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 |
Brian Barratt |
Hello Nicey,
During my boyhood in Newark (-on-Trent) (is there another one, then?), the ladypersons of the family used to make Grantham Gingerbread biscuits. The were delicious, all crisp on the outside and sometimes just a bit gooey on the inside, with bubbles in them. They had a Secret Ingredient, obviously. And they were yellow. That was 50-60 years ago. I was just thinking (as one does, you know) -- I haven't seen or heard of Granthem Gingerbread biscuits since then, during all the years, in four or five countries, through thick and thin. Do you/does Wifey/does anybody know them, or the recipe?
Greety things be unto you
Brian
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Nicey replies: I've not heard of them, they sound very nice indeed so it would be good if we could find them. Maybe they were in some axis of power with the nearby Lincoln biscuit, and a dispute over the secret ingredient caused them to be sidelined. Is there anybody in the East Midlands who has heard of them?? |
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Simon G |
Dear Sir,
As Mark Daszkiewicz rightly states in his previous mailing, iced gems are "amongst the worst kind of biscuit imaginable" and are best avoided for several reasons.
However, I was recently given a packet of these 'biscuits'; i didn't want to throw them away so i thought of a way to make them more palatable. I tipped them into a bowl and poured cold milk over them (i suppose you could put sugar on as well; vanilla sugar might be good) and ate them in a similar way as you would a breakfast cereal, along with a nice cup of tea.
Just thought some of your readers might want to try this if they have a packet taking up space in their cupboard. |
Nicey replies: Dear Mr G,
I think they could make a good subsitute for drawing pins. If anyone manages to nail someting to a wall using Iced Gems let us know. |
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Jon Karen |
Does any one else remember waiting for the biscuit tin to finally be empty so you can eat all the lovely multi flavoured crumbs left in the bottom?
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Thom Curtis |
Dear Nicey,
I enjoy a good biscuit as much as the next person, but I especially enjoy dunking biscuits. I don't, however, like dunking biscuits in tea or coffee as the chocolate would melt; I enjoy dunking biscuits in water. Is this unusual? |
Nicey replies: Yes Thom, of course this is unusual. As to being odd, most of us are, with the possible exception of identical twins who may be even. |
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Matthew Goodsall |
Hello there Nicey,
Your opinion piece of biscuit tins brought back a wave of emotive memories about the biscuit tins at my house during my formative years. My mum was very much of the belief that biscuits should be stowed in a robust airtight receptacle in a cool, dry cupboard above the kitchen work surface, a philosophy I believe she inherited from her mother, who incidentally was called Ingeborg which in itself is noteworthy.
We always had 3 separate biscuit storage units, which were for clearly defined use:
1. Large, pliable semi-opaque colourless biscuit barrel with sealable lid, for storage of dry/semi-dry, conventional high-volume munching biscuits such as Rich Tea, Custard Creams and Finger Creams
2. Small biscuit barrel, construction as above, for high potency biscuits with the potential to distress the flavour of normal biscuits via the phenomenon of osmosis, such as ginger nuts
3. A medium sized metal tin for chocolate biscuits, typically Bourbons and chocolate digestives; on reflection I believe the science behind this is that the surface properties of plastic tins are unsuitable for chocolate biscuit storage at room temperature because there can often be 'chocolate creep', leaving an unsightly brown residue on the biscuit barrel, hence the use of polished alloy with low co-efficient of friction and high specific heat.
This biscuit storage methodology was successfully implemented for fully 15 years at my house, although now my parents have moved to the country and they have a larder, which features lower ambient temperatures and is thus more conducive to keeping biscuits in their packets. Coupled with fewer children being around to eat lots of biscuits, sadly the barrels have now been consigned to the big cupboard under the stairs. I would be very interested to know if other people used such a strictly teutonic approach to biscuit warehousing or is it more normal to just chuck everything in one big tin and enjoy the inevitable flavour morphing?
Kind regards.
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