nomaallim.com
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • My Blog
  • Our Free DIY Tips
    • DIY basics
    • Safety At Home
    • Garden tips
    • Finishing Works
    • Home Appliances
    • Plumbing
    • Multimedia
    • Electrical
    • Car Maintenance & Repair
    • Small Generator Fixing
    • Bicycle fixing
  • Small DIY Projects
    • KITCHEN AND BATHROOM >
      • Kitchen: build a trolley | Not a robot
      • Adding shelves between cabinet and wall
      • Kitchen: adding small shelves for spices
      • Bathroom: free space | remove the bidet
      • Bathroom: Replace your embedded PEX outlets
      • Build a shower tray for elderly people
      • Installing an above counter basin
    • GARDEN >
      • A Low Cost and Easy to Fix Trellis Separation
      • Installing a water tank
      • Superb DIY garden pond with jar
      • Backyard workshop and storage
      • How to build a brick planter
      • Installing and programming a motorized gate opener
    • BEDROOM >
      • Adding a panel heater
      • Clothes drying racks
      • Diy cushion bedhead
    • LIVING ROOM >
      • Hanging the TV to the Wall
      • Adding lights to a green wall
      • Cabinet for AV equipment
      • Mini-pond for goldfish
    • CUPBOARDS AND BOOKSHELVES >
      • Cupboards & Bookshelves Basics
      • Build and Hang a Cupboard to the Wall
      • Build a Bookshelf
      • Building a bathroom cabinet
      • Wall to wall wardrobe
    • CAR >
      • Matra Rancho Renovation
      • How to buy and rebuild a used carburetor
  • DIY Cook
    • Spices and condiments
    • Utensils and non-food items
    • Fish & Sea Food
    • Soups, starters and side dishes
    • Lebanese and Mediterranean Mezze
    • Main courses
    • Coffees and breakfast
    • Desserts and pastries
  • Cars tips & tricks
    • Mechanical maintenance
    • Electrical and Ignition repairs
    • Dependability and drivability
    • Auto detailing
    • Abandoned and old vehicles
    • Car Insurance and Regulations

My Blog | nomaallim.com

Planting herbs at home during lockdown

24/4/2020

0 Comments

 

Which herbs to plant in an apartment

My wife and I took advantage of the unfortunate COVID-19 lockdown to use our mini vertical planter to cultivate edible herbs. This adds some flavor to the stay-at-home "activity" especially the herbs can be used as condiments in many food preparations and salads as explained further below...
We bought for a ridiculous sum, crops for some herbs that can survive an apartment atmosphere with moderate light.
Picture

Basil

We planted two kinds of basil, the one with small leaves and the one with larger leaves.
Both emanate a delicious basil flavor immediately upon touching them.
Their leaves are much appreciated in a tomato based salad or with pasta preparations.
A taste of Italy on your wall and then in your dish!
basil, small leaves
basil large leaves

Oregano

A Mediterranean herb used in Italian and other Mediterranean cuisines like the Lebanese. Oregano is similar to thyme in taste and can be either dried and used as a condiment or tasted as green leaves to replace thyme in a fresh Lebanese salad.
oregano planted at home

Marjoram

Milder than Oregano and thyme, use it to garnish any of your meat, soup or salad.
marjoram

Thyme

A main ingredient of the Lebanese cuisine tasted as is in a fresh salad with onions and tomatoes or dried as a condiment or soaked in olive oil and salted to create the famous "Zaatar" that flavors the also famous "mankouché" or thyme pizza if you prefer.
thyme

Rosemary

This herb aromate has many uses like macerating it in olive oil prior to seasoning a salmon steak with it! 
Whatever herbs you chose, it remains quite fun to cultivate them at home and a added pleasure when using their leaves in your preferred recipes.
​Bon Appétit!
rosemary
0 Comments

My friend's event organizing skills...

16/10/2019

1 Comment

 

The terrace bar

It's an emergency!
The family gathering was decided at M's unfinished home within a short notice!
M had to create in no time and out of nothing a minimum of furniture and infrastructure; the terrace was to be converted in a seating and serving area in a matter of 72 hours.
M managed to collect a few wood planks and unused pallets.
This is how the terrace bar was born: the raw unfinished wood planks were used to create the bar sides, top and front. It took M only a few nails and a good hammer to build it.
The terrace bar was big enough to accommodate the necessary bottles and cups and to seat a few family members.
At first attempt, the pallets were converted into bottle shelves and fixed inside the bar, but then, the result was a bit bulky and after all, it's a shame to hide the beautiful wine bottles...
Picture
Picture
Aaaah!...that's better.
The wood pallets are now fixed to the wall with a touch of color, a kind of improvised and last-minute wall ornaments. M had now moved to the next level: taking a break, looking at his creation from a distance, and adding the art-deco touch that was missing!
That's exactly what DIY is about.

The bar front is now perfect and stylish.
Other wood pallets have been piled up to create tables and the remaining wood planks placed over masonry stone blocks as seating benches.
One can already imagine the family gathering in this DIY-out-of-nowhere bar-restaurant, the talks, the laughs, the cheers, the hubbub...
Picture

The terrace sink

Now there was another problem to be solved: no wash basin or sink for the invitees to wash their hands and for washing the dishes.
It was time to use another natural material: the stone.
No time for building this outdoor sink to a final finish and to fit a basin mixer tap.
Leftovers of natural stone panels and cladding were built in a manner to create an free-standing terrace sink. Silicone compound ensured the water tightness and held all parts together.
A drilled hole in the wall allowed to connect the water inlet and another tube served as a drainage pipe straight to the garden.​
Picture
The sink design is quite simple: an oblique mounted stone panel sends the water down to the drainage while the wall behind is waterproofed with another stone panel used as a one-piece cladding. That's it!
​
M did the job within the given deadline and with N (M's wife), they were able to organize the family gathering and enjoy their summer house despite being still under construction.

