Biscuits anyone?

[french frank]

... yes, it was (as ever) excellent. He's so good with his audiences.

In my childhood, the biscuits we had : ginger nuts, garibaldi ("squashed flies"), digestives, fig rolls. As an occasional treat, bourbons or plain chocolate digestives. As a rare extra-special treat, florentines.


.

Surely you also had Bath Olivers? [We had Huntley & Palmers Breakfast biscuits too]

[cloughie]

Surely you also had Bath Olivers? [We had Huntley & Palmers Breakfast biscuits too]

Plain or chocolate?

[Rjw]

I really liked the Huntley and Palmer Breakfast biscuit, is there anything available that resembles them¿

[ardcarp]

I always thought of Bath Olivers as biscuits of the upper classes, whereas custard creams...... definitely non-U. I loved them as a kid.

[french frank]

Plain or chocolate?

To be honest, I thought it was taking things a bit far when I saw Chocolate Olivers in Waitrose. I don't think Bath Olivers are really sweet biscuits so didn't feel it was quite right to coat them in chocolate.

Rjw - I loved the Breakfast biscuits too. The crunchiness and taste were unique. I wish there were something exactly the same. Accept no substitutes.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I always thought of Bath Olivers as biscuits of the upper classes, whereas custard creams...... definitely non-U. I loved them as a kid.

Even more reason for you to hear tonight's Carlisle Mark Steel, ardy.

[Keraulophone]

No longer the season for them, but before Christmas one can eat lussekatter

You can still eat them in this country (just!) because Anglicans have extended the Christmas season to last for a full forty days, ending with the Feast of the Presentation on 2 February. (That’s how we get through our extensive Christmas and Epiphany repertoire in the cathedral, e.g. all four Poulenc Christmas motets at last Sunday’s Evensong.)

Saffron buns (with clotted cream) were once reserved for Good Friday, but Cornish bakeries and Methodist ‘Tea-treats’ have long forgotten that tradition.

[MickyD]

Micky

Thanks for the advice - gratefully received. I've lived in France for almost 10 years, am (alas) over 60 but speak reasonably good French (as no-one hereabouts speaks much English, life would be challenging if I couldn't explain that I wanted the satellite dish lined up with the azimuth for Astra 28.2E etc etc). Given that I am being messed around by the Préfecture des Alpes-Maritimes at the moment (not for any bad reason but I think that they are simply overwhelmed with applications/interviews etc), I will need a stiff drink - or three - before thinking about the naturalisation process. Or some music to strengthen my resolve - Rameau sees like a good idea. Anyway, I drink to your success

As to the use of the newly-fashionable lard in baking, the recent experience of grating 150g of the stuff, even straight from the freezer, to make cheese straws (along with 150g of similarly grated butter) was enough to make me swear that I would never make anything again in which it featured as an ingredient. Madeleines, even with the stress of making the perfect beurre brun, are child's play by comparison.

You should definitely apply, Dougie! It's just all the form-filling and waiting for months on end that tries one's patience, but I would think you have a very good dossier in order to be considered. If you need any help about which forms to fill in etc, don't hesitate to send me a private message...I would be very happy to oblige. And yes, I cannot think of any better inspiration to do this than to listen to Rameau - lots of it!

[Dave2002]

Saffron buns (with clotted cream) were once reserved for Good Friday, but Cornish bakeries and Methodist ‘Tea-treats’ have long forgotten that tradition.

I can just remember the time when you could only get hot cross buns on Good Friday.

[oddoneout]

You can still eat them in this country (just!) because Anglicans have extended the Christmas season to last for a full forty days, ending with the Feast of the Presentation on 2 February. (That’s how we get through our extensive Christmas and Epiphany repertoire in the cathedral, e.g. all four Poulenc Christmas motets at last Sunday’s Evensong.)

Saffron buns (with clotted cream) were once reserved for Good Friday, but Cornish bakeries and Methodist ‘Tea-treats’ have long forgotten that tradition.

I think Andrew Carwood mentioned this in last night's R3 concert?
Somewhat ironic in view of the way the Church of the Retail Giant has extended the celebrations of the Feast of Conspicuous Consumption so far forward of Christmas;let's hope they don't catch up on this extension the other way....

[Pulcinella]

I can just remember the time when you could only get hot cross buns on Good Friday.

I think that you can get other things on a Good Friday too, Dave.


(Sorry: one for Pedants' Paradise perhaps: I'm an 'only' vulture!)

[Dave2002]

I think that you can get other things on a Good Friday too, Dave.


(Sorry: one for Pedants' Paradise perhaps: I'm an 'only' vulture!)

Nice ambiguous sentence, eh!

Though perhaps less ambiguous if you consider that most/many shops did close on GF in times gone by, and there were no/hardly any supermarkets.

[Pulcinella]

Nice ambiguous sentence, eh!

Though perhaps less ambiguous if you consider that most/many shops did close on GF in times gone by, and there were no/hardly any supermarkets.

And indeed my pedantry was not correct anyway: you can only get them (you can't eat them)?
I remember being surprised my first year in Canada seeing the bishop's wife in the local 7--11 store buying something on a Good Friday: it was a regular (indeed exam) day at the university, but I was on my way to sing in some service or other.

[cloughie]

I can just remember the time when you could only get hot cross buns on Good Friday.

And pubs didn’t open in some counties!

[Rjw]

When I was a pupil at Winchcombe Junior we collected rose hips each autumn. All the children handed in their harvest in the school hall. I imagine it was a way of getting enough hips to produce the rose hip syrup that provided the nation's children with vitamin C during the war and the decade after it. Anyway we were paid for our hips, I received 2d which I spent on two Royal Scot biscuits. A very nice breaktime biscuit, especially so because my mother would never allow me any money for a breaktime biscuit!

Bring back the Royal Scot.