On those days when I wish I could abandon responsibility for life as a vagabond, cooking international food helps me focus my energies on something productive, and hopefully, tasty. Picking up some obscure herbs or sauces at the Lanexang Asian grocery or finding a rare mamey fruit at Supermercado El Rey reminds me of all the food discoveries I have made in China, Thailand, India and Mexico.

This past winter, while working at an event with my friend Britta Kramer of Private Palate Personal Chef Services (www.privatepalate.com), we started talking about traveling. She was interested in visiting Thailand, but I was planning a February trip to Mexico with my husband.

"Why don't you come along?" I suggested. Flights are running just $300 round-trip from O'Hare, I explained. And that was that.

We eventually settled on two weeks in Mexico, including several days with my husband's family in Libres, Puebla, a week in the city of Oaxaca, one of Mexico's food capitals, and a much-needed four nights on Oaxaca's Pacific coast beaches, also known as the Costa Chica.

Britta planned to turn this trip into a culinary adventure, and I had no complaints. We spent the days with my mother-in-law touring the town's colorful markets, hand-making blue corn tortillas from scratch and learning to make cactus salad and Mexican lamb stew.

We bussed to Oaxaca and immediately discovered the draw of this famed colonial city. The town center (zocalo) is surrounded with gorgeous, historic buildings, the whole area lively with music and activity, the food simply fabulous. Oaxaca is known for molé, a rich, flavorful sauce that usually goes with chicken or turkey. It's known to have dozens of ingredients, including various dried chiles, nuts and chocolate.

After spending two days seeing the sights we started looking for the right cooking class. I called one small cooking school, Casa Crespo, after seeing its web site. I had an awkward Spanish conversation with the owner, who welcomed us to come check out his small B&B and set up a class two days later. We happened to be just a few blocks from the place at the time, so we wandered over.

The owner, Oscar Carrizosa, is a painter, chef and host. Along with a colleague he holds reservations-only dinners in the lovely courtyard of the house, teaches a few cooking classes a week, and runs the two-room B&B. We were sold on the class in a few minutes. We would have breakfast the day of the class while discussing the menu, walk to a nearby market and purchase what we needed, then come back to cook for a few hours, and eat the results together. His classes were cheaper than some of the other Oaxacan cooking schools and because it would be just Britta and I, we could chose whatever dishes we wanted to learn.

The morning of the class we enjoyed strong local coffee and fresh bread with homemade jams of jamaica flower and a fruit called tecojote (no idea what that is in English, but it's delicious). We headed to the local market to get what we needed, Oscar pointing out herbs used for the temazcal steam baths traditional in Oaxaca. He also explained that vendors sitting on the ground in the market with their items on a cloth in front of them are likely selling products they grew themselves outside the city, while those with permanent stalls likely buy wholesale and resell.

Returning to the house, we heated the griddle (comal) to start roasting tomatoes and peppers for salsas. We rolled out dough (maza) for the homemade tortillas, soaked rose petals for a special ice cream and chopped various items for a special fruit molé with chicken. One appetizer consisted of the flowers from a squash plant stripped of their stems, opened and stuffed with a piece of fresh cheese, battered and fried - a sort of squash flower relleno. Combined with one of the salsas - toasted dried chile peppers, garlic and onion, the flavors were spectacular.

The photo shows a shrimp and fish soup we made pre-Hispanic style. We put together a simple tomato and fish base, threw in the raw shrimp and sea bass, and then added a fiery hot river rock to each bowl. The dishes sizzled and boild instantly, cooking the seafood to perfection in moments. We garnished with cilantro and jalapeno. According to Oscar, centuries ago the Aztec people cooked fish in this manner. It was fun to watch, and exceptionally tasty.

We drank Coronas (which are much tastier in Mexico!), got to know Oscar, learned a few tricks of Oaxacan food and left the class extremely satisfied, in both mind and stomach.