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XI. United States
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Chapter 33: New York, New York
PS / MS 95 School
Teacher: Kristina Sarr
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Student: Daniel A.
MOIN-MOIN
This is one of my favorite foods. It taste like pizza. I love it. This is the most popular food in Nigeria (The country my mom and dad come from)besides pounded yam. This food looks like eggs but with spots. The directions are a little complicated.
This food is mostly made on holidays or on celebrations, for example yesterday I went to my dad's friend's naming ceremony, and they had moin-moin.
I love eating moin-moin on Christmas too, as well as New Years Eve, and New Years. Anyone from from my country will tell you that this is the food to eat if you want to enjoy yourself. You can eat it with rice or sauce.
A story goes with moin-moin. There was a man that loved fish. His birthday soon came and he wanted to make a cake for himself. SO HE DECIDED TO MAKE himself fish cake. Finally the cake was ready, but he forgot to add yeast, so the cake turned out all lumpy. He was about to throw it out, but he tasted it and it tasted it. He passed the news around and within a week the king got the food. The king ate a piece of the food and he loved it. He loved it so much that he declared it a national food. He called it moin-moin because it reminded him about his wife (who died).
Everybody in Nigeria loves this dish. But if you hate fish or beans this is not the food for you.
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Student: Wagas A.
HALEEM
My culture food that I picked is called Haleem. It's actully not my favorite food but this one has a big story behind it.
The famous story behind is : There was a man named Imam Hussian (grandson of our prophet Muhammed, peace be upon him). Imam Hussain's head was cut and struck up a spear and the people were around him and walking with his head. Then they buried him then on the same day in the same place all the people that were there, the important people, gave out a special food that was called Haleem.
I was five years old when I saw Haleem the first time. I smelled it and said, "No I don't need it!" I said that because I wanted to play . The next time I said O.K. It really didn't taste good . For a long time on I was the only one that didn't eat Haleem. You know Haleem doesn't taste good and it's not my favorite food. But when you put alot of lemon juice on it than it's my favorite food.
I think Haleem will come to cooking contest and won first place,even though it's not my favorite food.
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Student: Isjana D.
BUREE
Ingredients
1 kilogram of flour
1 cup of water
1 teaspoon of salt
1 egg
Recipe
Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees. Mix all the ingredients until it is bread-like in texture. Make pies, in same-size circular shapes. Place filling in middle. Filling can either be cheese or spinach. Bake until crispy.
Essay
I am supposed to write a story about a food that I like from my culture. I asked my mom for the recipe for Burec. It's very good - that's why I picked it. It is from Albania, which is a small country but it has the best food in the whole world! It is very special to me because my mom makes it and it just has the best taste, even if it isn't made with sugar. It's made mostly with spinach and cheese.
You may think I'm crazy... I am; for this dish! When my mom bakes it I am very happy. She also makes it sometimes when company comes, or when we visit someone for some reason. My mom makes it when we ask her to make it; sometimes she's happy to make it and then I help her too.
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Student: Meagan F.
TEMBLEQUE (Cocunut Custard Dessert)
Ingredients
1 13.5 oz can coconut milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
Recipe
Blend all the ingredients together, except the vanilla. Cook in a saucepan on medium heat, stiring continuously until it thickens. Then add the vanilla, stir and remove from heat. Pour mixture into individual dessert cups, or a shallow dish, cover and refrigerate for several hours overnight. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon or ground nutmeg when serving.
Essay
Tembleque is a coconut custard dessert. It's more like coconut pudding to me. It tastes very good. I always put cinnamon on top of it because I like it like that. My grandparents always make it. They always make it for me when I come over.
I remember the first time I tried it. At first I didn't want to try it, but my dad kept on saying, "Please try it!" Then he said, "It's not like it's going to hurt if you try it." After that he convinced me so I tried it. From that day on I have always liked tembleque.
Then I kept asking my mother, "Can you make some tembleque?'" She kept saying she didn't have time. Then one day we were at the supermarket and I asked her if she could buy the ingredients to make it. She said, "Yes." The next day my mom and I made the tembleque. I had to stir it for a long time until it was thick. Then mom put it in a bowl and put it in the fridge. I couldn't wait to try it. The next day when I tried it, it tasted just like grandma's. It was so good!
My dad says when he was little he use to eat it a lot. His mother made for him all the time. As he had a big family my grandma had to make it often. My mother also likes tembleque. She ate a lot too. Almost everyone in my family likes tembleque; it's really good!
