U-handblog

Easy Egg Fu Yung Recipe

I'm lucky to be busy, except I don't have any ironed clothes, there's a mountain of laundry to climb, the vacuuming needs doing, the cooker needs cleaning, the...blah de blah.  After I've been to the post office with the orders and taken the woofer out, there is re-ordering, emailing, and blogging etc.  still to do.  This sometimes leaves us with rather empty food cupboards.  But that's usually OK, sometimes the nicest meals are ones that you cobble together with whatever is lurking at the back of the fridge. 

Egg fu yung is such a dish.  To be strict Egg fu yung isn't actually Chinese; it's American, but it's still really easy, tasty, and pretty darn handy when you haven't got a lot of food in the house.  You can of course make this dish with most any leftovers you want, for instance you don't have to have bean sprouts or spring onions, but they are nice in the dish.  This one is for you Kathi.



Recipe for Egg Fu Yong (for 6 disciplined persons, or 3 greedy guts - guess which one I am)

You Will Need - if you want to know what my fave brands of Chinese ingredients are, look here.

• 6 eggs
• salt & pepper
• big handful fresh bean sprouts (optional)
• small handful finely spring onions (optional)
• 1.5 big handful cooked and diced meat e.g. roast chicken, shrimp, ham, bacon, etc. OR
• 1.5 big handful of diced veggies e.g. mushroom, pepper, sweetcorn,  courgette, cooked broccoli etc.
• oil for frying

and if you want to make a sauce to go with it (I don't usually make sauce) you will need:

• 1/2 pint chicken stock (best made with oriental stock, this brand is very good)
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Soya sauce to taste
• 2 tspn Corn starch to thicken
• dash of oyster sauce (optional)
• dash of sesame oil (optional)

 

1.  Mix all of the ingredients except the eggs in a mixing bowl, add a bit of salt and pepper.  Save a little spring onion for garnish at the end.

2. Break eggs into a separate bowl and whisk together.  Add the whisked eggs to the other bowl of ingredients.

3. In a wok (a wok is best for this because it is bowl shaped) heat enough oil to cover the bottom of the wok.  Get the oil nice and hot, but not smoking!

4.  Roughly divide the mixture into 3 or 6 portions (depending on how greedy you are) and ladle the egg mixture onto the pan, one portion at a time.  Form a nice patty shape for each portion and fry until lightly brown on both sides.  Turn once only; you don't want to break the patties.

5.  If making sauce:  heat the chicken stock,salt & pepper and soya sauce until boiling.  Make a solution of a little water and cornstarch for thickening.  Whisk cornstarch into sauce a little at a time until sauce is thickened.  Add a dash of sesame oil, and oyster sauce at the very end, and mix well.

6.  Pour a little sauce over each egg patty and serve with some rice.   Yummy...I'll go to the flipping supermarket tomorrow!

The U-Handbag 2nd Birthday Celebration Draw!!

Quite a few of you will already know that just over a week ago my shop had it's 2nd birthday.  2 years on from first thinking up the idea whilst in a gay club (don't ask...) to the present day, lots and lots of wonderful bags have been made by you talented seamstresses and seamsters (is that what you call a male sewist?), and we have ourselves a warm and cosy baggy community. I know I said this already, but I'm going to say it again; thank you so much to all of my customers (a lot of whom are regulars, and that is such a big compliment!), and thank you so much to all of you lovely readers.  I wouldn't be motivated to write this baggy blog if it weren't for you.

Do you know what dear?  I really think you should open a Bag Making Supplies shop...!

So to mark the occasion of my shop's 2nd Birthday I am going to give away to 1 winner ALL of the bits and bobs needed to make a bag or purse from their choice of my Purse or Bag Tutorials (look to the right hand side of this blog for the tutorial thumbnails), and that includes the fabric too, YAY!

To enter all you have to do is comment on THIS PARTICULAR POST by:

1. Telling me what your 1st AND 2nd choice of Purse or Bag Tutorials are
2. and telling me which 2 fabrics (except oil cloth or velvet, sorry!) you would like to make your chosen bag with.

Contest (yawndom) Officialness :

• I'll randomly draw the winner in 10 days time - 6th Dec and announce the winner the following day-ish.  Good luck!
• I will send you everything you need to make your chosen bag as long as I have the items in stock (we may need to do a tiny bit of substituting...)
• As this prize is on the heavy-ish side I'll need to ask the lucky winner to make a donation for the postage. 
• Sorry, I can't notify winners, so please keep an eye for the winner announcement (this is made easier for you if you subscribe to this blog so you don't have to keep checking back, although it's always great to have you pop-in for a read :0)
• Sorry, I can't reply to contest/draw comments, but I do love reading every single one :)

...and the winner of Midwest Modern is...

