French Words In Cooking and Eating Vocabulary.

At a restaurant, the person who greets the customers and leads them to a table is known as the maître D (meaning maître d’hôtel). Take a seat! Let’s start with an apéritif a cocktail or a drink served before a meal while we look at the menu. You normally have a choice of two types of meal when you go to a restaurant. The “fixed price menu” is just what it says whereas A la carte means that you can choose from the entire list of dishes on offer. One of the most common terms on the menu is a la plus an adjective or noun, usually also in French, to mean “in the style of”. So, á la Américaine means “in the American way” and a la russe means “in the Russian way”. Then there is Cuisine a word to describe the style of cooking particular to a region ( For example: Spanish cuisine ) 

For a starter, you might like Clams au naturel which means that they haven’t been cooked or seasoned and that the natural taste hasn’t been altered. So, now we have ordered... but what do we say as the food arrives? As it happens, that’s French too... because English has no expression of its own to wish people a nice meal. We say Bon appétit! .

After that, you could order a Fondue, which literally means “melted”, something cooked in hot oil at the table. The word originally came from the practice of dipping bread or biscuits into melted cheese or chocolate. Maybe you prefer a steak with something sautéed (fried) or puréed (creamed or liquefied, usually fruit or vegetables). And for dessert, what about something Flambé ? This is a dish served “on fire”.To make a dish flambé, heat a little brandy and pour it over the dish, then ignite the brandy with a match. If you don’t want banana flambé, maybe you fancy apple pie á la mode? If so, the waiter will bring you a slice of apple pie with with vanilla ice cream on top. You may not be able to manage a dessert if you ate too many of the hors d’oeuvre (snacks such as canapés) before dinner!

"a gourmet meal" ( high quality food)

Are you a gourmet or a gourmand? A gourmet is a person who knows all about food and appreciates it whereas a gourmand is greedy and simply loves to eat !

Little Havana

In downtown (centro de la ciudad) Miami there is a very long road called Southwest 8^th Street. There is nothing particularly special about it until you reach (llegas) an area between 27^th and 4^th Avenues. The road becomes (se convierte) simply “Calle Ocho” but now it is different and exciting. Suddenly (de repente) you are surrounded (rodeado) by all things Cuban – restaurants, cigar factories, souvenir shops, Santeria candles (velas) and offerings (ofrendas) and, of course, Cubans. You are now in “Little Havana”, the home to thousands of Cuban exiles and ex-pats.(expatriados)

    

Some Background Information

The story goes that in 1763 when Spain sold Florida to Britain, which was a Protestant nation, hundreds of Spanish Catholics who were living in Florida fled (huyeron) to Cuba. Approximately 200 years later many Cubans had to move to Florida when Fidel Castro seized power (tomó el poder) in 1959. At one point (hubo un momento en el que) 15,000 exiles a day arrived in Miami. The refugees (refugiados) went to Florida because of its relative proximity to Cuba. Many of them made the voyage in precarious homemade boats.(pateras) Now there are approximately 90,000 Cubans living in this three and a half square mile (milla cuadrada) neighbourhood. This area, which was neglected (descuidada) due to many Cubans moving to other areas, is now coming back to life.(volviendo a la vida) Many YUCAs (Young Urban Cuban Americans) are now returning to the neighbourhood to rediscover their Cuban roots.(raíces)

Calle Ocho

The first thing you notice when you enter the street is the large number of Cuban restaurants. These serve typical dishes such as ropa vieja (beef in garlic sauce (salsa de ajo)); bistec empanizado (steak in breadcrumbs (pan rallado) and tasajo (salted beef). There are also Cuban bakeries with their delicious specialities such as besitos de coco (coconut macaroons) and pasteles de guayaba (guava cakes). Or if you are thirsty you can enjoy a refreshing drink such as guarapo de caña (sugar cane (caña de azucar) juice) or coco frío (cold coconut juice) or a tropical fruit ice cream. There are also Cuban grocery stores (colmados) as well as the cigar stores,(tienda de puros) souvenir shops, craft shops (tiendas de artesanía) and a large shop called Lilly’s Records that sells an extensive range (gama) of Latin American music.
 