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Student: Brendalis F.
ABICHUELA CON DULCE
Ingredients
2 lbs red beans
1 1/2lbs sugar
1 can coconut milk
1 can evaporated milk
Cloves, cinamon, vanilla,
and nutmeg (if you want don't use these)
1 bag of milk cookies
1 small box of raisins
1 tsp vanilla
Recipe
1.Boil beans until they're soft.
2.Put the batatas in afterwards.
3.Put in the cloves, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg (If prefered don't) .
4.After batatas are soft put in everything else.
5.Cook until it's creamy.
Essay
There are many things, foods, places, and people that represent my culture, the Dominican culture. For example our flag represents our culture, traditions, and personalities, and our country. It's called the Dominican Republic. But my favorite thing that represents my culture is the food.
My favorite thing that represents my culture is Abichuelas Con Dulce. It tastes awesome. We eat it on Ash Wednesday. It's sweet and creamy. Abichuela means beans, and dulce can mean either candy or sweet. Con means with. It has been my favorite ever since I was a little girl. It is my favorite because it's really sweet and I love sweets.
My mom is always trying to teach me how to make it, but I've seen her and it takes a long,long time. I always say my head hurts or something. I like cooking but only when i'm inspired. I hate it when someone wants to make me do something.
Whenever my mom has a cold, everything tastes bad to her so she tells me to taste it for her. I'm always the first one to taste the food she makes. She doesn't only make Abichuela Con Dulce on Ash Wednesday, she also makes it on other special occasions, and when she feels like it, and when I convince her.
I love Abichuela Con Dulce because it represents a holiday in my culture and it's a great dessert. My country isn't the only one that eats it. Puerto Rico and other spanish countries also eat it.
I remember one time I did help her make it or at least I tried to. It was one of the best days of my life. She made me help her. At first I was bored but then it got fun. She asked me to fill a pot with water. It was really heavy and I fell and poured all the water on her and on the floor. She thought I did it on purpose so she took a glass of water and threw it on me. I threw water back at her and before we knew it we were in water fight. When we finally finished clowning around, the kitchen was a mess and we were soaking wet. We both laughed. We hadn't even started cooking. That day was so much fun.
In conclusion, my favorite food that represents my country is Abichuela Con Dulce. I like it because they're sweet and delicious. I have many memories of Abichuela Con Dulce and I have many other favorite foods but this is my most favorite of all.
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Student: Darden G.
KOSOVA
Put 10 spoons of wheat, 10 eggs, 5 spoons of oil, and ten spoons of sugar then you pour it in a pan and bake the cake. We cook kosova in my country. It is a cake that everyone in my country eats.
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Student: Michelle G.
EMPANADAS
Ingredients
Corn tortilla
Oil
Chicken or potato
A pan
Recipe
1. Pour 1 cup of oil into the pan.
2. Put the flavor you want in the corn tortilla.
3. Let it fry in the pan; watch until it's toasty.
4. Prepare with cream and white cheese. If you want, you can add Salsa.
Essay
In Mexico the most traditional food is the "Corn of tortilla". This food represents a gift from God and from the Aztecs. They gave us corn as food. There is a legend about why we call the corn a tortilla a gift. There was once an old man and an old woman who were poor. They say they saw some Aztecs who gave them corn and then they shared the story with people.
The people believed it, so they went to church to pray and sing. It was a happy day for them. Corn became more and more popular in Mexico: it was sold, bought and grown. People earned money. But they said that only people who were born in Mexico should eat the corn of tortillas; if they did not eat the corn of tortilla they could die. (But I don't believe it).
My father gets mad if we throw the tortilla in the garbage. People were poor because there was a war and they took all the gold and silver. My father said that my grandfather was in the war. I'm lucky I wasn't born in Mexico because I would be eating tortilla all the time, which I wouldn't like.
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Student: Felice H.
DUMPLINGS
Ingredients
1 pack of pre-made dough
1/2 pound of beef
1 bowl of water/egg
Butter knife/plastic knife
1 big pan
Recipe
I don't know how to make this dish, but I'm going to ask the great chef of the house, Mr. Yun Hao Huang. He is my father. He is also a chef. This is the story of The Best Dish.
