Even More Food! Food! Food!

February 26, 2016February 23, 2016 US Adult LiteracyLeave a comment

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.

Click here to read more.

Share this:

More Food! Food! Food!

February 19, 2016February 12, 2016 US Adult LiteracyLeave a comment

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.

To read more, click here.

Share this:

Food, Food, Food!

February 12, 2016February 11, 2016 US Adult Literacy2 Comments

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.”

To read more, click here.

Share this:

Idiom of the Week: Greasy Spoon

November 18, 2015November 10, 2015 US Adult LiteracyLeave a comment

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”:

Share this:

Happiness Is So Easy to Find

May 29, 2015May 1, 2015 US Adult Literacy1 Comment

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.

To read more stories from Changing Every Day, click here.

Share this:

What’s Cooking?

June 27, 2014June 30, 2014 US Adult Literacy1 Comment

Evelyn’s E2 class put together a cookbook. These are dishes our students (and teacher) have made. Write us in the comment section… let us know if you have had any of these foods, if you decide to try to cook some, or if you have your own special recipe you want to share. Click on the chef to read the cookbook…

Click me!

Share this:

What’s Cooking?

May 6, 2013May 6, 2013 US Adult Literacy2 Comments

The following post is from E1 teacher Evelyn Stoecklein and her Evening Class, E1:

Class E1‘s last unit was all about food. As part of the unit, we each wrote recipes for some of our favorite dishes. Then we put all the recipes together in a class cookbook. There are recipes for all sorts of dishes, like steamed shrimp, pepper beef, pasta, and soup. The recipes are from many different countries, from the Dominican Republic to Poland.

If you’re looking for dinner ideas, try a recipe from the E1 Class Cookbook. I think they all sound delicious, and I think you will too. If you try one of our recipes. or have a favorite recipe of your own, let us know in the comments section.

Enjoy, from Class E1!

Just click on the cover below to read our recipes: