DESSERT TasteTest Advanced English Conversation Lesson
Vanessa: Hi, I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
Dan: And I’m her husband, Dan.
Vanessa: Today, we’re going to be eating some
wonderful things.
Let’s get started.
Are you hungry?
Do you have a sweet tooth?
Well, I have some good news.
My husband Dan and I went to a local bakery
in our city, where we chose seven amazing
desserts, and we want to share them with you.
Dan: Yeah.
I hope you’re hungry.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Virtually share them with you.
So what I would love for you to be able to
do during this lesson is to immerse yourself
in English.
You’re going to have a quick little visit
to the bakery, where we buy these, and then
we’re going to be talking about what we taste,
what it smells like, the different textures.
Just a chance for you to feel like you are
in an American home for a couple minutes,
enjoying yourself, learning some new vocabulary
and phrases.
Are you ready to get started?
Dan: How could I not be?
Vanessa: Let’s do it.
Dan: For this lesson, we’re going to actually
play a little game.
We are going to compare two similar style
of pastries and decide which one we like better.
We’ll rate them one through 10 and we’ll also
say between the two, which one we like better.
Vanessa: Oh, this is my favorite kind of game.
Dan: Indeed.
Vanessa: Yes.
All right.
We’re starting off with the two that we think
are maybe the least exciting, but still could
be really sweet and tasty.
Dan: This looks pretty exciting to me.
Vanessa: In front of me, I have peanut brittle.
It looks kind of crunchy, kind of thick.
It’s got peanuts in it.
Dan: This is very American.
Vanessa: Yes.
What about for you?
What do you have?
Dan: This is English toffee.
It is an obviously English-style, sweet, kind
of crispy, crunchy candy.
Vanessa: Caramelly kind of thing?
Dan: Caramelly.
Yeah.
Vanessa: All right.
Well, let’s try it.
Which one do you want to try first?
Dan: Let’s try this one.
Vanessa: Okay.
I’ll try the big piece.
Dan: Traditionally, you’d eat this with your
fingers.
So let’s give it a shot.
Very buttery.
Vanessa: Yes.
Dan: That’s the first thing that comes to
my mind.
Butter.
Vanessa: I feel like I expected it to be chewy,
but instead, it’s more crispy.
So the inside, the caramel on the inside is
pretty crispy.
Dan: I’d say perfectly crispy.
Vanessa: Perfectly crispy.
Dan: Perfectly.
Vanessa: Wow.
So you’re going to give this one a high ranking
probably?
Dan: I don’t know.
Let me try the other one first.
Vanessa: If you had to guess what was on the
outside, what would you say?
Dan: I think pecans.
Vanessa: Percans?
Okay.
Dan: Some kind of nut is on the outside.
Vanessa: Pecans.
Maybe walnuts.
Definitely chocolate.
So it’s kind of like a sandwich of those things
with caramel in the middle.
All right.
You want to try the peanut brittle?
Dan: Sure.
I’m going to take this huge piece.
Vanessa: Okay.
When we bought these at the bakery, I didn’t
really want to explain, “Oh, these are-”
Dan: Oh, this one’s hard.
Vanessa: “-for us, but we’re not going to
eat them all.”
Anyway, we just bought a lot of pastries.
I felt a little bit embarrassed.
Dan: This one’s crunchier.
Vanessa: Whoa.
Dan: Whoa.
I haven’t had peanut brittle in a long time.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Dan: That’s good.
Vanessa: I don’t think I’ve ever had real,
homemade peanut brittle.
I’ve only had the kind … It comes in a little
candy wrapper.
It’s kind of cheap Halloween candy.
Dan: They’re pretty similar.
Vanessa: Yeah.
I feel like-
Dan: This one has more of a candy taste to
it.
Vanessa: This makes me feel like I need to
brush my teeth immediately.
Dan: Yeah.
That’s really sweet.
