heylucy

CousCous

Isn't couscous a fun word to say?

I don't necessarily want this to become nothing but a bento blog all of a sudden, so I made myself a flickr set for all my lunch pictures, so if you like to see what I make for lunch, check there regularly. I'll just post the very most delicious ones here.  Besides, starting Monday, I am on Sabbatical for 3 whole weeks! So I won't be packing too many lunches, although I do have plans for beach days and park days and thrift store shopping days, so there may be a few opportunities to use my little lunch boxes.

Today I made grilled chicken, sugar peas, almonds and Israeli couscous salad. My salad recipe is basically just to put my favorite things in there and mix it all up. I included fresh basil, sun-dried tomatos, kalamata olives, green onions and feta cheese and dressed it with a little olive oil and vinegar. Yum.

Back to this whole sabbatical thing, after seven years, my company offers a 6-week sabbatical (in addition to regular vacation time) so I am taking half now. I'll be in Boise to visit family for a week, but the rest of the time I get to play at home! I want to plant a vegetable garden and do some spring cleaning and have a pajama day or two and be a tourist in my home town. I can't wait!

Runch

Busy busy, but I wanted to pop in and share the cute little bento box I got last night:

It's all packed up and ready to go! I added another bowl for some mango slices. Want to see what's inside? Of course you do!

Fresh rolls (wrapped in plastic so they don't dry out, brown rice balls (there is an official Japanese name for these, but I forget what it is.), and tomatos and broccoli. I can't wait for lunchtime :o)

I also got the wicker-like one on EBay:

Pretty, no?

UPDATE: Okay, my e-mail was actually working for about 5 minutes, my account was all straightened out, but now the service itself is down for everyone. So, I have a gmail account that I'll be using in the meantime, and I might just keep permanently. If you would like to send me and e-mail, use this address: heylucyloo(at)gmail(dot)com. I think I will change the link in the sidebar too, for now.

O Bento!

I finally took some (slightly) better pictures of the pointy kitty I made for Backtack III. She is finally on her way to Portland, and should arrive in her new home by tomorrow.

 

I like the way the fabric worked out. I had my doubts, but with a little careful arranging, it's quite cute. I like her little pink embroidered nose, and I'm quite proud of her pretty collar with the knitted rose. It even has a loop and button closure, so it's removable.  The 'M', I'm not totally pleased with, it's a little wonky, and my buttonhole stitching around her eyes, well, I've done better. I also think I should have cut the under body a little shorter, so she would have stood up a little taller. Oh well. I mostly like it, and I'm not too embarrassed to have sent her to her new home. I received a very cute pointy kitty from Lori. I'll try to get some pictures taken this week so I can share, although you can see her on Lori's blog. When I first saw Hilary's pattern, I thought it was cute, but not something I needed to make, but I think I've changed my tune. I like the way it came out in the fabric I used, and I really like how it looks in the fabric Lori chose for me. I'll talk about it more when I have pictures to share.

I've spent the last few days obsessing over Bento Boxes. I go out to lunch almost every day. For the most part, I think I make pretty healthy choices, but I know that if I made my own food, it would be much better for me and cheaper too! And I could control the quantity, and avoid that afternoon, "I'm so full, I'm never eating again" mantra that we chant nearly daily around here. I'm stopping by Mitsuwa tonight on my way home to get myself a bento box and I'm going to make myself lunch at least 3 days a week. I actually started today, even though I had to use ugly disposable plastic containers for my food. I made Japanese noodles (I don't know what kind they were specifically, the package just said "Japanese-Style Noodles") with spicy peanut vinaigrette from Trader Joe's. I added shredded chicken, green onion and a sprinkling of sesame seeds and topped it with some shredded lettuce. I tossed it all together before I ate it. I also made a cucumber-radish salad with rice vinegar dressing and some cantaloupe melon balls. Delicious! Although I am pretty full.

Some inspiring links I've found about bento:
Cooking Cute makes some very tasty looking lunches for herself and her husband. And it sounds like she has a Trader Joe's nearby too. Lots of good ideas here and some really great links to all sorts of bento resources.

Some seriously beautiful bentos

This is from June 9, I love that green bouquet on the rice. And that's not even the most elaborate one.

This is a nice little introductory site about bentos.

I'm watching a couple boxes on EBay. This one is pretty. I think this one is really elegant, and this one is just cute.

This post at Recipezaar is informative, and has links to some recipes that look really delicious.

PBS has a nice feature about a mother who makes a bento for her child each day.

Live-journal has a bento community, and there is a Flickr group too. 

For a more modern version, you could go with Mr. Bento although  $44.29 is a little pricey. I'm sure long term it would be worth it.

Stay tuned for more Bento mania!

