heylucy

ginger pear upside-down cake

I had some of these, and so I made this:

And it was just as good as you might imagine a ginger pear upside-down cake would be.

I used the recipe I found at this link, and I will be making it again, for sure.

This cake is the sum total of my accomplishments for this week, including the weekend. Actually, I made a very delicious dinner on Saturday night. I took pictures and everything. Sadly, I will never be able to make that meal again, nor will I be able to share those pictures, because just an hour or two after eating my dinner, I became suddenly, horrendously nauseous and then I threw it all  up. And then I threw up every hour for the next seven hours. And spent the entire next day laying pitifully on the couch, with painfully aching joints. I managed to sit up now and then and sip some Pedialyte and gnaw on some toast, and then lay down again to shiver uncontrollably under my blanket.

That sure was a fun weekend. It wasn't until Wednesday that I managed to feel somewhat normal again. I don't know if it was food poisoning or the flu. Either way, Mr. Heylucy got very lucky, because he works some odd hours and was sleeping when I made my dinner, so I had planned to make his when he woke up. Once I realized how sick I was I made him throw the rest out, and he was fine.

So sorry my blog has been so boring this week, I had to take a few sick days. But that cake sure was good.

fox in socks

No, I'm not trying to imply that I think I am a fox in my socks, that was just my favorite Dr. Suess book that I never owned. I remember checking it out of the elementary school library multiple times, along with a book of jokes and an origami book. It was so popular that you had to get on the waiting list to check it out.

I actually forgot that I had this tasty yarn, hand dyed by Yarnchef. I'm trying not to have a yarn stash, so I figured I'd better cast on a new pair of socks, and use it up. I'm knitting the Go with the Flow socks from Favorite Socks, but I think the pattern might be too busy for the yarn. It's a lacy rib, but maybe I should just do a plain ribbed sock to show off the beautiful colors. What do you think?

I was playing with my macro filters again. They are kind of fun, and much less expensive than buying an actual macro lens. Here's the exact one I bought:

Digital Concepts +1 +2 +4 +10 Close-Up Macro Filter Set with Pouch (52mm)

If you happen to order it by using that link, I think I'll get a little kickback. I haven't tried this Amazon Associates thing before, so I'm going to give it a shot and see what happens.

I also did a little Fall decorating this week. Please note Petey perched on the windowsill. He ate my orchids from last week. I'd like to see him try to mess with my pumpkins.

I got my first ever unfriendly comment today. At least I think it was unfriendly, because it was in ALL CAPS and the commenter seemed to be accusing me of hypocrisy because I have chickens, and I eat chicken, but I only eat chickens I don't know and that are killed by someone else. Interesting. I might delete it, but I might leave it there, just so I can feel like a real blogger, stirring up controversy.

hi

I was goofing around this morning and tried to take some self-portraits. Apparently the sight of myself in the mirror results in uncontrollable trembling.

I curled my hair for fun and wanted there to be a record of this rare occurrence.

fungi

I'm tired of that apple pie post, so it's time for something new. Unfortunately it's almost 10 p.m. and I'm tired, so I'm going to write a short post about fungi. I like mushrooms, but I don't know much about them. Interestingly, we have quite a unique specimen growing on one of our oak trees. We know it is interesting because one day we found a note on our front gate from a gentleman who was making a documentary about mushrooms and he asked if he could return to film our Chicken of the Woods mushroom for his movie. We called him to let him know we were happy for our fungi to have it's 15 minutes of fame, but sadly, his funding fell through and the compelling drama of the world of fungi has yet to be made.

Our tree has since died, but we left the massive trunk standing, and the Chicken of the Woods are still growing.

Last week, Jamie Oliver made Wild Mushroom and Venison Stroganoff and he used a chicken of the woods mushroom. I'm not sure if my culinary skills are up to something so exotic. I've never cooked venison and don't know any hunters, but it did look pretty good.

I also got some macro filters for my camera last week and took some extreme closeups.

For those of you not fond of fungi, I'll leave you with a little Winston shmoopie love.

How can you not love that little furry face?

how do you like them apples?