Vanessa: Maybe we should have started with
this one last.
Dan: This one’s more buttery and crispy, and
this one is more crunchy, candy.
Probably made with corn syrup, I imagine.
Vanessa: Maybe.
I don’t know.
This is a local bakery, so I’m sure that they’re
trying to make it as nice and smooth and-
Dan: More authentic.
Vanessa: Authentic as possible.
Yeah.
If you had to choose between the two of them
when we go back to this bakery someday, and
these were the only two pastries available
… Well, they’re not pastries, but sweets
available.
Dan: They’re very similar to me as far as
how much I like them.
Vanessa: Oh, it’s different for me.
Dan: I don’t love love them.
So I’m going to say … You know what?
Vanessa: Let’s point.
Dan: Point?
Vanessa: Yeah.
Point at three, two, one and point.
Dan: Okay.
Vanessa: All right.
Three, two, one.
Oh, really?
Dan: I’m going with the peanut brittle.
I don’t know why.
The peanut flavor just smacks you in the face
and I like that.
Vanessa: I think I’m not a fan of how much
it will probably stick in my teeth.
Dan: Yeah.
This is going to stick in your teeth, too.
Vanessa: Yeah.
I mean it’s going to stick in your teeth,
but it’s less crunchy and I really like this
…
Dan: This one’s crispier.
Vanessa: Crispy on the outside.
Dan: It’s close to me, but-
Vanessa: Creamy on the inside.
Dan: I’m going to say seven for this one and
6.5 for that one.
Vanessa: Oh my goodness.
Okay.
Well, I’m going to give this one a five.
Dan: A five?
Ouch.
Vanessa: It’s still good.
This is a spectrum of amazing desserts.
This one, I would buy it again.
I probably would not buy this one again.
I will still eat it over the next couple days.
Dan: See, I’m going for a second bite.
Vanessa: But I feel like this one …
Dan: Plus, I’m an American boy, so I’ve got
to like peanut brittle.
Vanessa: I think it’s the chocolate.
The chocolate on the outside of this is just
an extra touch.
I’m going to give this one a six.
Dan: A six.
Okay.
Vanessa: A still kind of low rating, but I
know that these probably-
Dan: You’re setting the standard.
She’s got a baseline.
Vanessa: Yeah.
I know that the other desserts will probably
be better to me.
Dan: We’ll see.
Vanessa: All right.
Let’s go to the next pair.
Dan: Okay.
Vanessa: All right.
The next pair of desserts that we’re going
to taste are similar styles again.
I have a chocolate pot de crème.
Dan: Chocolate.
Vanessa: It looks like it’s completely chocolate,
some whipped cream on top.
There’s a blackberry and a blueberry with
a little spring of rosemary.
Dan: Yes.
This one is kind of similar, except it’s not
chocolate.
It’s Swedish cream.
Vanessa: If you’re from Sweden, let us know
if this is actually a Swedish dessert.
Dan: I’ve never been to Sweden and I don’t
know if this is a legit Swedish thing, but
it’s got this sweet cream and then it almost
looks like a yogurt and then jelly.
Raspberry jelly.
A raspberry and I guess another rosemary sprig.
Vanessa: Yeah.
I feel like I’ve had this one a lot with blackberry,
but I’ve never seen them make it with raspberry.
Maybe it’s a seasonal thing.
Let’s give it a try.
Dan: They just wanted to change the color
up.
Vanessa: I think we should try this one first.
Dan: Okay.
Vanessa: Because I think the chocolate might
be more of an overpowering taste.
Dan: It’s going to be overpowering.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Dan: I think we’ve had both of these before,
but I’ll give it a shot.
Vanessa: I don’t know if I’ve had this one.
Dan used to work at a chocolate shop, so we
had a lot of different types of chocolate.
Dan: This looks really good.
Vanessa: Cheers.
Dan: Should we cross arms?
Vanessa: Might be a little messy.
