[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What would a scared cat do on Halloween? I asked Sludge. Then I had an idea. Perhaps little Hex wasn't scared anymore.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Perhaps I should be looking for a brave cat and not a scared one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Perhaps this year, little Hex is learning how to haunt, I said to Sludge. I, Nate the Great, don't believe in haunted houses.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But we must go to that old house and hunt for little hex. Sludge did not look happy, but we walked to the old house. It looked haunted.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It looked like every ghost who had ever haunted anything was haunting this house on this night. Sludge and I crept up the front steps. They creaked. I knew they would. I knocked on the door. It creaked. I knew it would. I opened the door. It squeaked. I knew it would. I stepped into the house. Sludge slunk in. I called out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You have one minute to show your faces, then Sludge and I are leaving. I started to count the seconds. One, two, three, four, slam. The door shut behind us. I tried to open it, it was stuck. There must be another door, I said to Sludge.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I flashed my flashlight around. I saw cobwebs and old furniture draped with white sheets. I heard clinking and clanking and shrieking. Is that you, cats? I shouted.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I saw three pairs of eyes glowing at me in the dark. Cat's eyes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They belonged to Super Hex, Big Hex, and Plain Hex. Then they disappeared. I flashed my flashlight all over the house. The three cats were gone. But how did they get out of the house? How could Sludge and I get out? I heard more clinks and clanks and shrieks. The cats had left. So what was making those ghostly noises? I, Nate the Great, now believed in haunted houses.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then, in front of me, I saw a ghost.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't believe in ghosts, so how could I see this one? But it was creeping toward me, dressed in a white sheet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And suddenly I knew I had solved the case. Little Hex must be under that sheet, learning how to haunt. I lifted the sheet. Sludge was huddled under it. He was hiding. I unwrapped him. He led me to another room. He found a hole. It was small, but he dug in it, making it bigger. It was big enough for us to crawl into. It led to the outside. We were free. Good work, Sludge, I said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We walked down the street, away from the house. We were happy to do that. Little Hex was not in the haunted house, I said. We are back to looking for a scared cat. Did I have any clues? Pancakes help me think. Bones help sludge think. We went home. We ate. I thought back. The last time Rosamund saw Little Hex was when he followed her into Esmeralda's house. Then he was gone.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Esmeralda and Annie and Rosamund had searched Esmeralda's house, but they could not find little Hex. So he must have gone out into the night, alone. But why would he do that when he was scared of Halloween? Sludge was scared of Halloween too.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He had hidden under a chair in my house and under a sheet in the haunted house. Perhaps Little Hex was hiding under something. But where? We must go to where Little Hex was last seen, I said. Sludge and I went to Esmeralda's house. She was there, eating from her bag of treats. I am looking for Little Hex, I said. He isn't here, Esmeralda said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Rosamund and Annie and I looked all over this house. Want some of my treats? My bag got too heavy to carry around. I stared at Esmeralda's treats. Suddenly I remembered something. I remembered lots of things. I remembered clues.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I have no time for treats, I said. I must go to Rosamund's house right away. Sludge and I rushed to Rosamund's house. She was lying on a sofa. She was still wearing her little red riding hood costume. She looked strange in it. Rosamund looked strange in everything.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was just at Esmeralda's house, I said. She was eating some of her treats. I'm still not hungry, Rosamund said, pointing to her covered basket on a table. I'm too sad to eat.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think I know where Little Hex is, I said. Where? Where is he? Rosamund clutched her red cloak.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, Nate the Great, walked over to Rosamund's basket. I lifted up the red cloth that was on top of it. And there was little Hex, fast asleep in the basket.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's Little Hex, Rosamund cried. Yes, I said. I, Nate the Great, say that you've been carrying him around since you left Esmeralda's house. I have? Yes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Little Hex probably ate most of them and took their place under the napkin and hid there. Sludge hid under a chair and a sheet tonight. When you're scared, you might hide under something. Sludge gave me that clue twice. Rosamund stroke Little Hex.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But how did you know that little hex was hiding in my basket? She asked. He could have been hiding anywhere. You gave me the clue, I said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you got to my house, Annie had room in her basket for treats, but you said your basket was too heavy. How come your basket was heavier than Annie's?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They should have been the same because you both went to the same places. I, Nate the Great,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Say that your basket was full of little hex, and he was full of your treats. No wonder it was heavy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm so happy to have little Hex back, Rosamund said. Let's have a Halloween party to celebrate. I'll go outside and invite everybody I see. Including your grandmother with the big teeth, I asked. Sure, Rosamund said. They probably collected more treats than anybody. I believe that, I said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I will never be hungry enough to take food from fangs fangs. Sludge and I left. The case was over. Halloween was almost over. No more hunting, no more haunting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What had caused all the clinking and clanking and shrieking in that old haunted house? I would never know. I, Nate the Great,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Say that some mysteries are better left unsolved.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, Nate the Great, am a detective.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This afternoon, I was cleaning up after a big case. I was sitting in my bathtub, singing. My dog Sludge was howling.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I heard a third sound. The doorbell was ringing. I stood up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I rushed toward the door. I stopped. I, Nate the Great, was all wet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I grabbed a towel and my detective hat. I answered the door. Pip was there. I have to come see you, he said. Pip's hair covers half his face. I'm surprised he sees anything. Why did you come to see me? I asked. Pip didn't answer. Pip doesn't say much. Do you need a detective? I asked. Do you have a case to solve? Pip nodded his head up and down twice. Then he opened his mouth.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right away, hurry, he said. Pip handed me a piece of paper. It was a note for Pip from Rosamond. I knew it would be strange. I read the note. A musical note from Rosamond. Dear Pip, your mother phoned at four o'clock. When your lesson is through, this is what you have to do. A note. Step left until you reach the middle. Step up and you will solve this riddle.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Your piano teacher, Rosamond. I read the note once.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I read the note twice. I read it three times. Some things get better with time. Rosamond's note just got stranger. I could see why Pip needed me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're taking piano lessons from Rosamond? I asked. Pip nodded his head, up and down. At Rosamond's house? I asked. At Rosamond's garage, he said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do you have any idea what your mother wants you to do at four o'clock? I asked. Pip shrugged. Do you know where your mother is? I asked. Pip shrugged again. So what does the note mean? He asked.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It means that I, Nate the Great, have a case I must solve by four o'clock. It is ten past three. We don't have much time. I got dressed fast. I wrote a quick note to my mother.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Dear mother, I am on a case. I am leaving this note.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It is a much better note than the one I just read. I will be back. Love, Nate the Great. We must go to Rosamond's garage, I said to Pip. Pip, Sludge and I rushed to Rosamond's garage. I heard piano music.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I rushed into the garage. I rushed out of the garage.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Annie and her dog, Fang, were in there, sitting on a piano bench. Annie was playing an old piano. Fang's mouth was wide open. He was getting ready to sing. Or bite.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I didn't want to find out which. But I had to look for clues. I went back into the garage with Pip and Sludge. Slowly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, Rosamond sticks a star on you if you have a good music lesson. But now she's late for my lesson. It was supposed to start at three. Suddenly, Pip spoke. Hey, so was mine, he said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was scratched and sagging and peeling. But that was not a clue. I looked around the garage.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In the middle of it, I saw some wide wooden boards on top of some old blankets. There was a sign on it. Rosamond Stage. It was strange, but it was not a clue. Or was it?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sit down at the piano, Pip, I said, as if you were taking a lesson from Rosamond. Annie moved over. Pip sat between Annie and Fang. He was brave.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, Nate the Great, thought about where Pip would be if he took some steps to the left. He would be in the middle, of the garage. That fitted with the riddle. Then, if he stepped up,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He would be on Rosamond's stage. I had solved the case. It was my easiest case. Or was it?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sludge and I sat down on the stage. I was thinking.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Why would Pip's mother want him on this stage? It was full of splinters. It was not a good place to be. It couldn't be the answer. I said, we will have to wait for Rosamond to come back and tell us what the note means. Pip spoke up. I already did that. You talk too much, I said. We all waited. And waited. How long could it take to shop for stars?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What if Rosamond didn't come back until after four o'clock? Suddenly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I saw something shiny. Rosamond walked into the garage carrying a bag full of stars. She was followed by her four cats. Super Hex, Big Hex, Plain Hex, and Little Hex.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pip has had 15 minutes of piano lessons, so he should know what my note means.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're a sharp detective, so you should also know what it means.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, Nate the Great, know what this means. It means I still have a case to solve.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Rosamond grabbed my arm and pulled me over to the piano.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How about a piano lesson, she said. Pip, Annie and Fang got off the bench. Rosamond sat down.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I am going to play the scale starting from middle C. Watch my finger as it moves to the right.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Rosamond played eight white notes in a row on her piano.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'll just play the scale starting with middle C, she said. Got it, Nate? I, Nate the Great, got it. But I didn't want it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I started to sneak out of the garage. Rosamond kept on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] See the black notes? Black note is called a sharp when it's above a white note. And it's called a flat when it's... Rosamond stopped talking. She got up and pulled me back to the piano. I am not done, she said. I gave my cat singing lessons. Do you want them to know more than you do?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do you want them to have more stars than you? Yes, I said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Rosamond pressed a white key near the middle of the keyboard. I knew it was middle C.