We are very proud to announce our new cookbook Modern Caribbean Flavors with our favorite chef Helmi Smeulders.
After working as a lawyer for (too) many years, Helmi Smeulders picked up her pots and pans and started her own catering business. Homemade and fresh food are the secret ingredients of her success. By living in the Caribbean on the island of Curaçao she got inspired and started developing her own recipes and food blog ‘Spice Girl – Caribbean Flavors with a Twist’, to change the traditional Caribbean kitchen into one with a modern twist.
Helmi wants to make a difference with the many flavorful spices, delicious fruits, healthy vegetables and fresh fish that can be found in the Caribbean. It turns out there are lots of possibilities, hence the making of her first cookbook Modern Caribbean Flavors. In this colorful and stylish book she shares her best recipes. Indulge yourself and cook with a dash of tropical passion!
We are very proud to announce our new book: 'smartphone fotografie voor op vakantie'. With the best tip and tricks on smartphone photography. The book is currently only available in Dutch. We are working very hard on an English translation so everybody can enjoy it!
You can order the book via this link. You can also order it at any (online)bookstore
Why would you buy 'smartphone fotografie voor op vakantie'?
Smartphone photography while on vacation is the book for people who would like to get more out of their vacation images; it is for those who are looking for inspiration how to make better pictures with their smartphone.
Eef Ouwehand provides practical tips and inspiring examples of vacation photography: selfies, portraits, landscapes, beach & water, sunsets and silhouettes, buildings and food photography.
You will find the answers to questions like:
How to make a backup of your pictures?
What is composition?
How do you make a good selfie?
What are the best apps?
How to make your own smartphone case?
Smartphone photography while on vacation teaches you that making good pictures is easy and fun!
Should you be interested in more inspiration and tips? Visit Eef’s website. She is also available for workshops & lectures about smartphone photography, instagram and visual storytelling.
"Eef helps you in a clear, simple way to get the most out of your smartphone and the various apps." Esther Jacobs, the No Excuses lady
Wow. Good to see so many of you liking and sharing our ENLESS SUMMER GIVEAWAY! Because there was such amazing response, we feel bad having just one winner so 'second' and 'third' will win a pair of classic BECKs and a copy of the original Curacao book.
BECK Dutch Caribbean and Divas Publishing, Inc. happily announce the WINNERS of our "ENDLESS SUMMER" contest:
1) Liza van den Bergh - Curaçao 2) Viola Beekman - the Netherlands 3) Lizmerry Koolman - Aruba
Stay tuned, as there are more surprises coming up soon! XoXo
We are very proud to announce our new book! It is not in the stores yet. At this moment the books are in a container at the ocean. We took out a few copies and paired up with BECK for a great giveaway!
'Bon dia, bon siman! It's giveaway time! :)
Divas Publishing & BECK are celebrating that in Curaçao summer never ends! What better way to celebrate our island's beauty than with the release of the newest CURACAO coffee table book? We've together decided to have a tropical 'Endless Summer' giveaway! One lucky winner will receive our new Curaçao Banda Ariba book and a pair of 'tropical' BECK earrings (more hints coming ! ) Official rules are on the BECK blog, but a few tips for more chances to win are as follow:
"Like" the Divas Publishing Facebook Page and leave a comment, "Follow" @BECKJEWELS on Instagram and like our giveaway post, "Share" this post with all your friends!
Sneak peek of the book
Sneak peek of the 'tropical' BECK earrings
International giveaway
This is an international giveaway so you can enter where ever you live! :) The winner will be announced on Friday September 12! Good luck and thank you for joining on us on this tropical "Endless Summer' giveaway! :) (Picture courtesy of Divas Publishing - Eef Photography ) '
We put together the highlights of our Berlin trip and hope you will enjoy it as much as we did. After writing this article we want to go again and explore more, Berlin what a diverse city you are!
1. Rent a bicycle
For about €10-14 you can rent a bike. It is a lot of fun to explore the city by bike. Almost all hotels rent out bicycles for a day or longer if wished.
2. Sleep
Soho house Berlin,Torstraße 1, private members club with 40 bedrooms available to members & non members. Mitte district. Rooftop pool & Cowshed Relax Spa. Don’t go here for a drink when you are not a member or not staying at the hotel, they won’t let you in (they do give good recommendations of other places to go for a drink!).
Meiniger Hotel,Oranienburger Straße 67/68. They have 4 hotels in the city we stayed in the one in Mitte, which has the feeling of a youth hostel. Good bedding, clean rooms but a little cramped.
Casa Camper Berlin, Weinmeisterstraße 1, a nice boutique design hotel with 51 rooms. Mitte district.
