Learn Hardcore Hebrew: בערב בישלנו בבית, כי לא רצינו לאכול במסעדה ליד החוף. - In the evening we cooked at home, because we did not want to eat in a restaurant near the beach.

The prefix ב־ is a very common preposition meaning in, at, or sometimes on, depending on context. With time expressions, it often corresponds to English in:

בבוקר = in the morning
בערב = in the evening
בלילה = at night

So בערב is the normal Hebrew way to say in the evening.

Why does the sentence start with בערב?

Hebrew often puts a time expression at the beginning of a sentence to set the scene.

So:

בערב בישלנו בבית = In the evening, we cooked at home

This is very natural. You could also say:

בישלנו בבית בערב

That is also grammatical, but starting with בערב gives the sentence a smoother time-setting feel, like As for the evening...

How does בישלנו mean we cooked?