Growing up you could get red apples and green apples at the grocery store. We always had red delicious apples, oranges or bananas in our lunches and in the fruit bowl. I was never really a fan of that fruit trifecta. I've long thought of myself as a vegetable person, but with my determination to eat healthier this year, I decided to eat more fruit. You can probably guess what happened. I now love fruit, and regularly get cravings for it. Now that there are more varieties of apples to choose from, I find myself eating them more and more often. I think the apple love really started when I began thinly slicing apple quarters to feed Sally and the chickens (and the dogs, who think they should get everything the chickens get), and would eat a slice or two while handing them out to the poultry frenzy. Fujis are my absolute favorite, and they seem to be tasting even better now that apple season is in full swing.

I've also never been a huge pie fan. When it comes to desserts I'm more of an ice cream and cookies kind of girl. Cake is good too, but pie is a little more risky, what with the crust, which can be too doughy or too burnt, or too soggy. And then the filling-too sweet, too runny, too sour. There are just a lot of variables that all have to work together, and if one falls short, the whole thing is ruined. Of course I can never say never, I mean Thanksgiving would just be off without pumpkin pie, but that's just once a year. And then I also just saw this. Sour Cream Apple Pie, it's just too tempting, isn't it? Well, it was too much for me, so I made it yesterday.

Making a pie is a lot of work, but this was worth every bit of it.

I think you should go make one now, because this one is almost gone.

I made a very small bit of progress on pincushions and chicks, but I spent most of the weekend cleaning junk out of  my workshop/guesthouse/studio/sewing room. I need to decide what to call it and stick to one name for it. Anyway, I'm trying to do the Fall Apartment Therapy Cure on my room, so I'll have a functional, useful space. I can work out there now, but it does require frequent moving of piles and leaning at precarious angles to reach things. Also, the previous owners got creative with paint, and the walls are a patchwork of really bad colors, so I'm also planning to finally, finally paint over all of it. If you're interested in following my progress, I have a set of pictures on flickr. Of course there are just before pictures so far, and they are actually quite old, but you'll get the idea. They're so ugly I don't want to post them on my blog. I made a style tray with a few ideas for the finished space:

I'm planning on painting it all white, and then adding bits of bright color. I think it will be a nice place to work.

My legs are killing me from all the bending and crouching, specifically the muscles up the backs of my thighs. I need to find out what exercises to do for those muscles. The last five weeks at work our department has done a stair challange-no riding the elevator at all! I may have gotten a little competitive at the end, when I did 100 flights of stairs on the last day. So I thought my legs were pretty strong, but apparently stair-climbing does not work the back of the thigh.  I guess stretching exercises should be done before any extreme cleaning.

helpful advice

This photo has nothing to do with the rest of this post. I just bought some orchids at Trader Joe's this weekend, because they were so pretty (and cheap!).

Because I'm the oldest of five, I have to give out advice, solicited or unsolicited, even though it drives me crazy when my mother-in-law tries to give me advice. I try not to be a know-it-all, but sometimes I can't help myself. I don't think I know everything, of course, but I do have a lot of trivial bits of information floating around in my head, most of it useless, but there are a few little gems knocking about in there. Anyway, my point is, the purpose of this post is to give you advice, even if you didn't think you needed it. But Colleen made an interesting comment in the last post, about writing in a blank book, and that is not the first time I've heard that, and I have often felt that way myself!

If you are like me, and I suspect a lot of you are in this way, you love blank books, moleskin notebooks, paper and pens, back-to-school supplies and all that kind of stuff. But what do you do when faced with a brand new blank page in that pretty new journal you just had to have? You don't want to ruin it! So you just keep collecting those pretty blank books, and they gather dust while you try to come up with just the right things to put in them. The thing is, I think pretty blank books are even prettier when they start filling up with stuff-so don't be afraid!

Here are some ideas for getting started:

1. Don't start with the first page. It's so intimidating, because you think it has to set the tone for your whole journal/notebook/whatever book. Just choose a page, the second page, maybe, or a middle page, or even the last page, and just start writing or sketching, or whatever you feel like doing.

