how do i eat alchemy ingredients ? i'm trying to increase my alchemy skill, so i can increase my level; i selected a couple, what i think are alchemy incredients, 1 flower, and something else, got the choice of how many to take, i picked the maximum: how do i now eat the ingredient ? i put it on the ground, put the cross-hairs over object and hit space bar, i think the ingredient went back into my inventory ? thanks

In your inventory menu, just left-click the ingredient, then drag and drop it onto the character figure (on the left side of the inventory)

This is how you "use" many items. Like repair hammers, filled soul-gems, books, potions, etc.

It doesn't matter how many you select... you will always just use 1 at a time.