Meet the one of the Oldest Pasta-Making Grannies in the World! | Pasta Grannies

95 year old Giuseppa shows us how to make a Sardinian pasta speciality called macarrones de ungia - which are mini, knobbly versions of mallorreddus. They come from the town of Ozieri where Giuseppa has lived all her life. She continues to make pasta every day as well as cooking for her younger brother. Giuseppa, we salute you!

If you would like to try making this shape at home, try using the smooth side of a nutmeg grater.

For the dough, it's difficult to give exact quantities as the amount of water will depend on the flour, the temperature and humidity of the day. But start with the following, for 4 people: 400g semola flour 150 ml warm water, with a teaspoon of salt dissolved into it.

Add half of water to your flour to begin with and keep kneading it until you form a dough. Add water if a) it doesn't come together and b) feels too dry. You are aiming for a stiff dough which you then have to knead for a good 20 minutes, probably longer. It should start to feel smooth. Let it rest, covered, for at least 30 minutes, and keep it covered while you roll pieces out.

Origin of the Dry Martini and The Gibson!

The Dry Martini

The first Martini is thought to have originated in San Francisco around the 1850s, when a gold prospector headed for Martinez, California, asked celebrated bartender ‘Professor’ Jerry Thomas – the Pioneer of the American Cocktail – to mix him up ‘something special’. The mixture of Old Tom Gin, vermouth, maraschino and bitters was named the ‘Martinez’ in his honor. But the elegant dry martini – dry meaning just a dash of vermouth – traces its roots to a refined Beaux Arts hotel located amidst the din of New York’s Times Square.

John Jacob Astor’s Knickerbocker Hotel opened in 1906, and the bar room became such a welcoming haven to the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald and John D. Rockefeller, that it was dubbed the ‘42nd Street Country Club.’ And it was here in 1912 that bartender Martini di Arma di Taggia is said to have invented his famous namesake. Today, you can enjoy what H.L. Mencken called, “the only American invention as perfect as the sonnet” at either the Charlie Palmer bar, or at the St. Cloud rooftop bar. Afterwards, head down into the Times Square subway station and at the end of Track 1 on the S shuttle than runs between Grand Central Terminal and Times Square, you’ll spy an anonymous looking white door on the platform. But glance at the lintel and you’ll see an old metal sign stamped ‘KNICKERBOCKER’. In the hotel’s heyday, this was once a secret entrance to the bar where, so they say, the Dry Martini was first enjoyed.

The Gibson

One of our favourite cocktails traces its roots to one of our favourite places in the city, the Players. Set up among the exclusive and leafy surroundings of Gramercy Park, the Players is a glittering private members club dating back to the Gilded Age. An elegant haven for actors, artists, musicians and the bon vivant, the atmosphere at the Players is vibrant and fun as it was when it opened its doors on New Year’s Eve, 1888.

One evening, the celebrated illustrator Charles Dana Gibson stopped by the magnificent Stanford White designed mansion on Gramercy Park South in search of refreshment. Gibson was known for his popular pen and ink illustrations of the so-called ‘Gibson Girl’ that first appeared in the 1890s and soon became the visual personification of the modern American woman. “She appeared in a stiff shirtwaist, her soft hair piled into a chignon, topped by a big plumed hat,” wrote Susan E. Meyer, “infinitely more spirited and independent, yet altogether feminine. Though always well bred, there often lurked a flash of mischief in her eyes.” Inspired by models and socialites such as Evelyn Nesbit, Charles Dana Gibson explained, “I’ll tell you how I got what you have called the ‘Gibson Girl.’ I saw her on the streets, I saw her at the theatres, I saw her in the churches. I saw her everywhere and doing everything. I saw her idling on Fifth Avenue and at work behind the counters of the stores.”

As Players’ legend has it, Charles Dana Gibson challenged bartender Charley Connolly to improve upon the venerable gin martini. Connolly deftly replaced the olive with a cocktail onion, and named the drink after the famous illustrator.

