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Part 1: Listen and Read: Listen to the recording on dinner meals, answer the questions, and then read along with the audio recording.

This evening, I’m going to make some delicious spaghetti and a healthy salad for dinner following an old Italian recipe my grandmother used to make all the time. First of all, I put a pot of water on the stove to heat up until it boils. I add about a teaspoon of olive oil to the pot. In the meantime, I brown up some ground beef in a skillet on medium heat with a little olive oil, add some finely chopped fresh onions and garlic, and finally sprinkle in a little salt and pepper. Once the mixture is brown, I drain off the excess fat, add some chopped tomatoes and tomato paste, add a pinch of oregano and basil, and add some sliced mushrooms. I let the entire mixture simmer on the burner until the spaghetti noodles are ready. Now, once the water is boiling in the pot, I turn down the heat a little, add the spaghetti noodles, and let it cook until the noodles are nice and tender, but I don’t want to overcook them. Once the noodles are done, I serve the sauce on top of a plate of noodles. For the salad, I mix a variety of leafy vegetables including spinach in a bowl, along with some beets, sliced carrots, and tomatoes, topped with bacon bits and croutons. I prepare my own vinegar and olive oil dressing. Sometimes, I prepare garlic bread to complement the meal.

Part 2: Discussion

Does your family have a recipe for making spaghetti? How about some type of pasta or other Italian food? Are there any unique spaghetti recipes in your hometown? One example is squid ink spaghetti, which I first tried in Japan.

Part 3: Online Investigation

There are countless ways to prepare spaghetti, and it shouldn’t be hard to find one that suits your taste. Search for a recipe for each of these main ingredients and share your recipe with other students: seafood spaghetti, vegetarian spaghetti, beef spaghetti, chicken spaghetti.

Part 4: Online Listening Practice (from www.esl-lab.com):

• Dinner Time: Listening Conversation
• Gourmet Cooking and Recipes: Vocabulary Building