Thanks for reading, DIY ideas never dry up and are worth giving them a try.
@ M&N, keep up the good work and thanks for sharing your photos.
Picture
1 Comment

LEGO vs. MECCANO

4/8/2019

0 Comments

 
Lego and Meccano are amongst the most reknown model construction systems for children of ages 6 to 14 and up to 16 years old. They drastically differ however since Lego bricks require no tools to be assembled while Meccano relies on the use of a screwdriver and a wrench to fix together the various parts with bolts and nuts.
If you're hesitating between them for your kid's birthday especially they both sell at incredibly high prices, here's how they compare:
Topic
LEGO
MECCANO
Parts relate to a specific model to build
Yes
Yes
Detailed instructions for building the model
Yes
Yes
Parts assembly
By pressing parts (mainly bricks shaped) together with some force.
By bolts and nuts. Tools are provided to tighten the bolts.
Parts material
Plastic
Metal or Plastic 
Required level of dexterity to assemble a model
Relatively low. Some parts of difficult access, necessity to press the parts together at the right place to avoid disassembling others. Bricks fit exactly at their intended place, no need to adjust.
Relatively high. Necessity to hold a tool in each hand. The model is first assembled without fully tightening the bolts, then tightened progressively all along the progress while adjusting the metal parts spacing, orientation, etc.
Usual time to assemble a complex model
A few hours
A few days for a similar number of parts.
Easiness of disassembling a model for creating another out of a child's imagination
High, the parts are more difficult to disassemble than to assemble but are so colorful and vary in many shapes and uses that it can be quite easily converted into another free shape.
 Medium, the same tools are required to dismantle a built model which remains easier than the assembly because no adjustments are to be made. It is more difficult to imagine and build a different model than the one given in the box.
Price
Excessive
Excessive
Availability
Very widely distributed
Lesser availability

LEGO

​The below creature was made out of a 13 year old boy's imagination out of various Lego parts. many being from the model pictured to the right. The relative easiness of dismantling and re-assembling models encourages kids to create their own robots, superheroes, vehicles, etc.
The various Lego parts and bricks of several models can end-up being mixed all together in compartment boxes and sorted by type, size, color, etc. before being re-assembled into any shape and model. The educational level of Lego is obviously increased in this case compared to the construction of the exact given model and its step-by-step instruction manual.
Picture

MECCANO

This miniature Eiffel tower requires a higher dexterity to be assembled compared to bricks construction as it involves holding a tool with each hand, handling small nuts, working on both sides of a model, making adjustments to the metal parts prior to tightening the bolts, etc.
Dismantling it for building another model out of free imagination could not be as obvious as in the case of bricks, but requires higher skills and a lot of willingness which is of a higher educational value. The method of assembly is similar or identical to real life construction activities.
Picture

0 Comments

    Author

    I'm an owner of a niche DIY website and like to share my experience with others.

    Archives

    November 2022
    May 2022
    July 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    April 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019

    Categories

    All
    Cars
    Hobbies
    Home Improvement
    Travel
    Website Monetizing

    RSS Feed

A website, I did myself...
Privacy Policy
TERMS OF USE
© nomaallim.com 2015-2023 All Rights Reserved
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • My Blog
  • Our Free DIY Tips
    • DIY basics
    • Safety At Home
    • Garden tips
    • Finishing Works
    • Home Appliances
    • Plumbing
    • Multimedia
    • Electrical
    • Car Maintenance & Repair
    • Small Generator Fixing
    • Bicycle fixing
  • Small DIY Projects
    • KITCHEN AND BATHROOM >
      • Kitchen: build a trolley | Not a robot
      • Adding shelves between cabinet and wall
      • Kitchen: adding small shelves for spices
      • Bathroom: free space | remove the bidet
      • Bathroom: Replace your embedded PEX outlets
      • Build a shower tray for elderly people
      • Installing an above counter basin
    • GARDEN >
      • A Low Cost and Easy to Fix Trellis Separation
      • Installing a water tank
      • Superb DIY garden pond with jar
      • Backyard workshop and storage
      • How to build a brick planter
      • Installing and programming a motorized gate opener
    • BEDROOM >
      • Adding a panel heater
      • Clothes drying racks
      • Diy cushion bedhead
    • LIVING ROOM >
      • Hanging the TV to the Wall
      • Adding lights to a green wall
      • Cabinet for AV equipment
      • Mini-pond for goldfish
    • CUPBOARDS AND BOOKSHELVES >
      • Cupboards & Bookshelves Basics
      • Build and Hang a Cupboard to the Wall
      • Build a Bookshelf
      • Building a bathroom cabinet
      • Wall to wall wardrobe
    • CAR >
      • Matra Rancho Renovation
      • How to buy and rebuild a used carburetor
  • DIY Cook
    • Spices and condiments
    • Utensils and non-food items
    • Fish & Sea Food
    • Soups, starters and side dishes
    • Lebanese and Mediterranean Mezze
    • Main courses
    • Coffees and breakfast
    • Desserts and pastries
  • Cars tips & tricks
    • Mechanical maintenance
    • Electrical and Ignition repairs
    • Dependability and drivability
    • Auto detailing
    • Abandoned and old vehicles
    • Car Insurance and Regulations