Pinchos are small finger foods served at bars and taverns throughout the Basque Country straggling the border between Spain and France. In the center of Basque country is San Sebastian, a world-renowned culinary destination with the second most Michelin stars per capita in the world (after Kyoto, Japan). The city is also known for pinchos (or "pintxos" in Spanish) which are found in the bars of the Old Quarter and elsewhere in the city. Similar to tapas, pinchos have a strong socializing component and are are usually eaten in bars as a snack with wine, sangria or sherry. So what is the difference between pinchos and tapas? Pinchos (literally "spike" in Spanish) uses a toothpick to skewer the goodies to a slice of bread. No spike? Not a pincho, just a tapa.  We'll be making a lot of pinchos and tapas at both our upcoming Spanish Tapas Feast cooking class and our Barcelona pop-up dinner event. Unfortunately, the cooking class is already sold out, but seats are st...

It's going to be a busy fall season at both Common Ground Food Co-op and Urbana Park District's Phillips Recreation Center as we've scheduled a full season of six cooking classes starting in September.  The first class will be "A Taste of Palestine" on September 21 at the Phillips Recreation Center's James Room Kitchen . For the first time, I will step back and assist Fairouz AbuGhazaleh who be the chef du jour and cook up several of her family recipes. According to Fairouz, "Palestinian food begins at home with recipes that evoke feelings of homesickness, happiness and nostalgia that have been passed down by generations." This class is part of my continuing series called "Flavor Principles of Ethnic Cooking" where we travel around and sample the best tasting ethnic cuisines available ( see full menus and details ). If you want to attend this class or the other classes in this series, please register today . From past experience, we know...