London restaurants - EOI Aragón inglés B2 resuelto

A. Anchor & Hope

Great things at friendly prices come from the open kitchen at this packed, no-reservations, leading gastropub on the Cut in Waterloo: pot-roast duck and chicken pithivier (puff pastry pie) are two standouts. It's cramped, informal, and highly original, and there are great dishes for groups, like slow-roasted leg of lamb. Expect to share a table, too.

B. Boxwood Café

Attached to the Berkeley and in the Gordon Ramsay stable, the Boxwood is the best uptown but relaxed place to dine in Knightsbridge, with opulent marble, brown, and greens. The New Yorkstyle restaurant is open late (until midnight Thursday-Saturday) and set lunch is useful at £28. Favorite dishes range from Orkney scallops to yellowfin tuna, and veal burger to treacle tart. Service is top-notch, and you'll find a fashionable buzz.

C. Great Queen Street

Expect crowds and a buzz at Covent Garden's leading gastropub that showcases classic British dishes in a burgundy and bare oak-floor-and-table setting. Old-fashioned dishes like pressed tongue, mackerel and gooseberry, and mussels and chips may be revived from a bygone era, but Londoners adore them. Dishes for the whole table—like venison pie or seven-hour shoulder of lamb—are highly convivial. There's little for nonmeat eaters, and no dinner Sunday.

D. Skylon

Located in the Royal Festival Hall, Skylon is the Southbank Centre's destination restaurant/bar/grill. Spacious, attractive, and with huge picture windows with spectacular views of the Thames, Skylon guarantees a classy pre- or post-performance meal in the '50s Festival Hall.

Against a background of dancing and music, concertgoers sip lush cocktails at the central bar and dine on lamb and harissa at the grill, or Anjou pigeon, spelt risotto, and sea bass with bok choy in the restaurant. The food is accomplished, and the setting impressive.

E. Yauatcha

It's a superbly lighted slinky Soho classic. Well designed by Christian Liaigre—with black granite floors, aquarium, candles, and a starry ceiling—the food is a match for the seductive setting.

There's wicked dim sum (try prawns or scallops), crispy duck rolls, silver cod, fancy cocktails, and tea and colorful cakes in the first-floor tearoom. Note the quick table turns, and ask to dine in the more romantic basement at night.

F. Cecconi's

Enjoy all-day buzz at this Italian brasserie opposite the Royal Academy on Burlington Gardens.

Between Savile Row and New Bond Street, clients pitch up for breakfast, brunch, and Italian tapas (cichetti) at the bar, and return for something more substantial later on. Ilse Crawford's green-andbrown interior is a stylish background for classics like veal Milanese, Venetian calves' liver, and tiramisu. Note: it's a nice pit stop during a shopping spree.

G. Scott's

Scott's is so hot that it's where the A-list go to celebrate. Founded in 1851, and recently renovated and reborn as a glamorous seafood haven and oyster bar, it draws beautiful people who pick at Cumbrae oysters, Red Sea prawns, and Stargazy pie. Standouts like cod with chorizo and padron peppers are to die for. Prices are high, but you're dining at the hippest joint in town.

H. Tayyabs

City finance boys, Asians, and medics from the Royal London Hospital swamp this high-turnover halal Pakistani curry canteen in Whitechapel. Expect queues after dark, and bear in mind it's BYOB, jam-packed, noisy, and mildly chaotic. Nonetheless, prices are dirt cheap and you can gorge on minced meat shami kebabs, skewed beef seekh kebabs, karahi chicken, or marinated lamb chops.

Working for the Royal Household - EOI Aragón inglés B1 resuelto

The Royal Household provides unique career opportunities for those who wish to take a new direction. 

