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Duck Soup and Duolingo
Nov. 17th, 2025 11:31 pmYesterday I hosted a lunch-dinner ("linner") in honour of the anniversary of the screening of the classic 1933 Marx brother's film "Duck Soup", which was not only prescient at the time but also has some serious parallels for contemporary times; "Hail, hail, Freedonia, land of the brave and free". The movie, except for the title scene, doesn't actually feature any ducks because, in the idiomatic language of the time, it meant something easy rather than a literal soup (see also the Laurel and Hardy film of the same name in 1927). However, that didn't stop me producing an international feast spanning the day using ducks from Thailand to produce Mexican Gazpacho with Duck, Kerala Duck Masala, Cantonese Duck Soup, Malay Peranakan Duck Laksa, French Garbure Duck Stew, American Roast Duck Song, Polish Czernina Duck Blood Soup, along with Senegalese Duck Chocolate Dates and, of course, Fluffy Duck cocktails, with the evening concluding with a screening of the film.
With about a dozen attendees, there was one moment where I realised I had more guests than chairs, and I was concerned whether I had made enough food (my guests would disagree). Despite my errors in calculation, the company and conversation were absolutely superb, scintillating even, probably because I have mostly followed Seneca's advice for selecting friends (albeit unconsciously) for most of my life. Special thanks are due to Anthony L., for producing the Catonese duck soup (he is both Cantonese and really knows how to cook), whereas he American Roast Duck Song (not a soup) is derived from the famous Youtube song; I'll probably make my own video in the near future of this recipe. Maybe I can find a friendly musician to add a tune to it. In any case, the sufficient variety has led me to put up a series of recipes and photos to honour this day.
In other international news that is not duck-related, I have completed the skill tree for Duolingo Spanish, just as the final section's units increased from 34 to 180 units, which is frankly a bit much. Still, it must be said that Spanish is a language in which Duolingo does a pretty good job, partially because of the geographical proximity and the number of learners, ergo the corporate effort. According to their CEFR values, completing the course puts on in the high B2 category, which is possibly true on the written level but also requires a great deal of spoken exposure to the experience, which hopefully I will be getting in a few weeks with my inaugural grand tour of South America.
With about a dozen attendees, there was one moment where I realised I had more guests than chairs, and I was concerned whether I had made enough food (my guests would disagree). Despite my errors in calculation, the company and conversation were absolutely superb, scintillating even, probably because I have mostly followed Seneca's advice for selecting friends (albeit unconsciously) for most of my life. Special thanks are due to Anthony L., for producing the Catonese duck soup (he is both Cantonese and really knows how to cook), whereas he American Roast Duck Song (not a soup) is derived from the famous Youtube song; I'll probably make my own video in the near future of this recipe. Maybe I can find a friendly musician to add a tune to it. In any case, the sufficient variety has led me to put up a series of recipes and photos to honour this day.
In other international news that is not duck-related, I have completed the skill tree for Duolingo Spanish, just as the final section's units increased from 34 to 180 units, which is frankly a bit much. Still, it must be said that Spanish is a language in which Duolingo does a pretty good job, partially because of the geographical proximity and the number of learners, ergo the corporate effort. According to their CEFR values, completing the course puts on in the high B2 category, which is possibly true on the written level but also requires a great deal of spoken exposure to the experience, which hopefully I will be getting in a few weeks with my inaugural grand tour of South America.
