Last December, we spent the Christmas holiday season in Oaxaca City and thoroughly enjoyed all their local holiday traditions of fiestas, parades, marching bands, and even a  radish carving festival . Oaxaca is the southernmost state in Mexico, and their cuisine is celebrated worldwide and heavily promoted by celebrity chefs like  Rick Bayless . Moles (sauces made with peppers, nuts, and chocolate) are often featured in Oaxacan cuisine. While I was there, I was lucky to be able to take a private cooking class with  Roxana Hernandez , a local artist and home cook extraordinaire who taught me how to make an authentic Oaxacan chicken stew with a red mole as a key ingredient. The cooking lesson took place in her upstairs outdoor home kitchen with traditional wood-fired stoves and clay pots. The stew itself is pretty standard, except for the broth. The combination of exotic spices and the addition of a homemade mole made this dish special and uniquely Oaxacan. Her...

Ceviche is a Latin American raw seafood dish that has been marinated in citrus juice. This centuries-old tradition of “cooking” seafood without heat originated in Peru but is common all along the Pacific coast up to Mexico. Fish and shrimp ceviche are most common, but the first time I had the scallop version was in Oaxaca, the southernmost state of Mexico. Most ceviche is made with lime juice, onion, jalapeno peppers, and cilantro, but the Oaxacan version also had mangos, which adds a lovely sweet note to the flavor profile. Usually served as a cold appetizer, ceviche is deceptively simple to make, full of potent flavors, and a refreshing summer treat that's also good anytime of the year. Here's the recipe:  www.cooking-with-paul.com/recipes/mexican-scallop-ceviche.html   We'll be making this dish and two other unique dishes at our Oaxacan Flavors cooking class on October 2 . There are only 3 seats left for this class, so register soon. Full m...

The fall edition of the Urbana Park District Program Guide is now out, and this means that fall registration will be open soon. Mark your calendar for August 6 if you want to be first to sign up for our fall cooking classes. If you already have the catalog, flip to page 28 to preview all the cooking classes coming this fall — and they're all new! Here's a summary of what's coming up in our long-running PRINCIPLES OF ETHNIC COOKING class series at Urbana Park District's Phillips Recreation Center. This is a series of "cooking parties" where all students will participate in the preparation of the dishes on the menu: On  September 11 , I will be sharing the results of my latest home kitchen experiments in a Taste of Georgia class. Georgia is a former Soviet state nestled between Europe and Asia with a unique and vibrant cuisine. Join us for this special Georgian feast, which will include the world-famous Georgian Kharcho (beef stew) and two other exot...