Cassava Wine - Badek

I was on Kota Gede. The most sacred place in Jogja. It is a place of Jogja's Sultan in the ancient. But the kingdom's atmosphere is still strong. The people still hold some tradition things here.

I visited my friends house in Kota Gede. We played guitar, we were having chat. There was something different here. My friend served a beverages that never I tasted and heard before. It was Badek. My friend told that it was the liquid from fermenting the cassava. Just like the usual wine, it was 'cassava wine'. The aroma was sweet sour, it was white yellowish. I sipped it, wow, it was really sweet, as sweet as honey, I could taste a little sour, but just the little, the taste was soft, very soft. My friend said to drink it slowly, and never drink it without chatting with anyone, it will be not tasty anymore. Well, this was one of new liqueur I tasted. What about you?

Malioboro Sweeties in Afternoon

It was 3 o'clock in the afternoon on Malioboro, Jogja's town center. So many people here selling clothes, traditional accesories, batiks, souvenirs, everything! This is the place where you can learn everything of Jogja's culture without book or lecture. Just coming here, and enjoy everything.

Okay first of all, my friends and I decided to visit Beringharjo traditional market. We bought not much money, just enough! We walked around while we were listening so many people spoke about everything. Its asia, land of smile. Everybody smile to you, people are nice and friendly. We heard there was unique semi-modern lolly ice. And hey, we found that. It was written 'es tiptop' on the wagon. we asked the owner, the price was only Rp. 1OOO, he offered pandan taste, grape, durian, chocolate, original flavour. We grabed some and hey, its really semi-modern lolly ice. The owner serve it with western's style (lolly), but still traditional ingredient. It wasn't milk, it was coconut milk, very javanese taste. Hmmm, sweet is the java,s culture taste. Yes, it was everything sweet here. we bought cenil also. Cenil is traditional snack which is contained a lot of sticky rice, sugar, and served with minced coconut. And we bought klepon; balinese snack made of rice, palm sugar, pandan leaf, and a lot of coconut, served with minced coconut also. Our sweet hunger never been satisfyed here, we looked for beverage on this market. We didn't use our eyes, it was very aromatic, we trusted our nose to find it. Yes tropical region's most aromatic fruit; durian. We found a beverage contained a lot of durian, 'es durian'. It was sweet, aromatic. Es durian is the beverage from tropical regions it is durian, poured with coconut milk, and ice. Its good to close your afternoon, because we ended this trip with it. Love your town, your cullinanry culture, explore your market.

photos and article by Tito