# Sharing favorite home cooking recipes

**Language:** English  
**CEFR Level:** A2  

> Join Ethan and Ava for conversations about sharing favorite home cooking recipes, one short conversation at a time. Each lesson trains your ear until you can follow every word and answer back.

**Setting:** Ethan and Ava are next-door neighbors in a Chicago apartment building who regularly hang out in Ethan's kitchen to trade favorite family recipes and cook together. Over the course of two weeks, they share their favorite dishes, step-by-step cooking techniques, and secret ingredients.

## Lessons

### 1. Looking at an old recipe

Ethan welcomes Ava into his home and asks her about her grandmother's handwritten recipe card.

### 2. Revealing what you are cooking

Ava tells Ethan that they are going to make her grandmother's famous mac and cheese.

### 3. Asking about recipe ingredients

Ethan asks what ingredients they need, and Ava explains how much cheese to use.

### 4. Preparing ingredients for cooking

Ethan offers to grate the block of cheddar cheese and starts boiling water for the pasta.

### 5. Making a roux for sauce

Ava guides Ethan through melting the butter and stirring in flour to start the sauce.

### 6. Adding liquid while stirring

Ethan slowly adds milk to the pot and keeps stirring until the sauce thickens.

### 7. Adding cheese to a sauce

Ava tells Ethan to turn down the heat and stir in the grated cheese before mentioning a secret.

### 8. Talking about secret ingredients

Ava reveals to Ethan that her grandmother's secret ingredient for mac and cheese is mustard.

### 9. Making a bet about food

Ava bets Ethan that he will like the dish, promising to do the dishes if he hates it.

### 10. Describing a family member's habits

Ethan tells Ava about his sister Lily's picky eating habits ahead of her visit for dinner.

### 11. Tasting and evaluating food

Ethan combines the pasta with the sauce, tastes the finished dish, and praises how good it is.

### 12. Deciding who washes the dishes

Ethan concedes the bet, agrees to clean the dishes, and accepts that he must cook next week.

### 13. Discussing future cooking plans

Ethan shares that he will make his dad's tomato soup next week and hints at his own secret ingredient.

### 14. Playfully teasing a friend

Ava tries to guess Ethan's secret ingredient while Ethan tells her to wait until next week.