Around the World in the Hetzel Kitchen

Photo courtesy of --Tico-- on Flick History : After much expanding and collapsing, underwent the "velvet divorce" in 1993, splitting into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Location : Central Europe Area : Almost 80,000 sq km; 116th largest in the world.  Slightly smaller than South Carolina Borders :  Austria , Germany, Poland, Slovakia Geography : Landlocked Nationality : Czech Population : Over 10 million; 84th largest in the world Capital : Prague Source:  CIA Factbook And you thought CY would end the C countries. The Czech Republic is exciting in that the country as it exists today was formed in my lifetime.  Also, because I have heard some interesting stories from Prague.  For the sake of those involved, I won't go into them here.  Just learn from their lesson: don't go onstage in a foreign country. I found a recipe that I was pretty excited about, because it was "the dish" to make almost everywhere I read about Czech food. ...

Name : Named after Simon Bolivar Location : Central South America, southwest of Brazil Area : Over 1,000,000 sq km, 28th in the world          Slightly less than three times the size of Montana (what a horrible comparison...) Coast : One of only two landlocked countries in South America (thanks, Social Studies!) Population : Over 10 million, 83rd in the world Capital : La Paz, highest capital in the world Religion : 95% Roman Catholic Conventional Long Form of Name : Plurinational State of Bolivia Diplomacy : In 2008, both the US and Bolivia expelled the ambassador to the other country.  These positions remain vacant. Airports : 881, 8th in the world Drugs : World's third-largest cultivator of coca; 3rd largest producer of cocaine Source:  CIA World Factbook From the beginning, Bolivia was a country I was looking forward to.  And no, not because of a Jeopardy question this time.  Now, we're back to grade school an...