Mood Foods [via Nina Reznick}

1. Swiss Chard

High in folate, also known as folic acid, swiss chard and other leafy greens are good for your mood. In fact, a study by the University of York and Hull York Medical School found a link between low folate levels and depression.

2. Dark Chocolate

Credit: Boz Bros via flickr

If you needed another reason to indulge in dark chocolate, it’s this one: dark chocolate can make you happier. A study in the Journal of Psychopharmacology found that consuming chocolate high in cocoa flavanols increased levels of calmness and contentedness.

3. Eggs

Credit: boughtbooks via flickr

With their essential fatty acids, eggs help your body to naturally produce serotonin. Low serotonin levels are linked to depression, anxiety, insomnia and fatigue.

4. Almonds

Credit: Sean Winters via flickr

Almonds pack a lot of nutrients, including folate and magnesium. Magnesium is essential to brain health, and studies have linked it to a reduction in depression, but is often deficient in modern diets. So eat more of those almonds!

5. Lentils

Credit: William Jones via flickr

Lentils are a good source of folate which is essential for your mood, and a cup of cooked lentils provides 90 percent of the recommended daily allowance of folic acid. Lentils also have the amino acid L-tyrosine, which your brain uses to make the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and dopamine, therefore helping your brain to combat depression.

6. Pumpkin Seeds

Credit: Brian Jackson via flickr

A zinc deficiency can trigger depressive moods, but fortunately pumpkin seeds are packed with the essential mineral. Pumpkin seeds also contain L-tryptophan, a natural mood booster.

7. Oatmeal

Credit: Maria Pontikis via flickr

While some think oatmeal is one of the most boring foods on the planet, it’s good for your mental state. That’s thanks to a lot of things, including high levels of magnesium, which help your brain fight depression and anxiety. Since it’s also a great source of soluble fiber, it helps stabilize blood sugar levels, which helps you avoid mood swings.

8. Honey

Credit: Kelvin Beecroft via flickr

The nutrients in honey produce a calming effect, helpful if you’re feeling anxious, which is why many mix it into a cup of tea in the evening. A natural sweetener, it’s also a good natural energy booster, so if you feel like you’re dragging, pop a spoonful in your mouth. Nature’s energy gel.

9. Flaxseed Oil

Credit: Dvortygirl via flickr

Our standard American Diet has left us very omega-3 deficient and that can be bad for your mental state: omega-3 has been shown to be an effective supplement for fighting depression. Flaxseed oil is an easy way to get a mega dose of omega-3 essential fatty acids, helping to improve your mood.

10. Water

Credit: Kimberly Gauthier via flickr

A glass of water may be the simplest thing you can ingest, but it’s very helpful. Mild dehydration has been shown to dampen moods, which means if you want to feel mentally stronger, make sure you’re getting enough H2O throughout the day.

11. Asparagus

Credit: ulterior epicure via flickr

Feel like you’ve been having a lot of mood swings lately? Get some asparagus on your plate, because it is very high in folic acid — a deficiency that is common in people with depression.

Reposted from We Care2

In 19th Century Paris, She Held a Permit to Wear Pants

A cigarette-smoking, pants-wearing, animal-dissecting painter, Rosa Bonheur spent her life doing exactly as she pleased. 2022 marks the bicentenary of the birth an artist who opened countless doors for female creatives, both in her home country of France and abroad.

Speaking of petticoats. One of the most notable things about Bonheur was her love of wearing pants, a reflection of her personal style as well as her status as a woman who rode horses, visited livestock fairs, and painted on a daily basis, all activities that would be hindered by wearing heavy skirts. She held a permission de travestissement, effectively a legal document from the French government which had to be renewed every six months, allowing her to “cross-dress”.

Rosa Bonheur’s *permission de travestissement*

Rosa took full advantage of the permissions granted by creating something of a trouser-based uniform for herself while she worked. According to the archivist at Château de Rosa Bonheur, it was only really when she posed for the occasional portrait that she’d wear a dress. Not-so-fun fact: Until January 31st of 2013, it was illegal for women in France to wear trousers. It made headlines at the time when the 200 year-old law requiring women to ask police for special permission to “dress as men” or else risk being taken into custody, was finally revoked.

