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 |
Keith O'Kane |
Dear Nicey and the Wife,
Further to my recent e-mail on the subject of Tifin, I have made further enquiries and found the definition on Wikipedia to be much more helpful than my own dictionary,giving a full account of all of the various uses of the word.
Regarding Tiffin the cake (and I use the classification loosely), my colleagues and I decided to embark on a quest to find the finest example of the breed. Samples from Waitrose, Tesco, Bon Viveur and a home made version were offered for comment and the general consensus seemed to be that the Waitrose version was slightly superior to the others.
The best comment came form Vicki who said, on the subject of classification, "It's trying to be a brownie, but someone's shoved a cherry up it". This sums up the whole Tiffin experience very nicely and has led me to conclude that cheries are an essential ingredient in distinguishing between Tiffin and "Chocolate Refrigerator Cake", the latter being the closest thing to Tiffin I could find at M&S.
Interest in the subject is running high in the office, so it was decided that we should have a Tiffin "bake-off" next week to find the best Tiffin recipe.
There wil be 6 entrants and a judging pannel consisting of the more noteable cake / biscuit eaters in the department.
The contest has been scheduled for 11:00 in an attempt to revive the fine old tradition of "elevenses".
I will endeavour to send you some pictures of the winning entry after the event.
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Nicey replies: Your cause is a noble and just one. |
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Nik Whitehead
Garibaldi Review |
Far back in the dim and distant past (the late sixties and early seventies) I was in love with the most wonderful biscuit on Earth - the plain chocolate garibaldi. Now of course, the milk chocolate garibaldi was good, but the bitterness of the dark chocolate combined with the sweetness of the fruit made this, for me, the ultimate in 'sitting with my grandfather watching television' treats.
Sadly, I have not seen such delights for many years, although a friend of mine once presented me with a Christmas gift of several packets worth of garibaldi over which he had carefully spread melted chocolate.
Ah... those lost biscuits of the past... |
Nicey replies: Nick,
Yes our best information on the Chocolate Gariballdi is that it was probably made by the now defunct south London biscuit manufacturer Chiltonian biscuits. Not only were they able to cover some in chocolate but theirs were much more moist than today's Gariballdis. When ever I'm in the presence of one of the powerful people in the biscuit world I habitually put in a plea to bring back the Chocolate Gariballdi. So far there is no sign of this happening. |
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Geraldine McCathy
Garibaldi Review |
Hi there,
I found your site whilst looking for information on the Chiltonian Biscuit Factory in Hither Green, London. I worked there in the mid 1970's and I can assure (your correspondent) Kevin Sowerby, that I packed many, many garibaldi biscuits while I worked there.
They were just delicious and I have never tasted a garabaldi biscuit as good as them since those days...
We packed biscuits for Sainsburys, Peak Frean and many others at Chiltonian - there was also a broken biscuit shop where customers and staff could buy a huge bag of broken biscuits for 10p!...
I am sad to learn that the Chiltonian factory is to be converted into housing development.....
God bless all,
Geraldine |
Nicey replies: That's great to have the location of Sainsbury's wonderful 1970s Garibaldis tracked down. Presumably the much missed Chocolate version was made there too. I certainly remember a time when Garibaldis were a softer and the raisins a bit plumper, perhaps they were Chiltonian ones. Still it would be good to see if they could whack a bit of chocolate on a modern Gariabldi just to see what they came out like. |
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Mrs Dixon |
Here at Warwick towers we like biscuits, but also CEREAL BARS.
Some of these have a consistency which goes well with a cup of tea and a sit down, especially at 11am when you've not had any brekky.
We were wondering if you have done any NCOTAASD research into cereal bars?
Our super-favourites at the moment are the rather expensive EAT NATUARAL bars, some of which even have belgium chocolate on 'em.
But we could get a whole packet of custard creams for the price of ONE Eat natural bar and we don't like the pretendo-breakfast cereal cereal bars like rice crispies or weetos.Ohhhhhhh no.
What do other people think?
Mrs Dixon of Warwick Towers |
Nicey replies: I occasionally mess around with cereal bars when skiing, they can be a useful source of oats at altitude. I like the ones with Apricots in them. I don't need to tell you that its very naughty to miss breakfast, its the most important meal of the day apparently. |
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Kathryn Hall |
Dear Nicey,
It's been a while since we last corresponded, though I have of course been following the site diligently - my congratulations on the continued improvements and all the awards also.
I was intrigued by this week's poll regarding pies and tarts. I voted for the 'it depends what size they are' option, however, being more specific, I believe the depth of the article is really the distinguishing factor. My Mother makes a fantastic apple tart (made with Armagh Bramley's naturally) it is the size of a dinner plate, but only about a half-inch thick. In contrast, the related items purveyed by a certain Mr Kipling are most definitely apple pies being at least twice as deep (and also noticeably sweeter), albeit a lot smaller.
On different note, I am off home for a few days this weekend, so looking forward to stocking up on biscuits, decent chocolate and of course Tayto crisps !
My best compliments to The Wife, as ever.
Kathryn Hall, Indiana |
Nicey replies: Kathryn,
Good to hear from you again. The Wife's folks are here this week so we have our giant sack of Tayto cheese and onion crisps too. |
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