REWARD AND BENEFITS

There is a wide range of benefits and facilities available to permanent and fixed-term contract employees of the Royal Household. These include the following:

•    Eligibility to join the Royal Household Stakeholder pension scheme and receive a 15% employer contribution to a portable pension, death in service cover (four times salary), and ill health cover after six months' service

•    25 days' annual leave rising to 30 days after 10 years' service (pro rata for part-time or fixed-term contracts)

•    Excellent staff dining facilities at Buckingham Palace. Staff at all sites are provided with a free lunch each working day

•    Supportive sick pay and family-friendly policies

•    For those who are eligible, subsidised accommodation and housing, for which an abatement is charged

•    20% discount in all Royal Collection Shops and 10% discount in Windsor Farm Shop

•    Complimentary tickets to the occupied Royal residences and galleries

•    Employee Assistance Programme (independent information and counselling service) open to all employees and their immediate family 

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

The Royal Household aims to ensure that all employees have the necessary knowledge, skills and experience to contribute to their maximum potential. Many training and development opportunities are available to staff, including:

•    Full induction training for all new employees

•    Structured on-the-job programmes

•    Technical training

•    IT training

•    Personal skills and management training

•    Financial support and study leave for relevant professional qualifications.

All employees receive a structured performance development review at least once a year, when there is an opportunity to discuss performance and training and development needs with managers.

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY

The Royal Household aims to employ the best people from the widest available pool of talent. It also strives to ensure that all employees are able to contribute to their maximum potential, irrespective of gender, race, ethnic or national origin, disability, religion, sexual orientation or age. The Royal Household does and will:

•    Take steps to attract employment applications from talented individuals in all sections of the community;

•    Review periodically selection criteria and processes to ensure individuals are recruited and promoted on the basis of their merits and abilities relevant to the job;

•    Provide a working environment in which no employee experiences discrimination, harassment or intimidation.

The decline in home cooking - EOI Extremadura inglés B2 resuelto

Image: Daragh Mc Sweeney

Once they were upheld as the paragons of feminine genius in the kitchen, but all that remains now of Les Mères de Lyon —the famous 20th-century French mother cooks— are their names. Mère Brazier may be written above the door of the restaurant at No. 12, Rue Royale in France's second major city, but there's a male chef in Eugenie Brazier's former kitchen. Mère Lea's stove at La Voûte (Chez Léa) is today tended by chef Philippe Rabatel and the restaurants of those equally renown priestesses, Mère Paulette Castaing and Marie Bourgeois, were long ago taken over by male chefs, who work very differently to their female forebears.

These bistros, or porte-pots as they were known, originated as places where the Lyon white-collar work force could stop and eat perfectly cooked, comforting, motherly food made from seasonal, often inexpensive ingredients.

Les Mères often worked with only one assistant, and their short menus and practical techniques are in marked contrast to the technique heavy "haute cuisine" prepared by brigades of male chefs today.

The decline in French home cooking—specifically the nurturing, bourgeois home cooking for which French women have always been admired-- joins a trend that has affected all major European nations as their societies and economic structures changed post World War II.

Home cooking is in decline in Southern Europe as it is in the northern and Nordic countries, yet in each there are variables in the style of change. It is happening faster in certain countries—such as the U.K., where total industrialization was complete in the 19th century—than others.

Analyzing the decline across these nations is mainly a matter of reading the figures for sales of convenience and fast food, and collecting statistics that mark change in attitude and trend. Market-research firm Euromonitor carried out a comprehensive study of changing habits across Europe from 2000–2007. It found that among large, less affluent populations in European countries, the take up of fast food and convenience food is increasing. The researcher's latest figures this year for sales of packaged food in the U.K., France, Italy, Denmark and Germany, for example, show an average increase of 15% in consumption.

But there is a parallel story of a much smaller number of wealthier women and men in the same countries becoming increasingly concerned about their health, trying organic and cooking fresh foods from scratch. When this group buys convenience food, they tend to buy the healthier, often natural or organic, option.

You cannot pin the demise of home cooking in European countries on a single issue. The loss of structured mealtimes can be put down to a number of causes including urbanization and smaller households, but the changing role of women in European society in the past 40 or 50 years is very significant. Exercising their right to equality in the workplace raises the family income and the hardpressed career woman relies more on prepared food or eating out when it comes to feeding her family. Mr. Marquis, an acclaimed chef, believes that aspirational tastes have put good traditional home cooking lower on the agenda in upwardly mobile European families. "In my youth, we had one car and ate very well on a budget supported only by my father's salary," he says. "Now everyone wants three cars, Apple technology and long-haul holidays, so both parents must work. Food becomes less significant," he adds.

