Blogging at the beach, thanks to my anniversary present. Did you know the 11th anniversary is the iPhone anniversary?

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I like giraffes, don't you? Maybe it's because they are tall that I find them so appealing. I do not, however, have quite as long a neck.

This is from my trip to the Boise Zoo last month. It's a nice little zoo, and I had fun getting photography tips from my brother as we walked around. It was like we had our own little photo safari.

I've been working on my jelly roll quilt. 126 triangles down, 78 more to go. I've started putting pieces up on my design wall and I think I'm going to love this quilt. I really like creating my own originals, sorting through fabric and finding just the right combination, but sometimes it's so nice to just let someone else do all the thinking work, and just enjoy the patchwork zone that I get into, cutting, sewing and pressing.

Winston is laying on his back, paws in the air, and just started wagging his tail for no apparent reason. He's such a happy dog, I can't help but smile when I'm around him. Yesterday morning I was loading the car with bags for Good Will. I left it open while I went back in the house to get ready for work. When I cam back out to leave, a good 20 minutes later, there he was, sitting in the driver's seat, ready to go! I was tempted to take him with me to work, but it wouldn't have been much fun for him to lay under my desk all day.

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Too much stuff on my to-do list, too much stuff to make, and too much stuff in my house. That's the theme for this weekend, I think. I will have to clean the bathroom and do the laundry and hopefully clean out the dresser and send some things to Goodwill, but mostly what I want to do is make things, so let's just talk about the fun, creative stuff, shall we?

Actually, despite the fact that for some reason, this week I haven't done much more than come home from work and sit like a zombie on the couch while watching Netflix dvds, I have one finished project to share (finished a while ago, actually):

It's this little baby jacket from Debbie Bliss. Stash yarn from I don't even know how long ago, and a scrap of fabric for the flower. It was a quick little knit for my new niece, and I hope to see her in it this Winter. Baby knits are so perfect for Summer knitting: small, quick and portable! Which reminds me that I really need to go to the beach sometime soon, before Summer is over (the portable part of that last sentence is what made me think of that, in case you were wondering how my mind works and what knitting has to do with the beach).

I decided to be a little less lazy last night, and pulled out my orange sweater to work on while watching the last season (sniff!) of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I had started the first sleeve, but stopped because extreme laziness prevented me from reading how to do the M1L and M1R stitches that I needed to do to move on to the next row. It turns out those increases were not as difficult as I remembered, and now I'm nearly done with the first sleeve. Here's hoping I'll have pictures of a finished sweater soon! One more sleeve and it's all done. Just in time, too, since the new Interweave Knits just arrived, and I really need to make a couple sweaters from it (Rosamund's cardigan and the Nordique
Swing, in case you were interested).

Besides knitting, I've got some serious quilting to do. I have a commission for a baby quilt and the only requirements were pink and brown. I can add another color and do any design I want. I have an idea what I'm going to do, but this one is a little challenging. Brown is not usually on my list of color choices. I went to the 1930's reproductions for inspiration, since I especially like those pinks, and here's what I've decided to work with:

 

I love the light brown polka dots. The plan for this weekend is to get a few squares done. At the other end of the spectrum, I picked up a jelly roll while visiting my favorite quilt shop in Boise earlier this month. Then I found this pattern, and thought it was quite adorable, and started slicing and stitching away. Sometimes it's nice to have someone else do all the work planning and thinking, and to just sit and sew.

 

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Yesterday was Pine Valley Day. The parade lines up in front of our house. There were horses, naturally:

Old cars, all decked out:

Beauty queens with braces:

Clowns, even though everyone is actually afraid of them:

He does look a little sinister, doesn’t he?
Bagpipe bands are my favorite!

And don’t forget the superheros:

It’s also fun to watch the watchers, especially the kids:

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I actually started this post a few weeks ago, but never got around to finishing it, so here you go, a post all about some good food I've been making and eating lately:

Cooking and gardening is about all that's been going on here lately. I need to do some sewing soon, it's been so long. In the meantime, we've been eating quite well, especially since Mr. Heylucy (not the tidiest person I've ever known, for the record), thought it was time to clean the oven. I'm not going to say how long it's been since that has happened, but we have lived in our house for seven years, so it's been less than seven years, that's not too bad, right? We ran the self-cleaning cycle, and almost had to spend the night outside it got so smokey. Oops. I think we'll do that on a more regular basis from now on.

Back to the cooking, I never mentioned that I made the Chili Pea Puffs. I highly recommend the recipe, they were delicious, and gobbled up before I took any pictures. So I suggest you make them. I used panela cheese (a Mexican fresh milk cheese) in place of the paneer, and it worked out just fine. I experimented with folding them several different ways, but I liked the simple fold-in-half-diagonally method the best. Serve with a little chutney, yum!