Office Fish

This person asked their coworkers to help feed their fish in the office while they were stuck working at home. Not only did one person volunteer, but it looks like the whole office signed up to help! His coworkers, to his delight and amazement, took this seriously and kept track of it in a logbook.

It’s impossible to overestimate the importance of working with intelligent people. The logbook isn’t just cute, but an important safety measure alongside the note on the cup reading, “Please don’t overfeed.” The fish’s owner must have appreciated the level of care their coworkers put into feeding the fish.

Something as simple as a sticky note can make all the difference to someone going through a rough time. The coworker that left this note must have a big heart to recognize when someone isn’t happy but still respects their personal space with a small yet grand gesture.

I’ve Got You Covered

It took us a minute to process this image. Why is a construction worker digging a wholesome gesture? Well, take a look at the umbrella over his head. And, look at how it’s held up. This kind gesture deserves to be recognized.

You might not understand the caption “I’m a nice colleague” if you haven’t properly understood the image. A coworker came up with a way to protect their colleague from the elements while they were digging. We can only assume that the job required only one of them to be laboring outside, for this little setup to occur.

Birthday Work Pass

What could be a better birthday present than a free pass to get away from work whenever you want? Without thinking, we might choose this over a box of cupcakes However, we hope no one asks us to choose between the two, especially if the cupcakes are red velvet.

This is a fantastic concept for anyone who works in a shift-based environment. On your coworker’s birthday, you can give them an access card to use to get away from work. It’s crucial, though, that the receiver understands that the card is only good for the shift you’re willing to cover.

Memes From The Receptionist

This is by far the most amusing thing we’ve ever seen. This 66-year-old receptionist devotes their time and resources to making their coworkers happy. Even if work is chaotic, no one will be able to look at this and not grin. It reminds them that they are all in this together.

However, we’re curious as to what the employer thinks of this and other memes found on their receptionist’s desk. This is a fantastic way to get everyone in the office in a good attitude. We’ll always stroll past the receptionist’s desk just to chuckle if we work somewhere like this.

Youngest ever Van Cliburn winner Yunchan Lim

Six competitors went head-to-head at the weekend in the final round of the sixteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas.
Over four days from 14 to 18 June, each of the finalists brought two concertos to the stage to perform with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra under the baton of legendary conductor Marin Alsop.
18-year-old South Korean pianist Yunchan Lim was one of three finalists to select Rachmaninov’s third piano concerto, which he performed during the third concert of the final round on Friday 17 June.
Throughout the competition, Lim performed a wide range of works by Bach to Beethoven, Chopin to Scriabin, including a highly praised rendition of Liszt’s Transcendental Études. But it was his final performance of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.3 which would seal his victory.

Yo-Yo Ma performs a work for cello in the woods, accompanied by a birdsong chorus

The Birdsong Project is an endeavour organised by the Audubon Society as a ‘celebration of the joy and mysteries of birdsong’ via visual art, music and poetry. In this music video from the album For the Birds: The Birdsong Project, Vol II (2022), the celebrated cellist Yo-Yo Ma is seen and heard performing ‘In the Gale’, which he created in collaboration with the composer Anna Clyne. Perhaps the only piece of music written ‘for cello and birdsong’, the performance sees Ma alone with his instrument in a wooded landscape, performing the poignant work alongside a chorus of some of nature’s most gifted singers.

Via The Kid Should See This

Video by The Birdsong Project
Director: Ryan Booth

Yoga Gives Back

Written by Kayoko Mitsumatsu

From Posture To Power: Microcredit Changes Lives On Both Sides of the Ocean

We can talk about making change. But affecting real change in the world comes from impacting the lives of individuals. It comes from empowering people to be independent and able to make a living on their own while at the same time being fully integrated in our interdependent global community. Sometimes it takes something that seems to be radical to make this change, but these shifts can be deceptively small. They can be even as small (or as large) as the cost of a Los Angeles Yoga class.

