Tea and Toast — 2 of 31

Chapter - Things in the Kitchen

A thing can be significant or insignificant. A thing is usually significant.

A tchotchke is a kind of thing. A tchotchke is usually insignificant.

The Kitchen is a room.

The countertop is a supporter in the Kitchen. Understand "counter" or "counters" or "top" as the countertop.

The wall is scenery in the Kitchen. Two PS-sockets are part of the wall. Understand "outlet" as the wall.

For printing the name of the wall when plugging or unplugging: say "wall outlet". The description of the wall is "The most important thing about the wall is that you can plug things into it."

An electric kettle is a device on the countertop. Every device incorporates a PS-plug. The description of a PS-plug is usually "When plugged into a socket, it allows electricity to flow to an appliance." The description of a PS-socket is usually "You can plug plugs into the wall here."

A toaster is a container on the countertop. The toaster can be switched on or switched off. The toaster incorporates a PS-plug. The carrying capacity of the toaster is 2.

A bread knife is on the countertop. The bread knife is privately-named. Understand "breadknife" or "bread knife" or "knife" as the bread knife. [So "bread" doesn't keep disambiguating to the ding bing bread knife.] The description of the bread knife is "The bread knife has serrated edges like waves on the lake." Understand "serrated" or "edges" as the bread knife.

Waves on the lake is insignificant scenery in the kitchen. Before doing anything when the current action involves the waves on the lake: say "You can't actually see the lake from here." instead.

A breadbox is a closed openable container on the countertop. A loaf of bread is in the breadbox. Understand "box" or "bread" as the breadbox. [Gonna have to use Disambiguation Control rules to choose the loaf or bread slices over it.] The description of the breadbox is "It's as big as a breadbox." The description of the loaf of bread is "A bumpy homemade loaf, mushrooming out at the top where it overflowed the bread pan." Understand "bumpy" or "homemade" or "home-made" as the loaf.

A bread slice is a kind of thing. There are four bread slices. Understand "of" as a bread slice. A bread slice can be toasted or untoasted. A bread slice is usually untoasted. There is a toasted bread slice. [This lets "think about toast" work and is a bit of a hack.] Understand "toast" as a bread slice when the item described is toasted. Understand "toast" as a bread slice when thinking about. The printed name of a bread slice is "slice of [if toasted]toast[otherwise]bread[end if]". [This is going to lead to bugs if there are both HEY THIS IS THE COMMENT THAT I ABANDONED IN THE MIDDLE AT RELEASE TIME toasted and untoasted bread slices together in the player's inventory, as Inform will try to pluralize them . ]

Understand "slices" as the plural of a bread slice. The printed plural name of a bread slice is "slices of [if the item described is toasted]toast[otherwise]bread[end if]". The description of the bread slice is "[if untoasted]A bit crumbly[otherwise]Nicely toasted[end if]."

A tea tin is a container on the countertop. Some loose tea is a thing in the tea tin. The loose tea is singular-named. The indefinite article of the loose tea is "some". The description of the tea tin is "A twee little thing, in the shape of an open-topped red trolley, filled with loose tea." Understand "twee" or "little" or "trolley" or "red" or "open-topped" or "open" or "topped" as the tea tin. The description of the loose tea is "Loose tea, you're not quite sure what kind."

A tea strainer is a container on the countertop. The description is "It's like a pair of tongs with a mesh ball at the end." Understand "tongs" or "pair" or "of" or "ball" as the tea strainer.

Some tea leaves are a thing. [This is going to be what winds up in the tea strainer when you put loose tea in it.] The tea leaves can be dry, steeping, or used (this is its consistency property). The tea leaves are dry. The description of the leaves is "[if dry]Dry tea leaves, ready for their apotheosis into tea[otherwise if steeping]The tea leaves are happily leaching their essence into the hot water[otherwise if used]The tea leaves are quite soggy now[end if]."

