Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 477, Planning a Gourmet Meal.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 477.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
Go there to download a learning guide for this episode that will help you improve your English even faster.
This episode is called Planning a Gourmet Meal.
Something that is gourmet is something that is very good food, something that is very sophisticated food,
This will be a dialogue between Hung and Padma that will use a lot of vocabulary related to eating good food.
Let's get started.
I can't believe that the famous food critic, Julia Childs, will be eating in my restaurant tomorrow night.
I need to prepare a gourmet menu that's going to be mind-blowing.
She wouldn't be coming here if she didn't already know that your cuisine is considered some of the best food in the city.
That may be so, but you're only as good as your last meal.
I need to think of some delicacies that will really impress her.
Let's see.
I think we should offer two new hors d'oeuvres in addition to the ones already on the menu.
Hmm, maybe not.
Why don't you concentrate on the entrees?
I'm sure you could come up with one or two new dishes that will really impress her.
Okay, but I don't want to put all of my eggs in one basket.
I need to have dishes in every course that are out of this world.
Come on, you're a great chef.
What's the worst she could say?
Lots of things.
She could say that this is a run-of-the-mill restaurant with mediocre food that she wouldn't even feed to her cat.
Okay, yes, she could say those things, but she won't.
Your food will be mouth-watering and delectable, and her taste buds will thank you for it.
Our dialogue begins with Han saying I can't believe that.
The famous food critic said A food critic is a person who tastes food at restaurants and then writes about it for a newspaper, a magazine or nowadays, a website.
A critic, in general, is someone who gives their opinion about things.
There are book critics.
There are film critics.
This is a food critic.
Hung says Gourmet G-O-U-R-M-E-T is very good food, made with the best ingredients, the best cooking techniques.
The expression to be mind-blowing means to be amazing and surprising, to be very, very good.
Something that is mind-blowing may also simply be something that is difficult to understand, because it is so shocking, so surprising, so unusual.
Here it means excellent, something that is very good.
Padma says that this food critic would not be coming here if she didn't know that your cuisine is considered some of the best food in the city.
Cuisine, C-U-I-S-I-N-E, is excellent food.
It's usually a type of food from a particular region or area.
Padma is saying that your cuisine, your food, is some of the best food in the city.
Hung says that may be so, meaning maybe, but you're only as good as your last meal.
This expression you're only as good as your last something is a phrase used to show that it doesn't matter how many times you do something well.
People will only remember the most recent thing.
So if you're a great cook and you cook many excellent meals, but then you cook a very bad meal, people will remember the last thing they ate which was a bad meal.
So you have to keep performing at a high level.
You always have to be good.
People won't remember the good things you did in the past.
Hung says, I need to think of some delicacies that will really impress her.
A delicacy is a food that is very good tasting, something that is delicious, but it is not very common, usually because it's very expensive or it's difficult to make food.
Hung then says I think we should offer two new hors d'oeuvres in addition to the ones already on the menu.
An hors d'oeuvre is another French word.
Many of these terms come from French.
That means something you eat before the main meal.
What we typically say in English is an appetizer.
It's a small amount of food that you eat before the main course, the main meal.
Padma says are you sure the chefs in the kitchen will be able to handle making six different hors d'oeuvres?
The chef is the person whose job it is to cook in a restaurant, the person who cooks the food.
Many restaurants have several different chefs working in the kitchen.
Padma is asking are you sure the chefs will be able to handle, will be able to manage making six different hors d'oeuvres?
Hung says, hmm, maybe not.
Padma then suggests, why don't you concentrate on the entrees?
The entree is the main course, the main part of the meal.
She's suggesting to Hung that he worry about the entree, the main part of the meal, the most.
She says I'm sure you could come up with, I'm sure you could think of one or two new dishes that will really impress her.
A dish here is some particular food that's usually part of the larger meal.
Hung says, okay, but I don't want to put all of my eggs in one basket.
This is an old expression.
To put all of your eggs in one basket means to put all of your effort into your energy, your money or your time into one project.
One thing.
If that thing fails, then you don't have anything else.
So it's investing all of your time and energy into one thing, hoping that that one thing will be successful.
Of course, if that one thing is not successful, then you will fail completely.
You won't have any other choices, any other options.
Hung is saying that he doesn't want to put all of his emphasis into just one course, one part of the meal.
He says, I need to have dishes ready. in every course that are out of this world.
I need to have types of food, specific preparations of food in every course, meaning in every part of the meal.
The appetizer or hors d'oeuvre, the super salad, the entree, the dessert, those are all courses.
Each part of that meal, each course of that meal has to have dishes that are out of this world.
The expression out of this world means incredibly good, very, very good, excellent.
Padma says, come on, you're a great chef.
What's the worst she could say?
Meaning, you're a good cook, you're a good chef.
She is not going to have anything very negative to say about your food.
Hung says, however, lots of things.
Meaning, there are lots of negative things she could say.
She could say that this is a run-of-the-mill restaurant.
The expression run of the mill, M-I-L-L, means ordinary, normal, not very interesting.
You may say, this is a run-of-the-mill hotel.
It's a normal hotel.
It isn't a bad hotel, but it isn't a great hotel.
It's an average hotel, something that you would expect from this particular place or at this particular price.
It isn't unique.
It isn't interesting.
Hunk says that the food critic could say that this is a run-of-the-mill restaurant with mediocre food that she wouldn't even feed to her cat.
Mediocre means average, not very good, nothing special about it.
Mediocre food would be not very good, food that perhaps you would give to an animal, which is really, of course, a very negative thing to say, unless the food really is bad, like my cooking, for example.
Padma says, okay, yes, she could say those things, but she won't.
Your food will be mouthwatering and delectable, and her taste buds will thank you for it.
Something that is mouthwatering is something that makes you more hungry because it is so good tasting.
It is so delicious.
It makes you want to eat even more.
Delectable means delicious, very good, very pleasant.
Finally, taste buds B-U-D-S are the small spots on your tongue that allow you to taste or sense the flavor, whether it's sweet or salty, bitter or sour.
Those are your taste buds on your tongue.
She says her taste buds will thank you for it, meaning they'll consider it very good food.
She'll consider it, of course, very good food.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I can't believe that the famous food critic, Julia Childs, will be eating in my restaurant tomorrow night.
I need to prepare a gourmet menu that's going to be mind-blowing.
She wouldn't be coming here if she didn't already know that your cuisine is considered some of the best food in the city.
That may be so, but you're only as good as your last meal.
I need to think of some delicacies that will really impress her.
Let's see.
I think we should offer two new hors d'oeuvres in addition to the ones already on the menu.
Are you sure the chefs in the kitchen will be able to handle making six different hors d'oeuvres?
Hmm, maybe not.
Why don't you concentrate on the entrees?
I'm sure you could come up with one or two new dishes that will really impress her.
Okay, but I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket.
I need to have dishes in every course that are out of this world.
Come on, you're a great chef.
What's the worst she could say?
Lots of things.
She could say that this is a run-of-the-mill restaurant with mediocre food that she wouldn't even feed to her cat.
Okay, yes, she could say those things, but she won't.
Your food will be mouth-watering and delectable, and her taste buds will thank you for it.
This mind-blowing, out-of-this-world script was written by Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2009 by the Center for Educational Development.