That’s so amazing.
Dan: This is way better than peanut brittle.
Vanessa: Yeah.
It’s crazy because this cream down here, it
looks like it should be just yogurt, but it’s
not too sweet.
Well, it’s very sweet, but it’s not too sweet.
Dan: It’s pretty sweet.
Vanessa: At least for my taste.
The jam on top is so smooth.
Dan: It’s tart.
Vanessa: And tart.
Yeah.
I think that the berryness of it is great,
too.
Dan: Obviously, it’s very creamy and I like
cream.
What can I say?
Vanessa: Yeah.
Well, I’m going to clean off my spoon and
try the chocolate.
Maybe I should refresh-
Dan: I don’t always like fruity kind of desserts,
but this has just a layer of tart jelly or
jam on the top, and that really just hits
the spot for me.
Vanessa: Yeah.
It doesn’t feel too heavy, especially if we
go to the bakery and share this.
Dan: Yes.
I feel like I could eat this whole thing.
Vanessa: It feels like a good sharable thing.
Dan: I could eat the whole thing without getting
sick.
Vanessa: Oh, that’s a good thing.
Dan: That’s a big thing for me.
Too much sweets makes me feel sick.
Vanessa: Yeah.
We don’t eat sweets that often except for
today.
Usually if I go for a dessert, usually I go
for something that’s chocolatey, but I’ve
bought this one more often than this one.
So I’m curious now how this one will taste
after that.
Dan: Got to clean off the spoon.
Vanessa: All right.
I’m going to try some-
Dan: Is that gross?
Probably.
Vanessa: Yeah.
No one likes to watch other people eat stuff.
Dan: That’s what we’re doing in this video.
Vanessa: Well, I guess the-
Dan: People don’t like to watch people eat
stuff.
Vanessa: I mean chewing and those sounds are
always awful.
Do you want to cheers?
Dan: Whoa.
A lot thicker.
Vanessa: Yes.
This one feels a lot lighter.
The texture is really thick.
Dan: It’s almost like mousse.
Vanessa: Yeah.
It’s even thicker than a mousse.
Like between a mousse and a brownie.
Dan: Both of these are really good.
Vanessa: Are you cool if I eat this whole
blackberry?
Dan: Yeah, go ahead.
I’ll eat the blueberry.
Vanessa: Okay.
I want to try it with the chocolate because-
Dan: Are we supposed to eat the rosemary or
is that just purely a garnish?
Vanessa: I feel like they added the berry
for looks.
Dan: I’ll try it with a little bit just … Oh,
you know what?
It actually tastes good with it.
Vanessa: Oh, yeah?
What happened to it?
Oh, it’s on here.
Maybe I’ll try it.
Dan: It added a little something.
Vanessa: Okay.
Dan: I got it on my fingers.
Vanessa: I think the berry is a stronger taste
to me than the rosemary.
Dan: Yeah.
The blueberry was really good with that, too.
I don’t know about the blackberry, but-
Vanessa: I love berries.
Dan: All the little additions they had here
really made it taste a lot better.
Vanessa: Yeah.
What about that raspberry?
Are we going to fight over it?
Dan: You can have it.
Vanessa: Okay.
Dan: I’ve got to save space.
Vanessa: Oh, yeah.
We’ve got a lot of desserts coming.
Well, I feel like they know what they’re doing
as far as the garnish.
They know what will look good and they also
know what’s going to give it that extra edge.
Dan: Yeah.
I feel like I thought this was going to be
the clear winner when I tried it, but now
I’m not so sure.
They’re both so good.
Vanessa: Maybe I’ll have to try this one again.
I think that-
Dan: Got to try coffee with it.
Vanessa: I think I could never order this
one by myself because it’s too rich.
Dan: I’ve got to try this one again.
Vanessa: It’s rich in a good way, but it’s
too rich for at least me to handle the whole
cup by myself.
