Christmas Song Actvity (Fariytale of New York)

If you did this in class with me, you might want to listen again and watch the video. If not, here's some good listening and reading practice:

First download the worksheet with most of the lyrics. There are 8 lines taken out. Read the lyrics and decide where you think the 8 lines should go. Click here for the worksheet.

Then listen to the song and check your answers.




If you want to know something about the song's background and the recent contoversy surrounding it, then have a look at this link to wikipedia.

Doing something in English over the Christmas holidays

If possible, try and do something in English over the holidays. You could do any exercises from the Inside Out workbook for the unit covered this term. If you want something less academic, them perhaps watch a film in English or read a book.

The British Council will be open again from Wednesday 2nd January so there's always the option of coming by to do some study or to borrow something.

Of course, there are also web resources you can make use of. If you haven't already done so, explore the BBC learning English web pages as well as the British Council Learn English site. Both are excellent. Quick links to these sites are on the left of the blog under 'useful websites'.

Finally, here's a word search for you to do. It's based on vocabulary from the first 4 units of the coursebook and is a good revision exercise. Just click here.

El Kasko

"El Kasko" is a nice place in El Casco Viejo of Bilbao (it's obvious if you see the name of the restaurant) in Santa Maria street. It's a quiet big place, there are a lot of tables inside and if the weather is good enough you have the chance of eating outside. The walls are decorated with modern pictures and everything is painted with lot of different colors. At lunch time it is usually full so it`s recommendable to book.

The first time I went there was four months ago: I had met with a friend of the school to have lunch and she told me that she was looking for eating in a Mexican restaurant. She had heard that "El Kasko" was a good one but, what a surprise when we arrived there and we saw that her information was completely wrong because it was not a Mexican place. However, we decided to go in and taste the menu.

It was a really good decission. We could choose between four first courses, four main courses and different desserts. I couldn`t avoid to look at everyones plates: everything looked fantastic! My mouth was watering!
For first dish I had ham rolls with salad: it's an original cold dish, perfect for summer that basically consists of cooked ham rolls with small pieces of potatoes, aubergine, lettuce, tomatoes and other kind of vegetables inside and everything dressed with a delicicious yogourt sauce. For main course I chose grilled turkey skewers with pepper and fry potatoes. The skewer had little pieces of green and red pepper between every two pieces of turkey. But, without any doubt, the best was the dessert: home made custard with Cointreau.

We didn't eat what we were supposed to eat, but we discovered a really nice place, where you can choose between original and classical food, enjoy a good atmosphere at a good price: 10 € menu with bread and drink. A recommendable place.

Comillas

Last Saturday my girl and I took our bags and went by car to Comillas to spend the day there.

Comillas is a little village in Cantabria, near Torrelavega, quiet far form Bilbao (two hours aprox. if you go by car). It is by the sea and has lots of 19th century's noblemen houses and momuments; the most important maybe is "The Quirk" (El Capricho), an old house decorated with sunflowers' tiles made by Gaudi, a famous Catalunyan architect. Appart from this outstanding building, Comillas is a very touristic place, with very good views and where you don't have to walk a lot to see different beautiful places.

Although it's beauty, Comillas is a small village where you can't do nothing appart from walking and seeing places, so maybe it becomes a little bit "boring" at the end of the day.

I would only recommend Comillas to people who like visiting beautiful villages with lots of momuments, but, if you haven't seen The Quirk yet and you have a chance... go and see it without any doubt.

URGITXIETA

It was a cold raining day when we found this place in Larrabasterra (near Sopelana) three years ago. All of us were starving and nobody knew anywhere to eat, but finally it appeared!

The restaurant is called 'Urgitxieta' and it is placed close the Larrabasterra Metro Station.

While we drink and eat some fantastic and original 'pintxos' we had the opportunity to meet the owners, a young couple from that village. Sergio who studied professional cooking was the Chef and Mireia the waitress. They told us that the restaurant was opened in 2004 and since then it has been a success!

After some time of waiting and talking with the friendly Chef, Mireia said us that we could enter to the dining-room. It wasn't very big with a cheerful decoration but it was full, there were a lot of families or friend groups globbing up.

All the dishes were tasty and original with a 'chic' presentation. At the end we went to give our congratulations to Sergio. Besides, the bill was unbelievable!! Just 8€ each one!!

I have come back in different seasons and days of the week since that day and always it's full of people. Nowadays, from monday to friday the menu is 9€ more or less but in weekends you have to choose between two menus; special or normal, the first one is about 24€ and the other one about 14€. I think that it's a cheap price for those fantastic dishes!!

