Around the World in the Hetzel Kitchen

Guyana is a country in Northern South America between Suriname and Venezuela - one of the smaller ones on the top right corner on the map that people seem to have a hard time remembering.  It is slightly smaller than Idaho.  It has been both a Dutch and British colony.  Three quarters of the population are Afro-Guyanese or Indo-Guyanese.  A lot of indentured laborers came over from India and made a huge cultural and ethnic impact.  Read more in the CIA World Factbook . This Indian influence explains the recipe that stood out to me when I was looking through lots of lists: Chicken Curry .  Yes, a curry recipe that claims to be authentically Guyanese.  This I had to try. The recipe didn't specifically say you had to start with a full chicken, just "3 lb chicken cut up into small pieces."  I decided I had to do this, though.  Despite the fact I've done it a lot, I still don't enjoy it.  I was also highly disappointed at the yield. ...

Kevin and I went to Italy in 2009.  More about that when I actually get to Italy in my regular country cooking.  While we were there we had lots and lots of good food.  Amazing food.  One thing that I particularly remembered was Spaghetti alla Carbonara. Fast forward to our first Valentines Day as a married couple and I wanted to make something delicious.  I looked through my favorite cookbook and found a recipe one for that same Italian dish.  Boom.  Decision made.  It was really good and became a regular item on the menu. (Unfortunately the chocolate cake that Kevin made on that Valentine's Day got knocked off of the counter by the cat.) I highly recommend this cookbook! Before each recipe it has a long description of what the recipe is and how they came to this version.  They try a lot of different things and then taste test them all.  I kinda want that job. Spaghetti alla Carbonara is basically spaghetti noodles in a ...