Dan: Daggum.
I like both of these.
Vanessa: I could probably handle that by myself
if I was forced to.
Yeah.
I need a sip of my tea.
Dan: Oh, they’re both so good.
Okay.
I’m going to say-
Vanessa: All right.
We’ve got to point.
Dan: Oh, yeah.
Three, two, one.
Vanessa: I still pointed to the opposite one.
So why do you like that one the best?
Dan: Well, it was a last minute decision.
I don’t know.
Just the thick, creamy chocolate.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Dan: I don’t know.
Just really got me on that last bite.
It was really good.
Also, all the garnishes on it taste really
yummy.
Both of them are really good.
It’s a tough decision.
Vanessa: If I’m going to have something thick
and chocolatey that’s not cake or a cookie,
I think I would rather have hot chocolate.
Dan: Oh, yeah?
Oh, I’d take this any day over hot chocolate.
Vanessa: Instead of this?
Dan: I thought we were similar.
Vanessa: Well, in this way-
Dan: Maybe we’re just like opposites attract.
Vanessa: You can have this one and I’ll have
this one.
Dan: All right.
Vanessa: I feel like this one suits me better
because it feels lighter.
We’ve got a lot of desserts to come.
It’s a little bit lighter and-
Dan: It is a little lighter.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Something about it, the fruitiness and the
creaminess is still better.
If I had the option to buy one of these again,
I would definitely buy this one-
Dan: All right.
We’ve got to rate them.
Vanessa: -over that one.
Oh.
Dan: I’m going to say, just so I don’t go
too crazy here, nine.
Vanessa: Whoa.
That’s a little crazy.
Dan: Point five.
Vanessa: Oh, okay.
Dan: This one is a nine.
There we go.
Vanessa: Oh, you still like this one at a
nine?
Dan: Yeah.
I really like both of them a lot.
Vanessa: Okay.
I think I would say this one is probably an
8.5.
Dan: Vanessa is actually reasonable.
Vanessa: Well, I’m just waiting because the
other-
Dan: The next time I really love something,
it’s actually going to be rated 11.
Vanessa: Oh, you’re going to go above the
scale?
Dan: Yeah.
I’ll just go above the scale.
Vanessa: Cheating.
I think the thing is we have three other desserts
that I’ve never tried before, and I’ve tried
these before.
At least this one before.
So I want to leave some room on the scale.
I think this one, I would say-
Dan: Hey, I left room.
Point five is something.
Vanessa: 8.5 and maybe 7.5.
Dan: Oh, that’s an insult to this fine dessert.
Vanessa: It’s still better than the other
two as far as what I would like to have if
I were to go to the bakery again.
Dan: Yeah.
Vanessa: All right.
Let’s go to the next pair.
Dan: All right.
For the next round, we have cakes.
We have a classic American cake.
I don’t know if it’s only in America, but
this is carrot cake.
It doesn’t really taste like carrots in my
experience.
It just tastes-
Vanessa: Carrots were killed in the making
of this, though.
Dan: Carrots were destroyed in the making
of this, but it just tastes like a sweet cake.
Vanessa: This is a chocolate fudge cake.
I don’t know what exactly makes it fudge except
it’s really dense.
I would just call it a chocolate cake, but
I know that this one probably has a cream
icing and this one most likely … The typically
pairing for icing with carrot cake is cream
cheese icing.
Dan: Cream cheese.
Vanessa: So if you ever had cream cheese on
toast, it’s a sweet version of that.
I must be honest.
For my whole life, carrot cake has been one
of my top favorite cakes.
So I’m curious how this bakery will do carrot
cake.
Dan: I feel like if the last round was any
predictor, I’ll probably like this better.
Vanessa: Oh, because it’s chocolate?
Dan: Because it’s chocolate and fudgy.
It’s probably going to be pretty similar.
We’ll see.
Vanessa: Which one should we try first?