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, Nate the Great, am a fast learner.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Superhex screeched middle C. Very good, Rosamond said. Sludge did not think so. He ran out of the garage.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Rosamond moved her finger up to the black note above middle C. I knew it was C sharp.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is Big Hex's favorite nerd, she said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, Nate the Great, did not want to hear Big Hex screech C sharp.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I ran after sludge. Pip ran after me. Rosamond ran after Pip and me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You owe me five cents for the piano lesson, she said to me. Then she reached for Pip.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's time for your lesson. You only have until four o'clock. Pip turned, took two steps, and tripped over sludge. Rosamond pulled a hairbrush out of her pocket. She brushed Pip's hair back from his eyes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now you can see where you're going, she said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I said, I will be back when I've solved the case. I turned to Sludge. We must look for musical clues. We have to go where there is music.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sludge ran ahead. I knew where he was going.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Five minutes later we were at the band concert in the park. Sludge and I sat down under a tree. We have to listen hard, I said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We have to use our ears and our eyes. Sludge got up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He took one step to the left. He took one step to the right. He stepped backward and forward. Sludge was dancing to the music.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sludge was not dancing to the music. A bee was after Sludge. I went to rescue him. Now the bee was after me. The bee buzzed away. Let's go home, Sludge, I said. I, Nate the Great, needed pancakes. Pancakes help me think.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sludge and I started to walk home. We walked fast.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I only had until four o'clock to solve this case. Did I have any good clues?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I had a strange musical note that told Pip what he had to do at four o'clock. But if he did it, he would still be in Rosamond's garage.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I did not see or hear any clues in her garage. All I got was a strange piano lesson.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I did not see or hear any clues at the band concert.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All I got was a buzzing bee after sludging me. I kept thinking. And walking.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I looked at Sludge. Sludge, you're a genius. Your dance steps that weren't dance steps at the band concert have just solved the case.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sludge and I took giant steps back to Rosamond's garage.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We stepped inside. Pip was playing the piano. Rosamond was leaning over him. Annie and Fang were watching.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Stop the music, I said. I, Nate the Great, have solved your case, Pip. Please, get up, step left to the middle of the garage, and step up. Pip followed my directions. I'm on the stage, he said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Rosamond gives piano lessons to you and Annie.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Rosamond gives singing lessons to her cats. So Rosamond gives different kinds of lessons. So what? Pip said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, Nate the Great, say that the steps in Rosamond's note are a double clue.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ordinary steps to get to the stage and dance steps after you get there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At four o'clock, your mother wants you to start taking dancing lessons from Rosamond.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Rosamond clapped her hands. That's a wonderful idea, but it's the wrong answer to this case. I looked at Sludge. He wasn't a genius yet. Maybe later. I will be back, I said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sludge and I rushed out of the garage and went home. It was getting close to four o'clock. There was time only for quick pancakes. I gave Sludge a bone. I had to eat fast and think faster. Rosamond said I was a sharp detective.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But this case had fallen as flat as my pancakes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Rosamond said that Pip should know what her note meant because he had taken piano lessons. But what about the steps? I knew they were not dance steps. And suddenly, I knew more.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pip was supposed to take the steps on the piano.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I looked at Rosamond's note again. She had underlined the words, a note. Why did she underline them? Because it meant something.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It meant an A note on the piano.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, Nate the Great, knew where an A note was. I too had taken a piano lesson from Rosamond. I got a piece of paper and a pencil.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I drew a picture of the piano keys that Rosamond had used to play the scale.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I moved my finger to the left. I kept going until I reached middle C, the middle of the riddle.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, if Pip stepped up from the middle with his finger, where would he be?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He would be at C sharp. Big Hex's favorite note.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The answer to Rosamond's riddle was C sharp.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, Nate the Great, had the answer to this case at last. Only one problem was left.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I did not know what the answer meant.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I looked at Sludge. He was happy eating his bone. This had not been a good case for Sludge. He had almost been stung by a bee. And Pip had tripped over him. How could Pip trip over a dog? Pip's hair covers half his face. It's hard for him to see anything. I knew that from the beginning. But at last, I knew it was important. Sludge had helped with the case after all.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sludge and I rushed over to Rosamond's garage. We walked in. Pip was playing the piano. Rosamond was teaching. The cats were singing. I said, I Nate the Great have solved the case.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The answer to the riddle is a piano note. The note is C sharp.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At four o'clock, Pip is going to C sharp. Pip spoke up. What do you mean?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You are going to get a haircut, I said. So you will see sharp. Right, Rosamond? Right, Rosamond said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pip's mother said she is taking him for a haircut.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I like the idea of dancing lessons better. So do I, Pip said. I hate haircuts. Pip stopped talking. Pip started running. Pip started tripping.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He really needed a haircut. He fell over Super Hex. Super Hex screeched middle C. I picked up Pip. Rosamond picked up Super Hex. The case was over.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I reached into my pocket, pulled out five cents, and gave it to Rosamond.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then Sludge and I left the garage, walked to the street, turned, and started home. I was singing. Sludge was howling. I heard a third sound. Bells were chiming four o'clock.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You've been talking of a trip to Frisco. That being the case, take this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't wanna be labeled as crazy. Still be labeled soft on crimes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, Nate the Great, am a detective. I do important things. Today I was doing something important. I was shoveling snow. My dog Sludge was chasing snowflakes. Suddenly I heard a jingling sound. Annie was coming up our walk with her dog Fang.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Fang had bells on his collar and an elf hat on his head. Doesn't Fang look cute? Annie said. Just like a giant elf. Sludge looked at me. I looked at Sludge.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We both knew that all the bells and elves and jingles and jangles in the world could not make Fang look cute. Fang looked hungry. Fang is not a happy elf, Annie said. This was not good news. Every year, two weeks before Christmas,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Fang gets a Christmas card from his mother in the mail, Annie said. It is now a week before Christmas and Fang has not received his card. Perhaps she didn't send it, I said. Would a mother forget Fang, Annie said. I, Nate the Great, wished I could. I need your help to find the card, Annie said. I have to shovel snow, I said. Fang sat down and glared at me. I, Nate the Great,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Was thinking. It was the holiday season.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was not a good idea for a giant elf to be unhappy. I will take your case, I said. Wait here. I went into my house. I wrote a note to my mother. Dear mother, I stopped shoveling snow. I am on a case for a giant elf. The snow won't go away. Neither will the elf. I will be back. Love, Nate the Great. I went outside. I spoke to Annie.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The mailman leaves your mail in your mailbox, right? Most of the time, Annie said. Sometimes he drops it on the ground near the mailbox. Why does he do that?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sometimes Feng is so happy to see the mailman that he runs out of the house to greet him. The mailman drops the mail and flees. I, Nate the Great, knew exactly how the mailman felt. I said, then what? Feng runs after the mailman. They both disappear. I run out to get the mail.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So there is no chance for anybody else to take that mail? No chance, Annie said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We must go to your mailbox and look for clues, I said. Annie, Fang, Sludge and I walked through the snow. It was crunchy under our feet. Are you missing any other mail? I asked. No, Annie said. I walked up to Annie's mailbox.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was so stuffed that pieces of mail were sticking out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I guess that today's mail came while I was at your house, Annie said. I started to open the mailbox. Watch out! Annie yelled. It was too late.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What must have been the largest single-day collection of holiday catalogs ever mailed to one address? Landed on me. This was not going to be an easy case. How long have you been getting these catalogs, I asked?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For about eight weeks, I collect them, Annie said. I haven't had a chance to read most of them yet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Last year, I counted 1,999,000,000 things that you could buy. I, Nate the Great, did not want to know what any of them were, but the catalogs could be a clue.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I need to see the catalogs that came last week, I said. About the time that Fang's card should have arrived. My catalogs are all mixed up, Annie said. They're in my room. Annie, Fang, Sludge, and I went to Annie's room. One whole side of it was covered with catalogs. This was going to be a long day. I walked over and picked up a catalog. I started to look through the pages. An envelope fell out. I picked it up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This looks like your heating bill, I said. Didn't you miss getting it? And he shrugged. It's never addressed to me or Fang, so it doesn't count. I flipped through more pages. A postcard fell out. It was addressed to Fang, but I, Nate the Great, did not think that Fang would want to see it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was a reminder from the vet for Fang to come in for his shots. I picked up another catalog. I found three envelopes in that one. I spoke to Annie. I have solved your case. Oh, great, Annie said. So where is Fang's card? Solving is one thing. Finding is another, I said. The card must be somewhere in your catalogs. A lot of your mail got stuck inside them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Christmas food for dogs, Christmas toys for dogs, Christmas clothes for dogs. Fang must be on a mailing list. Envelopes kept dropping out, but none were from Mrs. Fang. At last I said, I have not solved this case. I need clues. Do you still have the old cards Fang got from his mother? Oh yes, Fang saves them, Annie said. Here are the ones from the last three years. I looked at the cards.