Join me and my family on vacation in Maine for a real-life American English lesson. In this video, you’ll hear natural, unscripted conversation as we cook dinner together — and I’ll break it down for you step by step.
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Video Transcript:
Hey, David. David, what are you making for dinner?
Uh..
One thing at dinner was great and one was awful. But in the end, we found a wonderful surprise that had me laughing harder than I’ve laughed in a while. Today, we’ll study English together as you come with my family on vacation in Maine. We’ll harvest and cook mussels from the ocean. There will be a controversy over a cheddar cheese spread. And you’ll not believe what comes out of my dad’s mouth at the end.
Whoa! It’s a, Oh my god, Mom!
David, what are you making for dinner?
Uh, seafood stew and steamed mussels.
And what is going in this seafood stew? It’s just one fish, right? Just one seafood item?
It’s lobster.
Lobster stew.
Yeah. And a white bean, lobster and white beans stew.
Oh, yummy. So, what’s gone in the pot so far?
I said, “So, what’s gone in the pot so far?” Do you know what the apostrophe s is for? In English, it’s the contraction for is and has. And they both look the same and are pronounced the same. What has gone in the pot so far. In spoken English, it’s much more natural and very common to use contractions. What’s gone in the pot so far?
So, what’s gone in the pot so far?
Uh, this is a little bit of oil, a little bit of butter, and then diced onion, and a whole bunch of herbs. Notice that in American English, the H in herbs is silent. This is different from British English where the H is pronounced. Herb. Herbs. Herbal. Do you have any herbal tea? I can’t have caffeine.
That are thousands of years old and plants and herbs that are a gift from mother nature.
Baked potato. Yeah, you see a lot more spices in the Mediterranean diet and fresh herbs. These are very, very—
To stuff delicious things under there like butter and herbs. Matter of fact, that sounds—
Bring this guy up to a simmer. Add the chopped herbs and then we’re going to cook for 10 minutes.
Generally, ancient Greeks prescribed medicinal herbs and alterations in diet.
Right. First, you need to pound the herbs in a pestle and mortar. But when cutting herbs, look, I want the goodness left in the herb. I don’t want the darkness on the board. Every time you see chefs over chop herbs, this dark green board—
I’m Rachel. I have a background in opera singing and I’ve been teaching the American accent to non-native speakers for over 20 years. Scan this QR code or go to rachelenglish.com/free to get my free course, the Top Three Ways to Master the American accent. It will blow your mind. It will give you totally new ideas on how to get the sound you’ve always wanted.
And then diced onion and a whole bunch of herbs. Oregano, rosemary, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder. That’s about it.
And why are you making such a special dinner today?
Celebration of birthdays. My 50th, your brother’s 50th, your parents 80th. Pretty special.
Pretty special.
That cheddar spread has no flavor.
Oh, I love it.
You do?
Yeah, there’s no flavor.
I think there’s flavor.
Have you ever had an extreme difference of opinion with someone on food? We’d gone to this local shop and bought some cheeses. My brother loved one of the cheeses, whereas I thought it had no flavor whatsoever.
I mean, the texture is good, but there’s zero flavor.
Put some hot sauce on it.
Well, that’s adding flavor.
Okay.
I don’t need to add hot sauce.
So, you think there’s good flavor? What do you love about it?
Uh, the texture and the cheddaryness.
No, there’s no cheddaryness in it.
It’s not completely void of cheddaryness.
Okay, the texture of food is as important to a lot of people as the flavor. Texture and flavor. Two words we use to describe the experience of eating food. Now, we’ve used the word cheddaryness. Cheddar is a noun. It’s a particular kind of cheese. I love it. Adding the Y makes it an adjective meaning like cheddar. The soup has a cheddary smell. Now, here’s what’s interesting. When we add ness, which is used in English to turn an adjective into a noun, we invent a new word, cheddaryness.