Essay
Hi, my name is Felice. I'm going to tell you about my favorite dish. My favorite dish is dumplings. It's my favorite because I don't really eat it often and it's delicious. My father is the only one that can make it. He makes it on Chinese New Year. The dumplings are usually our second best dish but I grade it as the best dish. The original best dish is plain yellow noodles with some flavor. It's just a bit of flavor, not much though. We have the noodles on every special occasion.
I always look forward to the dumplings on Chinese New Year. I should be happy because it comes every year. I can't wait that long. But at least it comes. Chinese New Year last for sixteen days. We invite our cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and friends. Kids get money in red envelopes. The adults eat in the dining room and the kids get to eat wherever they want to eat. The only time I had dumplings was on December 8, 2001. It was fun.
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Student: Heather I.
PASTILLIOS
The food that I chose is a Spanish dish called Pastelillos. I chose that food because I remember myself eating that ever since I was little. I usually eat Pastelillos when I'm in my grandma's house.
Usually, every Christmas time we eat that dish, that's why I love going
to see my grandma every year for Christmas. Every year I tell her that
she can change every thing except for the Pastillios. A special memory that I have is that when my grandfather was alive, he loved Pastillios just like me. So every Christmas, it reminds me of him.
I like Pastellios because I can make it myself. All you really have to do is get a pack of puff pastry disc and put your seasoned meat in side on one half, then fold the other side. Then you pinch the edges with a fork. Then once that's done fry them in any cooking oil.
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Student: Ina L.
MACARONI
Ingredients
A pot of boiling water
Macaroni & Salt
Recipe
Bring the water to a boil, then put the macaroni in the pot. Put some salt in with the Macaroni. Cook for about fifteen minutes. Cook for about fifteen minutes. Then take it out and enjoy!
Essay
Hi my name is Ina. I am going to talk about my washing machine and how very useful it is in our daily life. The washing machine is to wash our dirty clothes. The sink is to wash the dishes which is also a very important piece of furniture in our houses. The refrigerator is to keep the food in it, clean, cool and healthy. The dishes are to serve our different meals of the day. The spoon, fork, and plates are to eat the meal. The plate is for putting the meal on it. The towels are to dry up our hands as we wet them by washing the plates, and our hands too. They are very useful for our lives.
My family likes macaroni because it is from our culture. I am from Albania. We sit as a family and we talk about things and we eat. I like macaroni because it tastes good.
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FOOD FACTS: MACARONI TRIVIA
Thomas Jefferson is credited with bringing the first 'macaroni' machine from France to America in 1789. (Thomas Jefferson is the third President of the United States during 1801-1809)
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Student: Terry M.
HUNGARIAN GOULASH
Ingredients
3 tbsp. Fat
1 large diced onion
Little salt
2 or 3 peeled carrots
(cut into thirds)
1can of tomato paste
6 tsp. Paprika
1 1/2 1bs. Beef cut up
About 3 cups of water
Recipe
Melt fat, add onion and salt. Saute until onions are golden Add 1 1/2 teasp. Of Paprika and then meat. Cover and simmer over low heat for 1 hour. Add the remaining 4 1/2 teasp. of paprika and about 3 cups of water or enough to cover the meat until tender. Add 4 potatoes that are cut into 1/4s and add to meat and cook for another 1/2 hour.
This recipe is so, so, delicious. If you don't want to have it with potatoes, we sometimes have it on top of boiled wide noodles with lots of gravy. Hmm, Hmm, good!!!!!
Essay
My favorite dish is Hungarian Goulash. First, let me give you the background. My mother's great, great grandmother, who is my great, great, great, grandmother, came from the country Hungary. My great, great, great, grandmother was born and raised in a town called Budapest in Hungary. She came to America in 1900 by ship and came through Ellis Island in New York City and settled in Manhattan on 116th street. It was there that my great grandmother, Terry, her sister, Marge, her three brothers, Charlie, Abe, and Harry were all born.
I never knew my great grandmother because she died before I was born. In my religion, Jewish people named their newborn children after the dead. My mother named me Terry after my great grandmother. My mom loved my great grandmother so much.
Since my great grandmother was born in America, all the recipes from Hungary were passed down to her mother, so the recipe of Hungarian Goulash that I am writing about is one of those recipes that were passed down.
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Student: Seantae M.
