The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

30.5 - DLM Rose's Task - Virtual Block Party
Summer in my (DLM Rose's) neighborhood means potluck barbecues where each family brings a dish to share.
Identify your signature dish - it can be a food or beverage (someone needs to bring the margaritas!)
Choose 2:
A. Read a fiction book with a food or beverage in the title - the item could be the dish itself
Lemon Meringue Pie Murder or or an ingredient in your dish such as Lime Tree Can't Bear Orange: A Novel (for those margaritas!).
B. Read a novel with recipes (EXAMPLE:Like Water for Chocolate).
C. Read a food-related non-fiction book (non-cookbook). (EXAMPLE: The End of Food)
D. Read a cookbook related to your dish. (EXAMPLE: Margaritas, Mojitos & More)

Include your contribution to the party in your post, and let us know what makes your recipe stand out.

If you need suggestions OR have suggestions for books to read for this task post them here.

Wonderful task!
One question about the last part "include your contribution to the party.....". Do we include the actual recipe in our post or just mention what the dish is?

Petra wrote: "Wonderful task!
One question about the last part "include your contribution to the party.....". Do we include the actual recipe in our post or just mention what the dish is?"

As much as you are willing to share- some neighbor's won't give up their "secret" recipes- and if you don't cook and you bring wine or beer- name names and explain your choice

regarding option A- the title must include an ingredient in your dish

Love this task! It is making me hungry for a nice summer potluck :)I wonder what my friends are doing tonight...

Question- do we have to make sure our dish is not a duplicate of someone else's? That might make it a little tricksier...

Nicole wrote: "Question- do we have to make sure our dish is not a duplicate of someone else's? That might make it a little tricksier..."

nope, we once had a potluck and ended up with 10 plates of deviled eggs, a pot of baked beans, and a tray of brownies- we sent the guys out for hamburgers and had a great time- there was a little competition over the eggs...

Okay...I am bringing my yummy Weight Watchers Potato Salad (red potatoes and skins on!!!)

So can I read:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table

Nicole wrote: "Okay...I am bringing my yummy Weight Watchers Potato Salad (red potatoes and skins on!!!)

So can I read:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and [book:Tender at the Bo..."

And you are emailing me the recipe, lol. :o)

I'm doing that as well Nicole!

Nicole wrote: "Okay...I am bringing my yummy Weight Watchers Potato Salad (red potatoes and skins on!!!)

So can I read:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and Tender at the Bo..."</i>

They both work- and I enjoyed both books. Reichl's [book:Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise and Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table were very good too.

Dlmrose wrote: "Nicole wrote: "Okay...I am bringing my yummy Weight Watchers Potato Salad (red potatoes and skins on!!!)

So can I read:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and [boo..."
Yes! I read Garlic and Sapphires for the current challenge! Loved it!

... C. Read a food-related non-fiction book (non-cookbook). ...

Is a book about wine okay for C.?

Ummm how do you read a cookbook?

Jayme wrote: "Ummm how do you read a cookbook?"

With lots of drool, if it's the right cookbook.

Actually, I read the ingredients and sort of mentally taste them. Read the instructions and see how many bowls and pans it takes. Think about how a recipe might fit into my life. Look at the pictures, if any, and think cynical thoughts of the way it would turn out if I cooked it.
And I love cookbooks that include little stories from the author about the recipes. Cookbooks are good bedtime reading.

pjreads wrote: "... C. Read a food-related non-fiction book (non-cookbook). ...

Is a book about wine okay for C.?"

Wine books would be fine

Donna Jo wrote: "Actually, I read the ingredients and sort of mentally taste them. Read the instructions and see how many bowls and pans it takes. Think about how a recipe might fit into my life. Look at the pic..."

That's the way I read them too- and some have lots of exposition on their food philosphy, history, becoming a chef/cook/baker/restauranteur

Dlmrose wrote: "pjreads wrote: "... C. Read a food-related non-fiction book (non-cookbook). ...

Is a book about wine okay for C.?"

Wine books would be fine"

Thanks!

Does anyone know if The School of Essential Ingredients has recipes in it? If so, I was thinking of using it for B.

Liz wrote: "Does anyone know if The School of Essential Ingredients has recipes in it? If so, I was thinking of using it for B."

It has been a while since I read it, but I don't think so. I did find this on a blog "The one thing I would have liked to add to the book was the actual recipes for some of the delicious-sounding food that was made in the book." http://www.devourerofbooks.com/
The author did put them on her website.

Jayme wrote: "Ummm how do you read a cookbook?"

That's easy.. cookbooks you read, recipe books you reference. They are very different. :D

Wow! This thread is making me hungry!

The Book Lover's Cookbook by Shaunda Kennedy Wenger, Janet Jensen (Hardback, 352 pages) has got to fit in somewhere .... Part C or D? Probably D since the emphasis is on the recipes.

The subtitle:
Recipes inspired by Celebrated Works of Literature and the Passages that Feature them.

The Book Lover's Cookbook is on my to-read list, but it was not really related to my recipe of choice, so I picked something else.

My recipe is Corn Tomato Avacado Salad. I am going to read Heirloom: Notes from an Accidental Tomato Farmer - I heard a VERY interesting story about this guy on NPR, and Simply In Season, which comes from a cookbook series I have heard tons about.