I hope you're all having a lovely weekend, and (for some of you) lovely Thanksgiving long weekend.  Yesterday I did a spot of clothes shopping which is something I usually detest, and I actually managed to find 4 items if clothing that looked most agreeable??!! (which is AMAZING for a pint sized person).  Later today I am going to meet some pals for some yum dim sum.   The lure of food sure is helpful in getting you out of the house this chilly weather.

Thanks for entering the Midwest modern book draw everybody, I have added some of your crafty book faves to my Amazon wishlist, and that going make life easier for my loved ones this Christmas :)

Okeydoke, so there were 112 entries (1 of which was a duplicate that I deleted), leaving me with 111 entries.   Today the Random Number Picker (so you can blame it;it's nothing to with me!) chose the number 39.   

So will Tina in Boston who wrote:

"Oh my goodness! That book looks absolutely fabulous. I would love to have it. Thanks for offering it! I own many craft books. I don't always buy them to make the crafts inside. Sometimes they're just gorgeous and other times they are inspiring. Now, on to business.... My fave right now is "Sew What! Skirts" by Francesca Denhartog and Carole Ann Camp."



Please step forward and tell me what your postal address is? 

Sorry to all of you who didn't get lucky this time, but I have another nice draw coming right up.  It's the U-Handbag 2nd Birthday draw.  If you fancy your chances keep an eye for it in my very next post. 

I hope you're all having a lovely weekend, and (for some of you) lovely Thanksgiving long weekend.  Yesterday I did a spot of clothes shopping which is something I usually detest, and I actually managed to find 4 items if clothing that looked most agreeable??!! (which is AMAZING for a pint sized person).  Later today I am going to meet some pals for some yum dim sum.   The lure of food sure is helpful in getting you out of the house this chilly weather.

Thanks for entering the Midwest modern book draw everybody, I have added some of your crafty book faves to my Amazon wishlist, and that going make life easier for my loved ones this Christmas :)

Okeydoke, so there were 112 entries (1 of which was a duplicate that I deleted), leaving me with 111 entries.   Today the Random Number Picker (so you can blame it;it's nothing to with me!) chose the number 39.   

So will Tina in Boston who wrote:

"Oh my goodness! That book looks absolutely fabulous. I would love to have it. Thanks for offering it! I own many craft books. I don't always buy them to make the crafts inside. Sometimes they're just gorgeous and other times they are inspiring. Now, on to business.... My fave right now is "Sew What! Skirts" by Francesca Denhartog and Carole Ann Camp."



Please step forward and tell me what your postal address is? 

Sorry to all of you who didn't get lucky this time, but I have another nice draw coming right up.  It's the U-Handbag 2nd Birthday draw.  If you fancy your chances keep an eye for it in my very next post. 

Amy Butler's Sophia pattern has landed!

...aaand exhale!  After days of camping by the front door the patterns finally arrived from the US today.  I will be stocking all 4 of Amy's new patterns, but the one that I suspect will be the hot favourite is now available in the shop. Woo Hoo!
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The Sophia bag, available here for your bag making pleasure.

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And the postie delivered something else from the US...

These pendants are from the Etsy shop; Madison Craft Studio.  They're beautifully made, and they each cost less than £2.50.  I bought them for stocking fillers.  Gosh darn it!  I've just had another look at the shop and they've added more yummy stuff...


To all of our US crafting cousins I hope you all have a lovely Thanksgiving.  I hope you get some help in the Kitchen too (yeah blokes, you gotta do your bit. Carving the bird is easy; it's the getting it to the table that takes the real skill).

...because you're anything, but average.

I'm glad that you liked the origami box.

Have you entered the draw for Amy's latest book yet?  I will be holding the U-Handbag Birthday draw right after the book draw.

There's a road d.d.d.d.d.d..drilllll outside my house (there has been for the last 5 days), and I'm trying my best to ignore it, but it's getting harder and hard.d.d.d.d.d.d.err!

I'm busy sewing bags some bags for Christmas pressies and some bags to sell, so nothing much to report.  I just wanted to tell you about my girly excitement in being able to buy myself some boots for the first time ever.  Every winter I've hankered after a pair of boots so I can wear a skirt without freezing my legs off.  I've never found boots I could stuff my legs into. I've always had wider than average calves (because I'm 5"1, and I spend half of my life on tip-toes reaching up for plates, books, fabric trims, light switches, door bells, toilet flush...). 