POSTCARD FROM MADRID

Dear Fergus,

I write to you from Madrid. We have come to see the atmosphere of the city before Christmas. You know how much I like Madrid: the center with the magnificent buildings, the restaurants and all the facilities the city offers, such as the cinemas, the theatres and the musical plays, but this time I've really been fed up with the crowds. It was impossible to walk along the streets; they were clogged with people and the main roads were crowded with traffic. I thought that it would be a nice weekend and many people from Madrid would drive away but it seems that many tourists have planned to come and see the Christmas lights. I will tell that we wanted to have dinner at "las Bravas", a very homely bar near "Sol" which has the original "bravas potatoes" and it was impossible to reach there.

The city was very lively but I recommend you a more quiet visit after Christmas, definitely.

Best wishes,

Silvia

Anecdote: A city that made an impression

Here's a second anecdote. This time you'll be listening to Michael, who's the director at the British Council, talking about Bangkok. Here are the links:

The worksheet
Direct audio
File for download onto MP3

Please let me know how you get on. Perhaps the worksheet was a bit too easy?

TEIAGORRI

I was first introduced to Teiagorri about 3 or 4 years ago. We were looking for a place for dinner outside of Bilbao and someone told us about this restaurant. It is situated in the centre of Algorta (Algortako Etorbidea) which means that you can get there by underground.

It is decorated in a Basque style and smart at the same time. It is like an old Basque house, with walls made of stone and the ceiling is made of wood. There is a light on each table which creates a nice atmosphere.

You can go during the working week to eat a set menu at a very reasonable price but I have always been there on weekends for a special menu. And of course, you can choose many delicious dishes from their a la carte menu. I especially recommend the different kind of fresh fish because they cook them on the grill.

Not only is the food excellent but the staff are also very helpful if you can’t decide what to have.

If you are thinking about eating in this restaurant be sure to make a reservation because it is very difficult to get a table especially at weekends.

My favourite restaurant

My favourite restaurant is called the “Txubillo”. It´s a completely atipical place, as I´m probably talking about the unique Basque/Japanese restaurant in all Basque country.

The location is quite a lot complicated. You must cross a few narrow streets in the labyrinthic old part of San Sebastian to find it. That´s why most of the tourist don´t achieve to get there. However, i can assure that it really worth´s the effort.

The place is a classic old traditional bar, completely built in wood, converted in a restaurant. It´s not very spacious, since there is only place for four or five tables, but this helps creating an intimate and homely atmosphere.

The mixture of both countries cuisine offerts a large and varied exotic choice of dishes. You can taste the excellent quality of Basque typical products cooked with bests traditional Japanese recipes. The combination is absolutely fantastic.

The service is quick, efficient and pleasant. Prices are a little bit high, but San Sebastian´s lifestyle is equally expensive, so diferences between Txubillo and any other restaurant from the old part of the city are very slight.

If you think you´ve seen it all, you´re looking for an alternative plan, and you want to taste new flavours, there you have a splendid choice. You won´t regret it.

CANNON ERRETEGIA

It's difficult to me to choose one of the many places I like to have a good meal. Probably, one of the most charmy places I know is Cannon erretegia located in Sollube. Apart from the chance of trying delicious grilled chops and other kind ofgrilled meats or fishes, you also can enjoy the beautiful landscape araund, as it is very high in the mountain you can see the coastside, actually you can reach Bakio just down the hillside.I have only been there once, with my family in my grandma's birthday, but surely I would repeat, I have very good memories of this place.

ROJO TABERNA and ANGELINES

This is a typical basque restaurant. I know it because one of my work mates brought me there last month. You must be very hungry to go in it. We have heard some reviews before, like the ones which say that there it is served a lot of food, so we decided to go first to the Gorbea that´s near, in a nutshell, we want to be very very hungry. It´s very easy to get there because Artea is a small town.

At first sight it seems a normal restaurant, but when you sit down on the table you realize that the place has only a few tables and there are no waiters. An old woman, who has cooked what she wanted that day in her restaurant´s kitchen, comes near you and tells you what would you like to drink. We asked for txakoli and water and she brought us (we were 6) eight small bottles of water and two of txakoli. We told her that it was enough and she said: "If you drink txakoli better!!" . After that she didn´t tell us what dishes can we ask for because in that place she puts on the table the dishes she has prepared that day.