This is the quality of that adjective. So, think of it as saying this. This is cheddar. Cheddar cheese, but it has no cheddar qualities. It doesn’t taste like cheddar. It has no cheddar flavor. Therefore, this cheese had no cheddaryness. So, the two nouns are different. Cheddar is the cheese itself. It can have a very strong, sharp flavor or a very subtle, mild flavor. Cheddar cheese can have different qualities of cheddaryness. Let’s take another example. The noun flake. This is a flake from my croissant. A flat, thin piece or layer. Add a Y, it becomes an adjective. Flaky. Here we drop the E before adding y. Flaky. This is a flaky croissant. It has lots of layers. But now let’s add n-e-s-s. Turning the adjective into a noun. Flakiness. The quality of being made up of lots of layers. So this is a flake and this is flakiness.
What do you love about it?
Uh, the texture and the cheddaryness.
No, there’s no cheddaryness in it.
It’s not completely void of cheddaryness.
If something is completely void, that means absolutely empty. If we say something is completely void of something else, that means there is no quality at all, no trace of that. My brother says it’s not completely void. To him, there is a little bit a subtle flavor of cheddar.
It’s not completely void of cheddaryness.
I thought it was okay.
Did you think it tasted cheddary?
I didn’t really think about it.
Because there was no cheddar flavor.
I think it’s flavorless.
No, not totally.
Especially if you compare it to the block of cheddar. That spread has no flavor.
No, I thought it was okay.
You thought it was okay? And you and you loved it.
Yeah.
But the slice that we cut up, was that also cheddar?
It was local sharp cheddar.
Okay. Now, see that had flavor?
Yeah, it was good.
So, you like that?
Whoa. David, what you doing back there?
Good.
I said, “What you doing back there?” What are you? It’s pretty common in casual spoken English, conversational English like this, to drop the word R and connect the T of what to the Y of you by turning it into a ch. Whachu, whachu, try it?
Whachu, whachu doing? The first syllable is longer and the second very short. Whachu, whachu, whachu doing? You may also hear it as whacha, whacha, whacha doing? Whacha think? Whacha reading?
Whoa. David, what you doing back there?
Good.
Throwing some red wine in.
Yeah.
David, do you like the cheddar spread?
Yes.
You do?
I do. Let me try it again.
No flavor, right?
It’s got flavor. What are you talking about?
I taste nothing.
Let me do one more and then we need to put the lid on or I’m going to keep eating it.
It doesn’t taste like I watch.
Okay David, I hear you’re going to start the mussels.
Yep.
What’s the vision?
What’s the vision? I could have also said, “What do you envision?” This means, “What do you picture in your mind? What do you see happening? What do you want to do with this situation? I want to know how he’s planning on cooking the mussels.
How, where did you hear about the 10 minutes?
In the guide book, in the—
Guest book?
Guest book. Thank you. Or the house rules, house guide book.
Yeah.
So, we got some onion with that.
And when do you put the lobster into the soup?
Well, the lobster cooked already, so it just is going to warm up.
Okay.
Um, we got these giganto garlics.
Can you define giganto?
Bigger than gigantic, I guess. Not a real word.
So, we’re going to rough chop these guys.
Dad, what’s your job? I’m making a name tag so people know where to sit.
Very, I heard this.
Well, I’m being very meticulous and making sure that they’re all equal size so nobody feels left out.
My dad used a pretty advanced vocabulary word, meticulous. It means excessively careful, very, very careful and precise. Extreme care and concern for details. He was being much more careful about the seat assignment tags than he needed to be.
Well, I’m being very meticulous and making sure that they’re all equal size so nobody feels left out.
Dad uses scissors.
I ripped.
And notice how uniform mine are.
If things are uniform, that means they’re exactly the same. When I started the project, I was just tearing the paper, so those strips aren’t going to be too uniform. But because my dad was being so meticulous, paying such close attention to details, he used scissors so he could be very precise and make each strip of paper the same uniform.
And notice how uniform mine are.
They’re so good.
Thank you.
Are you having problems figuring it out?
Yeah, I should have read more.
Okay.
Got it.
I think so.
Why’d you stop it?
I got to get the pot.
Like, how many pounds would you say that weighs?
Oh, 20.
So, you couldn’t find a lid?
Teamwork makes the dream work.
