My name is Alex. I’m 14 years old. I live in one of the most beautiful cities of Russia, in Sochi. My family is quite small. I have got a mother, a father, a younger brother and a cat. My mum is usually responsible for cooking and for buying necessary food. She prepares breakfast, lunch and dinner for all of us. Sometimes my father also cooks. It usually happens at weekends. Both of my parents are good cooks, which is why we prefer eating home-made food. However, sometimes we can also eat out. My father reserves a table in some restaurant or cafe and we spend a great evening together. It usually happens on special occasions. My favourite food is pizza. I like all kinds of pizza and other Italian dishes. For my birthday, my parents always try to arrange a pizza party. There are times when we simply order pizza for lunch or dinner, just because there is no time for cooking. Out of my mum’s home cooking I prefer Ukrainian borscht. It’s a special red cabbage soup, which is tastier to eat with sour cream. Borscht is a traditional Russian and Ukrainian dish and many foreigners want to try it when visiting these countries. In general, I can say that I am a good eater. I like many types of food, among them fruit, vegetables, sweets and cakes, etc. However, there are some products which I don’t like eating. They are mushrooms and fish. My mother knows about it and she tries not to use these products in dishes
There is a good saying: “You are what you eat”. I think it means that we should be aware of what we are eating and choose healthy food only. There are so many products today with chemical additives and preservatives. My parents try to buy only natural products, which are nit genetically-modified. I can’t say I’m a picky eater but there are some dishes which I like and those which I don’t. For example, I can’t stand mushrooms or fish in food. Seafood is alright but boiled or fried fish is not for me. My favourite food is pasta. My parents sometimes tell me I should live in Italy, because I like all variations of this food, be it boiled, fried, with sauce or without, with bacon, with cheese, with vegetables, etc. My most favourite dish is Carbonara. It’s a pasta-based dish with white sauce, bacon and parmesan cheese. I can eat it three times a day and never get bored. It’s not difficult to cook. You just need half a kilo spaghetti, several slices of bacon, 1 onion, 1 garlic clove, some olive oil, 2 or 3 eggs, a pinch of salt and pepper, some grated Parmesan cheese and 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley. Spaghetti needs to be boiled in salted water, then drained well and tossed with a tablespoon of olive oil. For the sauce we need to cook chopped bacon on a large pan until it’s slightly crispy. Then we add chopped onion and minced garlic clove, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and cook it for a minute. Then we add beaten eggs into the pan, some cheese, salt and pepper and cook it constantly tossing. When the sauce is ready it’s added to spaghetti. The dish is sprinkled with chopped parsley and additional cheese. It is served immediately, while it’s hot. I have tried to cook Carbonara according to this recipe and it came out to be rather tasty.