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Don't go out when it's ten below. Eat those bones and grow, grow, grow. Mrs. Feng is such a bossy mother, Annie said. She knows Feng loves bones anyway. Let me get this straight, I said. Feng is happy to get these cards? Oh yes, Annie said. On Christmas Day he jumps up on my lap. I read him the card. He listens to every word. He jumps on your lap? I said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And he snuggles, Annie said. Maybe that's a clue? Maybe that's a miracle, I said. I, Nate the Great, was thinking. The cards got bigger each year, so this year's card must be the biggest yet. It should be easy to find. Who else was here last week when the mail came, I asked. Rosamund and her four cats, Annie said. She was looking for a cat catalog. Did you get one?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So Rosamond has one of your catalogs. I must go to her house. Sludge and I left. We crunched our way to Rosamond's house.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On her front door there was a big card with a poem and a picture of a cat with a red cap and a white beard. It said, Santa Claus, my cats do too, a scritchy scratchy Christmas to you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I could tell that Rosamond was going to have a very strange Christmas. I knocked on the door. Rosamond answered it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There were tuna fish cans painted red and green hanging from it. All of Rosamund's cats were sitting in the tree.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On the bottom branch was Super Hex. On the next branch was Big Hex. On the next branch was Plain Hex. On the top branch was Little Hex. He had a ribbon around his neck with a star hanging from it. Rosamund smiled. Little Hex is the star of my tree. A fine choice, I said. I've come to see your cat catalog. Here it is, Rosamund said. I flipped through the pages. What are you looking for? Rosamund asked.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A big Christmas card from Fang's mother to Fang. But it is not in here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's dog stuff, Rosamund said. You won't find it in a catalog. Rosamund laughed. Then she said, I did find something. I think it's a telephone bill. I will give it to Annie, I said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pretty soon she will have no heat and no phone service, only catalogs. Sludge and I walked toward the door. Wait, my tree isn't finished, Rosamund said. It looks finished to me, I said. I wish you and your cats a Merry Christmas. Sludge and I headed for home. I had to think about the case. Pancakes help me think. At home, I made potato pancakes. I eat them every Hanukkah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Happy Hanukkah, Sludge, I said. I gave Sludge his card and a bone. Sludge wagged his tail, sniffed the card, and started to eat the bone. Crunch, munch, crunch. You are having a crunchy Hanukkah, I said. Do you know what I want for the holiday? Sludge looked up. Clues, I said. I was thinking, do I have any? I knew a lot of facts.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But were they clues? I knew that Fang's card was big. I knew that when Fang greeted the mailman, he dropped the mail and ran for his life. I knew that Annie had a strong lap. Forget that one. I knew that Rosamund had the world's strangest Christmas tree. Forget that one too. I knew that Mrs. Fang was a bossy mother. She kept after Fang to eat bones. But dogs love bones anyway.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I looked at Sludge. He kept making crunching sounds with his bone. Hmm, was he trying to tell me something? He was. He knew what I had to do to solve this case. He knew that I, Nate the Great, had to think like a dog. I did not want to do that, but I had to find the card. Come, I said to Sludge. Sludge and I rushed back to Annie's house. It was hard to do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The snow was getting deeper and deeper. I handed the telephone bill to Annie. Then I said, there is a clue in Fang's old Christmas cards. Each year the cards got bigger, but that's not the clue. Each year Mrs. Fang got bossier. She sent stronger messages for Fang to eat bones. That's a clue. So where is this year's message? Annie asked. I, Nate the Great, say that Fang has it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Fang? Yes, he found the envelope on the ground next to the mailbox. Annie looked at Fang. I knew you were a very smart dog, she said. But I didn't know that you knew how to read. He doesn't, I said. But he knows how to sniff and to hide things. Tell me, does he have a favorite hiding place? Yes, somewhere in the backyard, Annie said. Follow me, I said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Any fang and sludge followed me to the backyard. It was covered with snow. There was no trail. For a hump or bump in the snow I say so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It might be covering a hump or bump of dirt where Fang dug. I see one over there, Annie said. We must dig there, I said. Annie and I started to dig. Fang and Sludge watched. Why are we digging? Annie asked. Isn't that what dogs do? I stared at Annie. Dig, I said. Annie and I dug up a ball, a shoe, and a big, thick, soggy envelope.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Say that every year Mrs. Fang told Fang to eat bones. Her message got stronger. At last she sent Fang a real bone.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It must have come on a day when Fang greeted the mailman. The mail fell to the ground. Fang sniffed the envelope. He knew what was inside. He ran off with it and buried it in the dirt. Then the snow covered it. We uncovered it. Now Fang will have a crunchy Christmas. Case solved. Annie looked at Fang. You naughty elf. You made us look for the card and you were hiding it all this time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Annie looked at me. Maybe this is what elves do at Christmas time. No, I said. This is what dogs do all the time. How did you figure that out? Annie asked. I, Nate the Great, had to think like a detective, I said. I turned to leave.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This was the last time I would take a case for a gigantic elf. An elf who did not need me in the first place.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] An elf who already knew what it took me three and one half hours to find out. Suddenly the elf dropped his bone. Maybe he knew that Christmas was not until next week. He rushed up to me. He started to lick me. He jingled while he licked. He sang, happy holidays, Annie said. He sang, I am hungry, I said. Give this hardworking elf an extra bone so he can save his mothers for Christmas.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sludge and I started to walk away. Fang will love you forever, Annie said. Sludge and I walked faster. We headed home. Snow was still falling. Three and one half hours of it. To shovel. Maybe it would melt if I waited. A month. Sludge and I went up our walk. Candles were shining in the window. It was time for one more card. Happy holidays to everyone.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There are multiple ways to add wells to a well section. Here we're going to talk about adding them from a wells folder and also what to do if they get in in the wrong order.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To add in from the Wells folder, first display a Wells section, which is just checking a box in front of the section name in the Windows pane. Here we have setting the box there. Then, open the Wells folder and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Expand all sub-folders that might have wells in them that you want. Then you just click on the wells that you want.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Very simple. Add as many as you want. Have to have at least one. I've seen well sections with over a thousand in them. So, but you have to have at least one in the well section.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Over here is the very same icon we see appear in the Windows toolbar. You can click on there to bring up the cross section settings. What we're interested in the settings for the cross section here is the order of the wells.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hello and welcome to this English lesson about things that go together part two. If you recall, we did a lesson earlier this month, actually at the end of April, so about six weeks ago.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, about English words that commonly go together. Uhm, these are words where, uh, I think in the last lesson we did words like mac and cheese. Uh, in the last lesson we did words like lock and key.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, they're words that if you learn the one word, you might as well just learn the other word as well because they're often said at the same time. So this is part two. We're going to learn about 30 more word pairs in English that just go together.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They just go together really, really well. So welcome to this lesson about things that go together, part two.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To toss and turn. So when you don't sleep well, in English we often will say, oh, I tossed and turned all night. Or, I ate a big bowl of ice cream, tonight I'm not going to sleep well, I'm going to toss and turn.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you can just say, I'm not going to sleep well. Or you can say, I didn't sleep very well last night. That would be a fine way to describe it. But this is a very common thing to say in English. Uhm, I had bad dreams last night and they made me toss and turn all night.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So basically what it means is that you're rolling around in bed. You're not just laying there sleeping nicely. You're kind of like laying on your side and then lay on your other side and then lay on your back. You're kind of moving throughout the night because something is preventing you from having a good night's sleep. So then you toss and turn. Um, last night I did not toss and turn all night.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I had a good night's sleep, which makes me happy and in a good mood.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Fish and chips. So I'm not sure how common this is in like the United States. I'm sure in parts of the United States it's quite common. But I know in Britain and in Canada we have a specific kind of restaurant that sells fish and chips.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So there's fish, it's usually here, I think it's halibut or cod, uh, and then it has french fries with it, which our British cousins probably call chips, uh, but we call them french fries.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you buy them with fish at a fish and chips store, then we call them chips. So it's the only time in Canada where we say fish and chips and use the word chips to talk about french fries.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pops and robbers, this is a very common game for kids to play.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] One person counts with their eyes closed and everyone else hides and then that person has to find them. I think in French it's called cache cache.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But Cops and Robbers, another game that kids sometimes play.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Odds and ends. So this is an interesting one because most people that I know have a drawer in their kitchen like this. It doesn't have forks and knives and spoons in it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All different things, and we would call this a junk drawer in my family, and it's filled with odds and ends.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you say something is filled with odds and ends, it means like this drawer, I think it has a screwdriver and some tape and a stapler and some pencils.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think there's even some batteries over on the far side. This looks exactly like our junk drawer. It's just filled with all kinds of different things and we would call those things odds and ends. Uhm, I'm wondering if some of you have a drawer like that in your house where it's just filled with odds and ends. It has all different things in it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Two bells and whistles. A bell is a big thing that rings, uhm, like bong, bong, and then a whistle is like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Something that a referee would have during a sports game. But when we use the phrase bells and whistles, we mean that you bought something and it has all of the available options. Like he bought a car with all the bells and whistles.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and say that it has all the bells and whistles. It means that you've bought something, uh, where instead of the basic model, you've spent extra money to get all of the really cool features. Often we'll use this when talking about a car. You know, oh he bought a new sports car with all the bells and whistles. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ladies and gentlemen, I don't start my English lessons this way, but this is a common thing


