CHOCA TOUR

-
Saturday, 14 November, on a sunny afternoon and I am still in love with the Chocolate Festival. After attending the opening ceremony in the Amsterdam' s harbour a week before, now I am joining the Choca Tour organized by the Centre Library of Amsterdam.
The guide started with showing a cacao bean. It is something I take for granted because in Indonesia I saw it often, but not for the Dutch participants. They studied the bean carefully and probably saw it for the first time in their life.


Our first visit was one of the oldest tea and coffee importer in the Netherland. It is located in Zeedijk. They served three sort of tea and all have something to do with chocolate. Silky Oolong, pure Earl Grey Tea and one more with chocolate taste in it.






Our second visit was Metropolitan Deli, also in Zeedijk. Kees, the owner is a passionate chocolatier. He let us to taste a cacao bean, 100% processed chocolate (without sugar etc) and milk chocolate. Hhmm..now we know! When chocolate is in the hands of someone as passionate as Kees, it taste heaven!


And we visited also a pharmacy in Zeedijk because in the past they produced medicine using chocolate. The cacao beans was so expensive that the pharmacist had to mix it with biscuits. The above "De Eeuwige Caper" is someone who has fighted to save the pharmacy. This pharmacy has been surviving for about 200 years.



Zeedijk is the red light district of Amsterdam. The guide told us about this small monument with the text "Respect Sex Workers All Over the World." Connection with chocolate? Chocolate has an anti depressive effect and create a good feeling after someone tastes it. The same thing implies for the red light district. At least according the guide.







Last visit was a liqueur production place in an invisible place from the main street but when we were inside they have quite large rooms with a nice garden. They produce thousand sort of liqueurs and of course in these two weeks they created a chocolate liqueur. A fine drink for a windy early evening in Amsterdam.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Le Corbusier's Ghetto (and how the Dutch deal with it)

-
Image
Last night I took a part in an online discussion for television and live stream programs with the representatives of the Municipality of Amsterdam and the Housing Corporation Rochdale about living in Amsterdam Southeast. It was organized by the New Metropolis Zuidoost, a branch of Pakhuis de Zwijger, a think tank for urban and sustainability issues.  I had to be bold in five minutes that I had during the broadcasting. So what I said is that Amsterdam Southeast was built based on the ideals of Le Corbusier, the Swiss architect, that everyone no matter from which background has the right to light, air, and space. He dreamed of urban development that separated work, living, recreation, and various modes of mobility. This ideal was applied in Amsterdam Zuidoost in the 1960s to be the largest experiment ever in the world in terms of scale and innovations. The experiment was lead by Cornelis van Eesteren, the pioneer of modern architecture in the Netherlands. The reality showed that some...
Read more

INFILL DEVELOPMENT

-
Image
Perpaduan antara bangunan lama dan baru selalu menarik perhatian saya karena saya percaya pelestarian pusaka (heritage conservation) haruslah aktual dan menjawab kebutuhan zaman. Jadi tidak semata-mata dan sama sekali bukan untuk nostalgia. Jika memang niat ada banyak cara untuk mempertahankan bangunan lama dan mengkombinasikannya dengan bangunan baru. Dengan cara ini pelestarian pusaka dan pembangunan baru secara simultan terakomodasi. Solusi seperti ini umumnya disebut Infill Development . Definisinya menurut BUILD, is the economic use of vacant land, or restoration or rehabilitation of existing structures or infrastructure, in already urbanized areas where water, sewer, and other public services are in place, that maintains the continuity of the original community fabric. Solusi Infill Development juga berdasar pada semakin meningkatnya kesadaran tentang pembangunan berkelanjutan dan pelestarian lingkungan hidup. Pendekatan Infill adalah tanggapan terhadap kebijakan pemerintahan ...
Read more

RISE AND FALL OF SUGAR INDUSTRY IN INDONESIA

-
Image
Sugar Factory Olean, Situbondo, East Java, Indonesia  (Source: Het Rozenhuis) The Sugar Industry in Java as shown during the International World Exhibition in 1910 in Brussels, Belgium (Source: J.W. Ramaer)  Heritage hands-on is selected as one of the participants “Sharing and Collaborative: The Footprints of Asian Sugar Industrial Heritage” is a part of the international symposium on “Multilateral, Sharing and Collaborative: Developing a Common Vision of Asian Industrial Heritage.” This event will take place in t he Cultural & Creative Industries Park, Taiwan, 30 th May – 31 st August. The organizer is  the Bureau of Cultural Heritage Ministry of Culture, Taiwan and it is implemented by National Yunlin University of Science & Technology Department of Cultural Heritage Conservation. Heritage hands-on will present the exhibition about "Rise and Fall of Sugar Industry in Indonesia".   I n the 1930’s Indonesia was the world sec...
Read more