A stove is a scenery supporter in the kitchen. The stove can be switched on or switched off. The description of the stove is "You don't actually need to do anything with the stove to make your tea; the electric kettle will do fine."

A cabinet is a fixed in place closed openable container in the kitchen. Understand "cabinets", "shelf", or "shelves" as the cabinet.

A teacup is a kind of container. Four teacups are in the cabinet. Understand "cup", "tea cup", "of tea", or "mug" as a teacup. Understand "cups" or "mugs" as the plural of a teacup. The description of the teacup is "Plain and brown, with a simple loop of a handle."

A koosh is a tchotchke in the cabinet. The description of the koosh is "Sort of a rubber hairball. You're not sure what it[if the item described in the cabinet][']s[otherwise] was[end if] doing in the cabinet." Understand "rubber" or "hairball" as the koosh.

A sink is a fixed in place thing in the kitchen. The sink can be switched on or switched off. Understand "spigot" or "faucet" as the sink.

A rice cooker is a tchotchke in the kitchen. The home of the rice cooker is the sink. The rice cooker incorporates one PS-plug. The description of the rice cooker is "You left it to dry after cooking the rice last night." The rice cooker can be switched on.

Check filling the rice cooker with something: say "You don't need to make rice this morning." instead.

Check plugging the rice cooker into something: say "The rice cooker will just set itself to warm the empty air inside it, and what good would that do?" instead.

Check switching on the unplugged rice cooker: say "If the rice cooker were plugged in and filled with rice and water, you could switch it from warm mode to cook mode. But there's no need to plug it in, or fill it with water, let alone rice."

The Chopster is a tchotchke in the kitchen. The home of the Chopster is the sink. The description of the Chopster is "The Chopster is a surprisingly useful miniature food processor. It's currently disassembled and drying out." The Chopster incorporates one PS-plug. Understand "miniature" or "food" or "processor" or "pieces" or "rubber" or "seal" as the Chopster. The indefinite article of the Chopster is "the".

Before doing anything other than examining when the current action involves the Chopster: say "The Chopster is in too many pieces to put together right now, and you don't need to chop anything, as much fun as it would be." instead.

A table is a supporter in the kitchen.

A teapot is a container on the table. Understand "pot" or "tea pot" as the teapot. The description of the teapot is "A really impossibly twee object, in the form of a red London double decker bus with an elephant-trunk spout[one of][or]. It's labeled 'THE T POTTS BUS CO,' for heaven's sake[or][stopping]." Understand "red" or "london" or "double" or "decker" or "bus" or "elephant" or "trunk" or "elephant-trunk" or "spout" or "t" or "potts" or "co" as the teapot. [Note to self; don't write descriptions that long again.]

The Complete Poems of Elizabeth Bishop is a tchotchke on the table. The description is "What you always notice is its salmon color." The indefinite article of Complete Poems of Elizabeth Bishop is "The". Understand "book" or "salmon" or "color" or "collected" [I keep saying "collected" instead of "complete"] or "poem" or "Lily's" [lily's book] as The Complete Poems of Elizabeth Bishop.

Lily's wallet is a tchotchke on the table. It is proper-named. The description of Lily's wallet is "Lily's wallet, open to the university ID that doubles as her bus pass." Understand "ID" or "bus pass" or "university" as Lily's wallet.

The refrigerator is insignificant scenery in the kitchen. Understand "fridge" as the refrigerator.

Before when the current action involves the refrigerator: say "Lily has used a magnetic poetry set to spell out 'not implemented yet' on the refrigerator door. Where did she get a magnetic poetry set with 'implemented' in it?" instead.

The floor is privately-named scenery in the kitchen. [For accounting for things that aren't near anything major.]

The void is a thing. [For accounting for things that aren't even in the room, or are liquids, or something.]

Maria is a woman in the kitchen. The player is Maria. The description of Maria is "You're awake and mostly conscious[first time]. It's a gift[only]."