BOXING DAY

Boxing Day is the 26th December and is a national holiday in the UK and Ireland.

The exact etymology of the term "boxing" is unclear. There are several competing theories, none of which is definitive.The European tradition, which has long included giving money and other gifts to those who were needy and in service positions, has been dated to the Middle Ages, but the exact origin is unknown. It may come from a custom in the late Roman/early Christian era, wherein metal boxes placed outside churches were used to collect special offerings tied to the Feast of Saint Stephen, which in the Western Church falls on the same day as Boxing Day.

In Britain, it was a custom for tradesmen to collect "Christmas boxes" of money or presents on the first weekday after Christmas as thanks for good service throughout the year.This is mentioned in Samuel Pepys' diary entry for 19 December 1663. This custom is linked to an older English tradition: Since they would have to wait on their masters on Christmas Day, the servants of the wealthy were allowed the next day to visit their families. The employers would give each servant a box to take home containing gifts and bonuses, and sometimes leftover food

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day
http://britishfood.about.com/od/christmas/p/boxingday.htm
http://gouk.about.com/od/whatsonindecember/qt/boxing_day.htm

PLAY THIS GAME AND MAKE A CHOCOLATE CAKE

Click on the image

http://www.agame.com/game/chocolate-cake-saras-cooking-class

AMERICAN MEAL SYSTEM

Generally speaking, American people have three big meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner. However, if we add the between meal snacks, as most Americans do, we will see that they eat five or six times a day.
 
Breakfast.
Many American adults begin the day just with a toast, jelly and coffee, whereas children have cereals and milk. This kind of breakfast is inadequate for people who eat small and early lunches. Nutritionists say that the first meal of the day should be substantial because it will help us study and work much better.

 
 Coffee break.
The typical American, who works from nine to five, usually eats breakfast around 7:00 or 7:30, and by 10:30, he has ten or fifteen minutes off the job to have coffee and a doughnut or a sweet roll.

 

 Lunch.

A few American people can go home at lunchtime, which is from noon until one o'clock or from one until two. Most American school-kids and workers have lunch in the canteen of their schools, factories, offices... If there is not a canteen they have to go to a restaurant. Some people bring their lunch from home: a sandwich and a piece of fruit. A sandwich consists of two pieces of bread and something in between. This can be ham, cheese, peanut butter, sliced chicken or turkey, tuna salad, roast beef, lettuce, tomato... or anything you like.

In canteen or restaurant Americans may have hot sandwiches, hamburgers, hot dogs, cheeseburgers, pizza... served with salad and French fries. With lunch, children usually drink orange juice, milk or soda. Adults prefer coffee, tea, or perhaps beer.

 


Mid-afternoon snacks.
After school or work, a lot of people have a cake or some cookies and something to drink, which can be milk-shake, coffee or tea.

 


Dinner.
In the U.S.A., the important meal of the day is dinner. All over the world, eating is an important part of family life and social activity. In many homes dinner time, not only on weekends but also during the week, is the only opportunity for a family to be together and speak about their day's experiences. Dinner time is also an occasion for inviting friends or for celebrating any party. When the weather is fine, Americans prefer to have a B.B.Q. (barbecue) in their gardens. Dinner very often includes several courses: soup, salad, an entree (meat, poultry or fish, served with vegetable, potatoes or rice) and dessert, which is generally sweet (cake, pie, ice-cream...) Americans hardly ever have fruit or cheese for dessert.
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Late-evening snack.

As dinner is usually served early in the evening, in most houses, Americans often have milk, cookies or fruit before bedtime.

 






On weekends and holidays, the meal timetable changes completely. People get up too late for breakfast and too early for lunch. So they have brunch. This is served between 11:00 and 12:00. You must have a big brunch, as the next meal will be dinner. Brunch includes French fries, sausages, bacon, toast, pancakes or French toast with caramel syrup, accompanied by coffee.

BRITISH MEALS

We have three main meals a day:

• Breakfast - between 7:00 and 9:00,
• Lunch - between 12:00 and 1:30 p.m. and
• Dinner - anywhere from 6:30 at night to 8:00 p.m.

