Live and Learn English with Jean Lee

‘Tis the season to be jolly and relaxed. However, to some people out there, it could make a grueling time slaving in front of the kitchen stove and oven all night and day. Speaking of cooking, why don’t we work on cooking terms this week? (A lot of cooking terms came from France or Italy.) Here they are! (source from www.dictionary.com ) After going over the following cooking terms, try to fill in the blanks below them. brine (verb or noun) Brining (usually a turkey) is basically just the process of adding salt. It can be through a soak in a water mixture or simply by shaking salt directly on to the turkey. This is how you avoid that dry Thanksgiving turkey you may remember as a kid. However, don't tell your mom that! al dente (phrase) Al dente is considered the ideal texture for pasta. It’s not too soft, but not too firm. The Italian term literally translates as “to the tooth.” Think of it as pasta with just the right amount of “bite.” It’s not totally raw and ...

Whenever things are going tough, we stop and ask a question: ‘WHY?’, ‘Is this part of God’s will or plan for good in the grand scheme of things ?’ The answer is up to your choice and belief in life. Well, quite a lot of things in our lives make sense in the way that most things make sense when you don’t fully understand the situations. Ha…     Sleepless nights or the nights filled only with a couple of hours of shallow sleep take a serious toll on our bodies just as if they were telling us off for the unexpected blows from life. What happens in our world might have some relations or no connections at all with our own will or responsibilities. With all due respect, it might feel very UNFAIR for us to go through life’s ordeals or bad nitty-gritty quite against our own intents. So….are we supposed to just sit still like the demoralized residents in the blighted hood , fretting about what we’re facing in a mopey mood? How best or at least aptly could we weather the se...

American citizens have recited the pledge of allegiance at school since their preschool or kindergarten years. It has always been a normal scene that everyone present at an official ceremony or event is asked to stand up with their hats off to pay their respect to their own nation before the Star-Spangled Banner is played. No one has had a different opinion about this long-standing tradition, and especially at popular sports events, players even get teary eyes with their hearts filled with pride as the top tier professional players during the national anthem. As well aware, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeled on purpose during the national anthem, instead of the tradition of standing, before his team's preseason games of 2016. He intended to show silent protest against police brutality and racial inequality during the playing of the U.S. national anthem. Since then on, quite a few members of the NFL and other sports teams have given one another a tac...