Dan: Let’s start with the chocolate this time.
Vanessa: Okay.
Sure.
Let’s see.
Got to get some icing.
Dan: Got to go all the way down.
This is a big cake.
Vanessa: Rich.
This is one slice of cake.
I feel like if I were served this slice of
cake at a birthday party, there is no way
I would ever finish that, but half of this,
I could probably finish that if it was a special
occasion.
Dan: It’s pretty good.
Vanessa: Pretty good?
Only pretty good?
Dan: Yeah.
I like the cream better.
Vanessa: Oh, all right.
Dan: That’s just me.
Let me try again.
Vanessa: I’m going to try just the icing because
I’m curious.
It’s very dense icing.
It’s not fluffy.
It tastes almost like-
Dan: It’s so dense.
Yeah.
Vanessa: -a brownie has been spread.
Maybe that’s the fudge part.
Dan: Well, yeah.
It’s like fudge.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Dan: That’s the fudge part on the top.
Vanessa: That’s really rich and sweet.
Dan: That would definitely make feel sick
after eating it.
Vanessa: Yeah.
It tastes almost like dark chocolate.
It’s really sweet, but it doesn’t taste milky.
All right.
Let’s try this one.
I’ve got to prepare my palate.
Dan: I know.
Yeah.
Vanessa: All right.
Tea and coffee.
This one looks like it also has some nuts
on the back.
So we should add in those little garnishes.
Dan: This one is crumblier.
Vanessa: We’re using our child’s-
Dan: Sh.
These are dessert forks.
Vanessa: Yes.
We have dessert forks because we’re fancy.
No, these are not dessert forks.
We are not fancy.
These are our toddler’s forks, but we thought
they would be cute and small for desserts.
All right.
You’ve got to try some icing.
Dan: Whoa.
I tasted ginger.
Vanessa: Really?
Dan: Pretty sure there’s ginger in carrot
cake.
Vanessa: That’s amazing.
It has so many different flavors that hit
you.
This cream cheese icing, not too sweet, not
too overpowering.
I can tell you love it.
Dan: It’s just okay.
It’s fine, but …
Vanessa: I feel like the cake part of it … I’m
going to try just the cake part without the
icing.
The cake part.
Oh, there’s some raisins and maybe dates.
Dan: It’s reminiscent of a Christmas fruitcake,
which has a bad reputation for being nasty,
but that’s usually a really thick and wrapped
in a bag.
Vanessa: It’s been sitting in the fridge for
like three months or something.
Dan: This has a very similar flavor, though,
but just better textures.
Vanessa: Yeah.
I don’t specifically taste carrot, but I don’t
… It’s hard to put your finger on exactly
what the taste is except for-
Dan: Cinnamon.
Vanessa: Nuts, cinnamon.
Dan: Do I see coconut?
Vanessa: I think there is coconut flakes in
it.
Dan: This is a lot of stuff in there.
Vanessa: It’s a lot of different flavors.
I like the dried fruit in it.
The raisins or maybe some kind of dried plums,
maybe.
Dan: To me, it tastes like a cinnamon roll
with fruit in it and a sprinkle of disappointment.
Vanessa: A sprinkle of disappointment?
Dan: It’s just not as good as-
Vanessa: Okay.
So I can imagine which one you think is going
to be the winner.
Are you ready?
Dan: I don’t know.
Vanessa: Let’s rank it first.
Dan: Last time, we pointed at it.
The one we liked better.
Vanessa: Oh, first?
Before we gave a number?
Dan: Yeah.
Vanessa: Are you sure?
Dan: I’m sure.
Vanessa: Okay.
Three, two, one.
I knew you’d choose that one.
Dan: How do you like this one better?
Vanessa: This is too rich for me.
I think-
Dan: Oh, come on.
Vanessa: The complex tastes in this, you can’t
beat that for me.
There’s just so much going on with the different
textures and the dried fruit in it and the
nuts and the icing.