How could this be? In the practice of microcredit, lending seemingly small amounts of money to small-scale entrepreneurs allows them to succeed and change their circumstances. This is the fundamental basis of microcredit’s transformative power; it’s a revolutionary concept in finance. This practice shifts the emphasis from financial transactions being focused only about large loans and large scale businesses, which are out of reach of many one-person operations, institutions and organizations – to lending practices that actually make a positive difference in a person’s life. Microcredit practices based on social justice and empowerment operate through a combination of small-scale loans based on trust and community support, with structured repayment plans and programs that encourage savings. In these situations, people actually have the opportunity to solidify long-term change in their lives.

Dr. Muhammad Yunus and the Yoga Gives Back Team: Joel Bender, Leslie Hendry, Dr. Muhammad Yunus and Kayoko Mitsumatsu (left-right)

In 2006, economist Dr. Muhammad Yunus and the institution he founded, the Grameen Bank, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This award was in recognition of their revolutionary efforts to create this micro-credit model, support sustainable economic practices, and provide an alternative to what were exploitive norms. When a person is caught in a cycle of poverty, they may become trapped in the system, particularly since large banking institutions have historically ignored people without assets or credit histories, who are just starting out and who may not have already proven themselves. Most banks prefer to lend large sums of money that represent a greater profit margin and are set up only for large loans in order to make a profit themselves. And even making it more challenging, people at the bottom of the economic scale worldwide have had to rely on moneylenders charging usurious terms and interest rates to obtain funds to plant the next crop, buy inventory of new equipment, or upgrade a business in any way. Institutions such as the Grameen Bank and their affiliates are offering another approach. It’s one that has significantly impacted millions of people.

As Dr. Yunus described in an exclusive interview with Yoga Gives Back in May, 2009, “We started in 1976, and today within Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, eight million people borrow micro loans, ninety-seven percent of them women.” This represents an enormous potential for change and empowerment that just did not exist on a large scale in this form prior to 1976.

There is a social cycle in economics, and Dr. Yunus explained this: “Poverty is not inside the person. Poverty is forced from outside. Poor people are as capable [a] human being as anybody else. They have the same power and energy, same potential. But they are denied such facilities. They cannot express themselves. Money is one of the most important items missing in their lives. You need a dollar to catch a dollar. You cannot catch a dollar with an empty hand. So, that first dollar, nobody has given to her. So she remains dependent on someone else. She has to be hired, to slave; she has to work to make food available on the table. What we have done, we have put that first dollar into her hands as a banking proposition. Conventional banks never come to the poor people. They go to rich people to make more money. The person who does not have a dollar – she cannot get it. So we did it. We did it in a way that is affordable to her. Because we do not insist on collateral. There is no collateral.”

While that may seem like a radical concept, the Grameen Bank has proven that their success is much more than ideological. Dr Yunus cited statistics for us, “The repayment rate is almost 100%, without collateral or anything. This is the strength of microcredit which is now spread all over the world. There are by now at least 150 million borrowers in the world today. Bu it is still very small comparing to the need. We need more microcredit organizations in the world so that more people can be reached.”

Yoga Gives Back is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization begun in LA, with the goal to provide a way for Western Yoga practitioners to give back to India, the birthplace of Yoga, which has given us so much. We’re heeding Dr. Yunus’ call to reach more people through expanded opportunities for and awareness of microcredit and have targeted India and Indian families, women, and would-be entrepreneurs, who would be otherwise stuck in the cycle of poverty that Dr. Yunus described. Yoga Gives Back supports microfinancing operations in India, through the Grameen Foundation, headquartered in Washington, DC. Donations go directly to Grameen Koota, Bangalore, South India and our YGB awareness campaign focuses on the real stories of how poor women are changing their lives with small loans from Grameen Koota.