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Doing some public speaking. You'll start by saying, ladies and gentlemen, welcome. I'm glad that you came this evening. Tonight we're going to talk about


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then you would say whatever you're going to talk about. Often when a student gives a speech at school.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Welcome to this live English lesson. That's how I should start every week. Maybe I'll change and be a little more formal.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Drinking and driving. So there are word pairs, uh, for bad things in the world.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, when you talk about someone who is driving under the influence of alcohol, uh, someone who is driving while intoxicated, the informal way to talk about that is to call it drinking and driving. You know, he got a ticket because he was drinking and driving. He was consuming.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A very, it's a very serious offense, by the way, in Canada. You should not drink and drive.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Safe and sound. We use the words safe and sound usually when


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, everything is going really, really good and you're happy and safe and sound. So uhm, it means there was no accident on the way. It means usually that you didn't lose anything on the way. It means that everything went as planned. So you arrived safe and sound. In fact, one of my kids went on a trip a couple weeks ago.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the first night they were there, they sent a text message saying that they arrived safe and sound that they had checked into their hotel and they were looking forward to the next day. So safe and sound.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Wine and cheese. I think we should blame the French for this. I'm not 100% sure. But often when you go to a party,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There might be some wine and cheese. Often when you have cheese to eat at a party in North America and in many parts of Europe, there will also be wine.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I hope I just said that right. When there's cheese, there will also be wine.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cheese and wine just naturally go together. When you're eating some really good cheese, some really well made cheese, it can be nice to have a glass of wine with it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Go together really really well. So it's common sometimes to go to a party and for someone to have a cheese platter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And to serve wine with the cheese. And we even call them wine and cheese parties sometimes. Oh, I'm going to a little wine and cheese party at my brother's place to celebrate the fact that they bought a new house. They might have a little wine and cheese party.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hugs and kisses. So we often in a card, if we're sending a card to someone we love, we might put in the, at the end of the card, you know, from Bob, hugs and kisses, and then we actually put X's and O's.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, so an X and O in English and probably in other languages means hugs and kisses. I think the X is a hug or the O is a kiss, I'm not sure. But hugs and kisses is something we sometimes say


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, I don't say it, but, you know, my, I think my grandma used to say it, like, she would sign a card, like, have a good day, hugs and kisses from grandma.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and then she would put X's and O's. Sometimes people who are dating will do that. You know, a girl will send a boy a card and say, you know, thanks for the roses on Valentine's Day, hugs and kisses your girlfriend or something like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But, uh, yes, definitely hugs and kisses are two words that go together. So the reason I have a picture of a person covering their face is because this is an embarrassing one to talk about.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The birds and the bees, I guess I should just be honest, is about talking about sex. The birds and the bees is a way that we refer to sex, you know, without using the word sex. Oftentimes when, uh, parents are explaining to their children how animals and people reproduce, when they're explaining to their kids how that works,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They'll call it the birds and the bees. They'll say, you know, my son's getting older and it's important that I talk to him about the birds and the bees so he understands how that works.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This one's a little easier to talk about. Spaghetti and meatballs is a very common way to eat pasta with


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So if you go to a restaurant, you can order spaghetti and meatballs. It'll look exactly like this. You'll get a plate of pasta noodles.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With a tomato sauce and some meatballs on it. When I was a kid, whenever we had spaghetti, we had spaghetti and meatballs. My mom would make meatballs. She would fry the meatballs in a frying pan. She would cook the noodles in boiling water and she would heat up some pasta sauce.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] From a jar. Sorry to all of you who might think that's not good. Uh, and we would have spaghetti and meatballs. A very common meal. So when you go to a restaurant, you can order a hamburger and fries, uh, fish and chips, or spaghetti and meatballs. Now you know three different things you could order if you were at a restaurant.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Socks and shoes. Uhm, so these kind of go together. Uh, sometimes when we go somewhere, uh, let's say we're going to go on a hike. I'll say to my kids, make sure you wear socks and shoes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Instead of sandals or flip flops or all of those other types of footwear, which aren't good for hiking. When you go on a hike, there's lots of rocks and sticks. And so I often say to my kids, you need to wear socks and shoes. Uhm, at our school.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Students are required as part of their uniform to wear socks and shoes. You can't go barefoot, which would be not wearing socks and shoes. So quite often these two words will go together, especially when talking about what you should be wearing at a certain place. You need to wear socks and shoes when you go to school. You can't wear


