Casa Robino

Making of Pasta Madre, with a bit of Nordic flavour

I finally got sick enough of the miserable bread situation of this country to start making my own. You can ask any Finn how bread should be like - most definitely not the white fluffy toasterslices, the only thing the poor Dutchies have available. So, off to natuurwinkel for some rye flour and to Casa to learn about Pasta Madre it was.

Recipe is a new content type on the site, to facilitate sharing food - more on that (plus making it all look pretty) a bit later... read further to find out how to make Pasta Madre!

It is pretty unusual for me to link to a TED-video talk, but this one is so close to the heart and the casa-philosophy that I can't let it go. In this video Marcin from openfarmtech.org explains in four minutes why open hardware is so important, and amazingly groundbraking.

Once there was a young lady called Laura who had the brilliant idea to get a sewing machine, and when she moved on to other places, she left it here at casa. It wasn't being used much, mostly because people didn't know it was here. But then yesterday when Emma was using some needles and wires with her hand and when I mentioned sewing machine, her eyes grew wide and sparkled all over.

Now we got some more pillows fixed, and some clothes. And we will give the machine a nice spot for everyone to see it and use.

For those cyclists and community-enthusiasts out there, the Vienna based bike-kitchen calls for fellow bikers and bike-fixers to come to Cyclocap 2011, the first European Bike-festival. I guess there could be some people here who might be interested in joining.

The Cyclocamp is to provide a do-it-yourself (DIY) bicycle repair-space as well as a space for reflection on how these spaces are organised, learn from other DIY-bicycle spaces and have fun together. "We feel the need to (inter)connect with projects similar to ours, learn from other experiences and make friends for trips and other projects."

http://cyclocamp.blogsport.eu/

I couldn't have carried the little mushroom jar to Istanbul-- my bags were packed full as it was, and the snow would have gotten the best of the nutrients stored within and killed or dulled all of them, so I left it at casa.

You, too, can seize the opportunity to take Kombucha powers into your own hands and brew this healthy fermented tea beverage! I already purchased a 2-liter glass container that will hold the fermenting batch (it just has to be sterilized first in boiling water for 20 minutes), and enough raw sugar to last a while.

The link below provides step-by-step instructions:

Olá!
I came across this website:
http://www.vhemt.org/index.htm

I thought I had to share it... :)

Ordering this little booklet on how to make soap and having it send to Amsterdam is costly but if anyone is in the US it would be great if we could have it lightfooted (also check the other booklet of the same author called "Make your Place".

The booklet would be great also in relation to what Jass wrote earlier about community projects & member integration

De Spruitjes

13:35 06.08.09
Just back from a bicycle trip to the village of Harmelen, near Utrecht, about 40k south of Amsterdam. 24 hours ago, Kasper and I left, unbeknownst to us, for a marathon bicycle ride. What, do you ask, was so interesting in the quaint village of Harmelen, to entice such a journey.

Pasta Madre! at casarobino.

Yesterday, Kasper and I picked up a bag of bio Mung Beans, which we are prepared to sprout. Mung beans are tridoshic, meaning that they can help to balance all 3 doshas (vata, pitta, kapha) in Ayurveda. They offer 14 gms of protein per cooked cup. Mung beans are also a good source of dietary fiber. They also contain thiamin, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and copper, and are a good source of folate.