Shoe shops make wide legged girls feel like they have legs like this.

It's very disheartening to go to a shoe shop hunting for wide looking boots only to find that trying to get your get your leg into the boot is like playing golf with a football.  It's not the end of the world of course, but don't you just hate when you are made to feel uncatered for (in clothing shops) just because you're not average?  Well not anymore!  I've found a shoe shop  that loves non average ladies (be they on the thin side, or the wider side), and they have a branch in London (but they also ship overseas).  Woo hoo!

Wide legged girls can do the 'can-can' too! Hurrah!

And if you fancy it, you can go all the way and sew yourself a fabby can-can costume with the help of this amazing sewing pattern.  In fact Ageless Patterns sells the most incredible range of historic inspired sewing patterns I have ever seen. Even though my sewing skills won't stretch that far, the patterns are still delightful to look at.

Blimey!  How the heck do you get your waist into that? :0)

 

Quick and easy origami gift box tutorial

I'm still on a high, and the air feels different in a good way.

As part of the U-Handbag 2nd birthday celebrations I thought I would create a tutorial and I would do a giveaway.  Here is the tutorial.  It's a very easy origami lidded gift box which you and/or the kids can whip up in less than 10 minutes.  This box would be perfect for packaging smaller Christmas presents like jewelery, or you can use these boxes as dividers within a larger box (which is great for keeping our crafting supplies under control).

I have a stash of origami paper to (just about) rival my fabric stash...

Nice to have, nice to look at; nicer to covet than to use...(bit like how I feel about my fabric stash).


Origami was my first craft hobby.  The first model I ever made was this very box (I must have been 10 yrs old), from then on I was hooked. Here is a star I made recently...

An example of modular origami.

For my tutorial for a pretty origami lily flower click here.

Here is the lidded box.  I made a padded flower to put on the lid.  The flower can use be used to lift the lid off the box, or you can make a ribbon bow, or maybe a fabric yo-yo with button center, or stick some dried flowers on, or not!

 

To make the flower I followed JuJu's excellent tutorial.


1. Start with a square of thick paper or (best) light card (mine is 25cm square, which makes a box that measures 9cm (W) x 4.5cm (H).  Fold the paper in half diagonally, both ways.  Ensure all of your creases are sharp by running finger nail along each crease for every step of this model.

Fold diagonally, ensure that the tips meet perfectly.  It's best to be anal about being precise when paper folding!

2. Open paper out and you will see that you have folded a cross.  Take one of the corners and fold the tip of the corner to the very center of the cross.   Take your your time to be as precise as possible.  Origami works best when your creases are sharp and your folds are precise anal.

Repeat with the other 3 corners, and open out paper.

3.  Take one of the corners and fold the tip of the corner to the opposite crease that you made in step 2.

Repeat with the other 3 corners and open out paper.

4.  Take one of the corners and fold the tip into the fold you have just made in  step 3. 

Repeat with the other 3 corners.  Right, that's boring bit over with.  All we have been doing up to now is making crease lines which will form our guidelines for following steps.

5.  Take your paper and using the crease lines as a guide fold in the corners to the center of the cross as shown in the photo below.

Now fold in the side edges (using our crease lines as a guide) to 90 degrees as shown in the photo.

6. Turn the model over and make a diagonal crease in the 1st square from the left (as explained in the following pics).

Model is now turned over.  Notice how there are 4 squares on the bottom edge of the model?  We are going to make a diagonal crease in the 1st square from the left by following the next photo...

Hold the 1st square (from the left) in the same way as I am in the pic, and press your thumb down to make the beginnings of a diagonal crease (running from the bottom left to top right corners). Ensure the corners of this square meet each other perfectly, make the crease nice and sharp, repeat this step on the opposite of the model, and what you'll get is this...

Making these diagonal creases allow for the sides of the box to be formed.  Repeat this step with the other 3 corners of the box in the way, and what you'll get is this...

See?  It's all taking shape nicely.

7.   Fold the flap down into the box to finish the one of the sides (as explained in the following pics)

Pinch one of the flaps as shown in the pic, and start folding the flap (on the ready made crease) down away from you..

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..fold the flap down way from you and into the box...

...flap is completely folded into the box.  The triangular tip of the flap should now lie flat on the bottom of the box to form a cross.  Repeat with the other side of box and you're all done!

