From a sickly childhood, Steven passed into a sickly adolescence. Phantom aches and pains constantly wracked the poor boy, much to the bafflement of the family doctor, who pronounced "nothing at all wrong with him physically." In fact, it wasn't until his first year away at university that his constitution seemed to pick up and his body threw off its shackles of ill-health.

New to Popup Chinese? Our lessons at the Elementary level are designed for anyone who already knows the basics but is still working towards full comprehension of shorter sentences spoken at real speed. Our dialogues here are limited in length and our vocabulary is very high frequency. Exactly the stuff you need to build the bridge to greater fluency. So give us a listen. Feedback is always welcome at echo@popupchinese.com. Oh yeah, and skip the rice gruel too.
 said on
October 30, 2009
I've moved up to the intermediate level, but this is a nice dialogue and pretty easy listening. good stuff. looking forward to film friday tomorrow.
 said on
October 30, 2009
Echo,

粥是很好吃!Especially with leftover turkey from the (美国节)Thanksgiving dinner. Actually, that's the only way Thanksgiving turkey tastes good.

a
 said on
October 30, 2009
@ Brendan

I got wind of the Texas Tim's BBQ incident recently. I didn't learn about this fiasco however until after I had my first dining experience at Tim's. Fortunately for me, I left with my stomach intact.

The fact that all the Chinese wait staff are basically wearing the Texas Flag in button up long sleeve shirt form was almost worth the overpriced menu.
 said on
October 30, 2009
@alangarr,

没错,完全同意!

Thank you for the support!

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
October 30, 2009
本老外也爱吃粥。白米粥、小米粥、红豆南瓜粥,加橄榄菜、加个煎蛋,都好吃。我媳妇儿的妈妈做的挺不错。
 said on
October 30, 2009
@gavin,

多好的妈妈呀!只要有人做,肯定谁都爱吃!
 said on
October 30, 2009
@gavin,

热烈欢迎你加入泡泡中文大家庭和我们爱粥一族的大家庭!你已经不是老"外"了,是老"内"!我力挺你!

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
October 31, 2009
Solidarity David and Brendan! China has some great foods, but watered-down rice is not one of them. Avoid! Avoid! :P

 said on
November 2, 2009
我也觉得粥是很好吃的. 我最喜欢吃的粥是艇仔粥 with extra 叉烧 , 鱼片粥, 以及皮蛋瘦肉粥!

btw isn't 粥 known as "congee" in English? At least that's what my friends and I all call it. All of the Chinese restaurants I go to also call it "congee"
 said on
November 3, 2009
@wilsonfong82,

我也特别喜欢皮蛋瘦肉粥!不过好像一般外国朋友都不太喜欢皮蛋。

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
November 3, 2009
@Echo,@wilsonfong82,

我最喜欢嘉和一品粥的青叶虾仁粥,你们一定要尝尝啊~
 said on
December 18, 2009
粥 (zhou) is very nutritious because of the complex carbohydrates that provide the fuel muscles need to function and glucose the brain requires for quick thought processing! The fact that it is watered down allows for easy digestion and is excellent for breaking the long fasting period from supper some 12 hours before.

If you Western sissies don't enjoy the subtle favor because you are accustomed to eating foods high in salt and refined sugar content ( I bet you like Coco Puffs) try adding some honey and/or ground cinnamon. This will make it tasty and still keep it healthy.

 said on
December 19, 2009
@bill_oberg - I don't mind 紫米粥 or 八宝粥, but given a choice I'd still go for oatmeal any day. Then again, I've never really been much for breakfast in any form.

@wilsonfong82 - There are some Cantonese restaurants that refer to it as 'juk' - the Cantonese reading of the character - but 'congee' definitely seems to be the standard translation. I spent a long time wondering where the word came from before checking the OED and finding that it's from a Hindi word for rice gruel. Mystery solved!
 said on
December 19, 2009
@Wilsonfong82

我最喜欢吃皮蛋瘦肉粥!在泡泡中文的家里庭都是粥友啊!
 said on
December 20, 2009
@Xiao Hu,

我也最喜欢皮蛋瘦肉粥!

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
December 20, 2009
@Bill_Oberb,

This here western sissy for one can't stand sugary cereals like Captain Crunch, Boo Berry, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and so on, and is most certainly not koo-koo for Cocoa Puffs! As a matter of fact I like 粥 much better than our western cereals.
 said on
December 20, 2009
@Echo,

那你最喜欢的粥是什么样子的?我很喜欢吃咸的!
 said on
December 21, 2009
紫米粥is something my wife make for the kids if they've been nauseous. It is easy to digest and hence easy on the recovering body. I think I've had it with dry shredded pork and it was 马马虎虎. I could take it or leave it.

 said on
December 21, 2009
@蓝大卫,

Dry shredded pork (肉松) on 粥?Never tried. I remembered when I was a little kid, I liked dry shredded pork very much, but I haven't had it for years. David always thinks it is disgusting. Some bakeries put that on the top of bread here, which I think is not that tasty.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com

 said on
May 15, 2014
I love 粥! I think it's actually very nutritious, especially with 枸杞 gǒuqǐ (what Americans call "goji berries") and a little fish and/or turtle meat.

Most people I know in California call it "congee". I'm not sure about other parts of the US. And--just a guess--but maybe in Britain or other parts of the English-speaking world you might be more likely to hear it called "porridge".