Around the World in the Hetzel Kitchen

So here we are. My kids have convinced me to start cooking around the world again. We've decided to start with Iran, because I don't remember what I did last time. I do have the pictures though and they tell quite the story. The rice was supposed to be crunchy on the bottom, Kevin melted his skewers, and I set a towel on fire. Oh, and Katie came to visit!    But that was then. This time, we're in Colorado! And we've decided to be ambitious. Three full Iranian recipes, because we have the manpower. Iran is a country in the Middle East between Iraq and Pakistan. It is over 1.6 million square kilometers, making it the 18th largest country in the world. It is still slightly smaller than Alaska. Almost 82 million people live there, making it the 17th most populous country. The capital is Tehran. ( I had actually written this paragraph back 6 or so years ago. Finally get to use it...woo! ) I may also look at moving to WordPress where I

 Hey - remember when I used to do this blogging thing? When I only had three kids? When the kids I did have were a lot less...vocal? So, it turns out, those kids (there are four of them now, btw) really wanted me to get back to doing this. Apparently they have opinions? I hemmed and hawed for a long time, but they said they would try to keep the house extra-clean so that I would have time for this. We'll see. The four persuasive goofballs at Black Canyon of the Gunnison Then we had to decide where to go. Start over? From where I left off writing, or where I left off cooking? Because I had actually cooked several countries since I last wrote: Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, and Italy. But I didn't remember much about them, since I hadn't written it down. So we decided to start there. Cook those countries again. Teach the kids a little about culture. Maybe learn some new cooking techniques. Have them complain about trying new things. So, yes. I am back. We'll see how long th

We're going to interrupt our regularly scheduled program to talk about Try the World. Try the World is a subscription box where you get food from a different country with every box. I saw this and immediately knew that this was something I had to try. My first box was France. It was nice and fun but different that what I was expecting. There were preserves and caramels and honey and tea. Those are great, but I can get them here. Yes, I know that they were French and therefore probably way more special, but I don't think my palate is discerning enough for that. Plus none of that really involved making food. I did get some finishing salt though, so that was kinda cool. The next one was Japan. It was completely the opposite. There were some candies and caramels and tea, but most of the rest was so that you could cook one dish: Okonomiyaki. Basically, Japanese cabbage pancakes. I was really excited to do this. New and different, yay! Then things started to go w

Indonesia is an archipelago in Southeast Asia. It is the third most populous democracy in the world and the largest majority-Muslim nation. It is the 15th largest country by area, which makes it less than three times the size of Texas. It consists of over 17,000 islands, about 6000 of which are inhabited. Over 255 million people live there, making it the 5th most populous country in the world. The capital, Jakarta, is located on the island of Java. With over 145 million people, it is the most populous island in the world. Read more at the CIA World Factbook and, of course, Wikipedia . I know it has been a long time, but in case you have forgotten, I actually own a Southeast Asian cookbook. I have only gotten to use it once before, for Cambodia , with some great results. In reviewing entries to try to figure out if I had used the book for more than that I realized that we haven't done many Asia countries recently. That will certainly be changing here soon! Even wi

For India the Third we mix things up a bit. This is a Northern India recipe that comes to me via my former boss in Virginia. She's actually from Pittsburgh, but we will still take her word on authentic Indian cuisine. :-) We may have gotten a little excited about Christmas and I have relatively few pictures of just Joey... Not only that, but we were in Colorado! Nothing better than trying out a new curry recipe on the in-laws, right? Kevin prepped by sharpening some knives. First note: make sure you actually use a Dutch oven, or something that is intended to go on the stove top, not actually in the oven. It is very important. Anyway! Cumin seeds and cinnamon sticks? Not the way I'm used to starting a heavily-spiced dish, so let's try it! And of course onions. Always onions. I read in one of the comments to mix the chicken and yogurt and some spices ahead of time to enhance the flavor, but I can't find it for the life of me now. That's what I did