On Sundays the main meal of the day is often eaten at midday instead of in the evening. This meal usually is a Roast Dinner consisting of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and two kinds of vegetables.

Breakfast

 

Most people around the world seem to think the typical English breakfast consists of eggs, bacon, sausages, fried bread, mushrooms and baked beans all washed down with a cup of coffee. Nowadays, however, a typical English breakfast is more likely to be a bowl of cereals, a slice of toast, orange juice and a cup of coffee.

The "traditional" British breakfast is cereal with milk and sugar. Then fried bacon and eggs, or scrambled eggs on toast, or boiled eggs and toast. Lastly, toast and butter with marmalade or jam. Tea or coffee is usually drunk. The "continental" breakfast is becoming more popular. This is just toast and butter with marmalade or jam. Tea or coffee is drunk.

Lunch

 

This may have two, three starters, e.g., soup; a main course, e.g., meat or fish with vegetables; then a pudding or dessert, e.g., apple pie and custard sauce; then perhaps cheese and biscuits. Lunch may also be a snack, e.g., some soup, a salad or some sandwiches. In some parts of Britain, the midday meal is called "dinner" especially if it is a big meal. Many children at school and adults at work will have a 'packed lunch'. This typically consists of a sandwich, a packet of crisps, a piece of fruit and a drink. The 'packed lunch' is kept in a plastic container.
 

Tea

 

The "traditional" 4 o'clock tea is usually bread with butter and jam, scones, cakes (small and large) Country preserves (Know as a cream tea) . Afternoon tea sandwiches often thinly sliced cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off. Assorted pastries and biscuits. Tea is drunk with milk and sometimes with sugar. Some people do not have milk. They have a slice of lemon instead.

Nowadays many people do not eat much at teatime, but they still drink a cup of tea in the afternoon. "High tea" (The traditional 6 o'clock tea) in the north of England and Scotland especially, is the big meal at about 6 p.m. There is usually a meat or fish course, then a pudding or dessert. Tea is drunk throughout the meal.Traditionally eaten early evening, High tea was a substantial meal that combined delicious sweet foods, such as scones, cakes, buns or tea breads, with tempting savouries, such as cheese on toast, toasted crumpets, cold meats and pickles or poached eggs on toast. This meal is now often replaced with a supper due to people eating their main meal in the evenings rather than at midday.

Tea in Britain is traditionally brewed in a warmed china teapot, adding one spoonful of tea per person and one for the pot If someone asks you if you would like a cuppa, they are asking if you would like a cup of tea. If someone says 'let me be mother' or 'shall I be mother', they are offering to pour out the tea from the teapot

Dinner / Supper

 

Dinner is the big meal in the evening and it is like a large lunch with two, three or four courses. People who eat a big meal at midday often have only a small meal in the evening. This is called "supper", and there may be only one course, e.g., cauliflower cheese. Dinner is eaten at anytime between 6 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. A typical British meal for dinner is meat and "two veg.” A gravy covers the meat, and one of the vegetables is almost always potatoes. However, this meal is rarely eaten nowadays, a recent survey found that most people in Britain are eating curry! Rice or pasta are now favoured as the 'British Dinner'.

The working day in Britain is usually 9 am to 5 pm with a one hour break at about 1 o'clock. People in Britain don't eat out very often. They usually go to restaurants on special occasions. Restaurants are quite expensive. Young people eat out more often than older people.

There are four kinds of eating place in Britain:



Take-aways. 
You buy your food here and you take it home. The most common take-aways are fish and chip shops. The food here is quite cheap. Take-away meals are very popular and most towns have a selection of Indian, Italian, Chinese and Greek Restaurants. Fish and chip is the classic English take-away food. It became popular in the 1860's when railways began to bring fresh fish straight from the east coast to the cities over night. Traditionally, the fish and chips are covered with salt and malt vinegar and, using your fingers, eaten straight out of the newspaper they were wrapped in. Nowadays small wooden forks are provided and the fish and chips are wrapped in more hygienic paper. Fish And Chip is traditionally England's national food.

 

Fast food restaurants. 
You order your food at the counter and then take it to your table to eat it. Hamburger and pizza restaurants are the most common fast food places.

