Spanish StoriesLa tortilla de Leo
Leo's Tortilla
Home alone one evening, Leo decides to cook his grandmother's tortilla de patatas for his tired parents, with her help over video call — a heartfelt A1 story about family and kindness.
Topics
- family
- cooking
- home
- kindness
Tap or hover any underlined word for its English meaning.
Listen to the story
Learner-paced · SpanishWhat you'll encounter
- Grammar
- Present tense verbs, Imperative mood for instructions (pela, corta, añade), Simple past tense narration (llamó, aprendió), Reflexive verbs (se distrae, se cae)
- Vocabulary
- Kitchen and cooking (sartén, huevos, aceite, fuego), Food (patatas, cebolla, tortilla), Family and technology (videollamada, abuela)
- Language skills
- Following step-by-step instructions, Describing a small mistake and how it was fixed, Expressing care through actions
Leo tiene doce años y vive con sus padres en un piso pequeño en el centro de la ciudad. Sus padres trabajan mucho: su madre es y su padre trabaja en una oficina hasta tarde. Casi todas las noches, los tres cenan juntos, pero tarde y cansados.
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Un jueves, Leo llega a casa del colegio y algo: hoy sus padres trabajan un extra largo y no vuelven hasta las nueve. Va a estar solo en casa varias horas.
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Al principio piensa en ver la televisión o jugar con el ordenador, pero después tiene una idea. «Voy a cocinar la cena», piensa. «Así, cuando lleguen, ya está todo listo.»
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El problema es que Leo casi nunca cocina. Solo sabe hacer un sándwich y calentar sopa. Pero decide intentarlo con la tortilla de patatas de su abuela, la comida favorita de toda la familia.
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Busca el número de su abuela y la llama por videollamada.
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«¡Abuela! Quiero hacer tu tortilla de patatas, pero no sé cómo empezar.»
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Su abuela se ríe, contenta. «Qué buena idea, cariño. Primero, cuatro patatas y córtalas en pequeños.»
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Leo pone el teléfono contra un vaso, en la mesa de la cocina, y sigue las instrucciones de su abuela paso a paso. Pela las patatas con cuidado, aunque mucho más de lo normal. Después las corta, y también una cebolla, que le hace llorar un poco.
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«Abuela, .»
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«Es normal con la cebolla. Sigue, sigue.»
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Leo pone aceite en la y añade las patatas y la cebolla. Mientras se cocinan, cuatro huevos en un bol grande, tal como le explica su abuela.
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Todo va bien hasta que Leo buscando sal y se le olvida la sartén. Cuando vuelve a mirar, un poco de aceite y las patatas están casi negras por un lado.
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«¡Abuela! ¡!»
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«Tranquilo. y saca las que no están quemadas. Las otras, a la basura. No pasa nada.»
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Leo y hace lo que le dice su abuela. la mayoría de las patatas y sigue con la receta: las mezcla con los huevos , añade un poco de sal, quizás demasiada, y vuelve a poner todo en la sartén.
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«Ahora viene la parte difícil», dice su abuela con una sonrisa en la pantalla. «Tienes que a la tortilla con un plato.»
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«¿Con un plato? ¿Y si se cae?»
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«No se va a caer si tienes confianza. Pon el plato encima de la sartén, bien los dos con las manos, y da la vuelta rápido.»
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Leo pone el plato, cierra los ojos un momento y da la vuelta. Se oye un golpe fuerte. Cuando abre los ojos, la tortilla está en el plato, un poco por un lado, pero entera.
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«¡Lo conseguí!»
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«Sabía que podías», dice su abuela, orgullosa.
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A las nueve y cuarto, Leo escucha la puerta. Sus padres entran cansados, con las bolsas del trabajo todavía en las manos. Pero cuando llegan a la cocina, se paran en la puerta, sorprendidos.
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«¿Qué es esto?», pregunta su madre, mirando y la tortilla en el centro.
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«La cena», dice Leo, un poco nervioso. «La hice yo.»
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Su padre un trozo. «Está un poco », dice, «pero está muy buena.»
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Su madre lo abraza fuerte. «Gracias, cariño. .»
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«Quería hacerlo», responde Leo. «Además, la abuela me ayudó por videollamada.»
