My Turning Point

Immigrating to US

After graduating from high school, I immigrate to US. When I got the news that I could immigrate to US, I felt so excited because going to America is my dream since childhood, but I felt scared at the same time. I am not good at English, and I have little chance to practice speaking English. I even cannot understand what people say.

At the beginning, I lived with my uncle. He liked eating pizza and hamburgers so much. He ate hamburgers three or more times in a week, but I didn’t like the hamburgers, so I just ate a little bit every time. I felt hungry at night, but I didn’t know cooking. I lost 10 pounds at that time, and my body was getting worse. I cried at night for many times, I felt disappointed to myself because I even didn’t know how to cook, and I couldn’t solve the problem in eating. Three months later, I decided to move out and live alone. That was a big challenge for me. I felt horrible to live by myself, and I felt so scared at night. But I had no friends here, so I knew I must be strong and powerful. I wrote down the things that I should learn, and then I followed the list to study every day. It was very useful for me. First, I searched from Google to learn how to cook an easy meal, and then I went to the market to buy some vegetable and meat. I followed the steps online and tried my best to do well. Once my finger was broken when I was cutting meat, but I didn’t feel scared. I made myself be calm and then I used bandage to wrap the wound. After that, I felt proud of myself and became more confident in cooking. After several times to cook, I could make some delicious dishes. Secondly, I learned how to manage my money in the bank. Because I was not good at English, so when I was in the bank, I felt nervous. I tried to understand what the staff says to me, and I learned to open an account in the bank. After opening an account, I asked my uncle to learn how to write a check. Now I know how to pay the payment online and know how to manage my account in the bank. Only in three months, I feel I changed a lot. I became independent and strong.

Even though I became more independent and confident, difficulty in school was still a big problem for me. Because English was not my first language, I was afraid to talk to other people at the beginning, so it made me hard to make friends. I felt bored in school, and I even didn’t want to go to school. I really wanted to come back to China at that time. Every time I made a phone call to my mother, I asked my mother to let me leave US. My mother told me it was the beginning, and I should learn how to overcome the problem that I face to. She also told me to be brave to talk to other people, and then I could improve my English quickly. I had difficulty in communicating with my classmates, and sometimes I had to ask them to repeat so many times that I could understand what they say. I felt helpless and disappointed. I knew English was important in the life, so I made a schedule to study English every day. After finishing the homework, I saw an English movie and followed the record to practice speaking English. Now I become more confident to talk with other people, and become outgoing than before. I make many friends in school, and they help me a lot in the life. I feel comfortable to live in US because people are very nice, and they are willing to help you. 

Growing a Farmer (Part 2)

After reading this book, I learned a lot. The most interesting chapter I think is vegetable because I have the same thought with Kurt. He said he enjoys the watching the vegetable grow and germinate, and I totally agree with him. When you see your vegetables become harvest, and your efforts have paid off, you will be very excited and satisfied. In the book, Kurt fails a lot of times in growing the farmer, but he never gives up. He finds out what is wrong in the ways he plant, and keeps trying until he succeed. Sometimes, when he applies his knowledge from the textbook, he fails, but after some practices, he find the right ways to plant the vegetables. In his farm, there are different kinds of fruits, animals, and vegetable. I think it must be fun in working in his farm, and I can learn a lot of things that I did not know before. Although I feel horrible to install bees in a hie, making apple vinegar and produce fresh milk is very interesting because milk is healthy, and vinegar can make me fit. 


Kurt writes this book in plain English, so it is very easy for me understand what he said especially for the people who are not natives. I think Kurt is self-sufficient man, and his self-sustaining spirit inspire me a lot. I know doing all the tasks he writes in the book are tough, but when he has many failure and risk, he enjoys in it because he thinks he can learn from it, and he can get more valuable experience in growing a farmer. This is very worth for me to learn. In my life, if I have a failure in doing one thing, I will be upset and anxious for long time, and I will do that again. After reading this book, I learn I need to learn from my failure and try to do better next time by using my experience. Kurt is courageous and he can challenge himself in the pursuit of his dream. In this book, I learn not only the ways of growing a farmer but also the spirit of Kurt which is if I fail in doing one thing, I should not give up or feel upset, instead I need to become stronger, and find out the right ways to do better next time. 

How Much Do You Know About Chinese Food (Final)

The Ways to Define A Real Chinese Dish and Make Easy but Delicious Chinese Food

Are you interested in Chinese food? If your answer is yes, congratulations, you have found the right place. Eating is the most important part in my life. I am willing to spend the whole day in studying the different ways to make one kind of Chinese food, and find out which one is most tasty. As a Chinese, one thing I miss the most is Chinese food because it make me think of my hometown. After practicing cooking many times, I get some skills and experience in making Chinese food. 