$10 toilet paper

Let's lighten the mood a bit, shall we? This is a transcript of the message I left on Mr. Lucy's mobile phone this morning when I got up (Mr. Lucy works at night), while standing cross-legged in the bathroom:

"Honey, I'm looking for a giant $10 package of toilet paper, but I can't seem to find it anywhere."

Yesterday I asked him to stop for some toilet paper, because we were dangerously low, and he was kind enough to do so. I asked how much he spent at the store, so I could note it in the checkbook, and he said $48. "I just wanted toilet paper, what else did you get?" I asked. Well, the toilet paper alone was $10, he told me.  Now, I do generally buy the economy packs, but I don't remember paying $10 for them. Six or seven dollars, surely, but $10?  How many rolls will $10 get you? Interesting question. I wouldn't know the answer to that question however, because the giant package of toilet paper was still in the back of his car.

Here is a sneak peek at the pointy kitty I made for Backtack:

I am going to have to play the blonde card on this one. I thought we had to have our kitties mailed by June 10 (really, I was just so busy concentrating on all the rules-black & white, no more that 20% a third color, 5 buttons, a monogram...there just isn't enough room in my brain sometimes), not sent so they would arrive by June 10. I actually was quite a bit ahead of the game and would have made the date easily, but I was planning on using this past weekend to make some other little treats to include, and obviously that didn't work out too well. Ah well, I will have her in the mail in the next day or two, so hopefully she will arrive by Saturday, or Monday at the latest. I hope I don't make the list of shame.

I really, really appreciate the kind words of sympathy. I would like to e-mail each of you personally with my gratitude, however my e-mail is yet again, not working, so I hope this will do. It's very comforting to know that there are lots of people out there who understand what it is like to lose a pet. She was my friend and companion and my routines are all out of whack without her. There is just this absense that makes me ache. Dune is depressed, it's like he is just pining for his Gigi. I hate it. Crap and darn-it, I miss my girl. We will get through this.

little miss gigi

Gigi
1992-June 4, 2006

It's a sad day here at our house. My little gigi-girl passed away this morning around 5:30. Friday evening, we noticed that she wasn't feeling well, she wouldn't eat or drink and was a bit wobbly when she walked. She wouldn't stay in my lap, which is a sure sign of a problem.  I stayed up with her all night and we got to the vet's office as soon as they opened the doors at 8:00 in the morning. We had to take her to an animal hospital where they hooked her up to IV's and poke and prodded and did every test possible. She was in diabetic shock. She was there all night, but we got the call this morning at 6:00 that she was gone.

Thirteen years ago, before I ever knew him, Mr. Lucy went to pick up his new cat, a retired tonkinese show cat named Dune. While he was at the breeder, he saw a little box with three tiny kittens. One was going to be put down because she had crossed eyes and funny bent legs and would probably need surgery to correct her eyes. Mr. Lucy asked if he could take her too. She was Dune's daughter and he named her Gigi.

Gigi was the most un-cat-like cat I ever knew. She was never arrogant or snobby or indifferent to the humans around her. She was shy and didn't like a lot of noise, so she would hide when the house was too full of people, but otherwise she was usually in the same room as one of us. She always came when I called her. Every night at bedtime I would ask "Where's Gigi?" and she would hop up on the bed. She liked to sleep in the crook of my arm. She loved to be warm. She was always finding her way into my lap, sometimes without my even realizing it. I'd be watching TV and knitting or just sitting and reading and look down and there she was. She would even sneak into the bathroom when she saw me heading in there. Just slip right through the door before I would get it shut. I guess she thought that if I was going to be sitting there, doing nothing, I might as well have a cat to keep me company.

Despite her crossed eyes, she was a good little hunter. Once, as I was getting out of the shower, I spotted a lizard in the bathroom (I still have no idea how he got in there!). I went and got Gigi and she chased him around the bathroom and just had a good old time. She'd do the same with spiders and any other little thing that moved. After the lizard incident, I caught her in the bathroom many times, creeping around the bathtub, still looking for that darn lizard.

She and Reggie were special friends. Every evening she would throw herself down on the floor in front of him for her nightly bath. He would lick and lick and lick her. She loved it, and rolled around so he could get her all clean. They played together too, and she let him herd her around the house.

One of her little quirks was her love of tape and paper and glue and boxes. When I tore off a sheet from the lint roller, she would come running so she could nibble on it. It was like Christmas to her when we'd bring home a box. Especially one with packing tape. It would keep her entertained for hours. We have a few books and magazines with little Gigi teeth marks where she chewed on the corners.

She had the prettiest little feet I ever saw

She walked like a little supermodel, putting one dainty paw in front of the other.

If I wasn't sure where she was, I just had to look for the sunny windowsill. She would follow the sunshine around the house.

We have a rose bush in our yard called 'Miss Gigi', we dug it up and put her little body deep underneath it.

There is a big hole in my heart that will never be filled again. She was my gigi-girl. I loved her.