If you like you can put some pretty paper at the bottom of the box to hide the cross. 

To make a lid for the box you need to use paper that is 1.5 cm square larger than the paper you used for the bottom.

Pop some tissue paper into the box, add your Christmas/birthday/treat pressie to the box, present to lucky person, and make 'em smile!

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For my tutorial for a pretty origami lily flower click here.

Thank you; you're lovely people. (with update)

What can I say?   ...I am completely blown away by your warmth and kindness.  As I collected my email messages earlier today I was taken aback by your well wishes, your kind words about Jenny, and thanking me for sharing with you (oh my! I should be thanking you!)  I had a big lump in my throat as I read your comments (I didn't mean for you to reach for the tissues as well, I'm so moved that you did though) and I've been trying to figure how to respond...  In the end I thought it best to be plain:  Thank you so much for being a such lovely human being in taking the time to reach out to another human being. I feel both humbled and elevated at the same time.  I am genuinely (daftly) happy most of the time, but it was wonderful to able be this honest with you about a vulnerability.  You all came up trumps for me and you all knew how to say the right thing.  I'm  very lucky.

::UPDATE::  I just wanted to add that I'm sorry I can't reply to all of your comments on that post, I do feel bad about that because your comments were so meaningful and they would have taken emotion to write.  All I can do is to thank every single one of you again for sharing with me, and for being so open yourselves.  It will remain my most favourite and important post of all time...

OXO!
Lisa

A Birthday; a day to celebrate and to give tribute...

Today U-Handbag is 2 years old.  My site went live on the 12th of November 05 and Alan and I bit our nails to our elbows until the 15th of November when Michaela of Hampshire was my first ever customer.  We had another 2 orders that day and so began the job (if you can call it that; I certainly don't feel like it is) that has made me feel the most happiest and fulfilled in work I have ever been in my life.  Another anniversary that is special to me is that I started blogging 1 year ago in November. 

I'm trying not to come across as overly sincere or gratuitously mushy, but I don't think that's possible for this post.  So I just have to come out and say it: I really want to thank my all readers and customers with a big fat virtual hug and a nuzzle for making me feel so welcome on the web.  People can say whatever they want about virtual vs face-face contact.  As far as I'm concerned it's all about making connections with other humans whether that be by means of a keyboard or over a cup coffee, it's all still talking and sharing with each other.  You have all been so generous in your encouragement, support, sharing of your ideas, and making me laugh.  You are my crafting buddies, because my Londoner friends (bar one) aren't crafting fiends like we all are; they don't quite understand like you do.  So I love it that you are there all over the world, I just need to switch my on PC there you all are busily talking and sharing with each other...  It's prevented me from feeling lonely many a time.

I was wondering how to mark this occasion, should I do a giveaway or a tutorial.  In the end I thought 'why not do both?'  In readiness for preparing the tutorial I got out my bag of origami papers, and I came across this old birthday card...

My 20th birthday card from my family.  I keep this card in my origami papers bag because I know it will be well protected and also I don't use this bag often...

This birthday card is one my most treasured possessions because it is the last birthday card given to me that was signed by my whole family.  I am one sibling short (or as my other sister Wendy puts it: 'a caterpillar who can walk, but who is missing a leg'). The little girl in the photo is my youngest sister Jenny, she died of cancer aged 13.  She was emotionally and academically as sharp a pin, she always spoke her mind, she was worryingly charming, and an absolute craft fiend.  After diagnosis Jenny lived for anther 3 years.  During that  time we all dropped what we were doing, moved back to the family home, and tried our best to make her remaining years the best a young girl could ask for.  And I think we did it too; there was so much love in our home (I am crying as I write this!), there was a constant stream of family and friends in our home, and we were blessed with enough time to make some very special memories together.

In the last 9 months or so Jenny knew she was going to die (God, I can't see the keyboard through the water!  Some might ask 'why make yourself sad thinking about this, why write this down on your blog, and why write about this on a birthday post?'  For me there is a point, for me this is relevant and cathartic; and perhaps you'll agree by the time you get to the end of this post), after she accepted the reality she cried a few times (just a few! I know this because we shared a bedroom), and she then turned herself into a craft machine. 

She set about drawing pictures, making rugs, sewing stuff, embroidering things, and writing prose, poem, and leaving letters.  Jenny made it very clear to us that she was creating these craft items for us to have has keepsakes after she was gone...her biggest fear was not of dying, but of being forgotten.  Before Jenny knew she was going to die I asked her what she wanted to do when she grew up, and without hesitation she said she wanted to run a craft shop.  So, after 10 years later of her saying that, I'm not sure if I am running a craft shop because she wanted to, but I know that she would approve.