It’s still really rich.
I would rather share this than get it myself.
Dan: It is less rich than that.
That’s for sure.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Dan: This fudge frosting is very rich.
I probably wouldn’t order this by myself.
For sure, I couldn’t finish that.
I prefer the pot de crème.
Vanessa: I do too over this.
I think if I were to order this or if I could
change something about it, it would be that
the icing would be more fluffy.
Dan: So not fudge.
Vanessa: Kind of like a mousse type icing
instead of fudge because to me, that makes
the cake-
Dan: So just chocolate cake.
Vanessa: Just chocolate cake.
I think it overpowers the cake.
The cake is good, but the fudge is too strong.
Dan: Yeah.
It didn’t taste strong to me, though.
Vanessa: Oh, yeah?
Dan: Just the texture and the richness.
It had an extra richness about it.
Vanessa: What’s your number score?
Dan: Yeah.
For the chocolate cake, I’m going to give
that a 7.5.
I actually don’t like the cake that much.
What did I give the toffee?
Did I give that one an eight?
Vanessa: I don’t remember.
We’ll have to go back and see.
Dan: If I gave the peanut brittle an eight
… See, now I have to revise everything.
Then that’s definitely an eight.
It’s got to be at least tied with the peanut
brittle.
Vanessa: Okay.
So this is in your mind the same as the peanut
brittle.
Dan: It’s better than … 8.5.
Vanessa: Wow.
Dan: It’s better than the peanut brittle.
Vanessa: Okay.
What about this one?
Dan: That’s like a 6.5.
Vanessa: Oh, really?
Dan: Yeah.
Vanessa: The sprinkle of disappointment.
Dan: Yeah.
It’s just okay.
I mean I’ll still eat it.
I’m just not loving it.
Vanessa: I’m going to say that this one is
… Well, at the end of this lesson, we will
rank all of them together, but I can’t help
but do that now a little bit.
I think that the Swedish cream is still better
than this, and I gave the Swedish cream 8.5.
I think that this to me is still pretty high.
I might say 7.5.
Dan: 7.5.
Vanessa: Maybe eight.
Dan: Jeez.
You’re a harsh critic.
Vanessa: Well, it’s really amazing, but we’ve
got to be a little tempered in our expectations.
For the chocolate cake, I would say 6.5.
I’m so sorry.
Dan: How dare you?
Vanessa: You can have this one and I’ll have
this one.
Dan: We switch again.
Vanessa: Well, we have one more final dessert
after this.
It isn’t going to be compared to anything
because nothing is really like this, at least
at the bakery.
Dan: We also didn’t want to get too sick.
Vanessa: And eat too much, but it’s a pretty
crazy, giant dessert.
Are you ready to go into that one?
Dan: Let’s do it.
Vanessa: Let’s do it.
All right.
For our final dessert, we have this insane
giant.
Just look how big that is.
It’s the same size as my hand.
Huge.
They call this mountain éclair.
Dan: The mountain éclair.
Vanessa: Because it is an éclair, but it
looks like a mountain.
Dan: Yeah.
Are éclairs traditionally long?
Vanessa: That’s how I think of it.
Dan: Yeah.
That’s how I think of them.
Like a fancy Twinkie.
Vanessa: Oh.
Yeah, but-
Dan: This is a very fancy Twinkie.
Vanessa: Maybe it’s because we live in the
mountains.
They wanted to do a local play on this, like
a mountain éclair.
Dan: This is a chocolate coating and then
a thin pastry inside filled with cream.
Sweet cream.
Vanessa: Yes.
I imagine probably a light, fluffy kind of
cream.
Not a heavy, eggy kind of cream, but we’ll
find out.
The only way to get into the middle of this
is to destroy it.
Dan: I want to take a dainty bite.
Vanessa: Okay.
All right.
Let’s just take the outside first then, I
guess.
