You are learning future perfect: you will read the scene it happens in, learn 10 words and phrases, take apart the pattern behind them (future perfect (will have + past participle)), hear them in a conversation, rehearse them, and finish by saying one thing out loud to be graded.
Eleven Madison Park, Flatiron District, spring evening
At the start of the year, I made myself a promise: by December, I will have eaten at every Michelin-starred restaurant in New York City. Tonight is number eight — Eleven Madison Park.
The restaurant has reinvented itself. The entire tasting menu is plant-based now. By the time I finish the third course — a glazed carrot that tastes richer than any steak I've had — I will have changed my mind about vegetable-forward fine dining.
My friend thinks I'm crazy. 'By next month, you'll have spent your entire savings on food,' she texts. Maybe. But by this time next year, I'll have experienced something most people only read about. I'll have learned how New York's best chefs think about flavor.
The final course arrives: a sunflower butter dessert with lavender honey. By the time I leave tonight, I will have crossed off another milestone. Twenty more to go. By summer, I'll have finished the list. Or I'll have gone broke trying.