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Your e-Mails

Alison Debenham	Greetings Nicey, Wifey and YMOS I just thought I'd drop you a quick line to thank you for the fruit cake recipe - absolutely delicious (although I'm afraid my family couldn't wait the stipulated week before sampling) I also digressed slightly from your instructions, due to not reading carefully enough, and put the cherries in with the rest of the fruit instead of at the end, and forgot about sprinkling the sugar on top until after it came out of the oven. However, I don't think these were fundamental errors, as it certainly tastes good. Maybe there's a follow-up book here - tried and tested NCOTAASD recipes for tea accompaniments? All the best to the Team Alison
	Nicey replies: Terriffic glad to hear you all enjoyed the cake, and thanks for having a go at it. I only say put the cherries in right at the end to ensure they stay whole as they can get shredded especially in mixers. Many's the time I've forgotten to put on the crunchy sugar, but never mind, its all good. Actually it's one of the YMOS birthday's today so we have all just had big wedges of my tried and tested chocolate cake dressed up in milkybar and cadbury's buttons, with a big pot of tea. This is the same model as I made Wifey for her birthday. Maybe I'll be persuaded to give up the recipe to this too as I have got it nailed now!
Juho Fazer Fasu Pala Review	G'day, An expat from Finland, now living in Dublin would like to give you the exact translation of "Maitosuklaalla Kuorrutettuja lakritsinmakuisia vohvelipaloja". Exact translation would read "Liquorice flavoured pieces of wafer covered with milk chocolate". Also, the various filling flavours include mint, toffee/caramel and chocolate. There (I think) was also a version with dark chocolate and/or cocoa flavoured wafers. I do like your extensive coverage of various bisquits and cakes. It really helps us traditional coffee drinkers to find the perfect pair for our "cuppa". =) All the best, Juho
	Nicey replies: Thank you very much for that. People often ask me what's the strangest biscuit we have reviewed and I seem to come back to these most often.
Martyn Lufkin	Dear Nicey.. There's been a long-term debate about whether the mighty Fig roll is either a biscuit or a cake. Whilst at University, we contacted many people who may have known the answer to this question (Dennis Wise, Ken from Coronation Street, Phil Collins) but all with no reply. If possible, is there any way you can confirm, once and for all, the category in which the fig roll sits please? There is talk about VAT, and whether it is paid on cakes, but not biscuits, or vice versa, and there's also the argument that fig rolls go hard if left, whereas biscuits always go soft…?? We are unsure…there is divided opinion… frankly, we need expert advice, so we've come to you. Many thanks, would really appreciate any feedback on the issue. Martyn Lufkin P.S. Your article "21st Century Fig Festival" was very interesting, informative and a revelation.
	Nicey replies: Martyn, Thank you for your very important enquiry involving the status of fig rolls. Not to beat around the bush, the fig roll is most definitely a biscuit, and certainly not a cake. The fig rolls going behaviour is indeed to go hard rather than soft and indeed to turn other hard biscuits around it soft. But this merely proves that this is not a hard and fast rule for determining whether something is cake or biscuit. Not only is the fig roll not the only biscuit to disobey this rule but if it were as simple as that then the whole jaffa cake fiasco would have come to a close with much more haste than it did. Sometimes one can think so hard about something that you wind up confusing yourself, and obscuring the simple truth. I'm not at all surprised this happened to you whilst a student, as many expend prodigious amounts of mental energy on such matters, flexing their intellects, when really they should be writing essays or something. It seems as if one is using deductive logic to create a stimulating debate amongst ones peers, where as in fact one is simply racking up a student loan which will have to be paid off at some point. I remember vividly wasting hours as a student trying to get a piece of string to stand upright in a pool of molten lard inside a hollowed out sugar beet, feeling sure that I was on to something. Here are some reasons why the fig roll is a biscuit. It's made in biscuit factories, by biscuit companies, (Jacobs, Crawfords). It's made using biscuit dough in addition to all that fig paste. There are other similar items around the world that are considered biscuits in their native land, Fig Newtons, Arnotts Spicy Rolls etc. It's one of my favourite biscuits.
Bob and Amanda	Nicey, Wifely, et al, Where can I get a good cuppa in London? Do British Rail cafeteria still exist? Robert Australia
	Nicey replies: Lots of places although it would seem you need to go anywhere that Tony Blair doesn't. There are cafes in most London stations but they are tend to deal in charmless Danish pastries and paninnis. Your tea will be subject to whatever nameless catering teabag they shove in your paper cup and how hot their water is. Both of these important factors are usually beyond your knowledege or control. I find the best places to simply be any every day back street cafe which London is full of. If they do bacon rolls or egg and chips then the tea should be up to scratch. The really good ones have giant teapots and use giant catering tea bags. I was very excited to be presented with one of these giant tea bags when I went to the Fields Cafe in Dalston. Then of course you should check out definitive back street cafe site eggbaconbeansandchips and its sister site ateaandathink.
GDubbs of Gee Cross Morning Coffee Review	Nicey, hi. Just found the site via a Crawfords Morning Coffee search and WOW! I'm home at last. On the subject of the M.C. I can just say it literally keeps me alive. Having to have about a dozen tablets a day and being the world most useless pill taker, I hunted high and low for a biscuit with which to get the suckers down (a search that would have been a lot easier with your FAB site). Eventually I ended up back where I had started... Morning Coffee. This humble biscuit provides the necessary post dunked consistency to hide the nastiest medication. But I must give a word of warning to the M.C. connoisseurs out there. After reading about the stocks of superior Crawford adorning shelves at Morrisons stores I sent a friend out to purchase some for me. Gutted is not in it... She came back with these interlopers (pictured)! Which are more like thin babies rusks and when dunked adopt the structural rigidity of steamed rhubarb. BE WARNED, do not be taken in by these Dutch, I repeat DUTCH impostors. Keep the faith M.C.Lovers Yours, GDubbs of Gee Cross
	Nicey replies: It's not escaped my notice before that the odd Morning Coffee gets made in Holland. I think I have in the past spotted some Sainsbury's own brand biscuits made there. Also Crawfords mother ship United Biscuits bought up Dutch biscuit maker Verkade in 1996 and this is the point of origin of the Cafe Noir biscuit. I wouldn't be at all surprised if all of these events and circumstances were related. Actually I looked quite a lot like a Dutch bloke last night as Wifey and I cycled back from the train station in torrential rain, and I was forced to don my brand new bright yellow also made in Holland cycle cape.
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