Dan: It’s thicker than I expected.
It’s like a croissant.
Vanessa: Yeah.
It kind of does have that layered cakiness
to it, but let’s break it open.
Crack it open like an egg.
Dan: That chocolate on the outside is really
good.
Vanessa: I guess somebody normal would use
a knife for this.
Dan: Somebody normal.
Vanessa: Somebody normal.
Oh, boy.
Holy cow.
Whoa.
Dan: It’s like custard.
Vanessa: Oh, it’s thicker than I thought it
would be.
Dan: Oh, yeah.
Straight up custard.
Vanessa: Oh, that’s really good.
Dan: Yeah.
That’s yummy.
Vanessa: Wow.
It reminds me of the lightness of the Swedish
cream.
It’s not too heavy.
Dan: It’s even lighter?
Vanessa: Yeah, maybe.
It’s a little fluffier, but the chocolate
on the outside.
Dan: Come on, baby.
Vanessa: I’m going to try it all together,
too.
It’s a little bit hard to get it.
This is definitely not first date food.
If you go on a first date with someone and
you order this, you’re going to be covered
in chocolate and digging into the cream.
It’s not a very …
Dan: Not to mention, you’ll be very sick afterwards.
Vanessa: I know.
Yum.
That’s amazing.
Dan: I really like the custard inside.
Vanessa: Yeah.
I think that makes it.
We’ve had the small version of this.
It’s really small, but this is a giant one.
Dan: The pastry part is only okay to me.
Vanessa: I think the chocolate on the outside
though is a great touch.
It’s lighter than the chocolate cake icing.
It’s not fudge, but-
Dan: Yeah.
Much lighter than the fudge cake as far as
the chocolate outside.
Vanessa: This is definitely a sharable dessert,
especially because they offer or they sell
a small version.
Dan: Who will we share this with later?
Vanessa: Who wants this dessert after we’ve
destroyed it?
Dan: A gift for you, neighbor.
Vanessa: I don’t know if they’d like that.
So how would you-
Dan: I’m going in for another bite.
Vanessa: -rate this?
Zero to 10 because-
Dan: Oh, yeah.
I guess we can’t compare.
Vanessa: We can’t compare it to the other
ones until the very end, which is coming soon.
What would you give this?
Dan: You think first.
I’ve still got to chew.
Vanessa: You know what?
I think I’m going to give this a …
Dan: Eight out of 10.
Vanessa: A nine.
Dan: A nine.
Holy moly.
Vanessa: Yeah.
I think the cream in the middle is just really
up my alley.
Dan: That’s really good.
Again, the pastry part is … I’m not feeling
it.
Vanessa: Yeah.
The pastry might be a little underwhelming.
Dan: It’s dry.
It’s dry and it’s not very flaky.
Just crumbly.
Vanessa: I think it’s okay, though.
Dan: Chocolate on the outside.
That’s kind of throwing me off a little bit.
Vanessa: I wonder if we got the small one
if it would be different because it bakes
in a different way.
You still have the cream, but it’s not overwhelming.
Dan: It’s certainly not the main show isn’t
the cream.
So I’m going to give it a … I’ll give it
an eight.
Vanessa: Oh, okay.
All right.
Well, let’s bring back all of our pastries.
Dan: I’m generous with my pastries.
Vanessa: You did give them all very high scores.
Well, we tried to choose ones too that we
knew would be good.
This bakery has all amazing things.
Let’s bring back all the pastries and put
them side by side to see what is the ultimate
winner.
Okay.
Here we have all of our wonderful pastries
that we have massacred.
I want to know if the next time that you walk
into this bakery, you saw they have a lot
of other pastries, but let’s imagine they
only had these seven pastries or desserts.
Which one would you buy instantly without
thinking?
Dan: Yeah.
One of the creams, for sure.
Either one.
It depends on my mood.
I’d probably be like, “Oh, I want fruit today.
