Welcome to the English we speak with me Phil and me Faye We have an expression which means to carefully plan an idea

It's cook up an idea cook up an idea. So are there any ideas that you've been cooking up Phil?

Yes, it's my son's birthday soon and I'm trying to cook up a party idea that he'll really like.

Children can be hard to please, so I hope you can cook up a good idea.

Don't worry. I've been thinking about this for months. It takes time to cook up an idea this well. It's going to be a surprise party.

Oh, I love surprise parties. I threw a surprise party for my parents last year.

It was amazing, but I spent a long time cooking up the idea.

It's a great expression because it sounds like you're putting lots of ingredients

together to make something special. Yes, sometimes you need a lot of things to cook up an idea.

It can be hard work. Let's hear some more examples.

Don't disturb her. She's working on her own to cook up an idea for our project.

You've always wanted to start up a company. I'm glad you've managed to cook up this idea.

I didn't know how we were going to see all those places in one day,

but I hadn't realized Paolo had been cooking up a plan.

It was amazing.

You're listening to the English we speak from BBC Learning English and we're learning

the expression cook up an idea which is an informal way

to say to carefully plan something. You can cook up an idea or cook up a plan. The word cook is important because it implies that care and

effort have gone into the plan. You could say that the best plans have many

ingredients and that you have to combine them in the right way.

That's why the best ideas can take some time to cook up.

That reminds me, I've got a couple of friends visiting and they don't really like each other but I've cooked up a plan

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