Hotel Amano,Auguststraße 43, 163 rooms. Mitte district. Light, modern, eclectic. They have a leafy courtyard, a spacious roofterrace with a beautiful view over the city and a great lounge bar. The hotel is a great location to go for a drink or cup of tea with cheese cake in the afternoon!
3. Eat & Drink
Dinner.
Chipps,Jagerstrasse 35. They serve a delicious wild garlic soup. We had gnocci with lemon, fresh parmesan and green asparagus. Lamb shoulder with new potatos & beans and for dessert plum mousse & cake in a little yar.
Neu,Heckmannhöfen, II. Innenhof
Oranienburger Str. 32. Situated in nice courtyard, well balanced, tasty food and fantastic service! We had some amazing fish dishes with mackerel and trout.
Grill Royal,Friedrichstraße 105b. They have a great gin & tonic cocktail with cucumber. For the meat lovers we recommend the entrecote with bearnaise sauce and french fries.
Breakfast & Lunch
Keyser Soze,Tucholskystraße 33. Typical Berlin bar to have breakfast in the morning and a beer together with a meatball on bread in the evening.
The Barn,Auguststrasse 58. They offer a variety of homemade cakes, scones and sandwiches. The products used come from local producers. There is no warm food served, but they have rice pudding with plums, fresh orange juice and delicious coffee!
Alpenstuck, Gartenstrasse 9. You can go to this bakery for breakfast, lunch or to buy delicious bread & pastries. We recommend the Alpen Frustuck III with coffee. Also try their amazing “Kirch Pudding Pluncher”!
4. Shop
KaDeWe, Kaufhaus des Westens, Tauentzienstraße 21-24. Shop till you drop. The foodcourt on the 6th floor is amazing. We had a glass of pomery champagne, blanc de blanc YUM.
Prenzlauer Berg is a very nice area to shop & cycle trough. There are countless pubs, restaurants, cafés, art galleries and little shops. The bohemian atmosphere is quite unique from the rest of Berlin.
Acne store,Münzstraße 21. Fred Perry,Neue Schönhauser Straße 10, AM3 SCHIESSER Revival Store, Münzstrasse 23. A trip down memory lane. Amazing toy store (near the exit of Hacksise hofe), Adidas store Münzstr. 13-15. Cool sneakers for the whole family!
5. Sightsee
Brandenburger tower Brandenburger Tor is one of Potsdam’s former gateways on the walled fortifications surrounding the old town. It was built in 1730s.
Television Tower,Panoramastraße 1A. From more then 200 metres high you can overlook the entire city with its large number of tourist attractions: you can see the Reichstag (Parliament building), the Brandenburg Gate and the Main Railway Station from here, as well as the Olympic Stadium, the Museum Island (Museumsinsel) and the Potsdam Square (Potsdamer Platz).
Holocaust Memorial, Bordered by Ebertstraße, Behrenstraße, Cora-Berliner-Straße and Hannah-Arendt-Straße. A memorial for the Jewish victims of the Holocaust in Berlin. I thought it very impressive to oversee and walk trough. It is designed by architect Peter Eisenman and engineer Buro Happold. Very impressive!
Reichstag,Platz der Republik. The Reichstag Building is the seat of the German parliament.
6. See Art
Berlin has some great places to go. But where to start? At home, buy your tickets online. So you don't have to wait in the long lines :-). Don't forget to check the current exhibitions on the websites.
New National Gallery,Potsdamer Straße 50. Here you find a large collection of pieces covers paintings and sculptures of modern art.
Old National Gallery,Bodestraße 1-3. Here you find mainly 19th century art and sculpture. It is located on the famous museum island.
Tanya Leighton Gallery,Kurfürstenstraße 156. Its international exhibition program reflects a variety of opinions and practices as well as Leighton’s associations with American and British experimental cinema, artist’s film and video, performance, minimal and conceptual art. Be sure to check the opening hours as we cycled 20 minutes to find out it was closed :-(
CFA Gallery,Am Kupfergraben 10. This Contemporary Fine Arts Gallery is directed by Bruno Brunnet, Nicole Hackert and Philipp Haverkampf and located opposite the Museum Island.
7. Check the weather and if the stores are open.
Bring warm clothes! We had some really cold weather -even snow- for which we were totally NOT prepared. It is a good excuse to shop though...
Check out if the shops are open if you go. E.g. easter weekend the shops are closed Easter Sunday and Monday. Museums are open most of the time, however check their website to be sure though. We also had some problems with ATM's so bring enough cash or a credit card.
About Eef Ouwehand specializes in portrait and contemporary photography. www.eefphotography.com. Kristel Slagter owns a boutique trust company in Curacao. www.ducat-trust.com.