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Esa noche, los tres cenan juntos, riendo por la historia de las patatas quemadas y del plato que casi se cae. Y aunque la tortilla tiene un lado un poco roto y está un poco salada, es la mejor cena que han comido en mucho tiempo.
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Show English translation
Leo is twelve years old and lives with his parents in a small apartment in the city center. His parents work a lot: his mother is a nurse and his father works at an office until late. Almost every night, the three of them eat dinner together, but late and tired.
One Thursday, Leo gets home from school and realizes something: today his parents are working an extra-long shift and won't be back until nine. He's going to be home alone for several hours.
At first he thinks about watching television or playing on the computer, but then he has an idea. "I'm going to cook dinner," he thinks. "That way, when they get home, everything will already be ready."
The problem is that Leo almost never cooks. He only knows how to make a sandwich and heat up soup. But he decides to try his grandmother's tortilla de patatas, the whole family's favorite meal.
He looks up his grandmother's number and calls her on a video call.
"Grandma! I want to make your tortilla de patatas, but I don't know where to start."
His grandmother laughs, delighted. "What a great idea, sweetheart. First, peel four potatoes and cut them into small pieces."
Leo props the phone against a glass on the kitchen table and follows his grandmother's instructions step by step. He peels the potatoes carefully, though it takes him much longer than usual. Then he cuts them, and an onion too, which makes him cry a little.
"Grandma, my eyes sting."
"That's normal with onion. Keep going, keep going."
Leo puts oil in the frying pan and adds the potatoes and onion. While they cook, he beats four eggs in a large bowl, just as his grandmother explains.
Everything is going fine until Leo gets distracted looking for salt and forgets to watch the pan. When he looks again, a little smoke is rising from the oil and the potatoes are nearly black on one side.
"Grandma! They're burning!"
"Don't worry. Turn down the heat and take out the ones that aren't burnt. Throw the rest away. It's not a big deal."
Leo takes a deep breath and does what his grandmother tells him. He saves most of the potatoes and continues with the recipe: he mixes them with the beaten eggs, adds a bit of salt, maybe too much, and puts everything back in the pan.
"Now comes the hard part," says his grandmother, smiling on the screen. "You have to flip the tortilla over with a plate."
"With a plate? What if it falls?"
"It won't fall if you trust yourself. Put the plate on top of the pan, hold both firmly with your hands, and flip it quickly."
Leo places the plate, closes his eyes for a moment, and flips it over. There's a loud thud. When he opens his eyes, the tortilla is on the plate, a little broken on one side, but in one piece.
"I did it!"
"I knew you could," says his grandmother, proud.
At a quarter past nine, Leo hears the door. His parents come in tired, still holding their work bags. But when they reach the kitchen, they stop in the doorway, surprised.
"What's this?" his mother asks, looking at the set table and the tortilla in the middle.
"Dinner," says Leo, a little nervous. "I made it."
His father tries a piece. "It's a bit salty," he says, "but it's really good."
His mother hugs him tightly. "Thank you, sweetheart. You didn't have to do this."
"I wanted to," Leo answers. "Besides, Grandma helped me over video call."
That night, the three of them have dinner together, laughing about the story of the burnt potatoes and the plate that almost fell. And even though the tortilla is a little broken on one side and a little too salty, it's the best dinner they've had in a long time.
Vocabulary in this story
- enfermera
- nurse
- se da cuenta de
- realizes
- turno
- shift
- pela
- peel
- trozos
- pieces
- tarda
- it takes him
- me pican los ojos
- my eyes sting
- sartén
- frying pan
- bate
- beats / whisks
- se distrae
- gets distracted
- vigilar
- watch / keep an eye on
- humea
- is smoking
- Se están quemando
- they're burning
- Baja el fuego
- turn down the heat
- respira hondo
- takes a deep breath
- Salva
- saves
- batidos
- beaten
- darle la vuelta
- flip it over
- sujeta
- hold
- rota
- broken / torn
- la mesa puesta
- the set table
- prueba
- tries
- salada
- salty
- No tenías que hacerlo
- you didn't have to do this
Comprensión(check what you understood)
Answer a few quick questions about the story. This is just for you: there's no account or score saved.