We had some issues getting the burner to light and stay lit. So, David did one thing while I did another. And I said, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” That’s just a phrase that means working together is often what works the best. Or when there’s a problem and one person can’t solve it, sometimes someone else can step in and figure it out. Here’s an example where someone is having problems getting their presentation to work. Someone else comes and helps and the presenter says, “Teamwork makes the dream work.”
Let’s do this. I believe.
Teamwork makes the dream work.
Very nice.
I’m not sure why your skin went black.
Yeah, I’m not sure. Maybe it just hates me.
Uh, that’s probably it.
I think I figured it out.
Teamwork makes the dream work.
Got it cooking?
Yep.
Got it going. And now we’re cooking with gas.
Cooking with gas is an idiom that means to be having success. I thought I was being really funny because here I was using it as an idiom. We couldn’t get the stove to work and then finally we were successful. But I was also using it literally because we were literally cooking food with gas.
Yep.
Got it going. And now we’re cooking with gas.
Boy, that’s a big, that’s a big pot.
Wow. Not the right tool.
So, should I go get the terrines or you want to bring the pot in?
Well, I think we’ll fill the terrine because, I don’t think that bad boy is moving.
Okay.
Terrine is not a very common word. It’s a large, deep serving dish for holding soup or other liquid at the table. It has a lid. The one I’m using here is pretty small. Here’s an image of another one to give you a better idea of what it looks like.
Alright, that’s probably full enough, huh?
Let’s go serve it up with our lobster soup. What do you think? Would you eat that?
Alright, David just ate one. He said it was terrible. Apparently, we boiled it in way too much sea water.
Here, Dad, you try one at the same time as me.
Woo, that’s hot. I’m going to use Sawyer’s fork. He won’t care.
Don’t eat it yet.
Alright.
Whoa. It went flying somewhere. There it is.
Okay. Ready? Cheers. Wait, it’s hot. Blow on it a second. No?
Get ready to spit.
Little gritty.
Gritty and salty. Tasty.
Making noise.
Gritty and salty. If something’s gritty, it has small hard particles in it like sand. Since I live in Philadelphia, I also need to tell you, though it’s not really that relevant, that this is the mascot of the Philadelphia Flyers, our professional hockey team, and his name is Gritty.
Very tasty.
Too salty though.
Yeah.
Honestly, only a little too salty.
I know. They would be, you can see how they would be delicious.
The texture is actually kind of amazing.
Super fresh.
But the sand.
Yeah.
Yeah. sort of wears your teeth down. I thought it was quite flavorful. I didn’t think it was too salty.
Did you think it was better or worse than the cheddar spread? Don’t you think though we rinsed these out and they’ll be great in something?
Absolutely. I think so.
David, what if we rinsed them?
I tried. There is the salt soaked into the meat and it’s nasty. Which is a shame because you can tell that they’re sweet and good. But—
Oh, there’s a million more out there.
Yeah, there’s a million more.
Wait, but how long did you rinse it? What if we soaked it in water and rinsed it?
We could try to soak. What’s this bowl?
It needs to be rinsed.
What was it?
It had flour in it.
So, do you think they’re a lost cause?
Yeah, I think they’re beyond hope. But we’ll try them in some water. See what that does.
If something’s a lost cause or beyond hope, that means it can’t be fixed. You should stop trying to make it better and just give up on it. We made the mussels. We tried rinsing them, but it didn’t work well enough. Rather than a long soak and rinsing again, we just gave up. We decided they were a lost cause, not worth trying to rescue.
So, do you think they’re a lost cause?
Yeah, I think they’re beyond hope. But we’ll try them in some water. See what that does.
Microwave for 30 seconds.
Let’s taste it. So, lobster is the only meat in here.
Oh, man.
Good and that soup base is so good, babe.
Babe is a nickname that’s used a lot in the US for one’s significant other. I use it all the time. David and my brother went to a seafood shop where they bought this lobster that went into the stew. Can you believe how big it is? Maine is famous for lobster.
I’m taking the pot down to the shore and we’re going to gather some more mussels. We’re going to try this again.
Mussels are seafood, what we cooked up last night. But the word is pronounced just like this word with a different spelling, which is the muscles in your body. Muscles. Mussels.
