CdcFeb22- Merce Mouse

                                            Cheesecake with chocolate

If you want to try a delicious dessert, this is your recipe.

Ingredients

        Filling

• 500 grams of cream cheese 

•  2 eggs

•  10 grams of cacao 

•  100 grams of chocolate 

•  40 grams of sugar

Preparation  

1. In a bowl, mix the cream cheese with the eggs.

2. Add to the mixture (1) the cacao and sugar.

3. Bake to 200º C around 45 minutes.

4. On the other hand, thaw the chocolate and, after, add it on top of the cheesecake.

 

Happy New year

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

As the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve, we all hope for a great year, and there are many New Year's traditions which are believed to bring good luck. Here are some of our favourite traditions from around the world.

In Denmark, people jump off chairs at midnight because they believe it's lucky to jump into the New Year. Another Danish tradition is to save your old dishes and plates until the 31st of December, then break them against the doors of your friends and family. If you have a big pile of plates outside your door, you have a lot of friends.

In Belgium, farmers wish their cows a happy new year, and in Romania, farmers try to communicate with their animals. Some people think that it is good luck if the animals respond! Other Romanian traditions include throwing coins into the river and dressing in bear costumes to perform a special dance.

In some South American countries, the colour of your underwear is very important on New Year's Eve. People believe that red underwear will bring love into your life, yellow will bring you wealth and white will bring you peace.

Food plays an important part in New Year's traditions too. In Bolivia, people bake coins into cakes. The people who find the coins have good luck for the next year. In Estonia, some people try to eat seven, nine or twelve meals on New Year's Eve to bring them the strength of that many men in the coming year. In the Netherlands, people eat dumplings or apple fritters on New Year's Eve, and the French celebrate the New Year by eating delicious pancakes.

Some New Year's traditions can be a bit messy. In Switzerland, people drop a little bit of cream on the floor, and in Ireland, people hit the walls of their homes with bread to chase away evil spirits. In Greece, people smash pomegranates against their front doors so that the seeds fall out. Lots of seeds on the floor means lots of luck in the New Year.

Other traditions are quite dangerous. In some parts of Johannesburg, South Africa, people welcome the New Year by throwing old furniture out of their windows. This used to be an Italian tradition, too, although not many people practice it these days.  In Stonehaven, Scotland, people parade through the streets on New Year's Eve swinging balls of fire above their heads. This was originally a Viking tradition.

Some people prefer to start the New Year with a cold swim. In Saundersfoot, Wales, people swim in the icy sea to raise money for charity. In Siberia, people cut a hole in the ice covering Lake Baikal. Then, professional divers dive to the bottom of the lake carrying a New Year's tree.

Every country has its own special New Year's customs. However you chose to start your new year, we hope 2019 will be a happy, lucky year for you and your loved ones.

Vocabulary

Coin a small, flat piece of metal used as money

Dumpling a small ball of dough (flour, fat and water) that is usually cooked and served with meat dishes

Evil spirits the wicked and cruel souls of beings that have lived on after death

Fritter a piece of fruit meat or vegetable that is covered in batter and fried

Icy very cold

Messy dirty and / or untidy

Pomegranate a round fruit with thick, smooth skin and red flesh full of large seeds

Seeds the small, hard parts produced by plants, from which new plants can grow

Swing to make something move with a wide, curved movement

Wealth a large amount of money that a person or country owns

Text taken Oxford University Press

Five things that could disappear in five years

Technology is changing all the time. As soon as you buy one new device, there is a better one available. Over the next five years, there will be new products and services which will change our lives again, and there will be some products and services which we will stop using. Here are five things which some people believe we won't be using in five years' time.

1 CashWe can already pay for most things with debit cards or credit cards, and many people use online banking or mobile banking to transfer money or pay bills. Electronic payments are becoming more and more common, and mobile banking is becoming so easy to use, that fewer people are using cash. And if we don't need cash, we won't need cash machines, so they could disappear, too.

2 USB sticksAccording to recent studies, 70 percent of the world will be using smartphones by 2020. Smartphones can now link to many other pieces of equipment, such as TVs and computers, so we won't need to use another device like a USB stick to transfer data. Smartphones and other mobile devices will also have larger storage limits, and cloud services such as Apple, Box, Dropbox, Google and Microsoft will provide free extra storage space for people who need it. As a result of this, we won't need to carry around separate storage devices.

3 Phone charger cablesThe latest mobile devices don't use charging cables. Instead, they use a wireless charging base. Of course, you still need a cable to connect the base to the electricity supply, but when you need to charge your phone, you can just place it on the base. Charging bases can be any shape and size. They can be in car dashboards or the base of a lamp. When you're not using your phone, you can put it on the base, so that you always have battery power when you need it.

