Dining Terms
This term refers to a menu with separately priced items.
What is à la carte? In the United States, you can order à la carte from most menus. Prix fixe, or all-inclusive meals, from appetizers to dessert, are often found in high-end restaurants.
What country hosted the first Winter Olympics, in 1924?
France. The Chamonix events featured 260 athletes from 16 countries.
This visual line separates the ocean from the sky.
What is horizon? The water doesn’t really meet the sky on the horizon; it’s an optical illusion. The beach is a great place to see the horizon unobscured.
What kind of animal was “Dolly,” the cloned animal that made headlines in 1997?
Sheep. Dolly was born on July 5, 1996, in Scotland. She was not the first cloned animal, but the first one cloned from an adult cell.
This was given as a gift of liberty to the United States from France
What is the Statue of Liberty? It stands in the New York Harbor and welcomes immigrants. It’s also a welcoming sight to visitors flying into New York City airports.
Similar to a pushpin, but with a flat head
What is thumbtack? Pushpins are easier to handle, and especially to remove, given their design, while thumbtacks are a bit harder to lift.
This antebellum South Carolina city boasts cobblestone streets, horse-drawn carriages, and Fort Sumter.
What is Charleston? Nighttime ghost tours draw many tourists to the city
This term means to beat an ingredient, such as cream, to incorporate air into it
What is whip? You can whip cream with a mixer, or you can use a whisk to accomplish the same result with elbow grease and more time
American gold medalists in what sport include Kristi Yamaguchi and Peggy Fleming?
Figure skating. The United States has won 16 gold medals and 54 medals total in the sport.
White lines that run across the street at an intersection are known as this
What is a crosswalk? The lines indicate pedestrian walkways for crossing the street
What number does not exist in Roman numerals?
Zero. The first Roman numeral is “I” (one)
This national park spans Tennessee and North Carolina
What is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park? It’s the most visited national park and welcomes more than 11 million visitors each year
The name for each little corn segment
What is kernel? In most countries, corn is called maize. Each ear of corn has approximately 800 kernels.
This former maximum security prison sits in the middle of San Francisco Bay on a gigantic rock.
What is Alcatraz? Tours are conducted daily, with ferry service from San Francisco. Alcatraz was first a military prison during the Civil War and operated as a federal prison from 1934 to 1963. Al Capone was its most famous prisoner. Whitey Bulger also served time there.
Food Network celebrity Alton Brown calls this type of cooking in a gas oven “upside-down grilling.”
What is broiling? You won’t get a charcoal flavor, but you’ll get the equivalent of a gas-grilled mea
The movie Miracle covers a 1980 Olympic story in which sport?
Ice hockey. The 2004 flick tells the story of coach Herb Brooks’ miraculous win over the strong Soviet team.
These equidistant lines never cross; for example, railroad tracks.
What are parallel lines? Above-ground electrical wires are another example of parallel lines.
What flying pioneer was nicknamed “The Lone Eagle”?
Charles Lindbergh. The pilot received the nickname following his solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927
This national park in Arizona is known for its monumental depths and its towering, multicolored topography
What is Grand Canyon National Park? It’s also one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.
The ant known to deliver the worst sting
What is the bullet ant? The blast of pain from a bullet ant’s sting lasts between 12 and 36 hours. Ouch
This string of islands off the coast of North Carolina houses the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, with its distinctive, diagonal black-and-white stripes
What are the Outer Banks? Orville and Wilbur Wright’s historic flight took off from the Outer Banks, and the majestic Wright Brothers Memorial is perched atop Kill Devil Hill.
This is the term for chopping an ingredient into cubes larger than minced cubes
What is dice? The cubes vary in size from 1/8 to 1/4 inch
What winter Olympic sport includes events like downhill, slalom, and super-G?
Skiing. One famous Olympic skier is Austrian Hermann Maier, who bounced back from a 1998 ski crash to win two gold medals just a few days later
Vertical lines run this way.
What is up and down, or from top to bottom? The straight legs on the average dinner table are vertical lines.
Who was the Greek goddess of love
Aphrodite. The Roman goddess of love is Venus.
Monticello and an academic village were designed by this former president.
Who is Thomas Jefferson? The UNESCO World Heritage Site is known as Monticello and the University of Virginia. Jefferson’s architecture features neoclassical designs, and his academic village is now the heart of the UVA campus.
One-billionth of a second
What is a nanosecond? Its practical application is found in technology
If spelunking is high on your bucket list, there’s no better place to take a cave tour than the Mammoth Cave in this state.
What is Kentucky? Mammoth Cave is the longest known cave system in the world, with more than 400 miles of mapped passageways
A tied bunch of fresh herbs used while cooking is called this
What is bouquet garni? They are often used in soups and stews. By tying the stems together, you don’t have to waste time pulling them out individually before servin
Which Winter Olympic sport involves teams of two or four people navigating a steeply twisting course in a gravity-powered sled?
Bobsled. It was in this sport that Vonetta Flowers became the first Black athlete to win Winter Olympic gold.
Some believe these imaginary straight lines connect sacred places, such as Stonehenge and the Giza Pyramids
What are ley lines? Some believe ley lines are energetic and are associated with magnetic fields
What is the national flower of Austria?
Edelweiss. It is a small star-shaped flower. Edelweiss grows wild and in gardens throughout Austria. It is one of Austria’s most defining symbols. Its likeness is found on an Austrian two-euro-cent coin.
A combined eight of his properties, designed in the first half of the 20th century, were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019.
: Who is Frank Lloyd Wright? The eight sites include two of his best-known designs: the Guggenheim Museum in New York City and Fallingwater in Mill Run, Pennsylvania
A beach’s tiny grains
: What is sand? Sand is the byproduct of broken-down organic and inorganic things such as rocks, dead coral, and skeletal remains of marine life
This national park near Jackson, Wyoming, is named for the highest mountain peak within its borders
What is Grand Teton National Park? The highest peak of the Teton Range in Wyoming is Grand Teton. Experienced hikers in peak physical condition can navigate the steep inclines of the 7,000-foot climb to the top and back.