She brought us a huge bowl of home-made black beans and another one of chick-peas. We served ourselves and ate. When the old woman arrived to served us the second course, she tried to convince us to eat more black beans but we couldn´t, so she left on the table the second one: a fabulous dish of meet with potatoes. But she started also giving us eggs with tuna and cod. We tried to finished it, but it was impossible, there was so much food. But then, she brought us another dish of meet and another one of roast chicken with potatoes, and we started laughing because we couldn´t eat more and the old woman was bringing more and more dishes. Finally, she decided to offer us the dessert. It was a huge dish for 6 people of a delicious mixture of rice and milk. But the old woman seems to be full of beans and she could´t stay in calm, so she came with another dessert in her hand. Then, she took some bottles of patxaran, orujo and gave us the glasses. We could drink all we wanted because we had the full bottles on the table. But after two hours in there, we decided to go out there...

The old woman was very kind with us. And we paid only 18 euros each one!!!! I would recommend this restaurant beause is friendly and genial, excellent value for money but better if you go with a lot of friends.

A memorable meal

This is a recording of a colleague of ours, Jonathan, talking about a memorable meal.

And here's a worksheet for you to download.

As it's the first time we've put an audio file on the blog, we'd be very interested to hear what you think about it. Was it useful? Would you like more 'listenings' on the blog?

If you would like to download this so you can listen to it on your MP3, then click here.

Hope it's helpful.

XURRUT PIZZA AND ROCK AND ROLL

Xurrut is a live rock music club in Gorliz, a seaside village in Basque Country. XURRUT has the best pizza I´ve eaten in my life. The words which they define to the XURRUT are many but most outstanding is the passion on pizza and rock and roll, . If the historical memory does not fail, I thinks that it is the concert club, in active, more veteran of Basque Country. many famous bands from everywhere have been playin´at Xurrut(COMUNISTA, LORD SICKNESS, AUSTRALIAN BLONDE, CANCER MOON, LOS CLAVOS, CUJO, MANTA RAY, KILLER BARBIES, SOCK TREATMENT, VANCOUVERS, KACTUS JACK, DUM DUM BOYS, PORTOBELLO BONES, DDD, NCC, M.C.D...) and the place is extreamly cozy. At xurrut you can taste de best pizza, the are many types as you can see.. one of my favourite weekend plan is going to Xurrut take some pizza and enjoy great music. yOU MUST GO!!!

ANCHOVY SANDWICHES

Ingredients:

750gr of anchovies
Piquillo peppers
50gr of cheese
2 eggs
Flour
Sunflower oil
2 cloves of garlic

Preparation:

• Clean the anchovies and salt them
• Peel the garlic and cut it into small pieces
• Cut the pepper into small pieces
• Fry the garlic until it is red and add the peppers. Cook them on a low heat and add salt if necessary.
• Add the peppers and the cheese to the previously prepared anchovies and put another anchovy on the top to make a sandwich.
• Beat the eggs and heat the sunflower oil in a frying pan.
• Cover the anchovy sandwiches with flour and egg and then fry them in the frying pan.
• You can serve them with a mix of red and green fried peppers.

AN ORIGINAL RESTAURANT

It was two and a half years ago when I first visited this smart and comfortable restaurant placed in the centre of Madrid. We were first introduced to it thanks to some friends being very fond of opera.

The restaurant is called “La Favorita”, which reminds the famous opera by Donizetti. The restaurant belongs to an Association of Opera Friends and you’re offered modern cuisine from Navarra. Asparagus, red peppers and a wide variety of other vegetables from “La Ribera” along with meat and red tasty wines are their specialities.

But the most appealing thing is the fact that the waiters are young opera singers that you can listen to singing famous arias between dishes.

The musical atmosphere is very nice and it does not disturb you much while you are having dinner. It is particularly romantic for couples.

My favourite restaurant

I was first introduced to the Rincón de Piedra 1 year ago. The restaurant is run by a familly: the waiter is the son, Victor, and the parents are the cook. it is next to a little mountain not very far from the city, a very good palce to relax, but easy to arrive to.

I went first with my friend the day of one of my friends birthday. To be honest my first impression was not very good. When we arrived the restaurant was completely desert and the woman did not look very friendly.However when we sat down things changed. The woman came and asked how we were, if everything was ok...We did not have to wait because inmediately the son came to take notes of what we wanted. It thinks that he looked we did not know what to chose and he help us and suggest what were for him the best dishes.

While we were starting to eat, started to arrived people to the restaurant and we thought it would be a bit overwhelming, at least it turned out to be a really warm atmosphere.

I ate as I had never do and I found really nice Victor and his mother, call Maria. I did not have the opportunity to get to know Maria´s husband cos he was very bosy at the kitchen and he just came five minutes to ask if we have like the food.

