Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Another question --- green things like basil, chives and oregano...these are herbs, not spices. Is that correct?


Is garlic a spice?


Are toasted sesame seeds a spice?

I'm listening to Book Lovers tomorrow and I used google book search ... there's a ton of food words in this books. Too many to note, so I think I'll just note the trickier food items or the specific items. It does have at least 4 fish

And one more question -- I asked this in the QA thread, but the answer I was given doesn't actually answer the question.

Do you think non-specific words work?

Here was my question:
I have questions about using less specific words. Please assume the sentences came from books with the required page count.

Do the following work:

I think there is some meat in the freezer
Does meat work for sandwiches or curry?

Add some veggies to the soup.
Does veggies work for sandwich, salad, quiche, pasta, curry?

a piece of fruit in the lunchbox
Does fruit work for salad, dessert?


**************

The answer given was basically to just read the directions. I've read the directions but I am still not sure if general words like meat, vegetable, fruit ... as opposed to specific words like chicken, broccoli and banana ... work for the foods that do not require a specific list.

We can only use books starting with Sept 1, correct?

Hayley wrote: "We can only use books starting with Sept 1, correct?"

Yes. We can't start early

16 Hours until the challenge starts. I'm so excited. Who wants to write our "blurb" about our restaurant ?

RESTAURANT NAME
At the start of the challenge, name your restaurant and give a (max. 5 sentence) blurb “about” the restaurant. This may just give you an advantage for round 2….

We will also need someone to write descriptions of meals as we create them....who is good at creative writing?

“At What the Fork, we wish to offer our personal rendition of gourmet cuisine with an innovative gastronomic take on traditional cooking methods, locally sourced produce and the legacy of our shared food heritage. Moreover, we regard it as a personal challenge to provide an eclectic menu and let its distinctive flavors and particular regional character brighten up the world.”

Susan A wrote: "“At What the Fork, we wish to offer our personal rendition of gourmet cuisine with an innovative gastronomic take on traditional cooking methods, locally sourced produce and the legacy of our share..."

Awesome!

Thanks. I did a google search and then tweaked the results. I'm bummed because my son would be excellent at this but he's headed back to college this weekend. Maybe my other two will be good at this and I can nag them when the time comes.

I'm sorry...more questions.

1. For now, do I enter only in this spreadsheet
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...


2. In AUgust, I read 58 books that would work for this challenge, ...so we are absolutely going to meet the 80 book max. Should we consider putting the books that are under 160 pages in a separate part of the spreadsheet? Unless they have a required word....lemon, chicken, salt, vinegar, fish, potato, spice...we are likely to be dropping these books.

1. Yes. I thought we could use that to organize and get the best meals out of what we have before we add it to the Official worksheet.

2. I added an overflow tab to the planning sheet for books under 175 pages. I figured we would max out on the books for Sept for sure and probably the other months where we get more for max books. I didn't read as much in August as I usually do, only 22, but I usually do more than that.

I think that extra tab should be 160 pages or less

up to 2 scavenger words / spell-it out letters per book >50 pages and <=160 pages
up to 4 scavenger words/ spell-it out letters per book >161 and <=300 pages
up to 8 scavenger words/ spell-it out letters per book >301 pages and <=500 pages
up to 12 scavenger words / spell-it-out letters per book >501 pages



And, if we read a book that is under 161 pages, but it has one of the key words we need to find, which sheet do you want the book to be recorded in?

Uggh....this challenge doesn't start until 1 September 2022, 9pm UTC (5pm EST) which means the book I finished doesn't count. And I have to wait 3 hours to start something.

I had started to enter my completed book into the spreadsheet (I did delete) Where do we enter the page for the found the scavenger hunt items? I was looking through other threads and it seems this is required.

Susan A wrote: "I think that extra tab should be 160 pages or less

up to 2 scavenger words / spell-it out letters per book >50 pages and <=160 pages
up to 4 scavenger words/ spell-it out letters per book >161 and..."

I fixed it so it's 160 pages. makes more sense with the split.

Susan A wrote: "Uggh....this challenge doesn't start until 1 September 2022, 9pm UTC (5pm EST) which means the book I finished doesn't count. And I have to wait 3 hours to start something."

I know. I have a book I'm going to re-read for hunt and I know it has lots of food in it. I'm waiting to start anything new for 3 more hours.

Thank you all for the hard work. I thought I was late at starting my book.