No matter you are a student or a worker, after studying or working for a whole day, you find out your family have prepared a table of food for you when you get home, you must feel very touched and grateful, so why not you learn to cook some Chinese food for your family and give them a surprise? However, before studying cooking, you need to know the principle to define a real Chinese dish because it will help you to improve your cooking skills and make your food become attractive. There are three characteristics to evaluate whether it is a real Chinese dish - "color, aroma, and taste" ("Features of Chinese Food").

Color

Dishes with diversified color can usually greatly arouse people's appetite (“Features of Chinese Food”). When I live in China, my mother always prepares a lot of ingredients to make one kind of food such as green onion, garlic, ginger, and chili. She said a beautiful color in a dish could make your food look delicious and everyone want to try it. For example, if the main color of your dish is green, you can put some red or yellow pepper in it, but if the main color of your dish is red, you can put some green onion on the top of your food, it will make your dish looks more colorful and beautiful.

Photo Courtesy of 123rf.com

Aroma

I believe when you approach the food and it smells good, you will immediately feel hungry and cannot wait to taste it, so aroma is very important for a good dish. Usually aniseed, Chinese prickly ash seeds, cinnamon and other spices are added to help dispel the ingredients' particular smells, such as foul, fishy and mutton smells (“Features of Chinese Food”).

Photo Courtesy of haonipai.com

Taste

Even though your dish has diversified color and good aroma, delicious taste cannot be excluded because this is the essence of the food. In China, “taste can be divided into five classes - sweet, sour, bitter, hot and salty”, and “there are eating habits of 'South-Sweet, North-Salty, East-Hot and West-Sour' according to the different tastes of the people” (“Features of Chinese Food”). I am from Southern of China, so I like putting more sugar in making food, but if you like more salty, you can put soy sauce instead of salt because soy sauce will make the food has delicate favor but salt will not. I really suggest you to use Maggi Seasoning because I tried many kind of soy source, but the taste of this one is the best. You can buy it at Costco and many Chinese supermarkets. 

Photo Courtesy of  worldjournal.com

Now, you have known the principle to define a real Chinese dish. I believe you can start to learn how to make your own food at home and give a big surprise to your family. Here I want to share three kinds of my favorite food to you which are:

·   Chinese Pork and Sweet Corn Soup

·       Coca Cola Chicken Wings

·       Red Bean Soup Dessert

Chinese Pork and Sweet Corn Soup

I like this soup because it is not only easy to make but also very healthy. Sweet corn provide a lot of important minerals for our bodies such as "zinc, magnesium, copper, iron, and manganese"; also, "corn is a good source of phenolic flavonoid antioxidant, ferulic acid" ("Sweet Corn Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits"). 

To make this soup, you need to prepare 1.5lb chopped ribs, 2 sweet corns and cut into fourths, a carrot and cut into several chunks, and one candied date. The first and the most important step is blanching the pork ribs for a few minutes in a different pot of water because “it helps get rid of all the impurities, bloody bits and other things you don't want from your pork bones in your soup” (Shelly). After blanching the pork ribs, you can put everything that you prepared into the pot and add water until the water cover all your ingredients. Now you can begin to cook your soup. At the beginning, you need to choose high heat until the water boil, then you can change to medium heat and let it cook for an hour. After one hour you can enjoy your soup and eat the sweet corn if you are hungry. Sometimes I am tired and lazy to cook complicated food, I will make this soup because not only it is convenient but also I can eat food and soup at the same time which make me feel so satisfied.

Photo courtesy of Shellyinreallife.com

Coca Cola Chicken Wings

Coca Cola is one of my favorite drink, and I really like eating chicken wings, so this dish can satisfy my two wishes at the same time. You must feel surprised that coke can make with chicken wings, but it works! The slight sweet taste bought by the drink can spare other condiments and seasoning, which makes this as one of the simplest recipe (Elaine). 

To make this food, you need to prepare the ingredients including 10 chicken wings, one can of coke, chopped garlic, chopped onion, cooking wine, chicken marinade sauce, dark soy sauce, and oil. Dark soy sauce can put the color of chicken wings into dark brown, and it can increase the appetite. Then you need to cut a line on one side of each chicken wing so that “the slight sweet taste can soaked into the inside the chicken wings” (Elaine). Now you can start to cook. The first step is adding some oil and chopped garlic into the pan, and after a few second, you can put chicken wings in it. Then you need to keep stirring the chicken wings until their both sides become golden yellow. Now you can add a spoon of cooking wine which can “make the dishes fragrant in flavor” (Features of Chinese Food”), also a can of coke, a spoon of chicken marinade sauce, and half spoon of dark soy sauce. After adding all sauce, the sauce should cover the chicken wings. Just like making soup, at the beginning, it needs high heat to bring water boil, then adjust the heat to medium, and let it simmer for 20 minutes.  Last, you can add some chopped onion on the top of chicken wings to make the food look more colorful. Yes, you have done with your own coca cola chicken wings! Just enjoy it and share with your friend!