Nowadays I go there in special ocasions and I have really good memories there. I do not think there are a lot of restaurants where they look after you so much and in which there is so an special atmospherie. It is a place really cosy in which you feel comfortable.

My Favourite Restaurant

Surely this is not the best restaurant I've ever eat in, but it's a place where you can take "all that you can eat and much more" in a very good price.

I was first introduced to Asia Fuxing Wok two years ago, when I was looking for a cheap place to eat in the center of Bilbao. This restaurant is situated in one of the most centrical streets, General Concha, and is run by two waitress (whose names I can't never remember) and three cooks.

Once in, you can choose between ordering from the menu or taking all you want from the free buffet. If you decide to order from the menu you can choose between nearly 150 different chinesse dishes, but, as in every chinesse restaurant, the rations are excesive (at least for me). On the other hand, if you choose the free buffet, you can take whatever you want from around 50 different dishes. This choice also allows you to left non-cooked food that you can pick up from the buffet, specially vegetables, meal and fish, in a griddle where they prepare it for you.

The best thing for me about this restaurant are sushi (prepared rice with raw fish) and wasabi (a green spicy horseradish paste). I discovered them here and I really like them becase they both are incredibly tasty foods, specially if you allow the waitress to say how you should take them.

Although it looks like any other chinesse restaurant, if you are fed up with the taste that had left on you the classic ones, try this one out and you will see this is not like the others.

My Favourite Restaurant

I was first introduced to the Mune Gorri about five years ago. The restaurant is run by a friendly Basque couple, Idurre and Eneko. They are both excellent cooks and can unabashedly boast at having won the best original pintxo bar competition in Bilbao five times so far.

There are also two very efficient bar staff, Leire and Itziar who make sure the bar runs smoothly and that there are always extremely appetizing pintxos from one end of the bar to the other.

The bar is right in the centre of Bilbao and only two minutes' walk from Indautxu underground station. The best time to go there is either around midday or early evening when the bar is full of fresh finger food and eager customers. If you feel like a meal, Tuesday to Thursday are my favourite nights as there’s a terrific choice of set meal at a very reasonable price. Wine is included in the price and I can assure you that the house wine, Rioja Alavesa, is an excellent choice.

By the way, if you should happen to drop in for a bite, why not ask for one of the pintxos they won a prize for. Basically, it’s salted king prawn soaked in coco and tiger nuts. Believe me, you won’t be disappointed.

CHOCOLATE SOUFFLE

It is a delicious dessert. It is really easy to make and you obtain a faboulous,mouth-watering, home -made dessert.
Ingredients
1/3 cup sugar plus additional for sprinkling
5 oz bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped
3 large egg yolks at room temperature
6 large egg whites.
Method
Preheat oven to 375°F. Generously butter souffle dish and sprinkle with sugar. Melt chocolate in a metal bowl.Set over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove the bowl from heat and stir in yolks . Beat the eggs whites with a pinch of salt in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until they just hold soft peaks. Add 1/3 cup sugar, a little at a time, continuing to beat at medium speed, then beat at high speed until whites just hold stiff peaks. Stir about 1 cup whites into chocolate mixture to lighten, then add mixture to remaining whites, folding gently but thoroughly. Spoon into souffle dish and run the end of your thumb around inside edge of soufflé dish . Bake in middle of oven 24 to 26 minutes. Serve immediately.

Paella

A paella is very flexible dish so if you don’t have the exact ingredients substitute them for something similar.

INGREDIENTS FOR 6 PEOPLE:
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 green pepper, finely chopped
1 red pepper, in strips
1 medium-sized tomatoes, skinned and finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
100g peas, cooked
200g prawns
200g clams
200g mushrooms, medium chopped
200g fresh squid, medium chopped
18 mussels
350g rice (short grain rice)
a pinch of saffron
olive oil
about 800ml water (fish stock)

RECIPE:
Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the onion, garlic, green and red pepper and carrot and fry gently for about ten minutes. Add the chopped tomato and squid and fry on a low heat for another ten minutes. Add the mushrooms.
Add the rice and stir well to make sure that it is thoroughly coated. Add water, clams and mussels, perfectly washed, and bring to the boil. Season with salt. Put a lid on it, turn the heat right down and cook slowly for about ten minutes. Add the prawns and peas and give it a stir. Arrange the mussels and strips of red pepper artistically on top, put the lid back on and leave for another ten minutes - checking that it has enough water. If you think it is getting too dry, add more water, but shake the handle of the pan rather than stir so as not to upset the pattern. Once the rice is cooked and the mussels have opened, it is ready to eat.