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, open toed sandals or you can't just go with bare feet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sweet and salty. I think last lesson we talked about sweet and sour.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's also a common flavor, uh, for chips and other things here called sweet and salty. Here you see that there's granola bars that are sweet and salty and there are, there is a bag of popcorn that's sweet and salty.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So this is exactly what it says it is. It's a snack that has.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A salty taste, but also a very sugary or sweet taste. And it's a very cool mixture of the two flavors. Just like sweet and sour is very yummy. Sweet and salty can also be yummy as well. Of the two here, I do like sweet and salty popcorn.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In fact, there's a kind of popcorn here where they have caramel corn mixed with popcorn with cheese on it and salt and it's very, very yummy. It's a yummy, sweet and salty snack.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Obviously there's salt and pepper. Uh, every household that I know of has salt and pepper. Sometimes people put salt and pepper on the table when you have a meal. So you can put your own salt and pepper on the food. When you go to a restaurant in Canada, if it's a restaurant where you sit down, the table will have salt.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you watch a cooking show when they're done cooking, they'll often put some salt and pepper on the food just before they serve it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Um, and we had a question last week, uh, last, I think last week about hair, uh, salt and pepper hair would be kind of like my hair.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where there's some darker parts and some lighter parts. So a little bit of salt and pepper.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bread and butter. So this doesn't actually mean what you might think it means. On the far side, you'll see a picture of bread with some butter on it. This is not what the phrase bread and butter is used for. When we talk about bread and butter in English, we're talking about what someone does


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So my bread and butter is teaching. Jen's bread and butter is selling flowers. My sister's bread and butter is that she's a nurse.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So when you talk about someone's bread and butter, you're talking about what they do to earn money in life. So if someone said to me, you know, Hey, what's your bread and butter? I would say, Oh, I'm a teacher. And if, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Someone was describing their job, they might say, yeah, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I do a lot of work on houses. Uhm, I put roofs on houses. That's my bread and butter. So it's the main job, the main thing that person does in life. Their bread and butter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Knife and fork. So probably the two most common utensils uhm, in North America would be the knife and fork when eating a meal. The spoon is also popular. But the spoon, yeaah. The spoon is used for soup, cereal,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Go together as well. When you go to a restaurant, when you sit down, there will be a fork and knife and spoon for you. Usually you use the fork and knife for your meal. And if you have soup, you would use the spoon. But the fork and knife, for some reason, go together. I think there's even a nursery rhyme about that, isn't there? That the, did the fork run away with the spoon though? Maybe. I shouldn't talk about nursery rhymes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Tweedledee and Tweedledum. So this is kind of a funny one. This is a phrase. It's kind of insulting. And we use this to talk about two people who are very similar. They don't have to be twins.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But if there are two people that you know that kind of look similar, or two people who dress the same way, or two people who are friends, you might call them when they're not around.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You might refer to them as Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Uh, it's an older phrase. I haven't heard students use this phrase for a very long time. But uh, I used to work with two teachers who were very similar. They were the same height. They liked the same things and sometimes


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When they weren't around, we would call them Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Have you seen Tweedledee and Tweedledum? So anytime you refer to two people, remember it's somewhat insulting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So be careful if you use this phrase. And also not very common, but it made me giggle when I found it when I was doing my research because Jen and I have used this phrase before. Ups and downs. So in life,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There are things that make you happy, like the person on the far side. And there are things that make you sad, like the person right here. And we call them, uh, the ups and downs of life. Life has its ups and downs. So ups would obviously be a day that goes well, and downs would be referring to a day that doesn't go well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But we often, we don't use these words separately. They always go together. So you would say, oh, I had a good day. The other day I had a bad day, but you know, life has its ups and downs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or maybe someone is really sad and you want to try to make them happy. You might say to them, hey, uhm, just remember life has its ups and downs. You're just going through a tough part of your life right now. Things should get better.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But yea, definitely life has its ups and downs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Back and forth. I could not find a good picture for this one. But when something goes back and forth, it goes like this. So I found a picture of a person pulling a trailer. Sometimes when someone pulls a trailer, the trailer starts to go back and forth.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know if you've ever seen that. So the phrase back and forth refers to anything that's moving like from one side to the other and back again. So you could say like a flag in the wind goes back and forth. It just kind of.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Flaps in the wind. Uhm, but this was the best picture I could find. It's a top view of a person pulling a trailer that's going back and forth. Hopefully you can see that. And then to and fro.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We don't use this phrase a lot anymore, but if you have a pendulum,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I honestly haven't heard this phrase for a long time, but uh, you might hear it once in a while. Something can move to and fro.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yin and yang. So even though this isn't originally English, we do use yin and yang when we talk about things. We use it when we talk about


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Things that have two parts that are kind of different from each other, but together they make something whole. So you might say something like day and night, or good and evil, or man and woman, or male and female, or light and dark. Whenever we talk about things that kind of go together,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But they have distinct halves. We might use the term yin and yang. And I'm not sure if we're using it properly in North America, uh, but we do definitely say it sometimes. And uh, that's how we would use it. To talk about two, you know, summer and winter, or those kinds of things. Things that are part of a whole.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But they're, they're definitely different from each other. Hopefully that, hopefully that made some sense. And let's do one more and then we'll get to some questions. Bacon and eggs. Oop.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I missed click there. Let's do one more and then we'll get to some questions. Uh, bacon and eggs. So this is a very common thing to order in a restaurant in North America for breakfast. So bacon is obviously strips of meat. It's pork and eggs are obviously from a chicken.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bacon and eggs is a very common meal. If I go to my local restaurant for breakfast, I could say, I'll have a cup of coffee, uh, I'll have bacon and eggs with white toast, uh, toasted.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, and some jam. And then they, that's what they would bring to me. So bacon and eggs is probably the most common. Sometimes people order sausage and eggs. That's another breakfast you might have here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For people to order in a restaurant for breakfast. So now you can order four things. Uh, hamburger and fries from the last lesson, bacon and eggs, uh, fish and chips, and I forgot the other one. What's the other one? Oh, um, spaghetti and meatballs. So you can order lots of food.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pros and cons. So, pros and cons refer to the good and the bad. When you're deciding to do something, sometimes it's good to write a list of the pros and the cons. Let's say I was going to go, I was thinking of working at a different school. I could make a list of the pros, I could say, you know,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] School is closer, uhm, classes are smaller. I would write down all of the good things about that job, all the pros. And then on the other side, cons, I would say, you know, I would get paid less, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] More responsibilities. So pros and cons are simply the good and bad part of something. Uh, there's some pros and cons to being a YouTuber. One of the pros of being a YouTuber is that, excuse me, I'm my own boss.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I get to do whatever I want. One of the cons is that sometimes I make a video and not very many people watch it and then I'm kind of sad. Sorry, that is one of the cons actually.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pins and needles. So this doesn't actually refer to a pin as something that you can put in the wall or in a piece of clothing. It's a very, very sharp little, it's like a miniature nail.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then a needle is used for sewing, but pins and needles is a phrase we use to talk about someone who is anxious about something or worried about something or nervous


