Cabinets (carpentry) handmade by Bob

My husband, Bob is a carpenter (not by trade) as a hobby, he also loves tinkering on motorcycles, cars, and bikes....

 

 


...he's very passionate what he does...these were the cabinets that he made years ago...plus a spice rack for me when I came to live with him not so long ago.  The above image was one of the mirrors that was attached to one of our chest drawers, I suggested that we do not need a mirror in them,  we took it out and placed it in our front foyer of the house...he added hooks for coats....

Collection of Fine China

Since childhood, I love collecting fine china, my late mother was a collector and thought about them when I came to Canada.  Growing up in a huge family, we have different sets of china.  We had a kitchen hutch showing all my mother's fine china.  What I had started to collect was in early 70's when I came to Canada....these were Queen Anne's designs, "spring bouquet" and more.....I do not have them here as I am living now in the US...while in Canada, I started to collect them since I came in the early 70's .........then I found out that my husband had some in the basement and these were classic as most of them were made in Europe...these are the fine china collection I have started here in the US and some were from my husband's collection.  What I love about them were the designs of flowers...."roses" mostly..

 

 

 

MARYLAND OVEN-BAKED CRABCAKES

My version of Maryland Crab cakes ~ I placed them in the oven with little bit of oil on the baking sheet pan to make it moist and tasty....a left over crab legs from last night's dinner....

INGREDIENTS:

15 ounces of shelled cooked crab
1/4 cup finely diced celery
1/4 cup chopped zucchini
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
1/4 cup chopped white onions
1/4 cup finely chopped chives
1 large egg
1/4 cup light mayonnaise
2 tsps. of Dijon mustard
1 1/2 cornmeal or finely dried bread crumbs (optional: you can also use Panko mix)

PREPARATION:

1. Sort through crab and discard any bits of shell.
2. In a large bowl, combine celery, chives, zucchini, jalapeno pepper, onions, egg, mustard and mayonnaise.  Mix well with fork.
3. Add crab and 1/4 cup of cornmeal or bread crumbs or panko mix.  Stir gently just to mix.
4. Put remaining cornmeal or bread crumbs or panko mix in a shallow bowl.
5. Shape crab mixture into cakes, each about 2 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick. 
6. Turn each cake to cornmeal or bread crumbs, or panko mix to coat on all sides, pressing gently to make crumbs adhere.  Place cakes slightly apart in an oiled baking sheet pan.
7. Bake in a 475 degrees regular or convection oven until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes.
8. With a spatula, flip cakes on to the other side.  Serve hot.
   
   
   
   

POTTED CHERRY TOMATOES

I had been lucky to grow cherry tomatoes in a pot as everyone says that you cannot grow tomatoes in a pot or planter

...the image above are my potted cherry tomatoes ripening....taped up with masking tape to ensure they don't fall off, some of the branches been taped too in order not to break the branch.

CELEBRITY TOMATOES RIPENING IN THE VINE

A bit disappointed as my "celebrity tomatoes" are not ripening as of yet, last year in July I had been harvesting them but not this year.  The weather has not been cooperating, spring begun late and perhaps fall will begin early this year...these are my celebrity tomatoes ripening in the vine.  I will be taking my vacation soon, hopefully I will be harvesting some before I go for my holidays...so I can preserve some and make salsa or tomato sauce or marinara sauce. 

 

POCKETSIZE OVAL CORAL BEADS ROSARY

Woke up early this morning before going to church, I made coffee for myself and thought of making more of the rosaries I had made previously...this time a pocketsize rosary made of tiny oval coral beads and tiny garnet nuggets....why not?  So I cut up 1 1/2 inch wires from a 20 gauge silver filled

 

 half hard and half soft wiring, made them as eye pins...I make my own eye pins, easier and cheaper than buying those ready made eye pins.  The head pins are the one I usually order online....I had enormous amount of different kinds of beads stashed away in my sewing room....I don't need a lot of beads at this point...hubby has his own hubby rebuilding motorcycles and cabinet making (carpentry)...asked him if he can make me a kitchen hutch...he said, I have to draw that one for him....:-)

GUESS WHAT I'VE FOUND AT THE GARAGE SALE??

I am really enjoying summer as there are a lot of garage sales here in the vicinity where I live....these are the few that fascinates me the most....these floral or rose design plates are made in US and they looked somewhat vintage.  They were only 2 left when I asked the lady who they belong to, she said they belong to her grandmother which was passed on to her, obviously these plates were vintage ....to add more to my adventure of garage sales, I picked fine china teacups and a creamer there were no saucers to match with the teacups....also found a white and blue ashtray which was made in the middle east....