FRIED SHRIMP
Ingredients
2 lbs. of shrimps
1/3 cup of olive oil
2 tablespoon of black pepper
1 tablespoon of salt
1 tablespoon of diced garlic
2 tablespoon of breadcrumbs
Recipe
First clean the shrimps of head, legs, and scale then wash it clean.
Second get a clean plastic container, put the shrimp, pepper, garlic, salt in the container. Use a large spoon to mix them together. Leave the shrimps in the container for 2 hours.
Third turn on the stove, put the frying pan on it. When its hot, pore in the olive oil and wait 5 minutes, then put in the shrimp from the container. It should take about 15-20 minutes to cook. While in pot stir for best results! .
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FOOD FACTS: SHRIMP TRIVIA
World shrimp production is over 5 billion pounds a year, about 20 % of which is from shirmp farms.
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Student: Alixandra P.
MANGU AND FLAN
My Cultures doesn't really have a certain food that comes from the Dominican Republic but I could say that this one does. It's called mangu and Salami. Mangu is something named (in the English language) Green Plantains and Salami. Salami is just a kind of meat. This food is delicious! It has a mushy sweet taste and I love it. I usually eat it on Wednesdays or Saturdays but I don't know why.
A dessert that I eat that could be considered Dominican food would be flan. This food is to die for! It has a sweet milky taste. I think that without these foods my life would be different because I wouldn't have something I really like asked to be made anymore!
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Student: Victor P.
RICE
Ingredients
2 cups of rice
3 cups of water
1 Tablespoon of oil
1 tsp of salt
Recipe
1) Put water to boil.
2) Add salt to water.
3) Add rice to water, and let the water dry up.
4) Cover the rice and let cook with low flame.
5) Stir the rice after 10 mins and let it cook for 10 more min.
6) Turn off flame for rice. And there you have it, home made rice.
Essay
Nearly every day my family eats rice. Why? Because my family makes the greatest food you ever tasted. Flan, rice, chicken, and many more. My mom is the one who makes the good food and she learned it from her mother.
For Thanksgiving and Christmas, me and my family eat turkey to thank the pilgrims and Indians for what they thought us people. For Christmas my family eats it because it is delicious. I hope you like my family food that they make and enjoy.
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Student: Victor P.
BIRYANI
Bombay Biryani is my favorite food that comes from my culture. It tastes very good and my mom makes it the best. With a special way of cooking you put meet and rice and then add some spices than you can't help but eat it. When you look at the food it makes water come into your mouth.
This food is eaten on weddings, parties, holidays, and any time of the day you want it just cook it. In my house there hasn't been one occasion that I didn't eat this food. The reason my mom makes it the best is because she puts hard work into it. The only way you can make it the best is by putting hard work into it. The harder you work the better it will taste. You can get it in any Pakistani restaurant. Some restaurants you can get it in are Shaheen, King kabob, and student biryani restaurant. It represents my culture cause it is a really religious food for me. Now you know why it represents my culture and where you can find it. When you read this essay you probably got an image of rise you have hardly seen. You see a plate full of rice with layers of steam coming out of it. Yum can't wait to eat it can't you
Bombay Biryani is my favorite food in the whole world that comes from my culture. It tastes very good and my mom makes it the best. With a special way of cooking you put meat and rice than add spices and then you can't help but eating it.
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Student: Mohammed S.
FRESH BEEF AND SPICES
Ingredients
6 teaspoons oil
8 green peppers
3/4 cup of salt
18 or 20 pieces of beef meat
Any kind of Desi masala
(Ground vegetarian blend of spices used in Indian cooking)
Recipe
Welcome to learning about how to make food from Bangladesh. I am going to tell you how to cook fresh beef, using spices.
Mix all the ingredients together at least 3 times. Cook it in the oven for at least 20 minutes. Now you're set. Enjoy!
Essay
My culture is a very decent culture. I am from Bangladesh. My country is poor, but it has smart people. Many people struggle, like slaves, just to provide for their families. Sometimes they will even ask people for food and clothes. The slaves are very religious. They do their own business by asking for money and rice from house to house.
Our religion is very important to us. It is so spiritual that it could change you. I respect my religion and the major Holidays that comes at the time of the Holy month. Our Holy month is Ramadan, which is in November. Then Eid, which allows us to enjoy the feast of richness and poorness. On this occasion we use a lot of different kinds of cultural things, like food and clothes. It is used to make us think about things that we have done wrong and the things that we have not done. This is the pride of our culture and our religion; to be peaceful and to have a good life.
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