Do you remember much of the world cup in South Africa? Or do you remember only Waka Waka and the vuvuzelas?
Quiz has been prepared using ProProfs Quiz Maker.
Sunday, 18 July 2010
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
For Your Browsing Pleasure: problems solved (kind of)
Well, I'm not sure what has happened. My files which controlled the script for the dynamic tree control disappeared. I re-uploaded them, but that didn't work either. I tried another file server, but it didn't work properly, so, for the time being at least, I've decided to use ids' (from The Blogger Guide) files.
For Your Browsing Pleasure: problems
I have to apologise to users for the malfunction of the For Your Browsing Pleasure section. My files have suddenly gone missing from the file server I'm using, so I'm looking into it. Meanwhile, you'd have to use the other options available to browse, e.g., labels, Wowzio, archives, etc.
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
Dying for chocolate? Here's one cake to die for!
I'm surrounded by chocoholics, so every now and then, I like to come up with an invention or an adaptation or two. I baked this for my son's 12th birthday and christened it 'Devil in Disguise'. It's similar in taste and texture to my brownies, but yet subtly different. For one thing, it doesn't use flour. Here's the recipe.
Don't forget to look at this post, too: Cooking Verbs
Ingredients:
(Note that weights are approximate as my weighing machine has gone a little loopy!)
5 eggs
200g dark chocolate
150g sugar
200g butter
100g hazelnuts
100g almonds
Procedure:
1. Melt the butter together with the chocolate in a bowl. Mix it well and let it cool.
2. Separate the egg whites from the yolk.
3. Whisk the yolks with the sugar until it's creamy and almost white.
4. Ground the hazelnuts and almonds together. I like to leave them a little coarse, so I can feel my teeth grinding into them!
5. Add the nuts to the yolk mixture. Mix well. Pour and mix in the melted chocolate.
6. Mount the egg whites in a bowl until stiff. Remember to avoid any fat (including the yolk) from getting into the bowl. The presence of fat will prevent the whites from ever mounting.
7. Fold the whites into this mixture, little by little.
8. Grease a cake mould, and pour the mixture into it with TLC.
9. Now, here comes the trick of the devil. Cover the mould with aluminium foil. Place the mould on an oven tray and pour a couple of glasses of water onto the tray. What we're doing here is effectively baking it à la bain-marie. The foil keeps the moisture in, so you won't end up with a dry chocolate cake, like most are.
10. Bake it in a pre-heated oven at 175ºC for about one and a half hour.
11. Remove it to cool.
12. Enjoy it!
If you do make it, let me know how it went, and send me some photos!
Tip: When having it from the fridge, take it out about an hour before consumption, unless you like yours hard. ;-)
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Make or Do? Fun game activity for practice!
Do you make or do your homework? Do you make an exam or do you do it? When to use these often pose a problem because most languages have only one word for it. Native speakers use the correct word unconsciously, and will have difficulty in telling you the reason for their choice, if you were to ask them.
The reason is simple: there isn't really a clear rule for it! Just like phrasal verbs, the best way is probably to learn them by heart. You do your homework, but you make plans for your future. You make a cake, but you do the washing up.
However, having said all that, there are a few guidelines to help you.
When we talk about an activity without saying exactly what it is, we use ‘do’.
Do something!
What are you doing?
I don’t know what to do.
When we want to describe an activity that we have to do, often over and over again, we use do. Do also contains an element of duty and responsibility.
I’m not going to do any work.
I hate doing the cooking and the shopping.
I am always doing the washing up!
I wish I had a maid to do all the boring jobs!
She hates doing business with the Italians.
Could you do me a favour, please?
Make is used to describe a creative activity or something you choose to do.
I’ve just made a cake.
Let’s make a plan.
My father and I once made a boat.
I’ll be back in a minute – I have to make a phone call.
I’m no good at making decisions.
You have to make a better attempt at learning English!
Stop making excuses! I know you don’t want to come.
And now, it's time for you to practise with the dustbin game! Remember the score is the clock, so the lower the score is, the better you are! Don't forget to write your name/class/school and your score in the comments below!
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