There is the added dynamic that women are sometime sole breadwinners.

Their male partners can enthusiastically take up the home-cooking role. Male keenness for cookery remains in the margin of wealthier families, but there is a role reversal that fits with the eminence of chefs in the media and heading up kitchens in the world's "best restaurants."

Controversially, there is the accusation that liberated women (who gave up cooking) inadvertently generated a modern irresponsible food industry. The women that chose not to follow their mother and grandmother's career, left the door open. Had the food companies created a healthy surrogate for all and not just wealthy society—we might not have the fast-food industry and ensuing health problems, such as rising obesity. It is important to note that no feminist would have intended such an outcome, and that other environmental and economical factors have contributed to the problem.

It is not that women in Europe need leave their jobs and go back to housework, but families risk rearing a generation of "kitchen orphans," men and women who have never witnessed their parents cooking. There is no substitute for this; no popular TV chef can replace the effectiveness of the conversation about the right way to prepare a dish between mother and daughter, or indeed father and

son. The talented Les Mères gave up their kitchens to male chefs and their brigades of helpers, worn down by an unequal society that gave them too much work and little assistance, as did millions of stay-at-home mothers throughout Europe. In a culture where gender roles are more evenly balanced, there is a chance to revive the heroic, nurturing motherly food of each nation. It isn't just a sociological need, but an economic one. Mr. Marquis, whose life's work has been to emulate this, says a return to these basics is politically necessary. "In the past there were economic reasons for women getting out of the kitchen; now there is an economic reason for their simple, perfectionist cooking to be restored. This is the culture that is the envy of the world."

From The Wall Street Journal

Il libro, l'e-book e el corpo a corpo del lettore

Perché è meglio non sottovalutare il rapporto fisico con i libri e perché, anche se dobbiamo abituarci agli e-book, è meglio pensare di farlo con molta tolleranza per chi invece fatica a farlo, e soprattutto senza supponenza d’avanguardisti; e, d’altra parte, chi è diffidente davanti al libro digitale dovrebbe almeno mettere da parte un po’ di snobismo e provare.

In una delle ultime riunioni del gruppo di lettura di Cologno Monzese mi sono presentato per la prima volta con il libro letto che stava dentro il Kindle invece che in volume. Quell’incontro mi ha lasciato con la sgradevole sensazione che in questi mesi avessi sottovalutato le privazioni fisiche che la lettura dell’e-book infligge.

Il libro in lettura al Gdl era: Giorgio Cosmacini, Compassione (Il Mulino); l’ho letto in e-book perché era venduto a un buon prezzo rispetto alla copia stampata e soprattutto mi serviva in fretta, visto che avevo deciso tardi di partecipare alla lettura condivisa dal Gdl: così una sera, pochi giorni prima della riunione, in pochi secondi mi sono trovato con il libro fra le mani (espressione che in questo caso era solo una metafora visto che il file è finito, invisibile, nella memoria del Kindle).

Qui però, per una volta, non importano le impressioni di lettura condivise nel gruppo, ma l’impressione collaterale della lettura dell’e-book. O meglio, l’impressione suscitata dall’essere lì con un Kindle e discutere con altri lettori di un libro che io ho letto sul Kindle e gli altri in volume.

Uso il Kindle – e un Kobo – da più di un anno, con una certa soddisfazione anche se con poco entusiasmo. Diciamo con profitto funzionale: è comodo, leggero, spesso conveniente (perché gli e-book a volte hanno dei prezzi “buoni”, diciamo meno della metà di quello del libro stampato, per il mio giudizio). Oltre al Kindle continuo a leggere libri stampati; diciamo che libri ed e-book convivono sul mio comodino e si dividono il mio tempo di lettura più o meno con un 70% (libri) – 30% (e-book).