Photo Courtesy of sergiovitale.wordpress.com 

  

Red Bean Soup Dessert

Because I like to eat sweet food, so eating this dessert can really make my day. This dessert just need some easy steps to finish, and even though this is the first time for you to cook it, you can also make it very delicious. Red bean soup is low in Caroline but rich in vitamin B and E and other beneficial minerals including magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc, cooper and manganese (Red Bean Soup Recipe).  

Let's get started to make this dessert. You need to prepare half bowl of red beans and a bowl of Chinese rock sugar. You’ll commonly see Chinese rock sugar either in small pellets or in larger crystals, and the lump sugar tastes a little more natural and gives the soup a distinctive sheen (“How to Make Red Bean Soup”). 

Photo Courtesy of janetching.wordpress.com

After preparing all the ingredients, there is an important step which is soaking the red beans into cold water for 2 hours because it can make the red beans become soft, and it can resolve easily when you cook. After 2 hours, you can put the red beans into the pot without the soaking water, and “add water until it reaches 2 inches above the beans” (“How to Make Red Bean Soup”). When the water bring to boil with high heat, decrease the heat to low and cook for 2-3 hours. The last step is adding Chinese rock sugar into the soup, and the amount of sugar depends on how sweet you want to eat. If you don’t know how sweet the sugar is, you can add a little at a time until the soup taste good.

Photo Courtesy of  food-4tots.com

I hope you now have more understanding in Chinese food, and I believe you will feel interested in making Chinese food at home. Even though the food you cook at the first time may not taste good, do not give up and keep practicing. One day, you can be an expert on cooking Chinese food. Also, you can try to make some creative dishes, and you will find cooking is really an interesting thing, and it can help you release your stress in working or studying. Because Chinese food is unique and traditional, it is very easy to let you fall in love with it.

Works Cited

Elaine. "China Sichuan Food." China Sichuan Food. Elaine, 23 Aug. 2014. Web. 07 Feb. 2016. <http://www.chinasichuanfood.com/coca-cola-chicken-wings/>.

"Features of Chinese Food." Chinese Food Features: Color, Aroma, Taste. Travel China Guide,    1998. Web. 07 Feb. 2016.

         <http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/cuisine_drink/cuisine/feature.htm>.

"How to Make Red Bean Soup." Dim Sum Central. Red Bean Company LLC, 15 Jan. 2016. Web. 07 Feb. 2016. <http://www.dimsumcentral.com/red-bean-soup/>.

"Red Bean Soup Recipe." China Sichuan Food. China Sichuan Food, 10 Sept. 2014. Web. 07   Feb. 2016. <http://www.chinasichuanfood.com/red-bean-soup-recipe/>.

Shelly. "Chinese Pork and Corn Soup." Chinese Pork and Corn Soup. Shelly, 4 Oct. 2013. Web. 07 Feb. 2016. <http://www.shellyinreallife.com/2013/10/recipe-chinese-pork-and-corn-soup.html>.

"Sweet Corn Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits." Nutrition And You.com. Umesh Rudrappa, 2009. Web. 07 Feb. 2016. <http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/sweet-corn.html>.

Thought of Growing a Farmer

In this book, Kurt use plain English to describe how he establishes a farm using his agrarian education, so it is easy for readers to read and understand the contents. Kurt teaches us some procedures in a farmer that I did not know before such as installing bees in a hive, making apple vinegar, and producing fresh cow milk. Even though managing a farm is not an easy task, Kurt never gives up on it because he loves and enjoys on these tasks. He has self-sufficient and self-sustaining spirit that I really admire because only a few people can insist in doing a thing for such a long time. For me, it is hard to insist on doing one thing even though I really love it at the beginning. Also in this book, Kurt describes some failure and setbacks when he manage the book which can make readers feel and accept his honesty in this book. Although establishing a farm has a lot of risk, Kurt is courageous and he can challenge himself in the pursuit of his dream. I think I need to learn from him because if I know the task is nearly impossible for me to finish, I will choose giving up or I will ask for help. This book is really worth for me to read because I can not only get a lot of knowledge that I did not know before from it but also Kurt’s attitude toward life and his never gives up the spirit which inspires me a lot.