 

Pubs. 
Most pubs serve food. But you must be 16 to go into a pub and you can't buy alcohol until you're 18



Restaurants. 
A waiter or waitress serves you. There are many different kinds of restaurant in Britain. Chinese, French, Indian and Italian are the most common

Typical traditional English dishes

 

The staple foods of England are bread, meat, cheese, pies and puddings. Many of our dishes are based on these foods:

• Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding (roast meat, two vegetables and potatoes with Yorkshire Puddings). This is England's traditional Sunday lunch, which is a family affair.
• Yorkshire Pudding (made from a batter of flour, eggs and milk, and cooked in the oven)
• Fish and chips (fish is deep-fried, and the "chips" are fried potatoes)Ploughman's Lunch (a piece of cheese, a bit of pickle and pickled onion, and a chunk of bread)
• Shepherds Pie (made with minced lamb and vegetables topped with mashed potato and grated cheese.)
• Roast chicken
• Roast lamb
• Hotpot (beef/pork/chicken stew)
• Toad-in-the-Hole (a sausage covered in batter and roasted.)
• Pie and Mash
• Bubble & Squeak (typically made from leftover potatoes and cabbage fried together)
• Bangers and Mash (mashed potatoes and sausages).
• Black Pudding (a thick sausage made from the blood and fat of a cow).
• Lancashire hotpot
• Cumberland sausage

Pies



Pies are very popular in England. Favourites include:

• Pork pie,
• Steak and Kidney pie (stewed steak and kidneys topped with crisp puff pastry) 
• Cornish pastries (a semi-circular pastry case stuffed with meat, potatoes and vegetables

Cheeses

 

English people have a great love for cheese and many different types are produced in England. They all have unique flavours and textures. The most common are the harder varieties such as Cheddar, Stilton, Red Leicester, Cheshire and Double Gloucester.

Cakes, biscuits and puddings (desserts)



There are hundreds of variations of sweet puddings in England but each pudding begins with the same basic ingredients of milk, sugar, eggs, flour and butter. Many of the desserts involve fresh fruit such as raspberries or strawberries, custard, cream, and cakes. Favourites include:

• The Victoria Sponge
• Trifle
• Bakewell pudding
• Shrewsbury biscuit
• Custard
• Bread and butter pudding
• Semolina.
• Spotted Dick (sponge pudding with sultanas and raisins)
• Jam roly-poly (rolled up sponge with jam)  
• English Crumpets (tasty "muffin" that goes great with tea, and spread with butter and preserves).  
• Mince Pies (Pastry shells filled with mince meat, and sometimes brandy or rum).  
• Treacle pudding (a steamed pudding with a syrup topping).

A TASTE OF SCOTLAND

KILTS

The kilt is the national costume, it is a traditional Scottish skirt for men. Though women can and do wear tartan skirts, they do not wear the kilt. Every kilt has a squared coloured pattern, known as a tartan. Tartans have an interesting history. Since the fifteenth century, each Scottish family or clan (Gaelic for tribe or family) has worn its own tartan as a kind of badge. It means a great deal to a Scot, especially to a Highlander, for every Highland clan has its own special tartan, of which it is jealously proud.

Tartans were a useful way of recognising people, especially in times of war. Many tartans date only from the nineteenth century, but some of the old patterns still exist. The patterns and colours are not all the same, each clan has a different tartan. There are also "Dress" tartans which are worn on special occasions, they have light, bright colours and "Hunting" tartans which are usually green, blue or brown. 

THE HIGHLANDS
The Highlands of Scotland (the mountains of Scotland) are the wildest and, some say, the most beautiful part of Europe. Salmon and trout swim in the clean, pure water of the rivers. Scotch whisky is made with this water. Some say that not only fish swim in the deep water of Loch Ness. Speak to the people living by the Loch. Each person has a story of the Monster, and some have photographs...

