Around the World in the Hetzel Kitchen

Blah.  Clearly I am having a hard time keeping up with this thing.  I was going to get two done over Labor Day Weekend.  Two!  Instead, because I couldn't find the right ingredients, I got none.  That is two fewer than two, for those of you keeping track at home. Sometimes it gets overwhelming, thinking how much I still have to go.  Thinking about the grocery stores I have to find, the time I have the invest, the writing I have to do.  It can be hard to motivate myself to find the next recipe.  But the hardest, absolute worst, part is knowing that I could spend 5 hours and a lot of money and still end up with something that tastes awful.  It is really disheartening. Anyway, I apologize.  That is my ranting and moaning for now.  I promise, I plan to continue.  I think I have just lost a little momentum.  But now, back to your regularly scheduled program! Background : Uninhabited until the 15th century when they were u...

Location : Western Africa, north of Ghana Size : Almost 275,00 sq km; 74th largest in the world         Slightly larger than Colorado Population : Over 16.75 million; 61st largest in the world Birth rate : Almost 44 births/1000 population; 5th largest in the world Capital : Ouagadougou Infant mortality rate : About 81 deaths/1000 live births; 10th highest in the world Former name : Republic of Upper Volta Borders : Unresolved boundary alignments with Mali, Niger, and Benin Source: CIA Factbook Sorry for the rarity of posts lately.  Summer is going to be a sporadic time with weddings and vacations and such.  Luckily I have still been cooking so far. Often, when searching for recipes, I narrow it to a few and then send them to Kevin for his opinion.  In this case, it was down to  Munyu Caf Couscous  and Riz Au Gras .  I mention this specifically to point out that my husband got to choose between these,...

Background : Was in turmoil for much of the 1990's, breaking off from the former Yugoslavia and engaging in ethnic wars Random : The warring parties initialed a peace agreement in Dayton, Ohio Location : Southeast Europe Area : Under 52,000 km; 128th in the world          Slightly smaller than West Virginia Population : Over 4.6 million; 120th in the world Birth rate : 8.9 births/1000 population, 212/222 in the world Capital : Sarajevo Borders : Still some disputes with Serbia along the Drina River Bosnian cuisine : Many spices in moderate quantities Source:  CIA World Factbook ,  Wikipedia Most of what I know about Bosnia and Herzegovina comes from one source: Zlata's Diary .  I can't be the only person with this memory, can I?  The specifics are eluding me, but considering I devoured books in grade school the fact that I could even recall this was about Sarajevo means it made an impression. The national dish of ...