Together they own Divas Publishing, Inc. www.divas-publishing.com, info@divas-publishing.com
Last time I was in Curaçao & Bonaire I had the honor to photograph
Kristel. Kristel is an enthousiast hard worker. And next to that a real diva, she always looks amazing (and has a great collection dresses and shoes!).
Below a short interview with Kristel.
1. Sinds when do you live in Curaçao?
Since Augustus 2011.
2. What do you miss most about The Netherlands?
My beloved ones and the beautiful changes of the Dutch seasons.
4. What do you like most about your job?
Divas & DUCAT = Dynamic & Divers. For me the perfect combination to be working in a creative, commercial and business environment.
5. What would you never throw away?
Certain photographs.
6. Which work of art (book, painting, sculpture, song, cd) would you love to have made?
Nothing specific, but I think it would be great to have a good sinning voice (which I totally don't have ;-) and reach peoples emotions through my voice
I was with Kristel in
Bonaire three weeks ago to seek out locations for our new book (on…Bonaire :-)). We drove from one beautiful place to the next. Each
time we thought the ocean couldn’t get any bluer, we were proven wrong with
each stop. At the salt-extraction
factory, there are beautiful mounds of salt- you can’t believe your eyes! – not
to mention the pink and green water.
I wish I could have a drink here with this amazing view of the ocean!
The crystal-clear water of Lac Bay. And such beautiful “Dutch clouds”!
I last visited Jibe City in 2005, and what definitely
hasn’t changed is the pleasant and laid-back
ambiance.
These just make me so
happy! Bright pink bougainville
constrasting against bright blue skies…
Everything
is this shade of pink at Bonaire’s Flamingo
Airport!
It
makes it really hard to think, with this view in sight! Know what I mean? This
beautiful pink water reminds me of Dutch tulip fields.
Here
are the mounds of salt I was talking about earlier. It can be so SURREAL!
Definitely when combined with the pink water (we’re going to be saving these
breathtaking pictures for the book).
Bonaire
is known for its famous dive sites.
This is one of them; you walk right in, all geared up, to enjoy the beauty and splendor underwater life has
to offer. I can’t wait for the underwater shoot I’ll be doing next year, when
we will begin shooting the different locations of the book!
Do
you have a cool tip on a Bonaire site
that you think should appear in the book? Let
us know!
They
have produced two books, postcards, calendars, and wall art; all to do with
Curaçao. They are now working on their third book—this time about the beautiful island of Bonaire.
Want
to know more about the ‘travel & leisure guides’ about Curaçao? You can
check it out here.
If
you would like your own copy or to purchase a gift, you can clickhere if you live in Curaçao you can look here were you can buy the book.
We knew for a while that we wanted to leave Holland. My husband had to go to Curaçao to perform, and we instantly fell in love with the place, so much so that within a year, we purchased a plot of land to start building a home!
2. What inspired you to start project Nos Welita?
I knew I wanted to do something for the island. Poverty is pretty widespread here. After delivering food packets to families island-wide, I noticed that living situations for many are still really terrible. I’m talking about families with seven or more children who don’t have access to drinkable water or electricity. And children sleeping on dirt floors, who have no shoes to wear to school.
That’s when I started my own organization in Curaçao, with the goal of improving housing situations for the poor. We provide the raw materials, and with the help of family and friends, houses are built. We then make sure these families find jobs. So, what we do is provide a new start for families that didn’t know there was a way out.
In an effort to generate more publicity, we’ve been contacted by a radio station to tackle a larger project. This project eventually became the home for the elderly/Nos Welita.
We have been working on this project for three years now, and we hope to have it up and running by Easter. It has been made possible through donations and volunteers.
I have truly been inspired by this. I am grateful for any donation, whatever the amount. Nos Welita can only come into fruition through donations from companies and people who are willing to make it happen. I am driven even more to succeed whenever someone lends a helping hand, whether big or small.
That is my inspiration.
3. What is your secret to success?
Since day one, I have always believed that this project will be successful; believing that something will work out is very important. It is also important to be yourself, and to surround yourself with people who are just as enthusiastic as you are. A good dose of luck now and then does the trick too!
4. What will be your next project?
Many people don’t know that, for years now, I’ve been painting and making sculptures out of stone. Once Nos Welita is built, I would like to focus more on my art. It just feels so good to be creative. Although, I haven’t had much time for my creative projects these past few years.
5. What is your favorite location on the island?
My favorite place on the island is my own home; we live really close to Willibrordus. Everyday, I realize that we live somewhere so unique. I am very happy in Curaçao.