Parlando del Kindle ho quasi sempre messo tra parentesi la questione “fisica”. Mi sembrava imprecisa e vaga come critica, mi pareva un po’ nostalgica, immotivatamente nostalgica, proprio perché vaga. Pensavo ad altro. Poi però quella riunione del Gdl mi ha portato sotto il naso, perfettamente a fuoco, proprio la questione fisica dell’uso dell’e-book: il diverso corpo a corpo con il libro, anzi, forse, l’impossibile corpo a corpo con il libro, perché l’e-book ci impedisce (o forse dovrei dire “ostacola”) il corpo a corpo. Insomma: i post-it colorati alle pagine giudicate decisive, le note a matita a margine, in corrispondenza dei post-it (sì certo nell’e-book si prendono le “note”, ma sono ben altro); il balzo da un una pagina all’altra, grazie al ricordo visivo di dove stava messo un certo paragrafo, solo per citare qualche sensazione che l’e-book nega. E che poi mi ha portato a ricordare altri mancati corpo a corpo, impediti dall’e-book: per esempio il senso di accumulo delle pagine lette, e quello di attesa per il restante volume di pagine da leggere, o ancora la possibilità di piegare le pagine agli angoli, o di sfogliare le pagine vedendone più di una alla volta. Perché l’e-book ha sempre solo una pagina, lo schermo; si scorre ma è sempre “la stessa”.

Adattato da gruppodilettura.wordpress.com

La piuma dell'angelo

Nell’orfanotrofio di San Germano d’Auxerre erano accuditi tanti trovatelli e tra questi c’era Luc un bambino davvero speciale, perché era molto buono, ma buono davvero. Se aveva qualcosa, si apprestava a dividerlo con gli altri e se poteva aiutare, non se lo faceva chiedere. Era generoso e d’animo semplice. Il piccolo, era stato lasciato sui gradini della struttura che aveva solo pochi mesi e da allora, erano già trascorsi otto anni. Stranamente, non aveva trovato nessuno che lo adottasse, sebbene fosse molto grazioso e educato. Per la sua giovane età, il bambino aveva una saggezza che lasciava tutti sempre a bocca aperta ed era per questo però, lasciato in disparte dagli altri. Troppo diverso dai suoi simili, tanto che trascorreva gran parte del suo tempo da solo. Un giorno nell’approssimarsi del Natale, Suor Josephine ha detto: “Bambini, prendete carta e penna e scrivete la letterina, mettendo che cosa volete ricevere come regalo”. Molti hanno cominciato a elencare giocattoli bellissimi, altri invece hanno chiesto di poter finalmente avere una famiglia. Invece il piccolo Luc nella sua ha scritto: “Fammi diventare un angelo, così posso aiutare tutti questi bambini, ed esaudire i loro desideri”. Le suore leggendola, sono rimaste sconcertate, ma pensando che ciò dipendesse dalla bontà d’animo del piccolo, non hanno dato peso alla cosa. Gli anni sono passati e ad ogni Natale, Luc scriveva sempre la stessa frase.

Dora Ti racconto una fiaba.it

Le papa de Simon . Francés A1 Graduado ESO

« Midi finit de sonner. La porte de 1'école s'ouvre et les gamins courent au-dehors en se donnant des coups pour sortir plus vite. Mais lis ne s'en vont pas d'un côté et de 1'autre pour rentrer dîner, comme ils le font chaque jour; lis s'arrêtent à quelques pas, et par groupes se mettent à parler à voix basse.

C'est que ce matin-là, Simon, le fils de la Blanchotte, est venu en classe pour la première fois. Tous ont entendu parler de la Blanchotte dans leurs familles; on est poli avec elle en public mais les mères entre elles la regardent en la plaignant un peu et en la méprisant; les enfants pensent de même sans savoir pourquoi.

Simon, lui, ils ne le connaissent pas, car il ne sort jamais, et il ne court pas avec eux dans les rues du village ou sur les bords de la rivière. C'est pourquoi ils ne l'aiment pas beaucoup; et ils l'ont reçu avec une certaine joie et beaucoup d'étonnement. Ils se sont répété l'un à l'autre cette parole dite par un garçon de quatorze ou de quinze ans qui semble savoir beaucoup de choses car il cligne finement des yeux:

-Vous savez... Simon... hé bien, il n'a pas de papa. »

Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893). Cinq contes.