شام پختن

Cooking Dinner

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 121: Cooking Dinner.

Hello and welcome to episode 121 of English as a Second Language Podcast. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

Today’s podcast is about me cooking dinner. Let’s get started!

[start of story]

I’m not a very good cook, but I decided to surprise my wife by making a threecourse meal. I went to the supermarket to get the dessert, and I stopped by the farmer’s market to get some fresh vegetables, my ingredients for the salad.

The meal would start with a salad. I washed the vegetables in the sink, chopped them up, and mixed them in a bowl with a light dressing. That was pretty easy.

The next course was going to be more difficult. The main dish would be salmon. I put the oil and the fish in the pan, but it was difficult to know when it was done, not underdone or overcooked.

The last part of the meal would be the dessert. I decided to buy a small chocolate cake. The meal turned out pretty well and my wife enjoyed it. After dinner, we went into the kitchen and saw all of the dirty dishes that needed washing. I realized that cooking isn’t the hard part, it’s the cleaning up!

[end of story]

Our story begins with me telling you that I am not a very good cook and that is true; that is not just part of the story. I am not a very good cook, but I decided to surprise my wife. “To surprise someone” is to do something they don’t expect. I decided to surprise my wife by making a three-course-meal. A “three-coursemeal” – “course” (course) means that there are three different parts of the meal. The first part is what we call the “appetizer” or the salad. We have salad first in a meal, or soup. The second course would be what we would call the “main course” where you would have, for example, meat or sea food, fish, etc. - that would be the main course. And usually, you’ll have some vegetables and maybe some potatoes or rice or something else. And then the third course would be the _ dessert course where you would have cake or something sweet. So, that’s a “three-course-meal,” (meal) - of course, is what you eat -a meal. This is a dinner meal.

I decided to go to the “supermarket.” And a “supermarket” - all one word - (supermarket) is a big store where you buy lots of different types of food. Some people call it just a “grocery store.” A “grocery store” - “grocery is (grocery) - that is the same thing as a supermarket. “Groceries” is another word for food. Well, I go to the supermarket to get the dessert, the third course, and I stopped by the farmer’s market to get some vegetables. “To stop by” - two words - “to stop by” (by) - means that you were going from one place to another and you decided to stop and do something along the way before you got there. So, if I’m going to the bank and I also need to go to the library, I may stop by the library first and then go to the bank - means I go there and then I go somewhere else.

Well, I stopped by the “farmer’s market.” “Farmer” (farmer’s) - a “farmer,” of course, is the person who grows food, and in the United States, at least in California, I know, there are lots of farmer’s markets and these are usually on one day of the week in a different part of the city. And people who sell food - who make, who grow their own food - come in and they sell their food directly to people. There is no market, there is just a farmer’s market. They’re just a group of people together who are selling food. We have - boy, three or four farmer’s markets on different days around where I live and usually the food is a little fresher, especially the vegetables. It’s mostly vegetables. Things like lettuce and carrots and grapes and those sorts of things you will find in a “farmer’s market.” Well, I went to the farmer’s market to get some vegetables and also, these vegetables were my “ingredients for the salad. “Ingredients” (ingredients) - “ingredients are the things that you put into food where the different parts of the food. So, the ingredients, for example, for macaroni and cheese - which is a favorite American food, especially for children - “macaroni” is a type of pasta. Macaroni and cheese are the two ingredients for “Macaroni and cheese.” So, an “ingredient” is anything that you put into the food.

Well, the meal would start, I decided, with a salad - that would be the first course. So, I washed the vegetables in the sink. The “sink” (sink) is where you can run water and the water goes down into a pipe (pipe) - that’s part of the sink. Well, in the sink I washed the vegetables and I “chopped them up.” “To chop up (chop) (up) - two words - “to chop up” means to cut. So, I cut them up in small pieces - that’s usually chopping up - usually means doing it, cutting it in small pieces. I mixed them in a bowl with a light dressing. So, I put them together with a light dressing. A “dressing” is something that - a liquid that you put on salad. Usually, it has oil - sometimes oil, and vinegar, different ingredients go into _ dressing. It’s sometimes also called a “salad dressing” or a “dressing” here is the same thing.

The next meal was going to be the main dish - the main course. And “dish” (dish) has two meanings. At least, “dish” can be the physical plate that you put something on or the bowl you put something in. A “dish” also can mean the same as the course or a part of the meal. Well, the main dish was going to be fish and the fish was “Salmon,” which is spelled (salmon) - in English, salmon. I put oil and the fish into a pan (pan). The “pan” is the metal thing that you put over the fire - over the flame (flame) - that’s the fire under on the stove. And you heat up the pan and you put the oil and fish.

But I said it was difficult to know when it was done - not “underdone or overcooked.” When we say the food is “done” (done) we mean it’s cooked just right. It’s cooked correctly. When we say it’s “underdone” - all one word - “underdone” (underdone) - that means it isn’t cooked enough. You need to cook it more and “overcooked” - also one word - “overcooked” means you’ve cooked it too long. You’ve cooked it too much.

Well, the last part of the meal was going to be a dessert and I bought a small chocolate cake because, c’mon, I can’t do everything, right? So, the last part of the meal was a chocolate cake. And I say that the meal “turned out” pretty well. “To turn out” means to result - what happens at the end. You can use that expression and it’s two words - “turn” “out” (turn) (out) - you can use that expression to talk about anything, how anything ended or how anything resulted. For example, “How did that movie turn out?” means what happens at the end? Here, the meal turned out “pretty well,” meaning the result was pretty good. My wife enjoyed it. Of course, after dinner, we went into the kitchen and saw all the dirty dishes - all the plates, cups, the pans, the glasses - all of those were dirty and those are dirty dishes. Remember “dish” has those two meanings - here it means the actual plate and spoons and forks etc.

I say at the end that I realized that cooking isn’t the hard part. It’s the cleaning up. And “to clean (clean) up” is to-really it’s the same as to clean. But again, in English, we often add the second word or making something - giving something emphasis. So, the “cleaning up here would be the cleaning of the dishes.

Now let’s listen to the story this time at a native rate of speech.

[start of story]

I’m not a very good cook, but I decided to surprise my wife by making a threecourse meal. I went to the supermarket to get the dessert, and I stopped by the farmer’s market to get some fresh vegetables, my ingredients for the salad.

The meal would start with a salad. I washed the vegetables in the sink, chopped them up, and mixed them in a bowl with a light dressing. That was pretty easy.

The next course was going to be more difficult. The main dish would be salmon. I put the oil and the fish in the pan, but it was difficult to know when it was done, not underdone or overcooked.

The last part of the meal would be the dessert. I decided to buy a small chocolate cake. The meal turned out pretty well and my wife enjoyed it. After dinner, we went into the kitchen and saw all of the dirty dishes that needed washing. I realized that cooking isn’t the hard part, it’s the cleaning up!

[end of story]

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time on ESL Podcast.

ESL Podcast is a production of the Center for Educational Development in Los Angeles, California. This podcast is copyright 2005. No part of this podcast may be sold or redistributed without the expressed written permission of the Center for Educational Development.