I marked 3 books as currently reading this morning but never actually started any of them. The baby I watch is cutting her first tooth and wasn’t happy at all today. Needless to say nothing was done but cuddling and playing with a baby. Should I change the dates or do you guys think they’re okay?

Steph wrote: "I marked 3 books as currently reading this morning but never actually started any of them. The baby I watch is cutting her first tooth and wasn’t happy at all today. Needless to say nothing was don..."

I think they are ok...there isn't a time stamp and furthermore, you have now noted here that you didn't start early.

April wrote: "Thank you all for the hard work. I thought I was late at starting my book."

lol me too when i saw people saying they had already read all kinds of books. I thought, wait did i miss something

I read (listened) Grabbed 172 pages -- so 4 items from this book

This is what i found

3% turmeric
5% spice
29% egg
31% chicken
31% chicken
31% chili
31% spaghetti
31% beef
31% corn
31% beans
84% garlic
84% garlic
84% bread
84% bread
84% lasagna
84% lasagna
coffee, water was in the book- I can look this up in calibre if we need it
There was more, but we can only use 4 and this covers most of the different types of foods.

There's no where in the tab named Round 1 books to put the location/page number. Do we need to keep track of this?



How are the rest of you keeping track?

For this book, I searched for words inside first. Make a note in my spreadsheet. Then I had a piece of paper that I made notes on for the things I missed. Then I typed it into my spreadsheet. Next I'll have to put in in the practice sheet...and then the real sheet? I think I am making this too hard. I haven't done a scavenger hunt type challenge in years, so if you know a better way, please advise.

I track in the notes app while reading. Then I transfer everything when I'm finished with the book. I'm reading my books for SH first this month and will track whatever I find in those first. I just finished one and tracked food items but forgot to track page numbers so I'll have to go back in and do that. I'm still a little unsure how to use the spreadsheet so I'll probably wait to enter anything even on the practice one until there are some more books logged.

I'm low key mad at myself though. I found vinegar in a book a few days ago. Got excited then remembered the reread rule is 6 months lol

Susan A wrote: "I read (listened) Grabbed 172 pages -- so 4 items from this book

This is what i found

3% turmeric
5% spice
29% egg
31% chicken
31% chicken
31% chili
31% spaghetti
31% beef
31% co..."

When I do hunt challenges I usually search for the words first and then enjoy the reading of the book. Given we will for surely max out on the books each month I don't think we need to worry about missing a general word. The items that would be hard, like vinegar, would be nice to note.

I think we could add the page # next to the item on the Round 1 Books tab.

We don't all need to move items to the official spreadsheet, I figured I would do that. Having the planning spreadsheet allows us to move items around to make the "best" menu for our restaurant.

I'm kinda making this up as I go since I have never played this before.

I am def okay with you managing the official spreadsheet, Lisa! No complaints from me haha

Steph wrote: "I'm low key mad at myself though. I found vinegar in a book a few days ago. Got excited then remembered the reread rule is 6 months lol"

I know the feeling. I read a book with a guy who lived in the woods for years and hasn't had "regular" food so they go and try lots of things like burgers and ice cream and all that stuff.

Thanks for the tips.

And…. What was the vinegar book and the lots of foods book?

Susan A wrote: "Thanks for the tips.

And…. What was the vinegar book and the lots of foods book?"

The vinegar book is Home Grown Talent

I added a few books. PLease take a look when you have a minute. If a word was repeated I did this

coconut 2x 61 85

Meaning coconut on page 61 and page 85

...but you can't always see that because of the column width.

DO you want me to list them separately?



I'm shocked by the amount of food items I've found. These were just books I planned for the Harry Potter challenge. I don't know if it was luck or if I just never noticed the amount of food amounts in books.


Also, I have so many food items, that I didn't bother with the spellout. I can go back and add it, but I defintely won't have any extra character names

I have 2 books finished and didn't log any pages. I got so excited to have an alone day for the first time in around a year I just spaced. Going back in and tracking pages and will enter onto the spreadsheet.

I'm going through and finding the meals in the book I'm reading. he describes them nicely.

chicken tortilla soup topped with diced avocado, shredded monterey jack cheese, a sprinkling of cilantro and spicy tortilla strips

In the spreadsheet I added pg 41 - soup and then used this as the description. I think because they describe it that way we can use the whole meal with just the one word. Good thing cause this book only allows for 4 and he cooks a lot.

CRAP. Soup is not an item we can use. I know it also has at least one sandwich and one pasta dish.

