Alex's Kitchen. Алекс Рэй

will know how to make some dishes, to prepare basic foodstuff and then to surprise your mom and dad.

      But before we start it, I’d like you to remember some rules. Above all, you should be careful very much. Kitchen is a place where there is a plenty of dangers: knives can be too sharp, stove is too hot, and some pots and pans are too heavy.

      And you need to be very attentive with:

      gas stove – it is very dangerous device. You can’t see gas as it’s transparent, and can be seen when burns. If you turned it on accidently or some put it out it keeps on its running. Gas can cause poisoning and explosion!

      kitchen utensils – they become hot quickly and may burn you. Use special mittens – oven gloves to take the covers and handles.

      oil – it is dangerous especially when hot! Do not stay near stove when oil is getting hot!

      If you touched some hot pan or pot, or oil splashed on your hand you should put burned part in cold water.

      unknown substances in plates, boxes vials, etc – they may be toxic, poisonous or just bad. Never taste any thing you don’t know!

      knives and fragments of broken tableware – they are sharp, and you may cut yourself. Be careful with such things!

      electric devices, of course – they are too intricate in using! You should always turn them off when their work is done. Don’t you dare to turn them on with wet hands or put your fingers into it!

      Remember! If you are not sure in something, ask mom, dad or somebody else of grown-ups!

      And some important abbreviations and conversions you should know:

      tsp is for teaspoon which is used when you drink tea, equals 5 ml

      tbsp is for a table spoon you eat soup with, equals 15 ml

      drop is the less cookery measure that equals 1/60 of teaspoon

      dash is a small cookery measure that equals 1/16 of teaspoon

      fl. oz equals 30 ml

      cup equals 240 ml

      Well, are you ready to start?

      So come on!

      SANDWICH

      Sandwich is the simplest meal you can only make. You needn’t fry, or boil, or cook something for it in any way. All you need is bread and some accompanied in slices – ham, cheese, sausage, fish and so on, and so forth. For more interesting sandwiches, you can take sauce or seasoning: mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise.

      First sandwiches became known in 1762. A certain Edward Gibbon wrote in his diary that John Montague, Duke Sandwich, inveterate gambler, could spend twenty-four hours at a card-table. As he needed to eat something not leaving a game, he asked for some cold roast-beef between two pieces of bread.

      There are many kinds of sandwiches now, and any of them may be great – everything depends on likings and bases. Usual sandwiches are square, and fashionable “clubbers” are triangular: somebody invented them when cut usual ones diagonally.

      If you want to make classic sandwich with ham and cream cheese, you need:

      TOAST BREAD

      2 pieces

      HAM

      1 slice

      (it should be of the same contours as bread is)

      CREAM CHEESE

      1 tsp

      ROMAN LETTUCE

      1 leaf

      (wider than bread and ham are)

      TOMATO

      1 piece

      For making sandwiches, you should:

      spread evenly cream cheese on both of bread pieces

      put slice of ham on one piece of bread

      lay lettuce upon ham

      cut tomato in rings and put some on lettuce (tomato rings must not be wider than bread)

      NOTICE: you should be attentive for not cutting yourself

      cover sandwich with the other piece of bread.

      NOTICE: if you want to present your sandwich more interesting, you can make clubbers of them or shape it as you like.

      Bon appetite!

      CANAPE

      A canapé is a peculiar kind of sandwiches. First, it’s very small – as the saying is to bite once only. Second, canapé can consist of any solid food – bread is not of sine qua non; moreover, there are vegetable or fruit canapés. Third, it is served on sticks, and this is the most interesting in it!

      This hors d’oeuvre is French. It was named after a sofa where people sit and eat something light and not staining their hands or clothes. Today canapé is a part and parcel of fourchettes and other official dinners. Nevertheless, you can make it yourself and gladden your mom and dad.

      For making canapes with cheese, green olives and vegetables, you need:

      PAPRIKA

      1 piece

      ROMAN LETTUCE

      for serving

      GREEN OLIVES

      170 g

      (contents in one can)

      COTTAGE CHEESE

      100 g

      (mozzarella or feta)

      STICKS

      After that, you can start assembling your canapes:

      cut cottage cheese into cubes of 1 centimeter

      slice paprika into squares of 1 centimeter

      pour out pickle from can with green olives and put them on a plate

      lay lettuce on a dish

      take one stick and pin down one green olive, a slice of paprika and a cube of cottage cheese

      set canapés on lettuce in a dish (cottage cheese should be below)

      NOTICE: for more attractive serving you may take a half of green and a half of red paprika, or a half of green olives and a half of olives – all in all you may experiment with your canapés as much as you want!

      Bon appetite!

      CROQUE