HAGGIS AND SHORTBREAD BISCUITS 
Haggis is the national dish of Scotland. You make it with meat, onions, flour, salt and pepper. Then you boil it in the skin from a sheep's stomach - yes, a sheep's stomach. In Scotland, people eat haggis and drink lots of whisky on Burns Night. Robert Burns (Scots people call him "Rabbie" Burns) was a Scottish poet in the eighteenth century. Every year Scots people all over the world remember him and read his poems. Burns wrote about haggis and said that haggis was the best food in the world!

Shortbread is Scotland's most famous biscuit. It is eaten all through the year but especially at Christmas and Hogmanay (Scottish New Year). The shortbread eaten in Hogmanay is called "Petticoat tails" because of its shape. It looks like the skirts which women wore under their dresses in the seventeenth century.

HAMBURGERS

The term hamburger originally derives from Hamburg, Germany's second largest city, from where many emigrated to America. Hamburger can be a descriptive noun in German, referring to someone or something from Hamburg. 

Similarly, frankfurter and wiener, names for other meat-based foods, are also used in German as descriptive nouns for people and  for things from the cities of Frankfurt and Wien (Vienna), respectively.

The hamburger most likely first appeared in the 19th or early 20th centuries. The modern hamburger was a product of the culinary needs of a society that was rapidly changing due to industrialization, and therefore, people had less time to prepare as well as to consume meals. 

Americans contend that they were the first to combine two slices of bread and a steak of ground beef into a "hamburger sandwich". Part of the controversy over the origin of the hamburger is because the two basic ingredients, bread and beef, were prepared and consumed separately for many years before their combination. Shortly after its creation, the hamburger was prepared with all of the now typically characteristic trimmings, including onions, lettuce, and sliced pickles.

The exact origin of the hamburger is unknown and may never be known with any certainty. Most historians believe that it was invented by a cook who placed a Hamburg steak between two slices of bread. It is difficult to determine who first had the idea for the hamburger, because there is no written record about its creation, as only verbal descriptions and direct statements to the local press exist to support the various claims of invention.

However, all claims made by the potential inventors of the hamburger occurred between 1885 and 1904, focusing all attention of its creation onto these two decades. Despite the various stories about the origins of the hamburger, there are common elements in all of the narratives, most notably that the hamburger was born as a food associated with major events such as amusement parks, fairs, conferences, and festivals. All the hypotheses also share the presence of street vendors.

One of the possible fathers of the hamburger is Charlie Nagreen (1870–1951) of Seymour, Wisconsin, who at the age of 15 sold Hamburg steaks from a street stall at the annual Outagamie County Fair. Nagreen said he began by selling Hamburg steaks, but these did not have much success because people wanted to freely move around the festival without the need to eat them at his stand. In response to this, in 1885 Nagreen decided to flatten the hamburger steak and insert it between two slices of bread, so that the public could move freely from booth to booth while eating his sandwich, an innovation that was well received by his customers.This became known as the "Hamburger Charlie", and Nagreen's creation was sold at the festival until his death in 1951. To this day, his accomplishment is celebrated annually with a "Burger Fest" in his honor in his hometown of Seymour.

ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH

1. ¿Cuándo surgieron las primeras hamburguesas?

2. ¿Quién o quiénes se supone "inventaron" las hamburguesas?

2. ¿Por qué son tan populares?

3. Busca en el diccionario el significado de estas palabras (Pincha sobre ellas): pickles, stall, stand, booth, hometown.

POPULAR FOOD

The most popular "fast food" in the UK is fish and chips. Stores that sold fish made their first appearance at the end of nineteenth century and since then,  'fish and chips' was the favourite plate throughout the country. The dish is simple: fish (usually cod) is passed through a mixture made of flour, eggs and water and is then fried in hot oil. Potatoes are also deep-fried.


The best known British dish is roast beef,- which is traditionally eaten on Sundays. The dish was so popular in England that the French still refer to the British as' les rosbifs'. The roast is served with roasted potatoes, vegetables and 'gravy' - a sauce made from meat juices and broth, thickened with flour. The Yorkshire pudding - thick dough of flour and water baked in hot butter - is the favorite accompaniment to grilled meat.


BUSCA EN EL DICCIONARIO LAS PALABRAS RESALTADAS EN AMARILLO PINCHANDO SOBRE ELLAS