Windmills, Chocolate and dessert

Today we met Robert and his wife Tania to go to Zaanse Schans outside of Amsterdam.  Robert and Tania picked us up at 9:45 and we made the 45 minute ride to Zaanse Schans.  Zaanse Schans has several museums that show the process used by the people of Holland to make everything from wooden shoes to peanut oil.  Our first stop was at the wooden shoe museum where they showed us the old way of making wooden shoes which took about 2 hours to finish a pair (yes this was just an explanation).  Then they showed us how using a series of machines that work much like a key cutting machine, cuts the work of making a pair of wooden to shoes to less than 10 minutes.  The wooden shoes are decorated for all different reasons from working in the garden and wet soil to a wedding or special

event.  It is amazing the way some of these are decorated.  Years ago, the wooden shoes were even outfitted with blades or wheels for skating.  The clogs even were made with spikes to assist in walking across all of the ice in the winter.

After the wooden shoes, we went to one of the windmills.  The windmills are located on the famous Kalverringdijk.  At one time, the Zaan district of this area was the oldest industrial area of the world.  At one time, there were nearly 1,000 windmills in this area.  Each of the windmills have a different purpose.  We stopped to see one that made peanut oil.  When we walked into the windmill, we saw two very large stones rolling along a table in a circle.  At the same time, there were pieces of wood that moved along side to push the crushed peanuts back under the rolling stone.  At another station, the crushed peanuts were being heated up.  The heating released the oils so that it could be pressed out and collected.  The collection process was done by placing the heated, crushed peanut "mush" into cloth bags.  The bags were then placed into a device that used wood and a very large wood "hammer" to compact the mush.  As it was being compacted, the oil was collected on metal pans.  From the metal pans, the oil was poured into large 50 gallon barrels.  Those barrels were then sent to a plant where the oil was cleaned and bottled for selling.  This particular windmill produces 6,000 liters of oil per year.  So as not to waste anything, the remaining "cake" that was left after pounding out the oil (twice as a matter of fact) was sold as cow fodder.

After the oil pressing, we went over to the ferry to go across the dijk.  For 1 Euro, we were each able to go across the water on the ferry, which was really more like a large fishing boat.  Once across, we watched as racing sculls were put into the locks that led from the dijk water to one of the canals.  The area is full of canals that transport everything from kayaks and canoes to barges and sailboats.  In most sets of locks that we see in the states, the water is lowered and raise using pumps.  This makes the time required much lower and more vessels are accommodated.  However here, the locks are managed by hand.  From opening and closing the locked to opening the passage for the water.  So, the process takes quite a bit longer to occur.  Additionally, because of this time, it is much more likely that a small vessel like a scull will tip over waiting.  This happened today right before we got to the locks.  We saw the poor rowers pulling their vessel out of the water (and trying to dump out the water) downstream about 50 yards.

As we walked around the rest of the area, we bought cheese and revelled at the scenery and its beauty.  The last museum we went into held and exhibit on the Verkade company.  Verkade was started as a bakery in the late 1800's.  After 100 years, it included chocolate and candles.  In the exhibit, we were able to read about the start of the company and its evolution.  There were also original machines setup that showed how the products were made.  After 5 hours of roaming, taking in the sights and learning a bit of local history, we set out for Robert and Tania's house where we had dinner.

Dinner was a collection of different foods.  We had a dish that was originally from a Dutch colony in South America served with rice, as well as a traditional Dutch pastry casserole that had chicken and vegetables in it.  Along with it were several different sides that you could add including hard boiled eggs, bacon, fried bananas, and dried banana chips.  All of it was very tasty, but I have to say that my favorite was dessert.  Tyko, Robert and Tania's oldest son, bakes for a hobby so he made dessert.  There were several choices: Dutch apple pie, a tart that had a custard and whipped cream filling topped with strawberries, and a cherry dessert that had a chocolate crust with a light creamy frozen second layer topped with a cherry glaze.  It was light but very tasty - definitely my favorite.

Tomorrow we are off to a tour with a local.  We shall see how that goes.....