2. Use a pencil, that way, if you hate it, you can just erase it! Once you've filled a few pages, switch to pen. Just be sure to find a pen you like to write with, and try to keep it with your book at all times. I use a pencil all the time for sketching in my book, and write notes and lists in pen. I love a good, fine, black rollerball pen.

3. Find a picture that inspires you, and tape or glue it onto one of the first pages of your book. You don't even have to write about it, just putting it in there and looking at it every now and then can inspire you.

Some other references that I like on this subject:
How to Make a Journal of your Life, by Dan Price
Commonplace Book (wikipedia)
Making Journals by Hand by Jason Thompson
Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal-this could be a fun way to keep a journal, as encyclopedic entries.

Do you keep a journal or notebook? How did you get started?

Oh, and I wrote all this a few days ago, and here is what my brother said today. See what happens when you ignore my advice?

spines and pages

I like how this spine came out. I tried something different and inserted linen tape through some slits I cut in the raggedy spine, and then stitched over them all the way through.

I also like taking pictures of the pages. I think this is pretty. And a blank page is so full of possibilities, don't you think?

This book is in the shop.

bread pudding

I'm noticing a trend here at HeyLucy. Weekends seem to be full of good cooking lately. I've been stocking my freezer pretty regularly now, and since the weather really turned this weekend, it's a comforting feeling to know that now on those chilly evenings when I get home from work I can pop something really delicious in the oven and have a nice warm dinner. Saturday night Mr. Heylucy and I made albondigas soup, and doubled the amount of meatballs so we could stick a bunch in the freezer. I love soup season! Hopefully Mr. Heylucy will start chopping wood and we can sit by the fire and eat soup. That is one of my favorite things about cold weather.

I also did a little baking this morning. Since starting my healthy eating plan earlier this year, I haven't done much baking, but I thought it was time for a treat, so I made some bread pudding with a loaf of brioche. I thought I'd savor the last of the summer berries, and added fresh blueberries and strawberries. Oh my, it was so delicious and decadant.

Here it is before baking:

And after baking (I wish I had smell-o-vision for you):

It was crispy on the top and custardy underneath, and even though I thought I was a little stingy with the berries while I was making it, there really were plenty, since they sort of melted into it everywhere. Yum.

I worked on some things for the shop too, but didn't finish as much as I would have liked. Still, there are a few things listed and more well underway. I finished my second book, but didn't have time to take pictures, so it won't be there before tomorrow night. I really hope to have a few more pincushions with matching needlebooks added by the end of the week, as well as three little chicks. Meanwhile, I tidied up a sock monkey I made ages ago and added some finishing touches to her outfit, so she is looking for a good home:

And I really like this cushion cover I made. I'd like to make more of these, with different animals and colors:

The bunny is stenciled and quilted. I love toile, but I think it might not be quite as stylish as it once was, so I think this gives it a nice little modern twist. The gardening scenes in this particular pattern made me think of Peter Rabbit. I hope I didn't give these two gardeners nightmares by superimposing a giant bunny on them. He's coming to eat their cabbages!

update

The laundry is still not put away. Most is draped all over the couch. One load is still in the dryer.

Martha has a whole bunch of freezer recipes. The spinach pie and Mediterranean tuna casserole are two that I might try, though they all look quite good.

More movies to add to the do not watch while hungry (in case you missed the comments on that post):
Moonstruck (I love that movie!)
Babette's Feast (How could I forget this one! It's so lovely)
What's Cooking (I just added it to my Netflix queue)
Like Water for Chocolate (of course!)
The Wedding Banquet (I don't remember the food, I'll have to re-watch that one)

I have knit a few little chicken hats:

Wouldn't it be fun to get a picture of an actual chicken wearing one? I don't think they would go for it, though, no matter how many grapes I gave them.

Very little reading has occurred this week. I finished Brideshead Revisited last week. I know it's a classic, and therefore a Very Important Book, but geez, all the characters were completely unlikeable and selfish. And Evelyn Waugh apparently hates Catholics. Still, I will see any movie starring Emma Thompson. I think I've missed it in the theater, so I'll be renting it.

I haven't watched Project Runway yet. Am I going to be mad?

And finally, this is pretty darn cool.

Cary Judd Music from TrueAnthem

I made it even easier! You can listen and download right here :o)