I think we could also track the descriptions. Or is anyone good at that? I would have a hard time coming up with a description that was anything other than a list of ingredients.

For example Thick Roast Beef Sandwich with Carmelized Onions and gooey cheese.

I would have said roast beef sandwich with onion and cheese...

MN Lisa wrote: "I'm going through and finding the meals in the book I'm reading. he describes them nicely.

chicken tortilla soup topped with diced avocado, shredded monterey jack cheese, a sprinkling of cilantro..."


Hmm. I don’t think you can say that is one found item and then use it it to fill multiple ingredients

Susan A wrote: "MN Lisa wrote: "I'm going through and finding the meals in the book I'm reading. he describes them nicely.

chicken tortilla soup topped with diced avocado, shredded monterey jack cheese, a sprink..."

Yeah. I just checked and its 3 ingredients towards something.

This book is super short, but has a ton of food items.

I don't think I've ever paid attention to the amount of food and drinks in books before.

I think in this sentence:

chicken tortilla soup topped with diced avocado, shredded monterey jack cheese, a sprinkling of cilantro and spicy tortilla strips

You can count chicken, avocado, cheese, cilanto, tortilla strips (can use this for salad)

and this sentence:
Thick Roast Beef Sandwich with Carmelized Onions and gooey cheese.

works for roast beef, sandwich, onion, cheese


I am not clear whether spices includes herbs like cilantro and basil.

Not sure either on the spices, but spices is used in their example of curry, so I think we can use generic "spices" when making curry?

MN Lisa wrote: "Not sure either on the spices, but spices is used in their example of curry, so I think we can use generic "spices" when making curry?"

yes...the word spice can be used. I saw that answered somewhere. I am not sure if you can use cinnamon...it is a spice, but I have no idead whether it is used in curry. I also don't know if we have to stick to spices that make sense. I did find turmeric..I was so surprised by that....and that can be used in the monthly special for sure. Also, the cloves and coconuts I found can be used there.

I haven't found rice or lemon, and I only found salt once, vinegar not at all. It's early days of course, but I've found so much food, I'm surprised by this.

There are hella characters and food in Prepared. As far as the food stuffs go from what's already been entered there isn't anything different than what's already there. Should I enter that book as a spell?

I'm still kind of confused on how to play this game so will be asking a lot of questions this first month lol

Before I start the book, I look for:
chicken, fish, lemon, salt, vinegar, spice, cinnamon, cloves, potato and rice

If I strike out there (I haven't yet), I look for the words eat and food to see if anything eligible shows up around those words

And also coffee and water

Steph wrote: "There are hella characters and food in Prepared. As far as the food stuffs go from what's already been entered there isn't anything different than what's already there. Should I ent..."

based on the chatter I've spied on in other threads...no. A good strategy is, you only use spell if you can't find food words. We should be making multiple meals and of course we've found lots, but we can't use it all. SO we might use the 5 fish I found in Book Lovers and the spices, but none of the potatoes...so we'd need potatoes from another book.

Looking at the spreadsheet, we need to delete some items


We need to pay attention to page count. Some words are only accepted for certain page count books

- desserts are accepted from books over 500 pages

And drinks (alcohol and soft drinks) are only accepted from 500+ pages books as well.


The exception is coffee and tea
◈ coffee (coffee or anything coffee related, e.g. latte) ; milk, sugar, cream, water
◈ tea(tea, milk, sugar, water, cream) Note for scavenger hunt only: Must contain at least tea and water. Other items are optional.

Then there is a group of words that are good for books 161 pages plus.

Copied from directions

Fresh meals (must be used within the month - page count of 50 pages or more. No restriction on using children's, graphic novels, etc.)

◈ sandwiches items which would be suitable on a sandwich (for example: bread, butter, lettuce, tomato, ham, chicken, salami, cheese, carrot, cucumber, salt, pepper, beetroot or beets, gherkins or pickles, peanut butter, jam or jelly, vegemite, mustard, honey, pastrami, devon, egg, bacon)
Sandwiches have a minimum of 7 and maximum of 10 items.
◈ fish and chips (fish, or any types of fish, potato, salt, lemon) Note for scavenger hunt only: Must contain all these items (4), add vinegar for bonus points.
Fish and chips have a minimum of 4 and maximum of 5 items.
◈ coffee (coffee or anything coffee related, e.g. latte) ; milk, sugar, cream, water) Can be items to make a coffee, the word coffee, or just a coffee word (e.g. "cappuccino").
Coffee has a minimum of 1 and maximum of 6 items.
◈ tea(tea, milk, sugar, water, cream) Note for scavenger hunt only: Must contain at least tea and water. Other items are optional.
Tea has a minimum of 2 and maximum of 4 items.
◈ salad (e.g. salad, lettuce, cucumber, any cheese, tomato, olives, carrot, cucumber, beans, peas, nuts, pear)
Salads have a minimum of 5 and maximum of 15 items.