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Here is one of my T-shirts that Jenny and I have decorated; that was a fun afternoon together.

My shop forms such a large part of my happiness and this blog is so closely tied in with that.  So whilst I am mindful of celebrating 2 happy years of running my shop, I have also been able to give Jenny a little crafty tribute which will remain somewhere permanently on the internet.  I think my parents would like that, and I think Jenny would too.
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Tutorial will be in the next post

Crafting Heroes Interview with Amy Karol

It's up, I'm soo excited!  I have just posted the Crafting Heroes Interview with Amy Karol, author of Bend the Rules Sewing, and the wonderful blog, Angry chicken.  I know that LOADS of you wanted to see this and I am sooo happy that she agreed to be interviewed!

Have you got yours yet?

Pop over to my other blog to see more yummy pics and read her warm and cosy interview.  It would be lovely if you left her a nice comment on her interview because it'll be a nice surprise for Amy when she goes to read her interview later today  :)

Midwest Modern Book by Amy Butler up for GRABS!!!

I received my copy of this DREAM of a book a few weeks ago, but I have been sooo busy I haven't been able to show you the review until now.  I'll say this now; if you aren't lucky enough to win this book in the draw, treat yourself and get yourself a copy (a quiet moment, and some choccy truffles) anyway.  It's Christmas soon, dooya get the hint; partners, folks, kids...?

Midwest Modern is the ultimate in craft-ish escapism (On my first flick through I actually felt my heart-rate dropping) and just wonderful for getting those creative juices flowing!  In her new book Amy writes in a lovely warm style, she 'invites' you into her ridiculously beautiful home, she gives an insight into her design process, and there are a ton and half of sumptious photos of anything and everything that Amy finds inspiring, which will no doubt inspire you too.  I've 'nabbed' some wonderful colour combos (for my bags) from the book that I wouldn't have thought of myself.  Thanks Amy! XOX

Righty, now onto the outrageously lovely book photos:

Here's Amy!

Amy's study: this where a lot of the magic happens.  I wish my office was this tidy, (let alone) bright, airy, and beautiful.

Amy at work; answering lots of emails which forms a large part of her work.  One of the big secrets to her success has to be that she makes herself accessible to the people she works for and works with; I really admire that.

Amy and David's (her equally talented husband) house is situated on top of a large hill above the tree line, so their house feels like it is nestled in the trees, and that  really shows in this room.  How soothing and relaxing would it be to put your feet up in a room like this?  Oh, and they both work from this lovely home too...down, green monster!

Amy playing with Birdie.  It seems loads of crafters have four legged friends, Amy is no exception.

Amy & David's house; lush green tropics slap bang in the middle of Ohio!

Loads of Crafters love to listen to tunes as well.  Amy has made her Ipod case with a pocket for the earphones - what a groovy idea!

Beautiful photos like these will stir things up if you're ever in need of some inspiration, or are just a little jaded craft wise (we all are sometimes).  There are so many lovely colour combos contained within this book, it's made me look at my own fabric stash with new eyes.

In the book Amy talks about her design process.  She says that she still designs the old fashioned way and draws everything by hand....

...and in this office, David digitally renders Amy's drawn designs .  What a great team!

Amy went to art school for fashion, so it's only natural that she loves to design clothing as well as her yummy bags, and home dec items.  Here she is putting the finishing touches to the brand spanking new Lotus Tunic & Cami (I can't wait to get my mitts on these).  Whilst we're waiting how about checking out Amy's 4 new free patterns (click on the bottom of the page)?

Did you enjoy the sneak peek...do I have eyes, do I like Krispy Kreme donuts, does my mug of tea never quite last long enough?  Would you like to win this dreamy book?

I'll send this book to 1 lucky draw winner.

To enter all you have to do is comment on THIS PARTICULAR POST by:

• Telling me what your fave craft books are and why.

Contest (yawndom) Officialness :

• I'll randomly draw the winner in 10 days time - 23rd Nov and announce the winner the following day-ish.  Good luck! 
• As this prize is on the heavy-ish side I'll need to ask the lucky winner to make a donation for the postage. 
• Sorry, I can't notify winners, so please keep an eye for the winner announcement (this is made easier for you if you subscribe to this blog so you don't have to keep checking back, although it's always great to have you pop-in for a read :0)
• Sorry, I can't reply to contest/draw comments, but I do love reading every single one :)