The Tingle Factor Box

Roy Creates Patsy's Chocolate Biscuits

This week Roy decided it was time to do some more baking. He has had a craving for a simple, old fashioned, chocolate flavoured biscuit, but there were surprisingly few simple recipes out there for just plain old chocolate biscuits! They all seemed to have nuts or chunks of chocolate, or dried fruit, or spices or some other flavour. As always, he decided to ask Grandma, figuring she might have some idea and lo and behold, she produced a recipe which she used to cook many, many years ago, but hasn’t made since. Roy gave them a try, and they were delicious, so this week Roy Creates Patsy’s Chocolate Biscuits.

Note: in case you are wondering, we don’t know who Patsy is! If you know, feel free to leave us a comment.The recipe came from a very old, English, Women's Weekly

That Wouldn't Fit In A Nose! - Penetro Inhaler

Imagine, you are a child suffering from sinusitis. You have sore sinuses, a headache, your ears are starting to block up and, of course, your nose won't stop running! Your mother has just come home from the pharmacist with a new medicine which promises to cure you, but you aren't at all sure about it. The Penetro Inhaler sounds like a great idea, but you don't think fitting the tube up your nostrils will be comfortable at all!

Roaming Roy Visits A Town With Art - Kurri Kurri Murals

This week, Roy felt it was a perfect time to head towards the Hunter Valley. With the weather just starting to warm up and spring around the corner, it is a perfect time to take a country drive, stop for a picnic, and admire the scenery. One place which Roy thinks is well worth a stop for its unusual scenery is Kurri Kurri. This town is full of public art, dozens of murals which depict the town history.

Roy Creates Aunt Myra's Patty Cakes

This week, Roy wanted to cook a quick and delicious cake. He had a hankering for a light and tasty, sweet treat, and asked if I had any recipes to suggest. I told him that there was a very old recipe I had been wanting to try, ‘Aunt Myra’s Patty Cakes’. My Great, Great Aunt was a Myra, so I had always assumed this was her recipe, but Roy’s Grandma tells me that this isn’t the case, it was a recipe belonging to somebody else’s Aunt Myra. She did say the recipe was very old though. Roy decided this was just the recipe to try, so this week, Roy Creates Aunt Myra’s Patty Cakes.

It's Tiny! Finger Misers Purse

Imagine, you are a woman living in the mid 1800s. You don't have a lot of money, and being a woman you are always worried about being pickpocketed on the street. You had that happen once, and your husband was so upset he gave you a new little purse, a misers purse. You know that the ladies have big, double sided ones to hold lots of coins, but the small, single sided one your husband gave you is perfect. It holds just enough to be useful, and you can use the ring on the bag to hang it from your finger. Nobody will steal your purse now!

Roaming Roy Eats Out - Gozlemes

This week, Roy really wanted to do something a little different. In the past, he has visited a few restaurants, but they are unusual places for him to go - after all, Roy has a reasonably small appetite! Usually, Roy stays in the car while we have lunch, or even just stays home, but recently, he has confided that he is really intrigued by the idea of 'eating out'. He asked if perhaps we could add a new section to the Roaming Roy posts, just for restaurants, and I thought this was a great idea. The first place Roy wanted to share for eating out serves a type of food which you might have had before, Gozlemes, but takes them to a level Roy has never had before!

Roy Creates Grandma's Sausage Pie

Recently, with the weather being so cold and windy, Roy has been feeling like some good, old fashioned food. He had heard me talk about a pie his Grandma used to make when I was little, but which I hadn't had in years and was very intrigued by it. The pie doesn't use pastry as its crust, but instead uses sausage mince, and this was an idea which Roy loved. The question was, could Grandma remember the recipe? Luckily, she had some idea about what to do, and after some trial and error, we had a delicious, old fashioned Winter warmer. So this week Roy Creates Grandma's Sausage Pie.

What Is THAT? Luffa

Imagine, you are living in South America in the early 1900s. Your family is poor, and you work hard for everything you have. You have a lovely little patch of ground where you grow vegetables and fruits for the family, and on a trellis in the corner is one of the more useful plants, the luffa. Although it isn't necessarily the tastiest of the vegetables, it is filling and gives lots of fruit. Even better though, if you let the fruit mature and dry, you can peel them and use the luffa inside. They are such useful things, being used as sponges in the kitchen and bath, as padding for pillows, and even to re-pad the old mattress when it becomes too hard and lumpy.

Roaming Roy Pulls Up A Pew - Ebenezer Church

This week, I needed to visit Windsor (NSW) to do a few chores, and Roy decided he would like to tag along and see if there was any chance of an outing. He was particularly interested in a little church which he had heard about which was not too far from Windsor and hoped he might convince me to take him to see it. Although Roy has seen many Australian churches, he had not seen one quite as old as the little church in Ebenezer, the oldest in Australia.

Roy Creates Crazy UFO Crayons

Earlier this week, Roy was doing a bit of a clean up. He had craft supplies all over the place, and I suggested we needed to sort out what we had and throw or give away the things we didn't need or couldn't use. We found a huge container of crayons, but there were a lot of broken ones, which are more difficult to use. Roy didn't want to throw them away, but since he also had lots of whole ones, he didn't know what to do with them. His Grandma told him she had read that you could melt crayons in the oven to make new, crazy crayons and Roy thought this sounded like fun. We had to try lots of different combinations, and made lots of icky brown crayons before we succeeded, but what we created in the end was awesome. So this week, Roy Creates Crazy UFO Crayons.