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Wafer Wins Dunk offMonday 24 Sep 2007 Reporter: Nicey |
 |  | | | The Pink Wafer has seen off all comers in the shocking outcome of the World Dunking Championships held on the The Jason Manford show on XFM Manchester. The unlikely winner fought its way into the final from an initial field of 16 biscuits to face the Fig Roll. In a tense hour and a half long (that's 90 minutes) dunk off, the wafer which looked in trouble from the outset survived an unprecedented 180 degree rotation ordered by officials worried that the match was in stalemate. Remarkably the wafer remained intact whilst the Fig Roll broke in two. |
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Tesco's roll out new fig.. rollFriday 7 Sep 2007 Reporter: Nicey |
 | | | Finally Tesco's have joined the likes of Asda, Sainsbury's, The Spar, The Coop and Morrisons by stocking their own brand Fig Rolls. The new biscuit is a standard bake then cut model with ridged pastry and a 30% fig paste content which rates as high as any others that we've sampled.
This has to be a worry to the Jacobs Fig Roll which up till now has had the Fig Roll section of Tescos completely to itself. Apparently in Ireland for years and years Jacobs have run a advertising campaign based on the premise "How do they get the Figs into Jacobs Fig Rolls?". We'll now NCOTAASD can reveal how its done, they have a big machine with two squirty things one inside the other. There, that wasn't too tricky to explain was it? |
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The Custard Cream it seems is topsTuesday 28 Aug 2007 Reporter: Nicey |
 | | The media is all of a flutter today with tales of custard creams. Its seems that in an online poll conducted by wheat free biscuit makers the custard cream was voted the number one biscuit, by an enormous margin. Mind you we suspect that Trufree limited voting to their range of biscuits, as with their current poll on pasta. | Also due to the technical difficulties in making biscuits without the aid of gluten, they have been unable to eliminate hydrogenated fat, that old and now rarely used staple of the biscuit industry from all their recipes. The custard cream is conspicuous by its absence from their list of hydrogenated fat free biscuits.
In our own biscuit survey which you may have taken part in last year, the custard cream fared very well just making it into the top ten of favourite biscuits at number 9, and an impressive seventh place for the biscuit people most often choose to buy. Compare that to the Digestive number one in the most bought but only 15th in the favourites. It seems the custard cream has a much more contented place in the biscuit tin.
The buzz of media interest in this has taken everybody by surprise, and perhaps Trufree are basking some what awkwardly in the glow of all the attention, whilst coming to terms with their Custard Creams garnering 93% of the vote whilst hydrogenated fat free rivals such as their GingerNut only scored 1.5%. |
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Beau-tea-ful chance to win with PGMonday 20 Aug 2007 Reporter: Nicey |
 | | Yes but you'll have to hurry, if you want a chance at winning some PG Tips goodies in their summer Beau-tea-spots competition. PG Tips want you to tell them about your favourite spots for sallying forth into the great outdoors and enjoying a cuppa, something that we are immensely keen on here at NCOTAASD. You could win a decent sized flask and a picnic blanket, as well as some tea by visiting their website.
Due to our own tea drinking in beau-tea-spots for the last three weeks we're a bit late in letting you know about this - so don't delay. | | Oh and our top tip tip for lovely flask tea, fill the flask with boiling water and bring your tea bags and milk with you. Then when its cuppa time add the tea bags to the flask and use it like a portable tea pot. |
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Erased from historyMonday 30 Jul 2007 Reporter: Nicey |
 | | The much lamented and now discontinued Dark Chocolate HobNob has been removed from McVities short history lesson on its web site. Staunch followers of the adult version of the chocolate HobNob were distraught when the mighty biscuit engines of United Biscuits were instructed to stop putting plain chocolate on top of HobNobs in September 2006. |
Now in a move described by one reader of the site as Stalinist, McVities have tweeked their short company history to remove all mention of the majestic plain chocolate and oat based biccy. We at NCOTAASD of course will always remember the contribution made to late twentieth century British tea drinking culture by this sophisticated biscuit, even if its first packet was decorated in a sort of pink gingham pattern. |
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Scientists confirm yet again that tea is good for usThursday 12 Jul 2007 Reporter: Nicey |
 | | According to the BBC scientists have yet again found out that tea is really good for us. Even better they describe the misconception that tea is dehydrating as an urban myth. We on the other hand have always maintained that it's not just people in metropolitan areas that get the wrong ideas about these things. Actually there is not really anything in all of this that we haven't heard before so perhaps you would care to look at the last tea-health story that the BBC ran which claims its healthier to use a teapot than make it in the mug. In fact this story was so important that the BBC chose to use a slightly different mug picture to their normal one. |
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New dunker from BahlsenTuesday 10 Jul 2007 Reporter: Nicey |
German biscuit boffins at Bahlsen have just announced a new dunking biscuit called Dip-It, which we hope to getting our hands on very soon. Dip-It has only just been launched, and will get its first outing in 30 Asda stores around the country. Available in Milk and Crispies, and Chocolate and Choc Chip flavours the oval biscuit has been designed to resist the temptation to drop crumbs and create bottom sludge.