Frozen meals Can be used in the following month. Page count of 160+. No graphic novels, cookbooks, poetry or childrens books unless audio version is more than 5 hours or wordcount can be verified with arbookfind as more than 40,000 words
◈ pasta (e.g. pasta types, cheese, cream, salt, pepper, chicken, chilli, basil, tomato, garlic)
Pasta have a minimum of 7 and maximum of 10 items.
◈ quiche (e.g. eggs, bacon, leeks, ham, spinach, salt, pepper, pastry)
Quiche have a minimum of 6 and maximum of 10 items.
◈ curries (e.g. beef, lamb, chicken, lentils, potato, sweet potato, carrot, beans, curry powder or paste, turmeric, chilli, cloves, coriander, cumin, ginger, garlic)
Curries have a minimum of 10 and maximum of 15 items.

Desserts, drinks and cocktails ; can be shelved/frozen and used at any point through the challenge. 500+pages. No children's, poetry, graphic novels, plays, cookbooks.
◈ Champagne, wine, liqueur, beer (generic term or a specific brand/type)
◈ Chocolate, fruit, marshmallow, ice cream, custard or any dessert (generic term or a specific type, e.g. “tart”)
◈ Water, Juice, soda, soft drinks (generic term or a specific type, for e.g. Lemonade)
Desserts, drinks and cocktails have a minimum of 1 and maximum of 5 items.


Monthly Special . For Month 1, this is a fresh item which much be used in the month created.
◈ Fijian Chicken Curry (chicken, spice(s) (generic term or a specific type), tomato, coconut milk, chutney, roti, chilli, rice. Must contain chicken, spice(s) and rice. This dish has a minimum of 6 and maximum of 8 items.

Ok. I updated the books I have so far and removed the desserts and anything not coffee or tea from them.

I do have an almost 600 page book coming up and I know its got a few desserts and drinks in it. I'll concentrate on those when I get to that. I also think is has Fish and Chips in it, but not sure.

Sorry, I'm a little bit late. I'm at Dragon Con this weekend so I won't have much reading time till Tuesday.

I'm tracking ingredients in a notepad I have dedicated to the challenge. I just mark down food/pg. number as I go.

OK.

I looked at what we had and we had enough for Fish and Chips, so I filled out that meal and shop front in the planning spreadsheet.

I think I did that right, so take a look when you get some time. I'll highlight the items used in red to indicate they have been used.

Vian wrote: "Sorry, I'm a little bit late. I'm at Dragon Con this weekend so I won't have much reading time till Tuesday.

I'm tracking ingredients in a notepad I have dedicated to the challenge. I just mark do..."

You've played this before?

MN Lisa wrote: "You've played this before?"

Yes, I played it the last time they did this challenge.

Vian wrote: "MN Lisa wrote: "You've played this before?"

Yes, I played it the last time they did this challenge."

Oh Great. You can let us know if we are doing things wrong. :) Most of us have never played before so we are kinda winging it right now.

No worries. I was just looking at the planning sheet. So far the only thing I noticed that was off was the meal number, which I fixed. This challenge seems complicated at the start but once you get going it evens out.

The big thing to keep an eye on (which got mentioned up thread) is the number of pages vs meal type.

I'm only online for a bit right now, but I'll try to better look over the planning sheet when I next jump back online.

Well dang. I wish I'd have seen the list of foods we actually need before I finished my last book 😂Will def make it easier to find the stuff I didn't track though

Quick question.

Is 'fries' acceptable for potato?

Steph wrote: "Well dang. I wish I'd have seen the list of foods we actually need before I finished my last book 😂Will def make it easier to find the stuff I didn't track though"


Keep in mind that just because it is not on the list doesn't mean we can't use it. Some meals do require specific items -- the fish and chips, and the monthly meal. But the other meals we have leeway -- onion isn't on any list, but we if we find it we can add it to anything that makes sense -- the sandwich, quiche, curry (I think it makes sense here), salad.