Today, Kristel Slagter and Eef Ouwehand—the
two ladies behind Divas Publishing, Inc.—met with Sandra Hay (president of Biba
Miho) to donate five pieces of colorful wall art to Nos Welita. The retirement
home is currently under construction (initiated in April 2011 by the
donation-based Biba Miho) and will be displayed in the newly-created home in
the near future.
Please visit out website and Facebook for
more information on who we are, and what we do!
Mini Iyengar, Kristel Slagter, Jennifer van der Kwast, Eef Ouwehand & Kristel Gabriella at the booklaunch party in Curacao.
Please tell us a bit about your background
I would love to say that I was born and raised in Curacao, but that's not actually true. I was born in a hospital in Philadelphia and officially moved to the island less than a month later. When I was 15 we moved to the U.S.A. I finished high school in Florida and studied at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Until last year I lived in New York and worked as a writer (author of the novel Pounding the Pavement) and a film producer (Boys of Summer). Now I live in Amsterdam where I write for several magazines, websites, blogs and I am working on a top secret guide book project.
When you were a child, what would you do on a special occasion?
You get spoiled when you grow up on Curaçao. It's hard to take beaches seriously anywhere else. We would go to Barbara Beach by boat every Sunday. If we needed to mix it up a bit, we would go to Banda Abou for family trips to San Juan. We would go with my mom and her friends. They would go scuba diving, while the rest of us would snorkel and BBQ. Someone, one of my brothers probably, would suggest going hiking in the mondi. The day wasn't over until someone stepped on a sea urchin or a pika and ended up crying.
Amazing aqua blue waters
Did you always keep a connection with Curaçao?
Later when I moved to the States with my mother in 1991, I went back once a year. My husband and I would always stay at my father's house in Banda Abou during the holiday vacations. The cheapest day to fly was on Christmas, December 25th. We would arrive in the house at Cas Abou and there would be no food, water or coffee. I remember being excited when the Kura Hulanda Lodge opened up, because we knew it had to open on Christmas for the sake of the tourists. We would go shopping for food in the gift shop. We had chocolate bars and Fanta for Christmas dinner that year. Funny to write about it for the book – it will always remind me of Christmas.
Delicious food at Kura Hullanda Lodge
In 2008 you came back a bit longer and stayed for 4 months, what did you
do?
I made the documentary film, Boys of Summer. Boys of Summer is an independent feature-length documentary about the Curaçao little league All-Star team and their journey to make it to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA. We followed sixteen kids, training and at home with their families. At the end of filming, we took all the kids to Cas Abou beach. They loved it.
At that time I also started writing regularly for Curaçao magazines. For Experience Curaçao I wrote a piece about cooking in Curaçao and did a thorough investigation of the restaurants on the island. I’ve also written for Hyatt Curaçao, covering the island restaurants, shops, beaches, sports and special events. That was the start of my food and travel writing career.
So when you were asked to write for the Curaçao Banda Abou travel guide by Divas Publishing it was a “thuis wedstrijd”?
Yes, I grew up in Curacao, and have been back every year since. I have been writing quite a bit about the island. I must say I was surprised that there were still so many locations in the book I did NOT know. Some because they were just brand new (e.g. Karakter and Landhuis Misje) and some I just had never heard of (e.g. Houtjes baai and the Hato paintings by Kirindongo). I loved exploring all the new locations and writing about them. I hope readers get a good sense of my excitement. It really is amazing that there is so much of the island still left to explore!
The book is available for purchase in bookstores, art galleries, and souvenir shops in Curaçao. For a list of al the sellingpoints, click here. Want to see a sneak peek of the inside, click here. The price of the book is NAF 55 (excl. OB)
In Holland and Belgium the book is available from the webshop, the bookstores and bol.com. The price of the book is €24,95 (including tax & shipping)
Divas Publishing, Inc. creates & publishes beautiful books with quality editorial content and amazing photography. We want to “make a difference” e.g. distinguish from other books in terms of look, content & price. Next to books we publish calenders, postcards and Divas Publishing organizes a photo exhibition every year.
Divas Publishing, Inc. cares about the environment and the impact we have on it. We choose our printer Chevallier because they developed an extensive Environmental Management System embracing all activities and measures to preserve the environment and create a better society. “The environment, our care” has been part of their policy and company objectives since 1986.
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Photography & Tekst
Texts by: Kristel Slagter, a lawyer in the financial services industry with a passion for the arts, architecture and interior design decided to follow her heart and produce and publish stylish books. Together with Eef Ouwehand she established the publishing company Divas Publishing, Inc.
Photographs by:
Eef Ouwehand specializes in portrait and contemporary photography and has produced advertising and editorial photography for websites and magazines. With her creativity she captures the uniqueness of all things beautiful. She lives and works in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Curaçao.
