Cover of the textbook Speakout Advanced Plus - Students' Book

The key answer of exercise 4

The key to exercise solutions in chapter 5.4 - Culinary journey for the textbook Speakout Advanced Plus - Students' Book with authors Frances Eales and Steve Oakes from Pearson Education

Question

  1. Read an invitation from a website. What can you tell about the person who wrote it? Think about the content and the style.
  2. -
  3. Listen to someone describing their memory of a dish called 'Coquilles Saint-Jacques' for the website and make notes on the points above.
  4. Listen again and underline the alternatives you hear.

Answer

a)

The person is clearly interested in food, though it's not clear if it's just about eating or cooking too. The style is tentative ('maybe, perhaps' and the rather polite and indirect 'it would be great'), so the person seems to be or feels a bit insecure about posting the request.

c)

  • The name of the food → Coquille Saint-Jacques
  • The context you had it in → on special occasions, e.g. someone coming for dinner
  • Who made it → mother
  • What's in it → (big white sea) scallops, sauce (= onions, mushrooms, butter, cream, white wine), mashed potatoes, cheese and breadcrumbs on top
  • Why it was special → the presentation: in big scallop shells - succulent, rich

d)

  • I can just taste / smell it now.
  • She'd / She used to make this amazing sauce ...
  • It's coming back to me now, how it tasted / smelled ...
  • What really made it was the presentation / freshness of the ingredients.
  • My mouth waters just thinking / whenever I think about it.
  • It's incredibly succulent / impossibly light, decadently rich.
  • When I used to / I'd smell this cooking, I knew / I'd know it was a special occasion.
  • I'll always associate this dish with / This dish always reminds me of home.
  • I've sometimes tried making it but it never comes out / turns out the same.