Meaning: Uncooked or unhealed.
Examples:
This chicken’s still raw! You’d better cook it for longer.
He likes his steak very red – almost raw, in fact.
I got two teeth taken out yesterday, so the inside of my mouth’s still pretty raw.
Pop Quiz:
How do you like your carrots?
A. Boiled
B. Steamed
C. Raw
To see the correct answer, click on “Continue reading”:
Here’s another food story from Class 3C. After you finish reading, take the quiz to test your comprehension!
Free Lunch
Yongsheng Zhang
One day fifteen years ago, my friends and I visited a new department store called Asia Department Store in Zhenzhou City. It was the biggest department store in Henan province.
We first saw an elevator and we went into it. We were excited and took it up and down a few times. We just window shopped; we didn’t want to buy anything. We looked all over the department store. We were tired and hungry; everyone wanted to eat a big lunch.
We went to the food court. There were restaurants; we didn’t know which one was better. I saw one that was not crowded and it was cheap and clean. We went into it and sat at a table. A waiter gave us menus and we quickly ordered some good dishes.
The cooks cooked very fast. We just drank a half cup of tea, and the waiter served all the dishes. We ate eagerly because we were very hungry. One of us said, “The dishes were great! We should eat slowly and savor the taste. We also should drink some beer.”
We ordered some beer. We were eating and chatting; we were very happy. Suddenly, one of us shouted, “My teeth!”
“What happened?” we asked him.
“I bit a stone! My teeth hurt!” he said.
We called the waiter and asked him what to do. He didn’t know, so we asked to speak to his boss. He apologized with sincerity and gave my friend five yuan to buy some painkiller and asked us not to talk more about it, just pay the bill then go.
We were angry, we told him, “We will call 110!”
He was very scared. “Please don’t call 110. What do you want?”
We didn’t know what to do. One of us said, “Don’t pay the bill for the lunch.”
The boss said, “No problem, it’s my treat.”
We didn’t pay for lunch and didn’t take the five yuan either.
This time Class 3C has written stories – some true, some not so true – which focus on food. Read one below – as far as we know, it’s true. After you finish reading, take the quiz to test your comprehension.
My First Meal
Olivia Medina
When I was a kid, my mother cooked such delicious food. I never cooked when I lived with my parents. I usually helped my mom cook.
But one day my mom had an appointment, so she said, “Oly, you need to cook for your brothers.”
I said, “What? Why? I can’t! I’ve never cooked. I don’t want to cook for my brothers.”
“Never mind,” she said. “The refrigerator has everything you need.”
Well, I started cooking. I chopped vegetables and I prepared tomato sauce. I cooked vegetable soup. My brothers ate what was prepared and I was shocked when they finished it all.
My brothers said, “Thanks, Oly. It was so delicious. You are the best sister. Never change.” They cleaned the table and washed the dishes. And from that day I cooked every Thursday for my brothers.
Attention, foodies! Class 1B recently wrote about food – recipes, essays about personal experience, and advice. Read one story below and take the quiz afterwards to test your comprehension. Bon appetit!
Grandmother’s Bakery
Jennifer Alonzo
This story is about my grandmother. She wanted to open a bakery because she wanted to leave a legacy to her family. Her dream was to bake cakes and cookies and other desserts for events, birthdays, and holidays and sell them to restaurants.
At first it was difficult because she didn’t have money. She had to work cleaning houses and offices and babysitting. She worked for ten years to collect the money.
During those ten years, she met my grandfather. She was sixteen years old when her dream began. When she turned twenty, she married my grandfather.
My grandfather was rich because his family had property. He helped my grandmother with her dream and they opened a bakery.
When the bakery opened it was successful and my grandmother was happy. After fifteen years my grandmother decided to begin to teach her daughters and son recipes for the bakery to be continued for years.
The most famous was for fruit cake. Visitors everywhere arrived to try it. My grandmother was happy because her dream was a reality.
When my grandmother was eighty years old, she retired and delegated her children with her bakery.
My grandmother died when she was ninety years old and nobody continued with the bakery because my family worked in their own professions. But when my family meets, they make the famous recipe that reminds us of my grandmother.
Now I want to do what my grandmother achieved. I want to be like her.
Attention, foodies! Class 1B recently wrote about food – recipes, essays about personal experience, and advice. Read one story below and take the quiz afterwards to test your comprehension. Bon appetit!
My Husband Cooks
Songsong Chen
I love my husband’s cooking. He likes to cook. He doesn’t like to go out to eat. He likes to cook for friends. But he always makes a big mess in the kitchen. He’s very good at making sesame chicken and cola chicken wings. His dishes are delicious. Sometimes my husband teaches me how to cook. Something very easy, like scrambled eggs, baked potatoes or fried fish.
I’m happy that my husband is a great cook!
We usually go to the supermarket twice a week. Every time we buy a lot of food. But no canned food. My husband says canned food is junk food. We need to buy healthy food. He always checks the date on food. He is a careful shopper. He buys a lot of fruit. He wants to make salad for our kid.
We always eat congee for breakfast. That is my husband’s favorite. I eat a lot. I always say I’m afraid to be fat. But my husband says, “Don’t worry about that. This is all healthy food.”
Meaning: A cheap – maybe dirty – American restaurant.
Examples:
We stopped to eat at a greasy spoon and it wasn’t too bad.
The restaurant was very fancy. Definitely not a greasy spoon.
Cheap restaurants are often called greasy spoons because maybe they don’t do a very good job washing the silverware.
Pop Quiz:
What kind of food might a greasy spoon serve?
A. Hamburgers and fries
B. Caviar
C. Tofu fried rice
To see the correct answer, click on “Continue reading”:
Here’s another story from Changing Every Day. When you finish reading, take the quiz to test your understanding!:
Happiness Is So Easy to Find
Tammie Tai
We had a party yesterday. I saw that some of my classmates had tears in their eyes when the party was over. All of my classmates from this semester were over. Summer vacation was beginning!
Today is a little different from the regular school days: I don’t need to worry about any homework, but I feel slightly sad. I might not be used to this vacation yet, because I still have a lot of chores to do.
I recall that last month I bought a bottle of pickled cucumber when I avoided the hard rain at a Whole Foods Market in Chinatown after class. After my husband and I finished the pickled cucumber, I put some leftover cabbage and one pepper in the bottle, added some other stuff, and then just left them there. Later, I rushed to check what was going on in the bottle. Wow! What a familiar and aromatic smell there was . . . my favorite was the fresh scent of peppers.
Suddenly, I felt so hungry, even though I just had my breakfast. So I boiled some dry noodles that my sister left me last month. The smell was so amazing that I pictured myself eating them while the noodles were still being boiled. So I just simply fried some eggs, pickled cabbage and pepper, and a few other things. I stirred them together. Yummy. Yummy! It reminded me of my hometown’s smell.
My husband saw me enjoying my meal so much and couldn’t help but beg for some. He never eats pepper and noodles. But to my surprise this time, he finished everything I gave him. It must have been my happy expression that attracted him. I felt my heart had visited my hometown after I finished the big bowl of pickled pepper noodles.
Life can be so simple. You will find happiness is so easily attainable if you embrace life with your full heart.