A special meal

、 A special meal

The most special meal I had was one made of organic food in a garden owned by my friend Jack in the countryside . I took the meal with some of my friends last autumn. Actually, about why my friend wanted to own the garden, and why we had the meal is really a long story.

Actually, this plan was inspired by my friend Jack, whose mother is a doctor and is fond of healthy life style. According to Jack’s description, his mother never eats anything fatty, greasy or salty. Jack was forbidden to eat any junk food before he entered middle school, because his mother said these food was no good for keep healthy. Due to his mother’s influence, Jack became a big fan of organic food.

One day, I got a phone call from Jack. He said with excited voice: “Hey,Sarah, I have a wonderful plan, do you want to join me?”

“What plan?”

“En.., I want to rent a farm in the countryside and produce my own organic fruits and vegetables, then we can harvest our own food in the autumn. You know, in China, it is the safest way to cook and eat.”

“Sounds good, but...” I hesitated, “Jack, don’t you think farming is really a tiring job? Besides, we have to spend most of our time on study, so I’m afraid we

don’t have enough time to take care of our plants.”

“Don’t worry too much about it, take it easy Sarah.” he said with a joyful voice, “I have considered the problem, we can try to sow the seed, and go to the garden when we are free, maybe I have ask my aunt to help us weed and water them.”

“OK, that will be better.” I thought that was not a bad solution. “But honestly speaking, I’m not so fond of farming and gardening. I had no such experiences of doing farmwork before. What’s more, my skin will become red and uncomfortable when exposed to the sun in summer. So.... ”

“Come on, Sarah, I assure you will find it is really full of fun. If you really don’t like it, you can quit at any time. ” Jack continued, “Why don’t you have a try?”

Eventually, I was persuade by Jack and decided to accept the invitation, which turned out to be a right decision later, because I found it was really an ideal way to get close to nature .

So we really did it. Jack located the place of his garden, which was near to his aunt’s house. In the early summer, we bought some seeds of vegetables and fruits, and we drove here. Though I had no experience of farming, I still know some basic knowledge about plants. I got to know that the growth of plants was demanding in the right position, temperature as well as the soil quality. We made

the soil already, and then sow the seed, water them. During our free time, Jack would drive me to our garden to enjoy the pleasure of farming. We watered and weed them. Sometimes it was hot and we sweated, and Jack’s aunt would assist us. At that time, I have to admit that gardening and planting was really full of fun.

A few months past, and autumn came. Jack called me again.

“Hi, Sarah, I’d like to tell you a piece of good news, our fruits and vegetables are ripe. How about having a picnic there this weekend?”

“Really? Wonderful! Can I take some friends to come with me ?”

“Sure, many friends gathering together will make a warm atmosphere.I will drive you there, see you .”

On the weekend, Jack drove a jeep which was large enough to hold of us. When we arrived at garden, I was glad to find the cucumber vines were long and with many ripe cucumbers. And the lettuce was so good that we wanted to try it as salad ingredient. Besides, our pumpkins, apples, pepper, carrots and eggplants were all ripe and waiting for harvest.“Jack, tell me, am I dreaming? I see all our plants are ripe, how unbelievable!”

“Sarah, because of our hard working, they are all ripe, .” Jack smiled to me.

Then we were busy preparing the lunch. I was in charge of washing all the

vegetables, while a friend of us coming from Sichuan province was responsible of making most of the dishes. So this meal was a typical Sichuan flavor one. The dishes were added with pepper and garlic. The meal contained the cucumber soup, fried mushroom mixed with sweet and source sauce, lettuce with bean sauce and several others things. The staple food was a large Chinese pumpkin pie, which was too tasty and sweet to forget. We ate all the dishes and considered the cook as an expert of cooking authentic Chinese cuisine. He told us he began to learn cooking when he was only 7, because his parents were busy working and he had to take care of himself. In order to serve the whole family with five-star hotel standard dishes, he even took part in a cooking club!

After the lunch, we tried some apples, my friend said the organic fruits seemed better than those sold in the supermarket. They all praised Jack’s plan and said it worth trying. We really enjoy the meal. Jack recommended that we gather together every autumn, and we all agree on the suggestion. Frankly, I felt so fortunate to join in Jack’s plan, or I would such a good opportunity to enjoy the local regalement and being close to nature.

Jack and I took many photos in the garden, and uploaded to our social networks. Many people were inspired by his plan and began to rent a farm in the suburb and produce their own organic food.

From this meal, I got to know that No pains, no gains, if you want to get pleasure or you want to harvest something, first you should sacrifice something and pay all efforts to do it. Besides, when facing something unknown or uncertain,

you’d better at least try it at first before you make a decision.