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or excited a little bit. So let's put it this way. Sometimes when you apply for a job,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] While you're waiting for them to call you back to see if you got the job, you're like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Nervous, but excited and worried and you're having all these different emotions. We would say that you're on pins and needles in that situation. It's not fun to be on pins and needles. Like when, when you apply for a job or when you're waiting to get accepted at a university, you might be on pins and needles.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bow and arrow. So for some reason when we talk about a bow, we almost always say bow and arrow. There are people that go hunting in this area in the fall using a bow and arrow. We don't say with a bow. We usually almost...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We almost always say bow and arrow. At the Olympics there are events where you can use the bow and arrow in order to fire arrows at a target. So often used in the same phrase.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I think I did a lesson on arts and crafts. I can't remember. I've done so many lessons now. But arts and crafts would be any time you are painting or drawing or even making something. It looks like this person had some plates.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they did some painting on the plate. So we would call that arts and crafts.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maybe you make little baskets. Maybe you create Christmas ornaments. Maybe you sit down with some friends and you buy some materials to make


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, I don't know, I'm trying to think of other arts and crafts like little bird feeders or something. Whenever you're making little things out of wood or cardboard or fabric, uh, and then painting it or dyeing it, we call it arts and crafts. So often, uh, kids will go


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, to camp or they'll go do something fun and they'll have arts and crafts in the afternoon. They might make some little things using a hot glue gun and little pieces of wood or something like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Copy and paste go together. I'm not sure if you knew this, but copy and paste is when you


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Highlight something with your computer mouse and then you right click and choose copy or you click the copy button and then you go somewhere else in the document or a different document and you right click and choose paste or you choose the button that says paste. It's a way to duplicate something on a computer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then meat and potatoes. So meat and potatoes can refer to a meal. So when I was growing up, we often had meat and potatoes. That was a very common meal when I was growing up. Because I lived on a farm, we had plenty of meat.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So when I was growing up, my parents often made some kind of meat and potatoes for supper. We would always have a vegetable as well. So we would have broccoli or green beans.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or a salad, but the main part of the meal was often meat and potatoes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now we also use this phrase to talk about a person who's just really trustworthy and honest and hardworking. We would say he's a real meat and potatoes guy. Okay? Uh, I've been described as a real meat and potatoes guy before. Like I'm...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I guess I have those characteristics. I don't want to say what I'm actually like, but when you describe someone as being a meat and potatoes person, that's what it means. Let me actually look up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The meaning of meat and potatoes, meaning of meat and potatoes. It says, uh, an ordinary fundamental thing and the basic ingredients. Oh.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm reading the wrong definition, sorry here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So it says, unpretentious, kind, simple, and normal guy, a real meat and potatoes guy. So there you go. I guess it's a normal human being. It's a meat and potatoes person.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The I'm only me when I'm with you video was something I edited on my laptop and it was just footage I had from being on the road, uh, when I was like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Filmed on my, my camera. So, it's funny to go back and, and look at it. It definitely, like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Daddy finger, daddy finger, where are you? Here I am, here I am. How do you do? Mommy finger, mommy finger, where are you?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Here I am, here I am, how do you do? Sister finger, sister finger, where are you? Here I am, here I am, how do you do? Baby finger, baby finger, where are you?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There isn't a plethora of castle options in the area. Uhm, but we are so fortunate, so lucky that we have this beautiful, amazing castle, Gwen, which is not far from where we all live.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In this English lesson, we're going to show you some sentence patterns that you can use in everyday life. Let's get started.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If the aircraft is ungrounded, that means that we believe it's airworthy. And if it's airworthy, the aircraft is safe. I can say that we're not going to let that aircraft back in the air until we're convinced that that issue has been taken care of.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If the aircraft is ungrounded, that means that we believe it's airworthy. And if it's airworthy, the aircraft is safe. I can say that we're not going to let that aircraft back in the air until we're convinced that that issue has been taken care of.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you want to create a map window inside the trail, come to the quick access toolbar


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The input pane and stores it there using the name of the file as the file name.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We have to go to the frame. One way to do that is to click on the windows pane, expand the map window, see what all is in there and get the settings up for the frame.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now the frame has this line up at the top that says show logo. If you check the box in front of show logo, highlight your logo over here in the input pane, use the blue arrow to put it in, then when you hit apply,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This logo is about two and a half times as wide as it is tall. So let's make it 25 millimeters wide.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And ten tall, just to start with. You can see here, that's probably pretty good, and what I want down there in the corner.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, you can put your logo in that way. The logo can also be used


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] at the top of the info box. Bring up the settings for the info box


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hit apply. Make sure it looks alright. As you can see, Patrell sizes it down to fit the top of the info box.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was to measure the strength of its expandable structure.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The company says the module, called a Life Habitat, is a place for living and working on a future space station. It launches on a rocket and inflates on orbit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It has to be strong enough to withstand the harsh environment of space.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To test that, the soft structure was inflated until it failed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sierra Space has an agreement with NASA to test commercial products at NASA facilities and plans more aggressive testing of the habitat this year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sierra Space conducted the test at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was to measure the strength of its expandable structure.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The company says the module, called a Life Habitat, is a place for living and working on a future space station. It launches on a rocket and inflates on orbit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It has to be strong enough to withstand the harsh environment of space. To test that, the soft structure was inflated until it failed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Feels like a victory and a significant milestone and a step in the right direction in the liberation of the Palestinian people. In a way, it is also very disappointing that the court did not rule in favor for an immediate ceasefire at this time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You who weep molten pearls of innocent tears. Dry them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken shuttling around the region on his fourth trip as Israel's war in Gaza escalates tension around the Middle East.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Jordan's King Abdullah warning on Sunday of catastrophic consequences of the continuing war in Gaza. From Jordan, Blinken went to Qatar.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Qatar's Prime Minister saying the recent killing of the senior Hamas official by Israel could impact hostage negotiations.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well that killing of a senior Hamas official inside Beirut in Lebanon, just one of the flashpoints escalating tensions since Blinken's last visit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Americans also killing an Iran-backed militia leader in Iraq after an attack on a US airbase. And the Iranian-backed Houthis continue to interrupt international shipping in the Red Sea. Last month, the US announcing an international effort to deter Houthi attacks. But in this region where I am,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Very few countries willing to join that coalition to counter those threats.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] From Qatar, Blinken came here to Abu Dhabi, meeting with the UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The trip also includes Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel and the West Bank, where officials say there will be tough conversations.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But if Blinken's past visits are any indication, and with no sign of an end to Israel's assault on Gaza, his presence may not be enough to calm the region.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken shuttling around the region on his fourth trip as Israel's war in Gaza escalates tension around the Middle East.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Jordan's King Abdullah warning on Sunday of catastrophic consequences of the continuing war in Gaza. From Jordan, Blinken went to Qatar.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Qatar's Prime Minister saying the recent killing of the senior Hamas official by Israel could impact hostage negotiations.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well that killing of a senior Hamas official inside Beirut in Lebanon, just one of the flashpoints escalating tensions since Blinken's last visit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Americans also killing an Iran-backed militia leader in Iraq after an attack on a US airbase. And the Iranian-backed Houthis continue to interrupt international shipping in the Red Sea last month.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] US announcing an international effort to deter Houthi attacks. But in this region where I am, very few countries willing to join that coalition to counter those threats.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] From Qatar, Blinken came here to Abu Dhabi, meeting with the UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The trip also includes Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel and the West Bank, where officials say there will be tough conversations.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But if Blinken's past visits are any indication and with no sign of an end to Israel's assault on Gaza, his presence may not be enough to calm the region.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But when she went out to do her business in the backyard of her Edmond Oklahoma home, no amount of spinning would have saved her from the coyote that pounced if the family cat hadn't jumped in. Is she a tough cat? Like is she like a street cat? I mean is she...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Lane Dyer says Binks is a stray that he and his family take care of.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So when the first of two coyotes grabbed Oakley, it was Binks to the rescue.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Taking on the intruders, scaring them away, though not before Oakley suffered wounds that had blood.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But with stitches and a splint, Oakley recovered a little over a month later.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With spikes protruding from a Kevlar vest and even...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Nylon bristles that at least look intimidating. But who needs a coyote vest?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But when she went out to do her business in the backyard of her Edmund Oklahoma home, no amount of spinning would have saved her from the coyote that pounced if the family cat hadn't jumped in. Is she a tough cat? Like is she like a street cat? I mean is she


