Wednesday, August 20, 2008

The Tenth Hour (and forty minutes)

Wednesday, August 20th, 13730002008

Early this morning--or very late last night, depending on your lifestyle choices--around 9:30, we, the students, in it, the study abroad program, met with Jessica Burstein, Clifford Tatum, Paul Wouters, Julie Villegas, Mirjam Schieveld, and Judith Vos at the Prins Hendrikkade campus to run through our dress rehearsal for the conference on Saturday.

The presentations were all very good, and were much improved from Monday. The feedback, again, was excellent. This time around, according to Paul, our presentations are presentable enough for the conference. This feels like a substantial achievement.

The fashion group provided visual refreshments.


After presentations, several of us biked over to Dappermarkt for a lunch of falafel and Turkish pizza. This is the same place where some of us had lunch on Monday, and the falafel really hasn't changed since then.




The afternoon was spent working for some, sleeping for others...Evening found some of us meeting again and biking across Amsterdam and through Vondelpark, to have dinner at yet another people's kitchen, MKZ! This one is in a building that's part of a complex of legalized squats. The building itself was actually a restaurant for a while. The meal was all vegan, but the zucchini soup was simultaneously so hearty, zesty, and dynamic that some of us speculated about the possible inclusion of chicken flavoring or MSG. But I think I'd rather give the cook the benefit of the doubt. Indomitable soup! The main course was composed of a mixed salad with mustard dressing, creamy cauliflower stew, crispy red potatoes, and bread with green tapenade (minus anchovies). For dessert we had bananas in chocolate sauce with beer ice, which wasn't quite cold enough and quickly melted, forming ultrachocolatebeersaucezord, and Lord Zedd was banished for all time. This meal was definitely better than the curry on Monday, which was also good, but which suffered a bit from undercooked chickpeas (in the opinion of most if not all respondents). It also had the element of novelty. I keep being impressed by how creatively these cooks work within the restrictions of veganism. These restrictions seem to inspire innovations that would otherwise be rejected out of hand, simply because easier methods are available to do something similar but less interesting. As one cook put it the other day, it's easy to make something taste good with meat or enough butter; the real art of cooking comes when you don't have these things to fall back on. I'm pretty sure that's more or less what he said.



On the bike ride back through Vondelpark we came upon a memorial for a victim of racism. As we approached, a woman was singing Redemption Song by Bob Marley. Everyone went home then except for Cassie and I, who stayed to hear a choir, which sang beautiful songs. Whatever I say will either sound affected or be an understatement, so I'll leave it at that.

1 comment:

Cassie Rowe said...

omgggggg isaac that video is hilarious hahahah i love it.. music is perfect.