Around the World in the Hetzel Kitchen

Honduras is in Central America bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean. It is slightly larger than Tennessee and has almost 9 million people. The official language is Spanish and the capital is Tegucigalpa. It is one of the poorest countries in Latin America with the world's highest murder rate. Read more at the CIA World Factbook . Sometimes it is really hard to decide what recipe to do for a country. There are too many options, or nothing out there are all. Then there are the countries where you do a search and Carne Asada comes up and you don't need to look anymore. There were, of course, multiple versions of the recipe, so I did have to do some deciding. I ended up with this recipe from a blog doing the same thing that I am. Hello fellow world cooker! Kevin's parents came to visit us in early September, so it seemed like a good time to plan this one. The weather was great and we had company, so why not make something delicious? Flank steak ...

Haiti, along with the Dominican Republic , is one of the two countries on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Haiti declared independence from France in 1804, making it one of the first post-colonial nations. It is currently considered the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. French and Creole are the official languages. The country is slightly smaller than Maryland, with over 10 million citizens. Port-au-Prince is the capital. Read more at the CIA World Factbook . I have never been to Haiti, but feel a slight connection. In high school, one of my close friends and her family went there often to help on medical mission trips. More recently, my little brother Patrick has gone two years in a row to help do some work there too. I have art up in the house that they have brought back for me and I have heard plenty of stories. I would love to go someday and try to help and get to know the people as well. I reached out for some help on what I should make for Haiti. Might as well g...

Ugh, losing everything you wrote is awesome.  Let's try this again... Guatemala is a Central American nation slightly smaller than the size of Pennsylvania.  There are over 14.5 million people living there, and the capital city is Guatemala City.  Learn more on the CIA World Factbook . I didn't have anything in mind when looking for a recipe to make for Guatemala.  When I saw Guatemalan Tacos (second on the page), however, I figured it was a match made in heaven.  We do Taco Tuesdays almost every week, but these were definitely different than the heavily seasoned meat + flour tortillas we were used to.  Plus there were ingredients I wasn't used to using.  Perfect! This was also the first around the world cooking after the twins were born.  In fact, they were four months old by this time.  Wasn't going to get anything done before that. Amelia left, Emily right Around the time of this dinner So anyway, back to cooking.  Boi...

You know what?  I could write out a bunch of facts about Grenada for you, or I could just l ink to the source .  The CIA Factbook is full of info.  And it is doing stuff like this that gets me so far behind.  So instead, let me summarize. Grenada is in the Caribbean.  It is small, like most islands.  Twice the size of DC, it was "discovered" by Columbus himself.  Oh, and we went there on our honeymoon cruise. It was a Sunday and my brother's birthday, so we took a taxi to a Church and also found a restaurant with WiFi so we could send him a birthday message.  Grenada is known as the "Isle of Spice" because of all of the spices grown and sold there, so we decided to order some stuff at the restaurant.  Kevin wanted to try a "Cheeseburger in Paradise." It was awful. So instead we went and explored and looked for some spice shops and stands.  We know we must have been getting into local flair because people kept asking if we were l...

Photo courtesy of user Rick's Pic (Montreal) on Flickr Background : Independence from Spain in 1821 and from the Central American Federation in 1839 Location : Central America, Pacific Ocean side, between Guatemala and Honduras Area : Over 21,000 sq km; 153rd largest in the world          Slightly smaller than Massachusetts Natural Hazards : Known as the "Land of Volcanoes" Geography : Smallest Central American country, the only one that doesn't border the Caribbean Sea Noun : Salvadoran Population : Over 6 millions; 107th largest in the world Capital : San Salvador Economy : Third largest economy in the region Source:  CIA Factbook As I have mentioned before, when I start my search, I always look for a national dish first.  This usually brings up some interesting results, as people don't have concensus for most countries.  The exception was El Salvador.  Every place I looked brought up one dish: Pupusas .  And since the...