4 Remote controlsMany homes these days have several remote controls to operate TVs, DVD players, stereos and so on. Remote controls have become more complex and difficult to use in recent years, with more and more buttons. However, remote controls will soon disappear. Many TVs these days are connected to the Internet, and we can operate them using apps on our mobile devices. We can also use internet-based apps to control machines at home while we're out. There are already apps for controlling your heating, your lights and other electronic equipment.

5 Paper documentsThe process of printing, faxing, scanning or posting documents is already becoming out-of-date. These days, many companies are using cloud-computing to send and sign contracts. This makes it faster, easier and cheaper to complete business transactions. In the future, 'cloud agreements' will replace paper contracts, and cloud-computing could remove the need for paper documents altogether.

With all of these changes coming up in the next five years, why not start clearing out some of your old technology to make some room in your life? Newer, better technology is coming soon!




VOCABULARY
Cable a set of wires, covered in plastic or rubber, that carries electricity, telephone signals, etc.
Cash machine a machine in or outside a bank, etc., from which you can get money from your bank account using a special plastic card.
Charging base a surface which you can place a device on to charge it – the base transfers power to the device.
Cloud service a network of computer servers on which data and software can be stored and which users have access to over the Internet, such as iCloud, Dropbox or Google Apps.
Dashboard the part of a car in front of the driver that has instruments and controls in it.
Developments the process of producing or creating new or more advanced things/products.
Device an object or a piece of equipment that has been designed to do a particular job.
mobile banking a method of banking in which transactions are conducted electronically over a mobile phone or tablet.
Online banking a method of banking in which transactions are conducted electronically over the Internet.
Storage limit the largest amount of data you can keep on a device.




Text taken from Oxford University Press

It wouldn´t do

It wouldn't do

by John Kay

But,
She said,
I suppose it wouldn't do
For everyone to be the same now,
Would it.

No,
I said,
There'd be less
Interesting people around,
Wouldn't there.

Fewer interesting people,
She said,
But I suppose it wouldn't do
For everyone to speak the same now,
Would it.

Source: British Council

in spite of / despite / although

in spite of / despite / although

In spite of, despite and although are all used to show a contrast but there are differences in the structures used with them.

In spite of / despite

After in spite of and despite we use a noun or a pronoun.

• We enjoyed our camping holiday in spite of the rain.
• Despite the pain in his leg he completed the marathon.
• Despite having all the necessary qualifications, they didn’t offer me the job.

Remember that the gerund (‘-ing’ form) is the ‘noun’ form of a verb.

The only difference between in spite of and despite is the ‘of’.

• Despite of the bad weather, there was a large crowd at the match.

Although

After although we use a subject and a verb.

• We enjoyed our camping holiday although it rained every day.
• Although he worked very hard, he didn’t manage to pass the exam.
• The holiday was great although the hotel wasn’t very nice.

We can use in spite of and despite with a subject and verb if we include the expression ‘the fact that’.

• In spite of the fact that he worked very hard, he didn’t manage to pass the exam.
• Despite the fact that he worked very hard, he didn’t manage to pass the exam.

Even though

Even though is a slightly stronger form of although.

• We decided to buy the house even though we didn’t really have enough money.
• You keep making that stupid noise even though I’ve asked you to stop three times.

Like although, even though is followed by a subject and a verb.

Source: British Council

The play

The play

Hi everyone,

Sorry it´s been a while since I last posted. I´ve been under (1)______ at work and haven´t had a free moment to write. I´ve also been a bit under the (2)______ with a cold, but it´s finally clearing up.

Anyway, I´m writing with (3)______ to what we discussed at the last meeting, namely putting on a play for the neighbourhood children. I´ve spoken with the community centre and they´ve given me the (4)______ that we can use their space for the project, although they are  in the (5)______ of redecorating and I don´t know  when that will be finished. At any (6)______, I should have more information from them before (7)______.

I expect everyone´s dying to get started, but there´s no point us getting ahead of (8)______.

Keep an eye on this blog and I´ll tell you more as soon as possible!

What is genealogy?

What is genealogy?

Genealogy is a (1)______ of history. It concerns family history, (2)______ tan the national or world history studied at school. It doesn´t merely involve drawing a family tree, however – tracing your family history can also (3)______ in learning about your roots and your identity. The internet enables millions of people worldwide to (4)______ information about their family history, without great (5)______.

People who research their family history often (6)______ that it´s a fascinating hobby which (7)______ a lot about where they come from and whether they have famous ancestors. According to a survey involving 900 people who had researched their family history, the chances of discovering a celebrity in your past are one in ten. The survey also concluded that the (8)______ back you follow your family line, the more likely you are to find a relation who was much wealthier than you are. However, the vast majority of people who (9)______ in the survey discovered they were better off than their ancestors.