Viernes Cultural

Calle Ocho is not just about food, drink and shopping. On the last Friday of every month, several blocks of the street close and there is a large street party. This is probably one of the best times to visit Little Havana because it gives you a real taste (sabor) of Cuban culture. There is live (en vivo) Latin music, usually featuring (presentando) local singers and groups and, occasionally, famous artists. Most of the musical events take place (tienen lugar) around Domino Park. Its real name is Máximo Gómez Park after the famous Cuban revolutionary hero. However, (sin embargo) it gets its local name from the fact that many old men go there to play dominoes every day. There are Cuban dance exhibitions and street theatre and it is also an opportunity for local artists to display (exhiben) their work. You may be able to find a really good painting or some ceramics for a reasonable price. Many of these artists also exhibit in the recently renovated Tower Art Center, a wonderful example of Art Deco architecture. As Cultural Friday has become so popular, local artists are now organizing a “Surreal Saturday”. This is held on the first Saturday of every month. Inside a modern theatre called Space 42 there are four performances (actuaciones) of music, dance, theatre and poetry readings, while outside there is a DJ playing Latin music.

Calle Ocho Festival

This has been an annual event for more than 25 years. It is held at the beginning of March and celebrates the end of the Miami Carnival. It is one of the largest Hispanic carnivals in the United States. In fact, they are trying to break (superar) Brazil’s record in the Guinness Books of Records for the largest street party in the world. They are already the proud (orgulloso) holders (poseedores) of one Guinness World Record – the longest conga line formed of 119,986 people in March 1988. More than 20 street blocks are closed down and over forty stages (escenarios) are erected on the street corners where some of the biggest names in Latin music perform for free.(gratis)

Moby

Moby:  D.J, guitarist, drummer, re-mixer and cyber punk and  the undisputed king of advertising music !

  Back in 1851, American author Herman Melville published a novel called The Whale, which was later called Moby Dick, and is regarded by many as the great American novel. On September 11th (yes, that date again) 1965, the novelist’s great-great-great nephew, Richard Melville Hall was born in Harlem, New York. His parents were hippies, and they gave their son the nickname (apodo ) Moby, in honour of his famous ancestor. The name stuck,( tuvo éxito) and Moby is now famous  to millions of fans around the world.

Moby is clearly a new kind of music star, able to change from one style of music to the next while sharing (compartiendo ) his thoughts on wider issues unrelated to music as well as working to make the world a better place. His vegan restaurant, TeaNY, is very important to him and he is not afraid to explain the reasons why he follows a strict vegan diet or why he believes in God.

One thing is certain about Moby: he will continue to surprise us !

Listen to the song Porcelain. The lyrics are below.

Hey, Hey, Hey, Woman, it's alright.
Hey, Hey, Hey, Woman, it's alright.

In my dreams I'm dying all the time
When I wake its kaleidoscopic mind
I never meant to hurt you
I never meant to lie
So this is goodbye
This is goodbye

Hey, Hey, Hey, Woman, it's alright.
Hey, Hey, Hey, Woman, it's alright.

Tell the truth you never wanted me

Tell me...

In my dreams I'm jealous all the time
Then I wake I'm going out of my mind
Going out of my mind

Hey, Hey, Hey, Woman, it's alright.(x4)

Holiday Slang

In today's post, Home English wants to teach you some slang expressions related to holidays. I hope you enjoy learning these new expressions!

Things to say when...... 

 

About being thirsty:

I’m sponged!(1) Can I have a glass of water?

I’m dying of thirst! (2)

I’m gasping for a drink!

I’m parched!(3)

About being hungry:

I could eat a horse!(4)

I’m nothing but skin and bone!(5)

I’m starving!

I’m famished!

    

About holiday disasters:

The holiday was a complete wash out!(6)

It was the holiday from hell!(7)

It was a nightmare of a holiday!(8)

Everything that could go wrong did go wrong!

About great holidays:

I had the time of my life!

I was in heaven!(9)

We had a whale of a time on holiday!(10)

I didn’t want it to end!

Comments

(1) Sponge significa esponja. To be sponged en slang de EEUU quiere decir tener mucha sed.

(2) Literalmente esta frase quiere decir estoy muriendo de sed.

(3) Parched significa muy seco, la frase to be parched quiere decir estar muerto de sed.

(4) Horse significa caballo. Así que la frase quiere decir que uno tiene tanta hambre que podía comer un caballo.

(5) Skin – piel, bone – hueso. La frase literalmente quiere decir que soy solo piel y hueso, sin nada de carne, y se usa como la frase en español enclenque.

(6) A wash-out, cuando se habla de un evento, quiere decir un fracaso.

(7) Literalmente unas vacaciones infernales! Es común en Inglés decir que cuando algo es muy malo viene del infierno, por ejemplo: neighbours from hell (vecinos del infierno) o boyfriend from hell (novio del infierno).

(8) nightmare – pesadilla

(9) heaven – cielo

(10) Whale es ballena. La frase to have a whale of a time es como las frases en español disfrutar como un enano o pasarlo bomba. Usamos la palabra whale porque su tamaño grande corresponde con la diversión que estamos teniendo.