Ages and ages ago I bookmarked a post from Angry Chicken about making your own deodorant. Honestly, I had my doubts. I've tried all sorts of natural deodorants before, and when they ultimately didn't work, I went back to my aluminium-laden Dove or Secret. There's nothing worse than sitting at a desk all day and catching a whiff of yourself smelling like you just finished a strenuous hike. Then, a few months ago I found this post, and realized that I had all the ingredients and finally got around to mixing up a batch (the silver tins contain the deodorant and my coconut oil moisterizer). 

There's good news and bad news, but I'm hopeful that it will all work out in the end. I started using it, and it was amazing! It smelled really nice, lightly scented, but not perfume-y, and I didn't smell at all. Even when I did my usual skip-a-shower Saturday, no B.O.! It worked even better than any storebought deodorant I've used. After about ten days, however, I noticed a little bit of a rash under one arm. I just thought maybe something was chafing, and continued using my new favorite deodorant. Well, the rash started resembling a bad sunburn and then appeared on the other side (sorry if this is TMI! I think we should all be able to discuss our armpit rashes without judgement!). Eventually it even peeled like a sunburn. I stopped using the deodorant and went back to my old tube of Dove [sad face]. 

I really think and hope that it is the grapefruit essential oil that I'm allergic to. I'm going to try again, and just leave that out, and I'll report back on the presence or absence of a rash. I've used coconut oil as my facial moisterizer for several months now, and haven't had any bad reactions at all. A quick Google search didn't reveal any widespread arrowroot or baking soda allergies. So I'm crossing my fingers that it will work without the essential oil. 

Fresh from the (almost) successful deodorant experiment, I started looking around for some other natural products to make. I read all about oil cleansing and whipped up a quick batch (in the blue bottle, above). My skin tends to be a little drier in the winter, so I did a 10% Castor Oil/90% Sunflower Oil combination, and added a couple drops of lavendar oil for scent. I've only used it a couple times, but it does make my skin feel lovely and soft, and I haven't had any breaking out at all. I'd like to find something I can make and keep in the shower for every day use, but so far, most of the ideas I've seen involve ingredients that are better stored in the refrigerator. I don't want to have to remember to get it out every time I take a shower. 

Then of course, I got super ambitious, and decided to make some lotion, which is all kinds of awesome. For the water I used a combination of rose water and chamomile tea. For the oils I used a combination of beeswax, sunflower oil, and a little coconut oil. It was magical to make it in my blender, and watch it emulsifying, going from frothy water to creamy and thick lotion.  It smells so good, mostly like honey, but you can smell a little hint of roses and chamomile too. It takes a minute to soak in all the way, but leaves my hands feeling nice and soft and not at all greasy. I'd like to try it with some different combinations of ingredients and might try adding some vitamin E oil next time. Overall, though, I'd call it a success. Has anyone else had good luck making beauty products in the kitchen? 

And just a tiny bit of knitting for today, I finished my Pyroclastic socks:

I didn't capture the color very well, they're a very deep purple, it's such a pretty shade. It's the same yarn as my Abrazo shawl, but I guess my camera just sees it as lighter and brighter out in the daylight. They were a fun, quick knit, and I'll probably be making them again.

A very long time ago I favorited this photo on flickr and set a goal to have a sock drawer like it someday. I'm keeping these to add to it, since I keep giving socks away. I can't help it, though, I want everyone to have handknit socks to keep their feet nice and warm!

I'm also just about done with my Juneberry shawl, and after that I will only have one work-in-progress on the needles (although there are a few things hibernating in various bags and drawers), so I better decide what to cast on next! Or maybe pull something out of hibernation. But that doesn't sound as fun. 

I've had a couple three-day weekends in a row, so this measly little two-day weekend felt far too short. I had all sorts of grand ideas for Projects-with-a-capital-P, but ultimately I only ended up doing a couple very small things (besides laundry, grocery shopping and other miscellaneous errands). So this is probably the most exciting blog post you will read all week, I'm sure. 

