains from mugs, and leaves a slightly more pleasant aftertaste than bleach or washing powder. Although you may well disagree.
Our household was overwhelmed with gifts of biscuit selection boxes this Christmas and New Year: we have several to get through before their expiry dates (which all seem to be in March). I may have to sacrifice my biscuits to a higher cause and bring them into work for my colleagues to polish off. If I do, should I admit they are leftovers do you think, or just bask in the fact that they'll think me extremely generous?
Nicky Bramley |
Nicey replies: Nicky,
I think you are in danger of projecting overly complex physiological states for the people who will ploughing through your free biscuits. |
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Katie Drummond |
Tea-related jewellery. What next?
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Nicey replies: I'm guessing tea-related hair styles. |
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