Here are some pictures from our Palestinian cooking party

  

Last week, guest chef Fairouz Abu-Ghazaleh led a fabulous hands-on Palestinian cooking class. Twelve students participated, and boy, did we cook up a storm. We started the cooking party with freshly brewed mint tea and a brief introduction. Then the action started with dessert first because we needed time to bake it in the oven. Our dessert that night was Namura, an eggless sweet cake that was soaked in sugar syrup enhanced with orange blossom water. Next, we made homemade hummus from scratch and paused to enjoy our snack. Then we cooked up a Middle Eastern frittata called Ejjeh, and finally we made a Palestinian pizza called Manaqeesh. All-in-all, a good time was had by all, and there were even plenty of leftovers to take home (see full photo gallery). 

This class was part of our long-running PRINCIPLE OF ETHNIC COOKING class series at Urbana Park District's Phillips Recreation Center. This series is now in its third year, and our summer season is now open for registration (hurry, one class is already sold out). Planning has also started for our fall season, which will include a brand-new Oaxaca Mexican cooking class and guest chef Kayla Lammy's personal take on Italian cuisine. Want to become a guest chef in one of my classes? Just send me an email. I'm also open to future cuisine requests and suggestions! 

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More information about my cooking classes and pop-up events can always be found on my website, where you'll also find over 200 recipes from my classes (no ads!). You can also subscribe to my email newsletter or follow me on Instagram or Facebook and like my posts. Bon appétit!