First of all, I am overwhelmed with the state of our cupboards and closets. So I'm tackling them one at a time and doing some thorough cleaning out, scrubbing down and tossing of junk. I started with the spice/tea & warm drinks/sweeteners and small baking items cupboard. I like all my mis-matched, hand-labeled spice jars, but I also have a spice addiction, and am regularly bringing home new spices. I had organized them pretty well last summer, but the addition of two-tiered lazy susan makes it much easier to find what I'm looking for and fit them neatly into a fairly small space. I actually found a box of chamomile tea with a best before date of 1995. How is that even possible? I don't know, but yuck! Now that I thinned our tea collection down to just a half dozen or so, it's much nicer to make a cup or pot and know that it's relatively fresh and it's a flavor we like. 1995! Yeesh! 

I like this shelf a lot:

Second of all, I don't know if I should even admit this, but I've never made oatmeal from scratch, and had no idea how to do it. I guess I must have known that there were directions on the can, but for some reason I thought it was really complicated and time-consuming. I don't know why, but I guess because I think of oatmeal as weekday breakfast, I was fine with a little packet of gummy, instant oatmeal, dressed up with some brown sugar and dried fruit. In the cleaning of the aforementioned cupboard, I unearthed no less than three containers of oatmeal, two steel-cut and one regular old-fashioned oats. I'll save the old-fashioned for cookies, but decided to try my hand at cooking the steel-cut. Just in case there are other oatmeal novices out there, the ratio is 4:1, boiling water to oatmeal. Just sprinkle in the oats when the water is at a rolling boil and heat to a simmer. Let it cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. I added a dash of salt to the water to get it boiling faster and for flavor. And now, I don't think I can eat those little packets of instant oatmeal ever again. I had a nice warm bowl with a little golden syrup and dried cranberries and almonds and cashews. I never thought I'd get cravings for oatmeal, but I think I might have some for dinner tonight, it was so delicious.

Does anyone else not know how to make something that everyone else probably knows how to make? Am I ridiculous for writing about cleaning a cupboard and making oatmeal? I think I might be, but darn it, opening that cupboard door makes me pretty happy right now. 

And my Shelter yarn from Brooklyn Tweed arrived today, so I will be spending the rest of the evening winding it into balls and starting a new project! 

Oh, and the book of the week (on audio) is Leviathan , which I am really enjoying. It's imaginative and original and a rollicking adventure. 

What are you planning to do this Autumn? Here's what I want to accomplish by the end of the year:

• Finish Christmas shopping/making by the first week of December
• Find the perfect  cream of mushroom soup recipe (I think I'll start with this one, Ina never lets me down!)
• Bake a Ginger Pear Upside-down Cake
• Bake a pear tart
• Bake an apple cake
• Make lots of pickles for gifts
• Finish a quilt
• Finish current knitting projects before starting a new one
• Go on a hike
• Clean up the garden
• Plant some cold-weather vegatables (Kale, spinach, etc)
• Plant pansies and flowering kale in pot on the porch
• Make a desk for the guest room, so I can work there on my laptop instead of sitting in bed or on the couch
• Chop wood for the stove and start building fires (I need to learn how to split wood, I think that will be a good skill to develop)
• Move the mulch to the garden
• Build another planting box

I can't wait to eat this cake again! 

I think Mr. Heylucy could live on a diet that alternated soups and sandwiches, with the occasional combo of both at the same meal. Luckily, I pretty much agree with him, I like soup and enjoy a good sandwich myself. I have long loved Vietnamese Banh Mi, and have an eternal inner struggle when going to my favorite Vietnamese restaurant: pho or banh mi? It's so hard to decide. Until now, banh mi were a take-out treat, but a friend sent me a link to this recipe from the traveler's lunchbox, and now I can make them at home too! I think every ingredient is important here, so don't skip anything!