Chocolate Sponge Cake

This is a perfect receip for people who like sweet and spongy food, ideal when friends of yours are coming in to have an snack. It's very easy to prepare and you don't have to clean up too many things after cooking it.


Ingredients:

· 3 eggs
· 300 gr. of flour
· 150 gr. of sugar
· 100 gr. of butter
. A glass of milk
· ColaCao / Nesquick / Chocolate... (whatever you find at home) in the quantity you preffer
. A sachet of yeast


Instructions:

· Mix up in a bowl all the ingredients in this order as you remove well all the mixture. Do not put in the next ingredient until you don't see any lumps:
1) The flour with the eggs
2) Butter
3) Sugar
4) Milk
5) Yeast
6) Spoonfulls and spoonfulls of Nesquick

· Put all the mixture in a mold and cook it in the oven (180º by apox. 35 minutes).

· If you want, you can smear it over with Nocilla or any chocolate cream.

· Clean up all the kitchen.

· Enjoy!

Tagliatelle with spinach and cream cheese

• 
  This is a very simple dish. In fact, I cooked it last night for my brother who's over for a visit. It's really easy to make, takes no time at all and is very tasty. So:
  

Ingredients
tagliatelle
a big bag of fresh spinach
a tub of cream cheese with herbs (Philadelphia for example)
pine nuts
soya sauce
milk
salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Put the pine nuts in a small pan and cook until they start turning colour
2. In a big pan, melt the cheese in olive oil
3. Add a tablespoon of soya sauce
4. Add the pine nuts
5. Add the spinach and mix it all up
6. Add a tablespoonful of milk
7. Salt and pepper
8. Stir it all in and wait for the spinach to 'reduce'
9. Cook the pasta
10. Voila!

Now it's your turn!

It's clear that Rashers and I are enjoying ourselves playing around on the blog but now it's YOUR turn. As we're studying a unit on 'food', we'd like you all to post a recipe. Your posting should look a little like this:

1) Why you've chosen this dish
2) The ingredients
3) How to make it

Then, try out someone else's recipe and post a comment. I'm going to start by posting the recipe of a meal I prepared yesterday.

If you were a food, what food would you be? Why?

Here are some comments from other bloggers!

"A green grape I think because I can be sweet. I am a little sour or spoiled if left alone too long or and if pressed I whine (wine)."

"For example, I’m extremely corny, sweet, and simple. I might be sweet corn. Well, that’s pathetic. But hey, just giving an example here!"

"Jelly Baby - soft and sweet you see."

"Chocolate covered strawberries because they're sensual and sexy."

"Spaghetti and meat balls, we love to suck the ends of the spaghetti her at one end and me at the other, we always end up at the lips."

Already thinking about CAE exam?

Some of the students in my class have been asking about the Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English (CAE)exam. Realistically most students in advanced 1 would be on schedule to take this exam in June 2009. If you're interested in finding out more, then ask at reception at the British Council or go directly to the Cambridge University pages for CAE. Here's a link:
http://www.cambridgeesol.org/exams/cae.htm
If you want to start doing some practice tests, then Flo-Joe is a pretty good website.
We also have a programme on the computers in the British Council library called CAE Tutor. It's a bit old-fashioned looking but not bad. And of course we have a lot of past papers in the library. Ask Zaloa for help - although it's probably better to wait until after Christmas before borrowing these materials as they're in great demand from people doing the exam in December.
Finally, tell us if you know of any good sites for practising CAE questions and I'll add the web address to the 'Good Websites' section of this blog.
Bye for now.

Rashers and his Irish cousins playing backgammon

Identity

How would you define your own identity? Tell us about your background and the way you would describe yourself to strangers.

Chris Stewert sitting in his "cortijo, El Valero" in Las Alpujarras, south of Granada.

Homework: October 11th (Martin's class)

Well done everyone for creating an account. Now I need to change the permissions so that you can create posts yourselves. Anyway, a summary of homework for this week:

1) Send me your email address to my British Council address: martin.stanley@britishcouncil.es
2) Read a couple of pages of the book you took out and be prepared to tell us your first impressions.
3) Do the vocab building exercises which we didn't have time to do in class. Basically, it's exercises 2, 3 and 4 on page 9 of the coursebook.

See you next week.

Getting started

At the moment you can only read the blog. If you create and account for yourself, you can then begin to add comments to posts like this.

However, I want you to be able to start you own postings. To do this you have to send me your email address. Once that's done, you can begin posting.