<p>Prompt: Should we give people more praise in order to build up their self-confidence?</p>
<p>My grandma makes the best steamed fish. She garnishes a fresh fish with ginger, fresh green onions, and her special, delicious black sauce made of piquant soy sauce seasoned with red pepper. Every time my family and I go out to Zilker Park to visit her, she has three steaming plates of tender fish stimulating our taste buds.</p>
<p>It has truly become one of our family traditions. That is, until my grandfather passed away this April. My grandparents were inseparable. My grandfather took care of my grandmother when he still had strength, and my grandmother watched over my grandpa after he had a debilitating disease. She perfected the art of creating succulent dishes that were easy to chew and swallow: tofu, steamed eggs, crab porridge, and others.</p>
<p>However, upon my grandfather’s passing, my grandma became an entirely different person. She experienced melancholy depression, which lasted for several weeks. My family, relatives, and I often went to near Zilker Park to visit her and attempt to comfort her, but those steaming plates of delectable fish no longer awaited us. She would no longer leave her house to play poker cards with her neighbors and friends. She began to sleep on one side of the bed, which used to be my grandfather’s. When we went out to eat, she would usually just sit silently, often speaking when spoken to, answering with brevity.</p>
<p>Then, one day when we were near Zilker Park, at my grandma’s house, my dad bought live crabs for lunch. We cooked them and began to eat them, but decided that the crab meat would be better with some sauce. My mom mixed some soy sauce with chili sauce and brought it back to the table. My grandma suddenly came and quickly tasted the sauce with her fingers; she took it back to the kitchen and threw the sauce into the sink without a word. Quietly, she added minced garlic, some chopped basil, hot peppers, sesame oil and a bit of apple juice to some soy sauce. It blended perfectly with the crab and we showered our grandmother with praises. Soon, the sauce was all gone, but my grandma smiled and went to the kitchen to make more of her sauce. We devoured the crabs at a record-breaking pace, and we flooded grandma with more compliments. Afterwards, I went out to play catch-ball at the park with my sister. After a couple hours of playing, we headed back exhausted. As I walked in, I could make out the unmistakable aroma of my grandmother’s fish.</p>