Ron's ESL Blogs

My hometown is a beautiful place and has amazing traditions. Mexico City is where I have been 13 years of my life living, until I moved to the United States. My hometown is a touristic place where people can go and visit with the family. Many people think that my hometown is a dangerous place, but in reality any other country has vandalism and we are exposed to danger. You should come and enjoy Mexican food and its important traditions like Mother’s Day, Independence Day and Dia de Muertos.  In Mexico City, Mother’s day is an important event because you can thank your mother for being who she is. It is celebrated on May 10. I love Mother’s day because we as students can make a festival, by performing to our mothers and bring them Mariachi to show her how much you love. Mexican people take their mothers to celebrate their day. On May 10 the flower shops are really busy because everyone wants to give flowers to their mothers.   September 15 is the principal tradition of my hometown because it’s Independence Day. We celebrate at “El Zocalo” by giving the Grito of independence “Viva Mexico!” At the Zocalo all of us have fun with fireworks, serpentine, confetti and with flour eggs, which is something historic in my country. People get dressed patriotic and also they shown their proud. The president of my hometown gives the speech and then finally does a defile in memory of the people that died for important issues.  Dia de Muertos is a day to remember all the people that you loved and passed away. Mexicans go and visit the cemetery to garnish the tombs. They put some fresh flowers and bring food to the dead person  that had  liked them. My grandmother is one of those persons that put flor de sempasuchil in front of my grandfather’s photo and a calaberita that is made with candy and sugar all this stuff it’s called ofrenda.  And  something that Mexicans never forget is the ofrenda.  In conclusion my hometown is the best place that I will recommend to anyone to visit and enjoy the traditions. For all Mexicans our country is the best and I have never left it because I don’t like it, it would be for some bad circumstances that life put into our lives. Mexico city is big and has many sculptures and traditions that make my hometown the best and unique.    – Sarai Acua

MY FAVORIRE FOOD

When I was a child in Vietnam, my sister was the best cook in my family. I did not like to cook, but I sometimes helped her clean up the kitchen. Chicken Curry was my favorite food. I still remember when I had just come to America. My husband and his family members liked to eat Chicken Curry but nobody knew how to  cook that food. So it was my first time to cook my favorite food.

First, I cut up chicken, and chop up garlic, lemon grass. I peel and cut up a taro root and then fry them. Then I take two table spoons of curry powder and mix with the chicken, garlic, and marinade for 30 minutes.

Second, I put garlic and lemon grass with some more curry power in a pot with a little oil. Add chicken and stir fry for about 7 minutes. Add a little salt and sugar, and then pour in hot water to cover chicken. Place over medium heat and put the taro and lemon grass into the pot. Continue to cook until done, and then pour 3 cups of coconut milk and stir well. Remove the pot from the stove, and we will have a delicious chicken curry. We can serve with sticky rice or bread. It’s delicious and tastes so good.

My husband ate a bowl of chicken curry. A pot of it was not enough for my family. From then on, every time my family has a party, they usually request me to cook that. They like to eat that food because they recall a taste of their motherland food.   – Ly Lien

My Favorite Food

Different people have different favorite food. As for me, I like to eat different food, such as noodles, fast food, banana, pear, and so on, but my favorite food is hotpot. When I was 6 years old, I didn’t know what is hotpot. At one of the Chinese holiday nights, our dinner was hotpot. I was so curious at that time. My family prepared the dinner. That was my first time to try the hotpot, and it became my favorite food.

There is no proper word to substitute hotpot. This food consists of slices of meat, various kinds of vegetables, mushrooms, fish, chicken, noodles and soup (meat stock). After boiling broth, we can put what you want to eat into the broth. When it is cooked, we can eat. I really like this food. Actually I like meat so much, especially when it is roasted. However, I was almost addicted and ate 3 times a week. There is specific restaurant I prefer. That restaurant is near my hometown. They make hotpot as kind of fashion. The origin broth is just meat stock, but they also add something in that I didn’t know. They use mustard and soy bean sauce for meat. They also make some sauce by themselves. When you eat meat, you can eat with this sauce. It makes meat more delicious. Finally, after eating all the meat and vegetables, you can add noodles in the broth. It is really good, too. This is my favorite food.

Hotpot is easy to cook. You can add what you want to eat. And at the same time you can eat too much different food. It tastes great. If you haven’t tried this food yet, you should. Try hotpot!

- Ling

One of my favorite foods is spicy noodles made by my grandma. I think my grandma makes the best spicy noodles.

I was born in the spicy city of Chengdu, where everyone loves spicy food. When I was 5 years old, my grandma thought that I was old enough to taste spicy food, so she decided to make her best food — spicy noodles. After I finished the day of kindergarten, I was tired and hungry, I ran back home as fast as I could, because I was expecting to eat my grandma’s food. When the spicy noodles had been prepared on the table, I fell to with ravenous appetite, but after I swallowed the noodles, my lips were scorched, and my mouth was “on fire”, I ran to the kitchen, and drunk a lot of water. I thought my grandma was going to kill me by the food poison, but a few minutes later, my tongue stopped curling, and my lips were no longer scorched, the spicy noodles are like drugs on the table, I was totally attracted to the delicious and hot spicy noodles. Even though I drunk a lot of water during the time I was eating the noodles, I felt that I was mind racing, and flying through the air, it was so enjoyable.

My grandma made the best spicy noodles, and her self-made hot spicy flavor was unique. Maybe the noodles are cheap and they are easy to make at any time when you don’t have time to make any fabulous food, but I know even though noodles are simple and cheap, what my grandma put into the noodles is not only her unique hot spicy flavor, she also put all her love in the noodles which is always priceless to me.

- Meng Ying

What is your favorite food? Describe it to us, and tell us why you like it.