Breakfast like a king

Hi Cris and all you other bloggers out there !

Are you sitting comfortably? Here is a nice big blog for you to keep you busy over the weekend. We'll talk about language first, then food.

Cris, I really enjoyed your photos and your story about trips to the island. It looks beautiful and such memories are very precious. Do you have a favourite holiday spot now? I too get claustrophobic in lifts. And I also have a phobia about lift doors – I am always worried that they will crush me as I get into a lift. Eeeeeek!!!! Do you have any phobias?

Here is some homework for you. Have a look at the following 5 sentences from your blog. For each one, can you find the mistake, explain what is wrong and try to correct them. Remember to read the sentence in context.
*we had really a lot of fun*
*can you believe my grandfather had built the house by himself*
*there were a lot of trees, lettuce and tomatoes plantation*
*when my grandparent’s died*
*thanks god I have a car*

Thanks for all the questions! Teachers love questions, honestly.

(1) Hmm, another word for haberdashery shop. I’m not sure. Maybe ‘sewing shop’?

(2) You asked for another word for ‘impressionable’. If the movies contain blood, guns etc perhaps the correct word to describe this is ‘violent’.

(3) An MA is a Masters of Arts degree, a program of post-graduate study. I am in my final year of a part-time Linguistics degree.

(4) In your last blog you said “I can make out the meaning…”. Although this is not totally incorrect, I instinctively felt that to say “I can work out the meaning” was a better verb to use in this context. We use ‘to make out’ to talk about things being or becoming physically visible. For example, ‘I can just make out that building in the fog’ (meaning, its foggy but I can just see the building) or ‘Its dark but I can just make out the shape of a man standing over there” (meaning, although it is dark, I can still see a man over there). If you say ‘to make out the words’ its like you could be saying ‘I can see the words on the page’. There are of course many other meanings for the verbs ‘to make out’ and ‘to work out’. How many can you think of?

And Cris – here are the expressions that I reworded.
• I am the one clapping my hands (not *clapping the hands*)
• Now I have to confess something TO you (not *I have to confess you something*)
• Thread (uncountable) (not *threats*)
• We don’t have to pay FOR it (not *you have to pay a parking lot*)
• To look up words in a dictionary (not *loop up words* - I suspect this was just a typing mistake)

The other expressions you noted are all fine – you didn’t need to reword them, but you did come up with correct alternatives. Well done! Intrigue; your sister looks like you; if you drive a car; it takes a long time to get.

So, what shall we talk about this weekend? Do you eat breakfast? Breakfast is a great meal and is often overlooked. So I thought I’d talk about breakfast in my blog today and tell you about different ‘breakfast experiences’. Sounds interesting? Then read on.

We have an expression in English: breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dine like a pauper. This implies that you should eat a large and hearty breakfast and then less and less as they day goes on, finishing the day off with a light meal. Steve has an alternative saying, which is “breakfast like a king, lunch like a king and dine like a king”. Thank you Steve. I think that says it all about his eating habits.

The traditional British breakfast is the ‘fry up’, so called because you ‘fry up’ all the contents in a pan. Usually this means bacon, eggs, sausage, mushrooms, baked beans, served with fried bread and toast. This is too stodgy for most people to tuck into every day, so most people just have toast, cereals, fruits or yogurt for breakfast. In Thailand, you can get all of these things, but there are also come delicious alternatives.

Rice is the staple food of Thailand and accompanies most meals. One of the most traditional Thai breakfast dishes is ‘khao tom’ or rice soup. This is often made with the previous day’s leftover rice, to which stock is added, as well as meat, onions and chopped herbs. You end up with a kind of thick soup. People will often stop at food stalls on their way to work to enjoy a bowl of khao tom (as shown in the picture here)


Alternatively, you can buy it ‘to go’ then eat it later. If this is the case, the soup will usually be put into a plastic bag and served with various accompaniments, such as soy sauce and chilli paste, served in tiny plastic bags. Here is a colleague from work, who has just arrived with his khao tom.


Another popular breakfast dish is omelette or in Thai ‘kai jeaow’. This is again served with rice. You can put anything in an omelette, but at the food stand outside my office I get spring onions, carrot, mushrooms and fresh chillis. The lady in the picture stands right outside my office building and churns out dozens of omelettes every day to hungry office workers. I swear that she does some of the best ones in town.

People in Thailand often have long commutes to work. Some of the staff I work with travel for 1.5-2 hours from their home to the office. They aren’t hungry when they get up, but they need to eat once at their desk. Here is a shot of another colleague enjoying some ‘sai krok’ which is a type of salami sausage and rice, while going through her emails.


As an alternative to rice, you can also find noodles of all shapes and sizes. They are served with vegetables or meat, either as a soup or dry, without liquid. Tom in my team is a great fan of these. Here he is, tucking into a large bowl of egg noodles with pork, called ‘ba mii moo daeng’ in Thai (literally egg noodle pork red).


Although I love having an Asian breakfast, I can’t resist going to the bakery on the way to work and picking up some croissants. I also sometimes eat breakfast at my desk. Although I am an early worm, my stomach is not and I can’t usually eat much first thing.


Actually, in our house we eat something very special for breakfast. What do you think it is? Have a guess and I’ll tell you next time. And tell me – what do you all eat for breakfast? Do you breakfast like a king or do you skip this meal?

Finally, here are the answers to the gap fill from last time.
(1) tore it up (to tear something up means that you ripped it up and/or implies that you threw it away)
(2) torn apart (if you feel torn apart, you feel terrible, often emotionally)
(3) tear out (to tear out is a synonym of ‘rip out’ or ‘take out’)
(4) tore apart (‘to tear apart an argument’ mean to find problems or faults with the logic of an argument) AND tear up
(5) tear off (to tear off is a synonym of ‘rip off’, meaning ‘to take something off in a hurry’)

All this talk of breakfast is making me hungry. Have a great weekend, Cris and everyone, and speak to you soon.

Anne.
xxx

overlooked (adjective) - in this case means 'not eaten'. We use this word to mean something is forgotten or not done.
hearty (adjective) – large
a light meal – a meal which is not too filling, or too large e.g. a salad is a light meal
to tuck into (verb) – to eat and really enjoy it
stodgy (adjective) – heavy or filling
staple food – the food that is eaten most often
stock – a savoury flavoured liquid, used to make soups and other dishes
to churn something out (verb) – to make a lot of something
to swear (verb) – here, means to believe something strongly
can’t resist – means can’t do without
first thing - right at the start of the morning, when you wake up
to skip something (verb) – means to not do something,

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