Telling a Story

Take a look back at “A weekend in San Francisco – a tale of three breakfasts”. It describes the story of a trip to San Francisco.

Did you notice anything unusual about the writing style?

There are only 2 past tenses used in the whole story – even though it takes place at a time in the past.

Ann (the writer) has used the Present Simple to tell the story.

Why?

We sometimes do this to recreate the experience, to make it seem more energetic and dynamic, as though it is happening now.

Read the first part of the story again – this time in the Past Simple. It is still grammatically correct but it changes the style and energy of the story.

A weekend in San Francisco – a tale of three breakfasts

We arrived in San Francisco late at night and exhausted after a ten-hour flight from London. The next day we were up early – we had an exciting new city to explore, new people to meet and new foods to taste. We played safe the first day and had breakfast in our hotel. It was a buffet and we chose freshly squeezed orange juice, bircher muesli, and country sausage with eggs. The sausages were thin, spicy and delicious. No lunch for us! We set off on a nine-mile walk from the centre of town, across the Golden Gate Bridge and returned by ferry.

Now time for you to practise Telling a Story

Read the first paragraph of the following story and put the correct form of the verbs into the gaps (remember to keep all the verbs in the Present Simple to keep it fresh and energetic). You may find that some words fit into more than one sentence but there is only one complete solution.

begin – come – see – drive – feel – take – make –
hear – miss – be – follow – turn – can (not) – take –

My first cooking holiday in France

It __________¹ me a gruelling 10 hours to reach Boulogne because of the horrendous traffic jams on the motorways and I almost __________² the ferry! But I finally __________ ³ onto French soil and __________ ⁴ my culinary vacation. Henri, the owner, __________ ⁵ out to meet me and his wife __________ ⁶ him. What a charming couple they __________ ⁷. They__________ ⁸ me feel very welcome and I __________ ⁹ wait to meet the other guests. Henri __________ ¹⁰ me through to the kitchen – my home from home for the next week – and I __________ ¹¹ thrilled to be here. I __________ ¹² the sound of voices and __________ ¹³ around. Oh no! I __________ ¹⁴ ………….

Breakfasting

What better way to start the blog than with a look at the first meal of the day – the breakfast. And this first one is written by one of my dearest friends from the UK – thank you Ann!

A weekend in San Francisco – a tale of three breakfasts by Ann Fleming

We arrive in San Francisco late at night and exhausted after a ten-hour flight from London. The next day we are up early – we have an exciting new city to explore, new people to meet and new foods to taste. We play safe the first day and have breakfast in our hotel. It’s a buffet and we choose freshly squeezed orange juice, bircher muesli and country sausage with eggs. The sausages are thin, spicy and delicious. No lunch for us! We set off on a nine-mile walk from the centre of town, across the Golden Gate Bridge and return by ferry.

Next day, it’s 7.30am and we are up early to beat the queues at Sears on Powell Street. This place is so beautifully old fashioned and elegant. The staff are the friendliest we have come across and the breakfast is really something else. Our eyes are bigger than our stomachs and with a little persuasion from the waiter I order the special – 18 Swedish pancakes with warm maple syrup, butter and berries. My husband has eggs, bacon, maple syrup and hash browns. It’s delicious. We decide not to eat for another 12 hours!

It’s our last day in San Francisco. We are going to have brunch before heading for the airport. First we do some shopping. I find a great sports shop with fabulous gym-wear. The mirror does not lie – those beautiful San Francisco breakfasts have added a kilo. I resolve to exercise like mad when I get back to England, so that means I can have a final large breakfast. We go to an old fashioned American diner, complete with jukeboxes and a Chevrolet. I attempt to be healthy and order eggs Florentine which is poached eggs on muffins with spinach. It comes with a thick hollandaise sauce and fortunately for my waistline the whole thing looks nicer than it tastes. A little disappointed I watch my other half finish his bacon and we hop onto a cable car for a last look at the city.

http://www.searsfinefood.com

A bit of vocabulary to get you started …

exhausted very tired

jukebox you put a coin into this machine, choose some music and the machine then plays it

beat the queues get there early before lots of people arrive

persuasion influence someone to do what they didn’t (might not) want to do

attempt try

waistline a line (not real) around the middle of the body

hash browns chopped fried potatoes

disappointed when your expectations are not met

A foodie

Nice to meet you!

The blog for Food Lovers, Food Professionals and English Learners

A warm welcome to Foodie Frolics with JG English – the blog for people who want to combine improving their English with a passion for food and the food world. Food is a conversation we can all share and, as globalisation marches on, it is a conversation that more of us are having in English. So my blog aims to stir in portions of grammar (I know – yuk!) and vocabulary building with everything food related so that you can boost your English and learn more about your favourite subject at the same time.

You might work in food production, be in the catering business or simply love cooking, eating and talking about food with friends – whatever your interest – my plan is to serve up a menu to suit every appetite.

I’ll also be using guest writers – to spice everything up from time to time – and if you wish to be one of them – just let me know.

I’m going to split my blog The Reading Bit which will be for the pure enjoyment of simply reading about all things food (and I include drinks here as well) and The Language Bit which will be for those of you who wish to go a bit further and look more closely at the language part of things – this is where I will work on vocabulary, grammar etc – but everything will be connected to food. Just go for what works for you.

I do hope you enjoy your first taste!