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...

  When traveling, my favorite thing to do is to try new dishes with exotic ingredients that I'm not familiar with. My second favorite thing to do is to take cooking classes with local cooks who want to share their favorite recipes. On a recent trip to Oaxaca, I had just such an opportunity.  This was our third time going down to the southern-most state of Mexico. Oaxaca City just happens to be one of best places in the world to celebrate the Christmas season. Oaxacans are very traditional, and their Christmas celebrations involve a week of fiestas, parades, marching bands, and even a  radish carving festival . Oaxaca is also where the best mezcal is made. Small batch artisenal mezcal from Oaxaca is highly prized internationally. Oaxacan cuisine is also 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, and this chicken stew includ...

The spring 2024 edition of the "Flavor Principles of Ethnic Cooking" series starts on February 15. This series always sells out fast and as of today, two out of the three classes have already sold out. However, there is still one seat left for the Mexican cooking class on Thursday, March 14 at 6pm.  Although the Chinese and Ethiopian classes are full, Urbana Park District does have a wait list and you can still add your name to this list. Full menus and registration links are on my  website . Tuition starts at $40 per class for in-district residents of Champaign County. All my cooking classes are for adults and the tuition includes a two-course dinner complete with wine, beer, and/or cocktails. Do come hungry and thirsty because these classes are "dinner party-style" events where we'll be tasting and eating everything that will be made that night. Whenever possible, students will get to participate by helping me make a dish or two. I'll also share all the ...

Reminder: registration for all Urbana Park District spring 2024 programs starts today. This includes the next edition of the "Flavor Principles of Ethnic Cooking" series. From past experience, we know that this series sells out fast. Full menus and registration links are on my website . Tuition starts at $40 per class for in-district residents of Champaign County. In the seventh season of this long-running "dinner party-style" cooking classes, you'll be able to learn how to make almost anything taste Chinese, Mexican, or Ethiopian. In each of these classes, we'll be deconstructing the recipes of each cuisine and breaking down the flavor principles of these culinary traditions. By following a few master recipes and utilizing simple flavor profiles, you will be able to customize and adjust your own favorite recipes and make tasty ethnic dishes every night for dinner. Do come hungry and thirsty because the tuition includes a two-course dinner complete with ...

Back in fall 2021, I approached Janet Soesbe at Phillips Recreation Center with a cooking class proposal. Janet is the community program manager for all of Urbana Park District, and at the end of our 15 minute meeting, she signed off on a new cooking class series that we called "Flavor Principles of Ethnic Cooking." The series was a big hit and almost every class sold out. After teaching more than 18 of these classes in their beautiful James Room Demonstration Kitchen, it's almost time to  celebrate our two-year anniversary. And how are we going to do that? By not changing a thing and repeating what we've been doing for the last two years. I mean, why fix something that's not broken? So starting in spring 2024, we're going to offer the same cooking classes that we offered in spring 2022. This means if you tried to register for a class in the past but couldn't get in, this is your chance to try again. Be warned, some of these classes do sell out fast...