Idioms about food

Bob works hard to bring his home the bacon and put bread and butter on his home’s table. Every morning, he drags himself to his desk at the bank and faces his tedious ten hours a day job. His boss, Mark, is a bad egg but has somehow taken a liking to Bob. So he always speaks well of Bob in front of Mr. David, the owner and a big cheese of the company.
bring home the bacon: a person who earns the money his family lives on. 養家糊口的人
bread and butter：things that affect persons directly in very important ways or means of supporting livelihood essentially 生計最基本的東西，可以說是柴米油鹽
bad egg: bad person 壞蛋
big cheese: the most important person 重要的人物
鮑勃努力工作來養家糊口，維持生計。每天早上，他都不得不拖著疲憊的身體去銀行上班，開始一天10個小時的枯燥工作。他的上司馬克是個壞蛋，但是對鮑勃還不錯，經常在大老板大衛生生面前夸獎鮑勃。

Mark tells Mr. David that Bob is the cream of the crop and one smart cookie who uses his noodles. Mark likes to chew the fat with Bob during the coffee break and discusses half-baked company plans of the company with him because he trusts Bob and knows that Bob won’t spill the bean behind his back. On these occasions, Bob tries to avoid any hot potato.
the cream of the crop: somebody is the best in one field 出類拔萃的人才
smart cookie: very smart 聰明，會辦事
use somebody’s noodle: use your smarts 動腦子
chew the fat: talk leisurely 閑聊
half baked: still in process 半熟， 未完成
spill the bean: reveal a secret accidentally 泄密
hot potato: problems that are difficult to handle棘手的事
馬克告訴大衛先生，鮑勃畜類拔出，會辦事，愛動腦子。馬克喜歡空閑喝咖啡時跟鮑勃閑聊，討論公司那些尚未完成的計劃，因為他知道鮑勃不會外泄。在這種情況下，鮑勃也盡量不去招惹他。

Even if Mark isn’t his cup of tea, Bob makes efforts to butter him up by leading Mark into the discussions of electronic gadgets which Mark is nuts about. Bob really thinks that Mart is out to lunch and as nuts as fruit cake. But in a nut shell, if he polishes the apple, his job could become a piece of cake and maybe one day he will find his gravy train.
butter somebody up: flatter 拍馬屁
be nuts about: be crazy about 癡迷
out to lunch: crazy 瘋子
fruit cake: strange people 怪人
in a nut shell: in short 總的來說
polish the apple: please somebody 討好，獻媚
gravy train: a easy job with good salary 美差
盡管鮑勃不喜歡馬克，他還是盡力去巴結馬克，會刻意去跟馬克討論電子裝備的話題，因為馬克對電子裝備特別癡迷。其實，鮑勃個人認為馬克就是個瘋子。不過，總的來說，如果他去巴結馬克，他的工作會輕松起來，說不定還會討一個美差呢。