Richard and Judy were so excited about the new biscuit they have summoned me for a bit of dunking later today. We have been busy making Jam this morning so I'll take them down a jar.
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Could it be the Best Tea Time Ever!Thursday 28 Jun 2007 Reporter: Nicey |
 | | The NBFA (National Benevolent Fund for the Aged) is organising the Best Tea Time Ever! on July 11th 2007. Supporters will be inviting their friends and colleagues to have a cup of tea and raise funds for NBFA. The NBFA are asking people to take a break and have a cup of tea. Invite friends to join you and have a chat. Bake a cake or share some biscuits. In fact – make it your best tea time ever! You can raise the funds by paying a small amount for a cuppa – for example what you would pay in a local café or restaurant. You could also raise funds by holding a raffle, a cake bake or a quick quiz. | Celebrity Chef Angela Hartnett says “I am supporting the Best Tea Time Ever! because it’s a fun and tasty way to help older people across the UK. NBFA make a difference to the lives of older people that live on a low income, so join me and brew up some support!”
And as well as those funds providing more holidays for older people, we want to make those holidays last a bit longer by giving our holiday – makers an opportunity to meet up once a year, renew friendships and have a chat about the fun and laughter that an NBFA holiday can provide.
To find out more, or get your hands on some balloons, stickers and quiz sheets to help you plan your own BTTE head over to the NBFA Best Tea Time Ever!.
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Wagonwheel rolling championship to mark 60th anniversaryFriday 11 May 2007 Reporter: Nicey |
 | | It's 60 years since Burtons came up with that most iconic of biscuits, the WagonWheel, and to mark the occasion what is believed to be the worlds first WagonWheel rolling championship is being held near Slough on Saturday 26th of May. | Presided over by none other than the also legandary Keith Chegwin the event will be aiming to raise some funds for several local good causes including The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Charitable funds, the local PACE Centre in Aylesbury and the Eyeless Trust.
John Betjeman may have wanted it bombed flat in 1937 but had it been Slough would have not been able to give birth to the WagonWheel in ten years later in 1947. Brainchild of Garfield Howard Weston CBE, known as Garry Weston. Jeremy Dunn, Senior Brand Manager from Burton’s Foods, the manufacturers of Wagon Wheels who are supporting the event on the day comments; “The inventor of the Wagon Wheel, Garry Weston, was a benefactor of numerous philanthropic projects and we are sure that he would be glad to know that his massive biscuit creation is still being used to raise money for good causes today.”
Held at the Black Horse in Fulmer, between 12 noon and 3pm competitors can enter in one of three categories: the ‘expert rolling’ category where entrants must bring along pre-made gadgets to aid rolling, the over 60s, or a general competition open to all Wagon Wheel enthusiasts. They will then have to roll the large mallow and milk chocolate biscuits down the custom made Wagon Wheel rolling pitch so that they settle in one of the five scoring zones. The player with the highest score over five rolls wins. In the event of a draw a sudden death ‘roll-off’ will occur.
Apart from the obvious honour of being crowned the world’s first Wagon Wheel Rolling Champion, each winner will also receive £150 worth of Red Letter Days vouchers to spend on a unique experience of their choice. They could put them towards a day at the track learning to race sports cars, a relaxing day at a top spa or even a wine tasting break for two. Even more thrilling they'll also get a case of WagonWheels to share with friends and family.
Full details here |
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A lifetime of tea in one dayMonday 23 Apr 2007 Reporter: Nicey |
 | | On Wednesday 25 April 2007 Trafalgar Square will host an extraordinary installation honouring a national treasure. Between 8am and 10.30am traditional London landmarks will be eclipsed by a display of all the tea you can drink. Or to be precise, all the tea you’ll ever drink… 74,802 cups. | For anyone who ever wondered what a lifetime’s worth of tea looked like, this installation celebrating the cuppa will be on show in the capital for one morning only. The installation is being created to feature in a Channel 4 programme about the Human Footprint – a unique film that reveals, in a series of remarkable stunts, what makes up an average human life in Britain today.
You can also claim a free cup of PG tips tea between 8am – 10.30am at the Café on the Square on Wednesday 25 April. Any senior readers currently sipping their 74,801st cup of tea might want to get the affairs in order before they next pop the kettle on.
Here are the photos taken afterwards
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