I made a whole jar of daikon/carrot pickles, which are the most time-consuming part of these sandwiches, but since they can be used for other things as well, they're worth having on hand. The bread is key, and I was lucky to find that the deli inside the big Asian grocery store I frequent sold the rolls individually. Vietnamese baguettes have a definite French influence, but they use rice flour which somehow makes them lighter on the inside, and shatteringly crisp on the outside. If you can't get the real deal, try to find rolls that are soft (not too chewy), with a thin crust that will get nice and crispy in a warm oven. 

There's just something about the warm, sweet and salty, sliced pork paired with the fresh, cool vegetables that makes my mouth water. My regular restaurant banh mi also includes an egg, cooked over easy, so the warm, runny yolk adds a delicious sauce on top of all those crisp vegetables. I didn't include the egg this time, but that extra step would be worth including the next time, I think. 

I've realized recently that I really, really like pickled things. Maybe not pigs feet, or eggs (but to be fair, I've tried neither, so who knows, maybe I would even like them), but most vegetables are quite tasty when plunged into a vinegar-y, sweet, salty, and/or spicy bath. When a co-worker was giving away his surplus, home-grown cucumbers, I first tried my hand at some bread and butter pickles (delicious!), and then moved on to dills. The first batch, using a pre-made blend of pickling spices wasn't all that great. The second batch, using my own combination (dill seed, mustard seed, and some other things I don't remember) was much better, but I'm not quite there yet. In the meantime, I deviated from the traditional cucumbers using a couple recipes from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, which I recently borrowed from the library (and which I really need to just purchase, because Oh My Goodness, the Zuni roast chicken and bread salad is so good!).

I started with the red onion pickles, which include the rather laborious process of submerging the fat, sliced rings in batches into the spicy sweet brine just until it started simmering, a total of three times. It wasn't difficult, however, and well worth the trouble, since doing it this way means the onions soak up all the wonderful flavors without cooking and becoming soggy. They have the nicest bit of crunch, yet are completely infused with cinnamon, star anise, pepper, bay and cloves. Not to mention the brilliant pink color of the finished pickles. 

The weekend I made these, I served them along with a pile of pulled pork I made by cooking a pork shoulder in the crockpot until it was falling-apart tender. So good! Of course, when I searched for this recipe online, after having made it, it seems I'm a little late to the party, and others have written about them much more eloquently than I. So go here or here to read more and for the recipe, and make them soon. 

Next up were the zucchini pickles. My mom used to make these with the zucchini that was growing out our ears each summer (not literally, of course, I just like that funny saying). I again followed the recipe in the Zuni cookbook, which I think is pretty close to what my mom used to make. They are a mustard-y sweet bread and butter type pickle, and so easy. You just cook the brine for a minute, let it cool, and pour it over the sliced zucchini. Mr. Heylucy, who is no fan of sweet pickles, can't seem to stop eating these. I think they're just right too. Here's the zucchini pickle recipe, courtesy of the L.A. Times. 

It happens every summer, I just have to take a break from the computer, and so the blog suffers. Mostly I've been cooking and reading, and trying to stay cool up here in the mountains. Sadly, I haven't been taking many pictures, so  you will just have to imagine the following: fresh pea risotto with lemon zest (this would also work well with frozen peas. My secret ingrediant? Just add a couple tablespoons of cream at the very end); apricot yogurt popsicles (apricot nectar make surprisingly delicious popsicles, I highly recommend it!), white chocolate layer cake with apricot filling (there will be more on this at a later time, I am attempting to learn to make Italian buttercream, and my first go-round was a 
complete failure), and pasta salads (one with fresh tomatoes, fresh corn, fresh basil, and a lime-cumin dressing. Another, using orzo, with pesto, pistachios, golden raisins and green olives). I'm pretty 
sure I'll be making all of these things again soon, so there may be pictures and official recipes someday. Oh yes, I did manage a pizza photo:

But it seems that my photography mojo is temporarily lacking. I'm hoping it will be back soon.

