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Dallergut Dream Department Store: an ESL lesson... tasting Korean food!

Immagine del redattore: Babylon Lingue StraniereBabylon Lingue Straniere

  1.  What’s your favourite type of store / shopping experience?

  2. What do you enjoy / dislike most about shopping?

  3. Have you ever had a dream about a shopping experience?


In a mysterious town that lies hidden in our collective subconscious, there's a quaint little store where all kinds of dreams are sold.


Day and night, visitors both human and animal from all over the world shuffle in sleepily in their pyjamas, lining up to purchase their latest adventure. Each floor in the department store sells a special kind of dream, including nostalgic dreams about your childhood, trips you've taken, and delicious food you've eaten, as well as nightmares and more mysterious dreams. Penny is an enthusiastic new-hire; Dallergut the flamboyant owner of the department store; Agnap Coco is the producer of special dreams and Vigo Myers, an employee in the mystery department . Then we meet the cast of curious, funny and strange clientele that regularly visit the store. Dreamers can visit Dallergut Store just when they fall asleep. But how can they buy dreams? The currency is the emotions the dreamers experience upon waking, at which time they’re collected by the store the dream was purchased from and then the store can deposit it in the bank.  As dreamers come and go, as her shifts come and go, Penny - the main character -  learns all about the different kinds of dreams, from the generic to those custom made for special occasions. There isn’t much of a story to The Dallergut Dream Department Store. It’s mostly focused on Penny learning about this special business and finding her own place in the department store. She’s enthusiastic and eager to learn, and Dallergut is just as eager to tell her all about his business.


BUT WHY DO WE DREAM?


It’s a question for the ages. There’s a lot that experts don’t know about why people dream and where dreams come from. However, the prevailing theory is that dreaming helps you consolidate and analyze memories (like skills and habits) and likely serves as a “rehearsal” for various situations and challenges that one faces during the daytime.We also know much — but not all — of what’s going on physiologically during dreams. Most dreaming occurs during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which we cycle through periodically during the night. Sleep studies show our brainwaves are almost as active during REM cycles as they are when we’re awake.


DIFFERENT TYPES OF DREAMS


While there’s really no way of knowing how many dreams we have each night (although researchers have tried to estimate them), the following seem to be the most universal dream types.


Fill in the chart with the correspondent definition:

A ) These types of dreams are a little harder to pin down, as it depends on how you personally want to interpret the experience, but they’re typically considered very vivid, memorable dreams. Dream interpretation enthusiasts think of epic dreams as profound, with long-lasting repercussions and life-changing potential.


B ) There’s really not a lot of science yet to quantify the theory of these dreams. Anecdotal interpretations define them as a sequence of dreams with a seemingly continuous narrative unfolding nightly or sporadically, like reading a book or watching a series on TV.


C) REM rebound is our mind’s response to being sleep deprived or excessively stressed. So when we’re asleep, we experience heightened brain activity, which creates more powerful imagery. Some people might also experience these dreams when struggling with high fevers. 


D) Ever feel as though you’re going through your morning routine — taking a bathroom break, starting the tea kettle, letting the dog out — only to discover you were dreaming?


E) The fascination with dreaming began with cultures all over the world divining a sense of purpose from predictions of the future. From the ancient Egyptians and Greeks to untold religious leaders to Freud and Jung, the idea of this type of dreams is woven through human history.


F) The American Psychological Association (APA) defines this type of dreams as “a waking fantasy, or reverie, in which wishes, expectations, and other potentialities are played out in imagination.” Almost all of us do this for one reason or another.


G) A frightening or otherwise disturbing dream in which fear, sadness, despair, disgust, or some combination thereof forms the emotional content. Most of us wake up quite suddenly from these dreams


H) Scientists frequently associate these dreams with an unmet need or an unresolved issue. Sometimes they can be more disturbing if an individual has trouble processing traumatic events while they’re awake. 


i) They’re more common in children but usually stop in adolescence, although some adults have them, too. While some episodes last mere seconds, others can be a few minutes or longer.  


J) When a person is between dream and wake states of consciousness. In some instances, they have the awareness and the ability to actually control the narrative of their dream or communicate in that state. It may be possible to train yourself to this condition, though the task would no-double take discipline and practice. 


