Around the World in the Hetzel Kitchen

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...

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...

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...

Sometime in high school (maybe?), my friend Bill decided that we should all get together and make Greek food.  There may have been precedent for doing an ethnic food day, I don't know.  All I remember is that somehow I, who didn't know much more than boiling noodles and making frozen pizzas, was picking out a recipe called something like "Athena Pudding" to make from scratch. The only thing I remember about the recipe is that there was orange zest in it.  I was really weirded out by putting the outside of my orange in a dish.  I didn't like the end result.  His mom said she did.  I am still suspicious. Bill made some kind of meatballs and they were good.  I believe Amy may have made something too.  It was a long time ago.  But I guess the seeds of ethnic cooking were set? This time I avoided the pudding and skipped the meatballs.  I decided to go all out with what I thought of as Greek: lamb.  Not only that, but lamb with a cu...