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Your e-Mails

Sophie	Dear Nicey,   I've recently discovered your excellent site and wanted to let you know how biscuits helped me advance my career.   I had a regular meeting with some subcontractors who had a rather antagonistic history with our company.  We had to do business with them but they certainly didn't like it. They made this very clear with elaborate politeness, lots of formality and no actual cooperation with anything we wanted.  We of course were equally formal back.  None of this was helping to get the job done and we started to fall behind in the programme.  This situation went on for a couple of meetings until they decided they would enjoy the hostilities more if they included a half time break for a nice cup of tea and a biscuit.  They rolled in the tea trolley and were about to start sneering at our tea choices when I spotted the plate of biscuits.  Forgetting my rather boring, formal business personality I squealed with delight, "ooh, figgy biccies"  it went very, very quiet.  everyone turned and started at me in amazement. I blushed and was desperately trying to think how to recover my professionalism when the subcontractors all grinned enthusiastically and agreed that the figgie biscuit was a fine biscuit.  From that moment the cold war was well and truly over.  We happily swapped stories of favourite biscuits and in between managed to get the job back on track.  Of course we continued to make time for a nice cup of tea during our meetings, they even made a point of finding 'guest biscuits', my favourite of these was the cherry roll.  The job finished ahead of schedule, which got me noticed and helped my career no end, all thanks to the figgy roll.  I can't help thinking that maybe this success story could be applied to even more antagonistic situations, like the UN security council.  Could biscuit appreciation be the key to better world cooperation?   Sophie
	Nicey replies: The importance of the thoughtful use of biscuits in a business context is often overlooked. Your tale is a powerful reminder of the power of fig rolls to bring about a negotiated settlement.
Tom Stevenson Custard Cream Review	Love your site, it makes me laugh no end.   One thingthat I think should be mentioned whilst talking about the legendary Custard Cream, in my opinion the "Holy Grail" of the biscuit world is that rather than simply taking them apart, as you discuss, you can take two apart, dunk the sides that managed to separate themselves from the cream and then stick the two creamy halves together to produce a kind of double cream custard cream as a sort of "pudding biscuit" for the post-dunk comedown   Tom.
	Nicey replies: Nice plan Tom. I imagine this could be extended with out too much trouble to encompass other sandwich biscuits such as Bourbons and Orange creams.
Chris Thompson	Dear Nicey, John Doyle mentioned the 'snap tin' - snap is a local word for packed lunch, or packing-up as certain people in Kent call it. I think 'snap' for packed lunch is more widespread than just Yorkshire, where interestingly a 'pot' of tea can be both a pot in the conventional sense (spout and handle) as well as meaning a big mug. Cheerio Tomsk
David	Re John Doyle's email, the tin in question - and a host of others - is on display at the Huntley and Palmers exhibition in Reading Museum. All his Peek Frean questions will be answered there too - well worth a day trip. Regards David
John Doyle	Now then, nicey you've started something here haven't you? I'm hoping to obtain information through your quite nice web site about a particular biscuit tin which I encountered some years ago when I was a bit younger and working for a firm in Doncaster, (nice sort of place for a brief sit down). One of the old codgers in the workshop used to bring butties and sometimes biscuits to work in this special biscuit tin. For some obscure Yorkshire reason he called it his "snap tin." If I describe it, you may already be familiar with it or one of its cousins, if not, it could be a good idea for a feature. I must apologise in advance because some of the details to follow aren't exactly nice and if you're easily offended you might like to look away now. The subject of my enquiry is a round tin originally containing biscuits by Peek Freans, remember them? Well apparently so the story goes, the marketing department commissioned an artist to create a scene to be displayed on the lid and around the perimeter depicting a mixed family group enjoying a sunshiney, blue skyey picnic in the countryside amid meadow flowers and in the dappled shade of a blossom tree. What a lovely way to earn a living. painting pictures of people enjoying a nice cup of tea with some Peek Freans biscuits and sitting down in a meadow. It seems our artist chappy yearned for other challenges and wishing to dissuade Peek Freans from offering further commissions decided to add a few details to the scenes to indicate his lack of enthusiasm for this type of work and duly sent it off. What should have happened didn't and the tin went not only into production but was filled with biscuits and sold in shops to people wanting a nice gift for their aunty. How many of these tins went into general circulation, I've no idea but I continue to scour charity shops and junk stores to try and discover and buy one for myself. The details I'm afraid are a bit smutty and not really suitable for a nice web site. Suffice to say there must have been more than a few broken biscuits when aunty spied the man having wee, the two dogs making puppies and the bare bum rising between the thighs of an unseen accomplice. Did I imagine it? Was it a dream? I don't think so. Have you heard of this tin? The public have a right to know. Do Peek Freans still make biscuits or did this tin sound the death nell for one of the finest bakers of lemon puffs in the world. Kind Regards, John P.S. You'll never believe this but I'll tell you anyway, My wife's maiden name?    Tea      no kidding.
	Nicey replies: No that is of course a famous tin in the biscuit world. Biscuit Man! knows all about it and might even be able to get us a picture, I'll give him a shout.
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