Oh, I really want chocolate.”
Vanessa: Okay.
Dan: I’d go for one of those.
Vanessa: So those are the top winners for
you.
Dan: For sure.
Vanessa: Which one do you imagine you’ll probably
never buy again?
This could be we could split it together,
we could share it.
That’s fine, too.
Dan: Funnily enough, it might be the carrot
cake.
Vanessa: Really?
Dan: Yeah.
It’s not that I hated it.
It’s just that it’s bigger than the toffees.
So I feel like I could get a little piece
of toffee and get some kicks out of that,
but with this whole cake, I’ve got to eat
this entire giant piece of carrot cake, which
I only find to be mediocre.
Vanessa: Okay.
Even if you were sharing it with me?
Dan: Well, if I’m sharing it with you, then
I’d do it for you, honey.
Vanessa: But you wouldn’t do it if you were
with someone who had the exact same taste
as you.
Dan: No.
Vanessa: I think I would immediately buy either
the Swedish cream or the toffee.
Dan: Whoa.
The toffee.
Vanessa: Maybe a small piece of the toffee.
Not so big because it’s really rich and sweet,
but I think if I wanted a little kick of sweetness,
if I were just going to the bakery to get
some tea and maybe a sandwich, I would probably
get just a little bite of that if I wanted
something sweet.
This is much bigger.
It’s much heavier, so I would probably want
to share that with someone.
Dan: Yeah.
I do think too I might get the small éclair
also because-
Vanessa: Not the big one.
Dan: I’m critiquing it now.
I’m being a little harsh on the pastry part,
but if I’m just going to eat it with a friend
pretty quickly, I’m probably going to not
really care about that and all I’m going to
taste is this delicious custard and it’s very
satisfying.
Vanessa: Our poor cakes.
Dan: Cakes.
Vanessa: They’re losing out.
Dan: I mean probably most people would love
the cakes, but …
Vanessa: Yeah.
Dan: I also don’t like big, heavy things either.
Vanessa: They are heavier.
Yeah.
I think if it were a special occasion, like
a birthday, that’s when you traditionally
have cake.
Maybe I would be more inclined to get a piece
of cake and then share it with whoever I’m
celebrating their birthday with.
Go to the bakery together and have a piece
of cake.
But then again, you’ve got so many other desserts.
You could just as easily have this for a birthday
because why not?
Dan: Yeah.
Those are so satisfying to me.
The creams are amazing.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Now you are going to need to come to our house
and eat the rest of our massacred desserts
because there’s no way-
Dan: Please finish these.
Vanessa: -we’re going to be able to finish
these.
Dan: Even though we ate out of each plate
already.
Vanessa: Yeah.
We only ate a little bit.
Dan: Maybe a little unsanitary.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Well, I’ve got another one here to help me
eat a little bit, but my stomach is very small
right now.
Shrinking and smashed under the baby.
Well, in any case, thank you so much for joining
us for this fun, outside the box English lesson.
Thanks for dedicating and sacrificing today.
Dan: Yeah.
This was so rough.
I had to eat pastries today.
Vanessa: So hard.
This just is such a hard job.
Dan: I guess it was okay.
Vanessa: Well, thank you so much for joining
us.
Now I have a question for you: what kind of
desserts do you like?
Out of all of these desserts, which one would
you like to try?
If you ever come to the U.S., make sure that
you visit some local bakeries, so that you
can just see the different things that different
regions have to offer.
Thanks so much for joining me.
Dan: You’re welcome.
Vanessa: We’ll see you again next Friday for
a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.
Bye.
Dan: Peace.
Vanessa: The next pair that we’re going to
… I’m so excited, I can’t even say taste.
Vanessa: The next step is to download my free
E-book, Five Steps to Becoming a Confident
English Speaker.
You’ll learn what you’ll need to do to speak
confidently and fluently.
Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel
for more free lessons.
Thanks so much.
Bye.