Ms. Vinatha M Reddy

Grameen Koota was started by visionary teacher and philanthropist, Ms. Vinatha M Reddy (pictured, above) in 1999, who learned about Nobel Peace Recipient Dr Muhammad Yunus’ microfinancing and immediately began exploring ways of replicating his work in her hometown. In 2000, she started providing small microcredit loans, averaging $25.00 a month, to fifty local women. Today, Grameen Koota’s work is reaching out to over 280,000 women in Bangalore, Mysore and many areas of Karnataka state, in South India, making real impact on these women’s lives as well as on the local economy.

Yoga Gives Back

The Los Angeles-based Yoga Gives Back has a worldwide reach and began out of the inspiration and dedication of my Yoga mentor Joel Bender and me. Our group has suddenly started growing almost daily and our mission is shared by a quickly expanding and loving Yoga community.

When I was growing up in Japan, which is a very middle-class society, I had never experienced or seen any real poverty, especially growing up in Tokyo in 1960s and 1970s, when Japan's post-war economic miracle was taking place. Then, I had a chance to live in Brazil in the late 1970s for two years, where as a teenager, I saw the divide between poverty and wealth, the reality of the real slums, kids on the streets begging every time you stopped the car at the traffic light, all very much like India. Social injustice hit me hard.

Once I started Yoga practice and feeling my life being so enriched by it , I felt a need to use my resources to help others. I was producing a documentary on Social Entrepreneurship and learned about microfinancing. I shared this information with Joel [featured in the teacher profile in this month’s issue of LA YOGA] who had been looking for the way he could give back to India since his first visit there – so we teamed up.

When I think about the growth of Yoga Gives Back thus far, I give a lot of credit to the entrepreneurship and volunteer spirit of Americans, willing to embrace and support a new grass roots campaign like ours.

Kayoko Mitsumatsu, co-founder of Yoga Gives Back, is a documentary filmmaker whose films deal with social justice issues, including First They Killed My Father a memoir of a Cambodia’s Killing Fields’ survivor.

A Life Changing Story of Microcredit: Jayashree

Jayashree

Jayashree lives in the suburbs of Bangalore and is married and the mother of two children. We visited her at her humble dirt floor one room home for the first time in 2007. We were touched by her warm smile and most generous hospitality, serving us hot tea and cookies.

Jayashree was born into a very poor family in Bangalore. When she was a child, her family’s financial situation became so severe that she had to drop out of school and work at a garment factory. She toiled throughout her childhood and after she got married at fifteen, her meager earnings had to support her ailing in-laws. She had two children. Her husband’s rickshaw business was not enough to pay her sons’ education or secure food for the family.

In 2007, Jayashree learned from her neighbors about Grameen Koota’s microcredit program and applied for her first loan. She was granted a first loan of 7,000 rupees ($175), and immediately bought her husband’s auto rickshaw. Owning their own rickshaw business increased their income significantly.

Jayashree was able to pay back her entire loan in one year and became eligible for her second loan in 2008. Having proven her diligence, her second loan amount doubled to 15,000 rupees ($375). This time, she bought a sewing machine and started stitching bags. The family’s earnings have now tripled and she is earning 150 rupees ($3.75) a day. In addition, she opened a small shop next to her house to sell her products which is earning her an additional 100 rupees ($2.50) a day.

She is sending her elder son to a medical school. Her son dreams of becoming a doctor and thanks his mother’s business for providing his education, their own home and daily food.

To participate in a Yoga practice where the proceeds support Yoga Gives Back and directly impact the transformation of not only your own life, but that of someone in India, start your Thanksgiving week at Yogaglo, Sunday, November 22, 10:00 A.M. - 12 noon. Some of the teachers include John Sahakian, Felicia Tomasko, Alexandra Aiken and Ally Hamilton; more to be announced. Yogaglo.com; yogagivesback.com.

For more information on Yoga Gives Back or to host a Yoga Gives Back class at your own studio or location, visit: yogagivesback.org or contact yogagivesback@earthlink.net.