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Lane Dyer says Binks is a stray that he and his family take care of.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So when the first of two coyotes grabbed Oakley, it was Binks to the rescue.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Taking on the intruders, scaring them away, though not before Oakley suffered wounds that had blood.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But with stitches and a splint, Oakley recovered a little over a month later.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With spikes protruding from a Kevlar vest and even...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Nylon bristles that at least look intimidating. But who needs a coyote vest?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, hello and welcome to this English lesson about kitchen action verbs. Now, I did do an English lesson about the kitchen a while ago. It was a popular lesson.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In this lesson though, I'll look at, uhm, specifically the verbs we use.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now, if you're someone who doesn't cook or bake, you should still watch this lesson. I will be using a lot of very common English verbs, a lot of common English words that we use when we're talking about things we do in the kitchen.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This isn't just a lesson for cooks and bakers and people who love preparing food. This is a lesson for everyone who has ever gone to the kitchen to get a snack.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, who has ever looked in the fridge for something to eat late at night. So once again, welcome to this English lesson about kitchen action verbs. I think you'll enjoy it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Slice. So when you slice something, you need a knife.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you use the knife to make relatively equal size pieces. So this person is slicing a watermelon. They decided they needed a knife because they were going to slice a watermelon. They would use it to make those things, which are called slices, by the way.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you can eat a slice of watermelon. The most common use of this verb is probably when you talk about bread. You buy bread and then you slice bread with a knife. And then the piece that comes off is called a slice. So another one of those English words that works as a verb to slice and as a noun. Um, that was last week's lesson. Not all of these work this way.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So when you dice something, it's usually a vegetable, and when you dice it, if you look closely, the person is making


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, but yes, often you will dice something. Sometimes we dice our potatoes into really small cubes before we put them into soup or something like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then there's just the general verb, uh, cut. When you cut something, you get a knife and you m-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You make it into smaller pieces. There's no other real way to describe it. Again, cut is the general term


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So slice and dice and I'll talk about chop in a minute are all a little more specific but you can use the word cut for almost anything you do with food with a knife. You're going to cut up some vegetables. You're going to cut up some fruit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Notice I put up there, I'm turning it to a phrasal verb, you're gonna, phrasal verb, uh, but cut is just, uhm, yeaah, the generic or most used version of it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then we have chop. So when you chop something, it just means to cut it into pieces. And it's not like slice where when you slice, you get a slice or dice. When you dice, you get cubes. When you chop, you're just cutting it up into smaller pieces. So you can chop some carrots.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can chop up some salary. I think we do often add the word up


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you make pancakes or anything else in a frying pan, at some point you will need to flip


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You cook one side, and when that side is done, when it has turned brown a little bit, you flip.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What's in the frying pan or on the griddle? These are pancakes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Breakfast food. I shouldn't say that. It's more like a weekend breakfast food. Oh, let's make pancakes. But you need a spatula.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What I also call an egg flipper. But the real word is spatula and you would use the spatula to flip whatever you have. If you fry an egg, at some point you need to flip the egg so the other side will cook as well. And then if you have ever made bread


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Part of the bread making process is that you need to knead the dough. I just used two different English words there. You need N-E-E-D. Like you have to.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Need the dough. So this is when you work the dough with your hands in order to kind of stretch out the flour in the dough. It's important to knead the dough because it creates


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Definitely when you are making bread, you would need the dough.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And if you've ever eaten cheese, you probably have used a grater to grate the cheese. So the tool is called a grater, a cheese grater.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you use it to grate the cheese. That's to, you run the cheese over the grater and it makes little tiny pieces of cheese. You can see them falling out the bottom.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's very common when we make pizza, we will grate the cheese and then we'll put grated cheese on the pizza. Notice I'm using the verb grate and I'm using it to describe the cheese as well as the tool. So you grate the cheese with a grater and then you put the grated cheese on the pizza.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and it does soften to a D sound. Did you hear that? Grated cheese. Grated cheese. It's a little bit of a T sound as well as a D sound.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you have ever eaten potatoes or carrots or a banana, uhm, one of the things you will need to do is you will need to peel it. So you get a potato peeler or a knife and you use it to peel your potatoes. Uhm, the skin of the potato is not yummy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In fact, I don't really like potato skins. Some places people do eat the skin. If you have a baked potato, often the skin will still be on it, but sometimes the potato peel or the skin, we use both words by the way. I think we call it a potato peel before it's cooked.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But if you cook it, it's a potato skin. Interesting. Uhm, but yes, you need to peel things. Uhm, sometimes the outer part of a vegetable is not as yummy and so you peel it and you eat the inside.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And of course the basic verb wash. Sometimes you need to wash things before you eat them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Especially fresh vegetables. If you're going to eat something that's fresh or uncooked.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You will often wash it before you eat it. We wash our lettuce, we wash our celery, we even wash our carrots before we eat them. It's just sometimes a good idea. There might be a little bit of dirt on the vegetable.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Definitely wash our mushrooms. I don't have a picture of a mushroom. Mushrooms will often have some dirt on them, so it's always a good idea to wash them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you know, rinse is very similar to wash. When you rinse something though, you definitely are not using soap.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you wash vegetables, you don't use soap either.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The word wash in English can mean that you're using just water or water and soap. In this case, it's just water. But if you use the word rinse, it means just water. If I rinse something off, if I rinse the tomatoes, I'm not using any kind of soap. I'm just using water.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To make them cleaner. To maybe remove a little bit of dirt or other things that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now here we've jumped all the way to the end of making a meal and we now have to scrub something. So scrub is when you wash something but you use, uhm, a sponge or a brush and it has


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] An element of being difficult, like you really have to push hard when you scrub something. When you have a brand new frying pan.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you clean it or wash it, everything, it just goes really easy. But when you have an old pan, sometimes you have to scrub it to get it clean. When you scrub something, you use a brush or a sponge to vigorously wash it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then of course we have cook. Let me go over these for a sec. We have cook. We have bake.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We have fry and we have boil. And I will go back to those. When you cook something, this is just the general word.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For making food usually also when you're using a stove or oven like I'm going to cook something. I'm going to cook some supper tonight. Uhm, what are you having for lunch? Just sandwiches or are you going to cook something?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you bake something though, it usually goes in the oven. You bake bread, you bake a pie. Uhm, not meat though. Generally, when you put meat in the oven, you are roasting it. Or we might even say, just cooking it. I'm gonna cook a chicken.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But when you make a pie or cookies or bread and you put it in the oven, we use the verb to bake.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then fry is when you use a frying pan, which is a shallow pan.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you fry an egg, you can fry bacon, you can fry


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Some sausages. Whenever you use a frying pan, we use fry.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There are little bubbles coming out of it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Boiling very, very gently for a period of time. And you, you will often simmer, uh, things like soup. Like, I can see this big pan at the far end. He's probably decided to let the soup simmer for a while. So, just a light, light boil.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Some of you might steam your food. Jen and I have a device called a steamer. And we will often use our food steamer to steam broccoli. We'll steam different kinds of vegetables with it. Sometimes we'll use it to steam rice. Sometimes we'll use it to steam, uh, corn, like in this picture. But it basically, the bottom has water in it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the water boils and then steam goes through the food. It's a yummy and easy way to cook food.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think this is an interesting one. So listen closely. You use a toaster to make toast. When you have bread and you want toast, you need to toast the bread. So there's the verb. So in the kitchen, I will often grab two slices of bread and then I will toast


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I will put them in the toaster, push the toaster down. When it pops up, I will have toast. So the action of converting bread into toast is the verb to toast. I'm going to toast some bread later today and I'll probably have an egg sandwich. Now with this one, you might think to yourself,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can say, I'm going to microwave this slice of pizza because it's cold. I'm going to microwave this plate of food. Sometimes when I come home from work, it's late.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And Jen and the kids have already eaten and then I will microwave


