英語播客 A Cup of English A Tour of Homes part 9, the Kitchen Pantry

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Well, it looks like we're back in the kitchen. I told you, didn't I, that the kitchen is an important place, and that is why we need to spend more time using the every day kitchen vocabulary. The main idea of today's podcast is the pantry. It is an odd word, really. It means the storage area for all of the food. Pantries vary quite a lot. In our kitchen, we have three different areas for food items: one for cereals, one for baking items and canned goods, and another for pastas and rice. The system works for us. I want an easy reach place for the children, so they can get their cereals in the morning without any trouble. The pastas, rice,and spices, which I use a lot, are up in a cupboard where little fingers cannot reach them. Sometimes, it takes a while to figure out the best places to put things. It is a science. I think you need to live in your kitchen for a while, meaning, spend lots of time in your kitchen, before you know where you need to put things. We all hate looking for items when they have been put in the wrong place, so a pantry system saves time for a lot of people. I think I will gut a large cupboard, rearrange the shelves, and make it into one large pantry. It will make my life much easier.

Grammar notes.

Useful expressions: to figure out, to spend time, to gut.

The children were give five minutes to figure out the math problem.

We should spend more time with our neighbor; she is such fun, and she lives alone.

We gutted the house; we took out all of the inside: carpets, cabinets, and appliances.

Advanced.

I have a wonderful book that I bought from a home improvement store a few years ago. It is called 'Creative ideas for organizing your home.' It is a guide to making your home efficient and clutter-free. Oh, that is a dream of mine. The book makes it all look so easy, though, a little bit like a Disney movie. I'm not too bad at being organized, but, then again, I'm not a natural accountant. I have friends who are, and they have everything in its rightful place. That is something that I admire. After all, it's more pleasant to live in a tidy, organized home, than to see 'stuff' everywhere you look. Don't get me wrong; I have improved over the years. I rearrange the cereal boxes in the pantry. I throw out the empty ones and put the ones that still have cereal in them in a straight line. I attack the kitchen draw every now and then, and throw out the unnecessaries. And when my children's bedrooms become despicable, I charge around picking things up, throwing things away, and putting things where they should be. Gosh, it takes a lot of time. As my children get older, they take on more responsibility which certainly helps me. They can make their beds, organize their cubbies where they keep their shoes and hang up their coats and backpacks. They can even vacuum quite well. The little ones are really not 'into it'. An answer I get often when I ask Domini or Robert to put their shoes away is, "Mum, my legs are tired," to which I respond, "Well, my everything is tired, but I still put my shoes away." My last resort to get them to help is bribery; it always works.

Grammar notes.

Useful vocabulary: clutter, a rightful place, cubby, to resort to.

There was so much clutter in his bedroom that I couldn't even walk in.

The diamond was returned to the museum and put in its rightful place.

I have just built some cubbies for the kids; they can hang coats, hats, backpacks there, and put their shoes in their own special place.

The criminal wouldn't talk, so the police resorted to rough interrogation.