If your recipe features tomatoes a novel which would work for A would be Tomato Rhapsody: A Novel of Love, Lust, and Forbidden Fruit Adam Schell

For Part A, if your recipe features tomatoes there is also: The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden by William Alexander

or Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

I will probably use The Master and Margarita

Other suggestions:

Olive Kitteridge
The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Ella Minnow Pea
I Was Told There'd Be Cake
I Am the Cheese
The Tortilla Curtain
A Clockwork Orange
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
Five Quarters of the Orange
Eliot's Banana
Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table
Consider the Lobster: And Other Essays
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist's Quest to Discover if Her Life Makes Her Ass Look Big, or Why Pie is Not the Answer
I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell
Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea
Tortilla Flat
Watermelon
In Watermelon Sugar
The Watermelon King
Sushi for Beginners
The Sugar Queen
May Contain Nuts
The Silence of the Lambs
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
Holidays on Ice
Misery Loves Cabernet
Marshmallows for Breakfast
The House on Mango Street
A Mango-Shaped Space
The Grapes of Wrath

Would these two fit two of the categories?

Roadfood Sandwiches: Recipes and Lore from Our Favorite Shops Coast to Coast

Roadfood: The Coast-to-Coast Guide to 700 of the Best Barbecue Joints, Lobster Shacks, Ice Cream Parlors, Highway Diners, and Much, Much More

Planning on choclate chip cookies:
A. The Sugar Queen
B. Like Water for Chocolate

Sarah PA wrote: "Would these two fit two of the categories?

Roadfood Sandwiches: Recipes and Lore from Our Favorite Shops Coast to Coast

Roadfood: The Coast-to-Coast Guide to 700 of the Be..."</i>

The Sandwich book seems to be more of a cookbook- so if you were bringing a sandwich platter or something similar that would work for D. Roadfood would work for C. I just read their latest book [book:500 Things To Eat Before It's Too Late: and the Very Best Places To Eat Them- it was fun

Deedee wrote: "
The Book Lover's Cookbook by Shaunda Kennedy Wenger, Janet Jensen (Hardback, 352 pages) has got to fit in somewhere .... Part C or D? ..."

Deedee wrote: "
The Book Lover's Cookbook by Shaunda Kennedy Wenger, Janet Jensen (Hardback, 352 pages) has got to fit in somewhere .... Part C or D? ..."

If you can connect it to your dish it would work for D

I am planning on "bringing" our signature Pineapple Jalapeno Margaritas to the block party--they are totally yummy. For (a) I was planning to read Ice Land. I had a question about (d) -- does the recipe need to appear in the cocktail cookbook I choose, could any cocktail or Mexican/Southwestern cookbook count?

Colleen wrote: "I am planning on "bringing" our signature Pineapple Jalapeno Margaritas to the block party--they are totally yummy. For (a) I was planning to read Ice Land. I had a question about (d..."

Your recipe doesn't need to appear, it just needs to relate. Your ideas for the other cookbooks are both fine. When you post, tell us what makes your recipe stand out (and if you don't mind- post that recipe!)

Does Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain count as a non-fiction food-related book?

I think I'll go with The Various Flavours of Coffee by Anthony Capella for Part A since coffee is the "secret ingredient" for my contribution. For Part C, I'm torn between Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated Into What America Eats and Fast Food Nation.

Am I correct? Part C does not have to relate to our contributions?

Katie wrote: "Does Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain count as a non-fiction food-related book?"

yes

Jennifer L. wrote: "I think I'll go with The Various Flavours of Coffee by Anthony Capella for Part A since coffee is the "secret ingredient" for my contribution. For Part C, I'm torn between [book:Twi..."

C doesn't have to relate directly- it just relates to food

B doesn't have to relate directly either- just via "recipes" It is too hard to determine content without reading the book first

I've read both of your options for C- IMO the ratings are pretty accurate - 3.11 for Twinkie (that's generous- lots of 2's) and 3.7 for Fast Food.

For part C I think I'll read Eating Animals or The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.

Some great books I have read about food (these would work for food-related non-fiction):

A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table
Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes
I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti

Just making sure these books fit the requirements:

My recipe is an Asiago Pasta Salad. Do the books I read need to focus on cheese or pasta? Or are Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (Part A) and Eating Animals (Part C) acceptable?

Petra wrote: "Just making sure these books fit the requirements:

My recipe is an Asiago Pasta Salad. Do the books I read need to focus on cheese or pasta? Or are Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (P..."

If you are going to do A an ingredient needs to be in the title- if there are oranges or fruit in the salad, then it will work. If not, then other options for A could be
Pasta Imperfect: A Passport to Peril Mystery or The Sunday Macaroni Club: A Novel

Eating Animals works for C

Is a ready to drink beverage (wine) okay or does there need to be a recipe?

Are these books okay?
A. Plum Wine
C. Red, White, and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass

Thanks, Dlmrose!
Another question: would The Birds Fall Down (birds) be acceptable for a recipe containing poultry (birds)? Or is that too vague?

If people are searching for interesting cookbooks to read, I recommend . Every page has a side bar of interesting information and all the recipes have funny names.

For other enjoyable cookbooks or books related to food, anything by . He rules for learning about food in an entertaining way.

pjreads wrote: "Is a ready to drink beverage (wine) okay or does there need to be a recipe?

Are these books okay?
A. Plum Wine
C. [book:Red, White, and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from..."

Ready to drink works- your choice for A is fine-when you post just be specific and name names. Your choice for C works as well, but you are not limited to wine in that category- any food related non-fiction would work.

Petra wrote: "Thanks, Dlmrose!
Another question: would The Birds Fall Down (birds) be acceptable for a recipe containing poultry (birds)? Or is that too vague?"

I'll take it.

Tomato Girl looks good for Part A.

Here's a few GR lists which may help!

Food-Related NF: http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/13...

Culintary Fiction:
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/14...
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/25...

Dlmrose wrote: "Petra wrote: "Thanks, Dlmrose!
Another question: would The Birds Fall Down (birds) be acceptable for a recipe containing poultry (birds)? Or is that too vague?"

I'll take it."

Thank you!!

I highly recommend Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver and it would work for C.