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I'll try to get your taste-buds going with a story and a picture or two from my recent holiday in the US.

One morning we went to Baltimore's for some of its famous cake and coffee.

While we were tucking into the delicious pies, I saw a number of women - all of a certain age, dressed in purple and wearing red hats. Curiosity got the better of me, and (strictly with you in mind), I went over to their tables and asked them why they were all dressed in a similar (if slightly unusual) way. They told me they were members of and that there were only four rules for joining this special club:

• you're a women over 50
• you dress in purple when you go out to a Red Hat Society do
• you wear a red hat when you go out to a Red Hat Society do

And perhaps most importantly of all - and I quote -

• "you encourage fun, friendship, freedom and fulfilment".

They kindly posed for some photos, we said goodbye and I went back to my coffee and cake.

It was only then that it dawned on me - I passed 3 out of 4 of the criteria (I'll give you a clue, I might have salt and pepper hair, but I'm not quite 50 yet!). Yes, I try very hard not to take life too seriously but, perhaps more bizarrely, I saw I had on a purple t-shirt and my red cap was sitting on the table next to my cake. So I popped my red hat on and went back to my new friends and asked if I could take one more picture. I think I'll be a great Red Hat Society member one day soon, don't you?

All your Mexican food looks really delicious. I particularly liked that tomatoey soup, Pozole. Do you ever eat it cold? Sometimes on a hot summer's day there's nothing I like better than cold soup - my current favourite is one I make with cucumbers, mint, dill and yogurt.

Now, let's have a look at some of the language of your Mexican food blog. I thought today we'd look at is, it's and there is, as well as some items of food vocabulary.

Is, it's and there is

I notice that you often use it's in a way that not quite right. For example, you wrote:

Mole it's difficult to prepare.

There are two ways you can correct this:

Mole is difficult to prepare.

or

It's difficult to prepare Mole.

You also have a tendency to run sentences together using it's when you should really make two separate sentences. For example:

On a rainy day I really enjoy eating Pazole it's a dish from Guerrero.

Should be:

On a rainy day I really enjoy eating Pazole. It's a dish from Guerrero.

Can you look at these sentences and see if you can find any mistakes in them? Not all of them have mistakes, of course! If the sentence is OK, you can just write 'correct' or 'OK' but if you can see a problem, rewrite the sentence correctly:

1. I say that because it's one of the most important social activities.

2. Mexican food it's famous around the world.

3. Today in Mexico City it's difficult to be together with your family for lunch.

4. The principal characteristic of Mexican food it's the variety of dishes.

5. In the north the food it's simpler.

6. This is the most important ingredient in some dishes.

7. You can tell it's Mexican food because is spicy.

8. Is it easy to find Tacos? Well, especially in Mexico is very easy.

9. Sometimes for breakfast I make a torta it's like a sandwich.

10. The most common ingredient we use in Mexican food is corn.

Food vocabulary

Now I'd like to look at a few food vocabulary items that were a bit troublesome in your blog.

We don't usually use the word 'meat' when we're describing the type of meat. In the same way that we don't use the word 'colour' when we describe colour. We don't say:

Her shoes are black colour.

but instead:

Her shoes are black.

Similarly, we say:

pork

rather than:

pork meat

And to describe:

sheep meat

we don't use either of those words! Instead to talk about meat from a young sheep we use:

lamb

And for meat from a older sheep we use:

mutton

The white sauce that you put on snacks is called mayonnaise (not mayoneza) and the contraption the meat is carved from is a spit (rather than a spin).

Well that's all for today. Is it time for tea yet?

All the best,

Nuala
Vocabulary
my stomach rumbling - my stomach was making noises which indicated that I was hungry
at this rate - if the situation stays the same (here, that your food blog continues to make me feel hungry)
to get your taste-buds going - to make you look forward to eating some food
tucking into - (informal) start eating with a lot of enthusiasm
of a certain age - a polite way of saying 'middle-aged' or 'old'
strictly - only
do - (informal) event or party
fulfilment - feeling of pleasure because you are getting what you want from life
it dawned on me - I realised
criteria - conditions or rules
salt and pepper hair - hair that is black (pepper) with some grey or white (salt)
not to take life too seriously - not be worried about life, work, problems etc
bizarrely - very unusually
popped - informal (put)
tomatoey - (informal) tastes strongly of tomatoes
contraption - a machine or device that looks awkward or old-fashioned, especially one that you do not know how to use or don't know the exact name of