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The plate of food that Jen has made for me. I will put it in the microwave and go beep beep beep beep. There's your sound effects for today and hit start. So microwave can be used to talk about the thing as well as it is, it is also a verb. You can microwave something.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So a very simple, uh, verb, mix. Sometimes you need to mix the ingredients. If I was to make cookies or muffins or pancakes, I would put the ingredients in a bowl and then I would mix them. You might need to mix by hand. This person is mixing by hand.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the difference between mix and stir. Stir is usually something you do quickly, sometimes while you're cooking. So,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They're kind of interchangeable, but here's some good examples. If I was making something I would mix the ingredients together. If I was frying something I would stir the things in the pan.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Another good example, when I put sugar in my coffee, I stir my coffee. So there is a slight difference between the two. They do have slightly different usages. Uh, but both of them mean to combine ingredients together.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Add. So I added this one. I just used the verb add to talk about add. I added this one because it is a common instruction on a recipe. It will say add all the dry ingredients together or


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, add one cup of water and stir. Add one cup of milk and mix together thoroughly. So add simply means to take something that's not in the mix, that's not in the bowl and add it in. Put it in.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To blend. So you can blend things together as well. Generally we use this word when we're talking about this appliance. This is a blender.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's when you put a whole bunch of things together and then you push a button and it goes vvvvvvvvvvv. And it uses sharp blades in the bottom that spin really, really quickly to make it all uniform. If you like drinking smoothies, that's when you put


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And strain. When you strain something, it means that there's probably...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The device they're using here is called a strainer. And they are pouring it through because they want to strain the liquid. To drain. So this is similar to strain. Uhm, by the way, this is called a colander.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I think when you drain something, it usually means you're cooking it in water and you want to get rid of the water. So when I'm done boiling potatoes, I will drain it using a colander. If I'm cooking pasta, I will drain the pasta.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I want to, uhm, only have the food and not the water so I will drain it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, let's keep it liquid. You have a liquid like milk or tea or coffee and if you want to put it in a cup or mug, you will pour it. So you will take the big thing and you will do this and then you will pour it out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is the slide that made me make the poll last night. I don't know if you saw the poll on my channel. I was curious to see, uhm, what hot drinks you guys like the best. Coffee won, by the way, I think, by a long shot.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So interestingly enough, this is also a word to use when people fight, like someone can beat someone up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can do it with what's called a mixer, but when you beat something, uh, it means to mix them rapidly. If you beat egg whites, eventually you get this really, really nice texture, uhm, which when you cook we call meringue. Very yummy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Before you bake something, sometimes you will grease the pan. When you grease a pan it means you put butter


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or some other type of oil or grease or lard, uh, in the pan. You might grease the pan with butter. You might grease the pan with margarine. You might spray the pan with cooking spray.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So this is a similar thing to do, but often a recipe will say grease the pan


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The food doesn't stick to the pan, okay? You don't want the cake to stick to the pan. You don't want what you're making to stick to the pan. So you grease it so it's slippery and then it will come out of the pan easier.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you're frying something you will often spray the pan with cooking spray. So the thing this person is holding is called cooking spray.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Slippery inside, I guess, so that food doesn't stick to it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now of course, whenever you make something in the kitchen, you need to measure your ingredients. So you'll have little measuring spoons on the far side or measuring cups. Uh, I wish I could point better. The big things are measuring cups. The small things are measuring spoons and you will measure things out. In Canada, our recipes call for things like


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you put something like sugar in water, it will dissolve. So if you have a cup of water and you put sugar in and you stir it,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Eventually, you can't see the sugar. It disappears. But not really. It's simply in the water and you can't see it. So when it says dissolve a teaspoon of sugar in a cup of water, it means to add it to water and stir until it looks like it has disappeared.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Crush, so this person has decided to crush some garlic. Whenever you crush something, it's similar to squishing it. So when you have garlic, sometimes you will slice the garlic. But sometimes you'll just crush the garlic under the flat side of a knife.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then you'll remove the skin and put the crushed garlic in. Sometimes you will crush ice before you put it into a drink. There are...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There aren't actually very many things you crush, but if you crush something, this is what the action looks like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then whisk. So when you whisk something, you use a whisk. So that, uh, kitchen tool is called a whisk.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you go like this with your hand. So sometimes you will whisk ingredients together. When you whisk it adds a little bit of air, I think, as you're doing it. It's simply just another way to mix something. You will whisk it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And sometimes you need to weigh things. Jen and I don't cook this way. We generally measure things. We use cups and teaspoons and tablespoons.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But some people will weigh their ingredients because this is more accurate. So you might weigh the amount of flour or you might weigh the amount of sugar, uhm, when you are making something.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then we have spread when you spread something like butter. So when you have a knife and you put some butter on it, you will spread it over your slice of bread or over your slice of toast. Uhm, so that uh, people


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it is yummy to have fresh bread and spread some butter on it and then the butter melts and then a little bit of jam. It's one of my favorite things to eat.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, and then preheat. I forgot about this slide. Whenever you make something, sometimes you need to preheat the oven.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You don't make something, stick it in the oven, and then turn the oven on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you look at the recipe, one of the first things it will say is,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius or preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Depending on where you are in the world. When you preheat, it means you turn the oven on so that the oven is at the right temperature when you are ready to bake or cook your food. So you will preheat the oven.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, hello and welcome to this English lesson about medieval times. This is going to be an English lesson about


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, something that happened a long time ago, but also I'm going to talk about the world of fantasy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, we're gonna talk about medieval times, the middle ages. We're going to talk about uh history a little bit but at the same time, I'm going to be talking about the world of fantasy and I'll explain both of those in just a minute.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you are new here, uh, this is a lesson that I do each week. I do this live on a Friday morning and I do re-release it later as a shorter version. So you might be watching that one as well. Either way, welcome to this English lesson about medieval times. Whether you're watching this live or whether you're watching the shorter edited version, it's good to have you here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So primarily when I talk about medieval times, when we use the word medieval, I think about the middle ages.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I should mention that this lesson is going to be very European, I guess, in flavor. So this is going to be a lesson where I'm going to be talking about the Middle Ages in Europe a bit, but some of this will apply to other parts of the world. The Middle Ages took place


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] From somewhere around 500 AD to 1400 AD, let's say. I think it had three different parts to it, but it was a time when


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You saw the beginning of kings and you saw kingdoms and you saw people working fields so that they could support the kingdom or the king. So the Middle Ages was an interesting time in the history of the world. Uhm, it was the, uh, the time where either you


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Had it made because you were part of the royalty or you were just out in a field.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, farming and giving some of your stuff to the king. I think my family would have been the family out in the field farming. Uh, when I do research on my family, they are farmers all the way back as far as you can go. So anyways, the middle ages.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm also going to be talking about fantasy. So fantasy is a genre. You can read fantasy books. You can watch fantasy TV shows.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the reason I'm doing this lesson, there is a method to my madness I mentioned earlier is because there are new TV series coming out. I think there's one called the House of the Dragon or House of Dragon and there's the Lord of the Rings, uh, the Rings of Power TV show. These are TV shows that are considered fantasy TV shows. So they take place


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In a world where there are going to be things like knights and armor and swords, similar to what you would find in the middle ages. So, two reasons to do this lesson, bit of a history lesson-ish.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And also talking a little bit about the world of fantasy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let's start with some of the things you would see. So a castle is a large building. Uh, a castle is something that a king or queen would build and they would live there. They would work there. I guess if you consider the fact that they


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, and it would be a secure location. Uhm, usually made out of stone so that it was impenetrable. So it was very hard for their enemies to attack.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The castle might have towers on the corners. If we go back, you can see this tower, this castle has some towers. A tower is a tall structure. Uhm, and the good thing about a tower is that when you stand on top, it allows you to see really far away.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It kind of serves a few purposes. If you are on top you can see the enemy coming.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And if you are on top, it's easier to attack the enemy if they attack your castle.