Some more mussels. We’re going to try this again. Different ideas about how to prepare them.
Hey, Sawyer. You coming to join? Come here, buddy. You did such a good job helping last time.
What are you sad about? Your Aerobie ring.
We’re never going to find it.
I hope we do. I’m, I’m I haven’t given up hope yet.
Sawyer was sad because his Aerobie ring got lost in the bushes, but we did end up finding it. An Aerobie ring is a brand. It’s a toy, sort of like a Frisbee.
It’s not quite low tide. It’s on the way to low tide, but we’re going to head out and see what we can find.
This is so cold compared to the lake. I got used to the lake.
All right, I got to get some salt water in here first. Got one.
Yay.
Cold. It’s cold! Alright, we’ve got four so far. How many would you eat, Mom?
Zero.
Zero. Then I don’t need many because Ian said one.
I don’t know. The way my stomach’s feeling probably zero.
Yeah, that’s okay. Alright. Well, that’s a start. One, two, three, four, okay, eight so far. I’m thinking twenty is sufficient.
Sufficient is a fancy way to say enough. Twenty is enough. Twenty is sufficient. Equal to what is needed.
I’m thinking twenty is sufficient because it’s probably just me, David, and dad. There’s so many right here. It’s so easy. There’s so many right here. I can just stand in one spot and get them all.
Alright, I got twenty-five. I don’t think Ian wants any. You don’t want any. The kids won’t eat any. Twenty-five should be enough for three adults.
Absolutely.
Oh wow, There’s a bunch right here, too. I’ll let them live another day.
They’re grateful.
I’m going to bring them up so you can see them.
Did you hear that reduction of them? Bring them up so you can see them. Them becomes ‘em and it’s linked to the word before. Bring ‘em, see ‘em. We’ll listen to this phrase again and then you will hear more reductions of them when we’re talking about mussels later in this video.
I’m going to bring them up so you can see them.
Whoa!
Woah, careful.
Slippery. This is what I got. They’ve got barnacles growing on them. Fresh from the bay to our table.
There’s one that’s floating. I should throw that one out, right?
I think so. Better get one more then. Alright. There we go. All, they all sunk. Wow, that’s heavy. I can do it, though.
See these barnacles on here?
So David, you and I each get eight. And he’s putting them in that good broth he made.
Alright. That red sauce.
Yeah.
Now you kind of want more, don’t you?
Did you catch that reduction? Saying yuh instead of them you just like them becoming ‘em. Bring ‘em. The reduction of you to yuh is common in spoken English. Understanding reductions will help with listening comprehension when it comes to native conversation.
Now you kind of want more, don’t you?
I’ll be surprised if I like something with sand in it.
Just, just—
My hand.
Okay.
I thought you were going to scrub the actual mussel rather than the shell.
No, because you have to cook it in the shell.
Oh, you do?
Yeah.
They cook in the shell.
Yeah. That’s why they open up.
Yeah. The heat is what opens them.
You thought we pry them open?
Yeah, like you do oysters.
No, you don’t shuck. You don’t You don’t shuck a mussel.
Shucking is what you do with oysters to get the food out of the shell. My dad thought mussels were the same, but the heat opens them as you cook them. So, I said you don’t have to pry them open. Pry open is a verb. It means to force something open, something that is tightly closed, usually with a tool. You might try to pry open a safe. You might try to pry open a door that’s jammed closed.
You thought we pried them open?
Yeah, like you do oysters.
No, you don’t, you don’t you don’t shuck a mussel.
And this is tap water. And we’re going to, after they’re in here a minute, we’re going to dump it and refill it with tap again.
So, we cooked these mussels the second night in regular tap water, not sea water. And the result was surprising.
Mussels.
Mussels attempt number two.
Ah.
Mussels appetizer for anyone who’s brave.
I’m brave.
Don’t they smell good?
They smell great.
Brought some forks.
Yeah.
What’s the sand content and the salt content like?
We did good.
Did we?
Alright.
I could use a little salt.
Really? Literally?
Honestly.
That’s what I was saying. I didn’t think they were too salty.
