Practice FrenchB1Full sample
La recette oubliée
The Forgotten Recipe — Clara tries to revive a family cake recipe and discovers that memory can become something new.
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Dans le café de sa tante, Clara trouve un carnet couvert de farine derrière une étagère. Les premières pages parlent de comptes et de livraisons, mais au milieu apparaît une recette de gâteau aux poires. Aucune quantité n'est complète: il manque le sucre, la température du four et même le temps de cuisson. Sa tante hausse les épaules; c'était la spécialité de leur grand-mère, mais personne ne l'a préparée depuis des années. Clara décide d'essayer. Elle compare les taches sur le papier, interroge un ancien serveur et goûte trois versions trop sèches. Le dimanche suivant, elle sert un gâteau encore imparfait, mais son parfum remplit la salle. Sa tante ferme les yeux et sourit. Ce n'est pas exactement la recette perdue, dit-elle, c'est le début d'une nouvelle. Clara note aussitôt ses changements dans le carnet, avec la date et le prénom de sa tante. Le carnet retourne ensuite derrière le comptoir, mais cette fois à portée de main, prêt à recevoir les essais des clients curieux.
Vocabulary
- un carneta notebook
- couvert de farinecovered in flour
- hausser les épaulesto shrug
- le temps de cuissonthe cooking time
- à portée de mainwithin easy reach
Show English translation
In her aunt's café, Clara finds a notebook covered with flour behind a shelf. The first pages talk about accounts and deliveries, but in the middle appears a recipe for pear cake. No quantity is complete: the sugar, the oven temperature, and even the baking time are missing. Her aunt shrugs; it was their grandmother's specialty, but no one has made it for years. Clara decides to try. She compares the stains on the paper, questions a former waiter, and tastes three versions that are too dry. The following Sunday, she serves a cake that is still imperfect, but its aroma fills the room. Her aunt closes her eyes and smiles. It is not exactly the lost recipe, she says, it is the beginning of a new one. Clara immediately writes her changes in the notebook, with the date and her aunt's first name. The notebook then returns behind the counter, but this time within reach, ready to receive the attempts of curious customers.
Comprehension questions
1. What is Clara trying to do?
- Sell the café
- Recreate her grandmother’s pear cake
- Write a delivery list
- Paint the shelves
Show answer
Recreate her grandmother’s pear cake
2. Which detail is missing from the recipe?
- The café address
- The oven temperature
- The name of the aunt
- The price of coffee
Show answer
The oven temperature
3. Clara’s first three versions of the cake are too dry.
Show answer
true
4. Complete with the substance that left marks on the notebook: Le carnet découvert près de l'étagère porte des traces de ___.
Show answer
farine
5. What does “hausse les épaules” mean?
- shrugs
- falls asleep
- opens the oven
- takes notes
Show answer
shrugs
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