So, the pizza. It's a summer favorite I like to call bruschetta pizza. Roll out some dough, drizzle with olive oil, rub with a cut clove of garlic and bake just until it starts browning and is cooked through. As soon as you take it out of the oven, top with a mixture of diced tomatoes, fresh basil, salt & pepper and olive oil & vinegar to taste. I used some lovely heirloom tomatoes, and a little balsamic vinegar. Then you can top that with a salad lightly dressed with more oil & vinegar. I even added some crumbled feta to this one. I especially like an arugula salad, but this spring mix was delicious too. 

I've been doing lots of reading this summer, so just in case you're looking for something good to read, here are a few suggestions for you: 

• Blessed Are the Cheesemakers by Sara Kate Lynch (Artisan cheesemakers in Ireland, a long, lost granddaughter, a Wall Street trader, down on his luck, and lots of other quirky characters, very cute!)
• The Kill Artist (Gabriel Allon Novels) and The English Assassin  by Daniel Silva (The beginnings of a series featuring Gabriel Allon, art restorer and former Israeli super-spy. They're pretty decent thrillers. I'll continue the series when I'm in the mood for a satisfying thriller, but I'm not so invested in the characters that I have to finish one and immediately pick up the next)
• Bruno, Chief of Police (Vintage) by Martin Walker (A small town in Provence, a police officer who avoids making arrests, villagers avoiding EU health inspections of their cheeses, sausages and patés, lovely descriptions of food, oh, and a grisly, mysterious, murder. What could be better? First in a series, and I'm eagerly awaiting the second installment from the library)
• The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag (Flavia De Luce Mystery 2) by Alan Bradley (I love 11-year-old sleuth, Flavia.)
• The Spellman Files: A Novel (Izzy Spellman Mysteries) , Revenge of the Spellmans: A Novel , and Curse of the Spellmans: A Novel by Lisa Lutz (I actually listened to all these while driving to and from work, I love the narrator, Christina Moore, and the books are so fun. I was laughing out loud while stuck in traffic, and didn't want to get out of the car. They're just a fun, light read. If you're a Stephanie Plum fan, you'll probably enjoy these as well)
• This Body of Death: An Inspector Lynley Novel by Elizabeth George (I've been reading the Inspector Lynley series for quite awhile. The last few books have not been as good, so it was nice to see the series improving a bit with this latest novel. There was a character I didn't really like, and hated seeing them hooking up with one of the regulars. I also listened to this one, and it was all I could do to not yell at them to knock it off. But that's only a small portion of the book, the mystery itself is quite good, lots of little twists at the end)
• Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy Bundle: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (So suspenseful! Very dark, but also compelling! Who hasn't read these yet?)
• Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: A Novel by Helen Simonson (So charming! But it also deals with issues like racism in a small English village, so it's not just fluff. There's also some lovely romance which I enjoyed, and I really liked the characters)
• The Hunger Games , Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) , and Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins (thankfully, I only heard about this trilogy shortly before the final book came out last month. I would have hated to wait! These are so, so good. Don't let the fact that they are being marketed as Young Adult books deter you, or the fact that they are sort of sci-fi/fantasy. These are the sort of books that will stay with you for a long, long time. They are brutal, but there is so much depth to them. I'm still thinking about Katniss and all the other competitors in The Hunger Games, and the world they live in. There's just so much to consider)

There's more, but that will do for now. I added that little amazon widget to the sidebar, over there to your right, and I've put some of my favorites there, so if you did happen to want to get them (or anything else from amazon, for that matter) it would be ever so lovely to shop from here. I'll earn a tiny bit of cash, and you'll get a good book. Win-win! I like this better than the Blogher ads I had there before. They got on my nerves, so I finally took them down.