Barnacles and all. Now, if you were going to eat at a restaurant, you wouldn’t see a barnacle on like they would have scraped that off, right?
Yeah, but those are probably—
Here’s your fork.
Mhm.
Well, if it’s really good, we can do it again tomorrow.
Aw!
Sorry.
No, I I hit the pot.
You don’t dip it in anything?
You don’t have to.
I hit a rock.
Oh!
Be careful.
Yeah, this one is mostly full of sand.
How was it, Ian?
It was a one-time experience.
I can’t chew it.
That was a big rock.
That one was way too grainy.
Well, I swallow more and I get the big sand.
I’m also, you know what’s funny about this?
Dad, don’t! That’s the one I chewed and spit out.
Gross.
God.
Try it, Stan.
Gross.
You’ve done all the dirt.
I thought you gave up on it and we’re just going to—
Yeah, I did give up on it.
I mean, I thought you didn’t even bother to put it in your mouth.
I kind of stopped eating mussels anyway because they actually grossed me out a little bit. But it’s just so intriguing to harvest them from the ocean and eat them.
Yeah. I’ve never ordered them because they seem like too much work.
Too much work?
They’re open for you.
Yeah, I know. But I mean—
And he didn’t even collect them.
You don’t get that much in it.
Do you think if you swish it around in there, you can get rid of some of the sand?
I could inside them.
Inside of them.
You happy with how they turned out?
I think that’s as well as you can do with straight from the sea.
Oh, yeah. Here. That’s like That’s shell. That’s not sand.
Whoa, It’s a pearl!
Oh my God Mom!
Oh my God!
Wow.
No wonder it was hard.
Yeah. No wonder we’re breaking our teeth on them. Dad, there’s another one stuck to your finger now.
We’ll have to do some research.
Pearls came in oysters.
Yeah, I thought so, too.
Maybe it’s—
They’re coming. They’re coming straight out of my mouth.
Dad just pulled out of one.
That’s hilarious.
Alright, well, now we know. Anybody want to make some jewelry?
Nobody else got any pearls and got free.
Well, I don’t know. Oh, I spit.
I thought, yeah, I spit mine out because—
David spit all his over the rail. Go get them, David.
I tried to separate it out, but I couldn’t, so I just gave up and dumped the whole thing in here. But I bet there’s some pearls in it.
You gave up, too.
There’s probably some pearls in it.
Yeah.
This is so disgusting.
I don’t—
When I was like five in Eureka, Illinois, we were having oyster soup. My mom would make oyster soup.
Yeah.
And you know those little oyster crackers?
Yeah.
I thought those were the oysters. And so I was looking through them and they said, “What are you doing?” I’m looking for pearls.
And they said, “Those are crackers made factory.”
We weren’t that sophisticated.
Right.
Uh and in Illinois, you didn’t have all that much seafood.
Yeah.
I think I’m done.
I think I’m done, too.
Dad, you were under no obligation to like try to– Are you finding more pearls?
Sounds like you might be.
Nope.
Yep. There’s another pearl.
This guy is a machine.
This is hilarious.
That’s a pearl?
Yeah, Dad has found four mini pearls.
It’s in my mouth.
You see them?
I thought that was clams.
Oysters.
Oysters.
What?
We don’t know. We I’m sure it’s not actually a pearl.
That is round grit.
It’s ground beautiful grit.
Yeah.
Oh, here’s a big one.
Okay, this still has meat in it.
Anybody want it?
No, I’m done.
Here’s a pretty, Oh, that’s the biggest one yet.
Yeah, that’s a double.
That looks quite look like a pearl. Yes, mussels can produce pearls. Just like oysters, mussels can form pearls when a foreign object like a grain of sand enters their shell and irritates them. The muscle then secretes nacre, a pearly substance to coat the irritant, eventually forming a pearl. While natural pearls and mussels are relatively rare and often small, they can be found in both freshwater and saltwater mussels.
Thank you so much for coming with me and my family on our vacation in Maine. Have you ever found a pearl in the food you were eating? Let me know in the comments below. Keep your learning going now with this video and don’t forget to subscribe with notifications on. I love being your English teacher. That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.
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