Last week at the farmer's market I got the biggest artichoke I had ever seen. Mr. HeyLucy is not a fan, so it was all for me. Feeling confident after my hollandaise sauce success, I decided to make a lemon garlic aioli to go along with it. That turned out to be a pretty good idea. Here's the recipe:

Lemon Garlic Aioli
1 egg (very fresh, be careful with raw eggs of course!)
1 T. grainy mustard
1-2 T. lemon juice
zest of one lemon
2-3 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 c. olive oil

Combine all the ingredients except the olive oil in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil until the mixture thickens.

Speaking of sauces and dips, how about a little guacamole? I like a good guacamole with chunks of tomatoes and some creamy sour cream and all sorts of good stuff, but sometimes you don't have everything you need, and you just want some guacamole right now. Here's what I do in this kind of situation. Dice up a little bit of onion, and make sure it's nice and fine. A couple tablespoons is all you need. I prefer red onion, but yellow will do in a pinch. Put it in a bowl. Cut an avocado in half and remove the pit. Score the flesh lengthwise and cross-wise into a small dice, and scoop out with a spoon. Add to the onion, season with salt (I prefer kosher salt) and a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce. I'm partial to Cholula, but Tapatio is good too. Even Tabasco will do if there's nothing else available. Stir it all up with a fork and get yourself some good tortilla chips. There you go,guacamole in just a minute! You can squeeze a little lime if you have one, but I never bother. It's usually all gone before it has a chance to turn brown.

Saturday I went to a beekeeping class, but I made sure I had time before hand to stop for my current favorite sandwich. My current favorite Vietnamese restaurant is called Pho Superbowl, and while the pho is good, I am always looking for an excuse to go there for a banh mi sandwich.

I like the traditional pork, and here the owner recommended trying it with an egg on top. I had my doubts, but ordered it over-easy (they'll also do scrambled), and it was delicious. Underneath that egg is cilantro, fresh jalapenos, pickled, shredded carrots and daikon, and, of course, slices of pork (tenderloin, I think). The baguette for a real banh mi is made with rice flour, and it's so crisp and light and tasty. Also, they are cheap as can be, just $3.95 for a very filling sandwich.

And one last little tasty treat, also from 101 Cookbooks, and easy-peasy, Grilled Fava Beans! I happened across these at the Mexican market I shop at regularly, and this method of preparing them couldn't be easier, although they are a little bit of work to eat. It's fun work, though, and definitely worth it.

I don't read a ton of food blogs, but there are a few I visit on a regular, albeit occasional basis. Of course I love Orangette (who is finally back, by the way, yay!), and the hearty stuff the Pioneer Woman makes, and obviously I visit 101 Cookbooks. But then I was reading Design Sponge today, and happened across this post. I would really like someone to make me these, any volunteers? I'm too busy with other things to have the time to make them, but I really want to eat them. Anyway, that let me to Lottie + Doof, which is now bookmarked, and will be visited regularly. I love this little food pop-quiz he posted recently. Feel free to play along in the comments or on your own blog:

Sweet or salty?

I really like a little something sweet after dinner, and I've always had a sweet tooth, but more and more I'd say salty

Chocolate or vanilla?

Vanilla. Although I do like chocolate quite a lot.

Hot or mild?

hot hot hot!

What won’t you eat?

liver, unless it's dressed up as paté

Most memorable meal?

there are quite a few, but I loved the breakfast I had a little hotel in Gent, Belgium (home of my favorite bakeries). Bread and cheese and jam and some of the best hot chocolate ever. So simple and so perfect.

Favorite object in your kitchen?

my cheese slicer. I brought it back from the Netherlands 19 years ago, and use it not only for slicing cheese (which it does, perfectly. yum, cheese!), but it's so great for thinly slicing mushrooms, carrots, zucchini, potatoes, everything!

What are you scared of in the kitchen?

yeast. scared is perhaps a little strong, but I seldom have good luck with yeast doughs, so I don't try baking with it very often.

Do you prefer to cook alone or with others?

with others, but it's nice alone, too. very meditative, I find.

What country would you move to for the food?

Italy, no question. Even the food at the truck stop we had was good.

If you were to come back as a fruit or vegetable, what would you be?

I do love figs, but I'm not sure how that translates personality wise. I'm soft and delicate maybe? ha ha!

What’s for dinner?

I really want to try making some sorrel soup tomorrow night.

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While last Saturday may have made me feel like a failure as a farmer, things are not all bad around here. Despite the  fact that the chickens continue to think my vegetable garden is their own personal dust bath spa, a few things are growing quite nicely. I harvested my first radish this week.

This is a salad rose radish, they are, obviously, a long variety. This one was about six inches. I left it for Mr. HeyLucy to eat, because radishes are one of his favorites. He pronounced it delicious and very spicy. The chickens did a bit of damage to my radish section, so there are only three others there. They grow so quickly, I'm thinking of filling in a few squares with more radish seeds, so we can enjoy a few more harvests. I'll also be adding some chicken wire covers to the garden, and hopefully that will keep those rascals at bay.