Let's have a snack now, and taste this easy, traditional Korean recipe:


Dobu-Jorim (두부조림)


Dobu is the Korean name for tofu or bean curd.


Jorim (조림) is a category of dishes in Korean cuisine that are prepared by slowly boiling vegetables, meat, fish, seafood, or tofu in a seasoned broth until the liquid is absorbed by the ingredients and reduced.


Jorim dishes are typically based on soy sauce, but gochujang (Korean chili paste) or gochugaru (Korean chili powder) can also be added.

This dish features crispy pieces of tofu covered in a sticky and spicy Korean sauce made from gochujang,


Homemade gochujang production began to decline when commercial production entered the mass market in the early 1970s.


Now, most Koreans purchase gochujang from grocery stores or markets.

It is widely used to season stews like in gochujang jjigae; for marinating meat, as in gochujang bulgogi; and as a condiment for naengmyeon and bibimbap.


Steps


Cut the tofu into cubes and pat it dry to remove any excess water.

Sauté the tofu in a pan with sesame oil.

Prepare the sauce with gochujang and/or soy sauce, scallions, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, and optionally, rice wine.

Add 1 glass of water to the sauce and pour it over the tofu.

Turn it only once and let the sauce absorb for about 10 minutes.

Serve with sesame seeds and the glorious KIMCHI as a side dish.


Back to the book now!


PROLOGUE

The Third Disciple’s Historic Store


Penny is sitting on the second floor of her favorite café. She’s wearing a comfortable shirt. Her bobbed hair is soggy. This morning, she received word from the Dal­lergut Dream Department Store that her application has passed the screening, and her interview is next week. She went straight to a corner bookstore to buy job interview books, and now she is in full prep mode.

But something has been bothering her for a while. A guy drinking tea at the next table has been tapping his feet, showing off his colorful fuzzy socks with every bounce, distracting her like crazy.

He is in a thick dressing gown, sipping his tea with closed eyes. As he blows on his tea, its fresh forest scent carries over to her table. He must be having a special herbal tea good for fatigue.

“Hmm, very nice…warm…delicious… Should I get a refill?” The guy mutters under his breath as though he’s sleep-talking, then goes back to tapping his feet and smacking his lips.

Penny turns her seat to block his bouncing socks from view. Others in the café are wearing pyjamas.


For centuries, Penny’s hometown has been famous for its sleep products. Now it has evolved into a metropolis with a surging population. The locals, including Penny, who grew up here, are used to seeing outsiders roaming around in sleepwear.

Penny sips on her now-cold coffee. The bitter caffeine seems to mute the background noise and cool the air around her. The extra charge for two Calm Syrup pumps is worth it. She pulls out her job prep questions and re­reads the last one, which she has been struggling with.


Q. Which dream and dreammaker won the Grand Prix at the 1999 Dream of the Year Awards by a unani­mous vote?


a. “Crossing the Pacific Ocean as a Killer Whale” by Kick Slumberb.

b. “Living as My Parents for a Week” by Yasnoozz Otrac.

c. “Floating in Space Gazing Down on Earth” by Wawa Sleeplandd.

d. “Teatime with a Historical Figure” by Dojee.

e. “An Infertile Couple’s Dream Foretelling the Birth of Triplets” by Babynap Rockabye


Penny chews on her pen cap. The question is tricky: 1999 was a long time ago. Young dream directors like Kick Slumber or Wawa Sleepland might not be correct. She strikes out those two choices with her pen. When did Yasnoozz Otra’s “Living as My Parents for a Week” come out? If Penny’s memory serves, it was fairly recent. Otra’s dreams usually receive heavy prerelease promotions, and a catchphrase from their ads is still vivid in her memory. “Still bothering to scold your kids? Make them live like you for a week in a dream, and everything is solved!”


Penny wavers between the two remaining options and finally goes with “e.,” Babynap Rockabye’s “An Infer­tile Couple’s Dream Foretelling the Birth of Triplets.” She reaches to take another sip of coffee when, out of nowhere, a furry paw slaps down on her question sheet, catching her so off guard that she nearly knocks over the mug.


“No, the answer is a,” says the owner of the big paw without an introduction.


Buy a dream at Dollergut Dream Department Store! Choose from the 5 mentioned in the prologue of the book, and write a short story in which you “create” your dream.


The next “Dreammaker” Grand Prix can be yours!

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