📙 Part 2: Describe a great dinner you and your friends or family members enjoyed

This episode's vocabulary

Stand out (phrasal verb) – to be particularly noticeable or memorable. → The candidate's enthusiasm really stood out during the interview process.

Give or take (phrase) – approximately, with a small margin of error. → The journey takes two hours, give or take ten minutes depending on traffic.

Decking (noun) – a wooden platform or outdoor floor area. → We built a decking in our garden for summer barbecues.

Fare (noun) – food, especially of a particular type or for a special occasion. → The restaurant serves traditional Italian fare at reasonable prices.

Finger food (noun) – small portions of food designed to be eaten with hands. → We served finger food at the reception so guests could eat while mingling.

Chilled out (adjective) – relaxed, calm, and easygoing. → The atmosphere at the café is really chilled out and welcoming.

Worryingly so (adverb phrase) – to a concerning or alarming degree. → He's been quiet recently, worryingly so, and I'm concerned about him.

Recalled (verb) – remembered or brought back to mind. → I recalled meeting her at a conference several years ago.

Speculate about (phrasal verb) – to form opinions or theories without definite knowledge. → People love to speculate about the company's future plans.

Restored (verb) – brought back or returned to a previous condition. → The holiday restored my energy after months of stressful work.

Catch up with (phrasal verb) – to talk with someone you haven't seen for a while. → I'm meeting old school friends this weekend to catch up with them.

Milestone (noun) – an important event or stage in development. → Graduating from university was a major milestone in my life.

Get-together (noun) – an informal social gathering or party. → We're having a small get-together at my place this Saturday.

Intimate (adjective) – small, private, and involving close friends or family. → We had an intimate wedding ceremony with just twenty guests.

Host (verb) – to organize and provide for guests at an event. → My sister will host Thanksgiving dinner at her house this year.

Questions and Answers

Maria: You should say what you had, who you had dinner with, what you talked about during the dinner about and explain why you enjoyed it.

Rory: Well, I had my birthday recently, so that's probably the one that stands out the most in my mind right now. It was about a month ago, give or take, and we had dinner on the decking at my family home, where my parents live.

When it comes to what we had, it was just typical birthday party fare, to be honest. Obviously, there was a birthday cake too, actually, now I think about it, along with things like sausages, sausage rolls, pizza, and other kinds of finger food, I suppose you'd call it. I should say, there were two cakes because I share my birthday with my aunt, who was joining us this year for that occasion. And in terms of who else was there, well, my aunt's husband was there, of course. It would be a bit weird if they travelled separately. And my parents were there, along with my friends and my partner. My brother and his girlfriend were also there, now that I think about it. And she even brought her dog, which was really nice. You would think that having a pet at an event like that would be complete chaos, but she was actually pretty chilled out, the dog, that is. And worryingly so, actually. She doesn't move much, but apparently that's normal for her, so that was okay.

To tell you more about the topics of conversation and what they were, actually, we focused lots on the cakes, not just because of the taste, although that was also good, but also because there was a picture on the icing of one of them that showed my aunt and I, and that was about 34 years ago, or maybe 35 now, when I was just a baby. And neither of us recalled the photo being taken. Obviously, I wouldn't, but my aunt had no idea where we were or what we were doing at the time, which was quite funny to speculate about. That was just one reason that I liked the whole thing. It was nice being with my loved ones after being away for a long time working in Oxford, so it sort of restored my sense of community as well. If it hadn't happened, I think it would have been a pretty dull day, and who wants that on their special day?

Maria: And what about your friends?

Rory: Did they enjoy it? Well, I hope so, because I invited them, so they should have enjoyed it.