I also discovered that what was burning my plants was actually a freakishly late frost (we had frost until June 22!), so I lost my beans, a couple cucumbers, and the cinnamon basil. I thought that three of my four tomatoes were goners, but only one actually died, and the other three are looking good. My red grape tomato is huge, and there are even a few tomatoes ripening. The other two tomato plants have a ways to go, but I'm hoping we'll still get a few by the end of Summer.

Here's the whole garden, it looks pretty nice:

The sorrel is doing really well, I've trimmed it a couple times to share with friends, and I'm going to try and make some sorrel soup this week. I'm not sure if my peas are going to do much more than they're doing now. They're the four right front boxes. As you can see, they have no interest in climbing the poles I've rigged for them, but there are quite a few pods. It may be getting too hot for them, so once the pods are ripe, I think I'll harvest and pull them out and replace them with something else.

Here's what I'm discovering: when it comes to gardening, you can read and study and plan all you want, but the only way to really learn how to garden is to…garden. I know, that's so deep, but if you want to plant a garden, and you have even a little bit of space, I say go for it! You'll never be more ready than you are now, and some things will not work, and some things will be amazing. I think it helps to be out there in the dirt, as much as possible, too, and even just pulling a weed here and there is progress. It's so easy for me to look at my big garden area, where I want to plant berries and fruit trees and make about 8 more boxes and get overwhelmed, but I just keep reminding myself to be patient and just do a little at a time, and eventually I'll have my little Eden out there. 

Enough about the garden, remember how I started making a sleeve for my laptop? I finished it and used it while traveling last week. It worked out just great.

 

My laptop is my primary computer, so it's a big 17" one. I don't travel much with it, sand I have a case, but it's heavy and ugly, and it wasn't very practical. So I got myself a little rolling carry on bag, and filled it with a bunch of stuff, leaving room for the computer on the top. So much easier!

 

And it's cute!

One last thing, back to the garden. I decided to have some pretty yogurt for breakfast this morning. I picked a sprig of lavender and a sprig of mint, and added them to my Greek yogurt and raspberries. There's also a sprinkle of raw sugar for sweetness. It's quite tasty (I'm eating it right now!) and it smells so good.

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I don't even want to write this post, but I just have to do it anyway. It's going to start out bad, I'm just warning you. I'll try to end on a happier note, though, so I hope you stick with me.

Saturday I came home from visiting my family in Idaho. It was lovely, but earlier in the week Mr. HeyLucy called and said that something was wrong with Sally, she wasn't eating and was mostly just sitting on the nest she made to lay her eggs earlier this Spring. He was bringing her water and setting her in her little pool regularly, and she would drink, but wouldn't even eat apple slices-her very favorite food. This continued the rest of the time I was away. When Mr. HeyLucy met me at the airport he said she was in her pool when he left, and had even gotten in all on her own, so we were hoping that she was improving. Sadly, by the time we got home she was gone, we found her body still in her pool. I was glad that she was at least in one of her favorite spots, but so sad that I wasn't there for her at the end.

 

Good-bye little Miss Sally, we're going to miss you!

We're not sure what was wrong, but it could have been one of several things: 1) I was gone, and she was really bonded to me, so she felt abandoned. She followed me all over when I was outside, and she didn't particularly like being held, but would let me pick her up any time I wanted. I really hope this wasn't why she stopped eating. 2) She and Bear had a rather rocky relationship. She would often pull on his tail, and he knew he wasn't supposed to hurt her, but sometimes he just couldn't take it and would pin her down between his front paws and really growl at her. He might have unintentionally hurt her internally. Or 3) She nibbled on something poisonous. I can't think of anything that she might have found, we don't keep any plant food or weed killer around, but who knows what could be out there, she wandered all over the whole yard.

As if this wasn't enough to spoil my homecoming, I went and checked my garden and found two little hens having the time of their lives out there. Apparently a four-foot fence is not enough to keep a couple determined chickens out of the garden. I suspected chickens were the mysterious diggers, but I hadn't ever seen them out there. I guess I should be glad that mystery is solved.

Of course, while I was there I had to check on the bees. I noticed that they had pushed another rubber band out the front door, but not all the way, so I thought I'd help them out, and pulled it out the rest of the way. Unfortunately, there were a few bees hanging on to the other end and they were not happy about being yanked out of the hive. A couple of them were mad enough to sting me, one on my calf, just below my knee, and the other, through my pants on the front of my thigh on the other leg. I got the stingers out right away, and went straight to the house where I took a Benedryl and crushed up some aspirin, making a paste with a little water to put on the sting sites. I read about these treatments on one of my beekeeping lists, and I have to say, they worked brilliantly! Of course the Benedryl put me to sleep, but the aspirin got rid of the pain within minutes, and I didn't have any swelling at all. Now there are just small red blotches and they itch about as much as a mosquito bite, but that's it!

How about some better news? Remember these little creations? I got to see them modeled on this pretty little girl. My brother had a portrait session with the new family, and I got to be the lighting assistant. I have more photos to share from my trip, but it was really nice, and a lot of fun, and I'm still recovering at the moment, so the pictures will have to wait a few more days.

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