CHESTNUT CHEESECAKE
Monday Quiz - A love Letter. Week 1.
To the love of my life,
I write this sipping coffee you brewed for me, eating Cadbury chocolate you cracked from the packet for me and placed neatly in the bowl for me, at a coldish 1am Sunday night.
They say love is a many-splendoured thing. I don’t know who they is. Or what splendour really means. But I say love involves sacrifice.
And boy have you sacrificed.
Many hours of time with me hunched over a computer screen. Many nights of me sculpting my ego on a Substack. Six months of wearing the toque of a chef, the feathered cap of an editor, the pom pom’s of a cheerleader, the tiara of a princess, and the crown of a queen.
You’ve never made me feel a fool for running down this rabbit hole and wiping on this canvas. Instead, you support me. You listen to my draft questions, you tolerate the endless sworrying over whether a question will be interpreted in poor taste, and you back my dream of growing this community.
They say that in trivia, there is always a right answer. I don’t know who they is, or if there even is a right answer. But if there is one - it has to be choosing you.
I love you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Apologies all - it needed to be said, and it needed to be said loudly.
Now… ONTO THE QUIZ!
My loving partner has chosen the topic today… and it’s CHESTNUT CHEESECAKE. To which I said “please, could you make it slightly broader? I know like half a fact about Chestnuts or Cheesecakes. To which she put on the crown of a queen, and said “No, you must do it on CHESTNUT CHEESECAKE. It will be a challenge”.
So hopefully, these ingredients will help you build one.
You can play it here on WikiQuiz - and compare some scores! Or you can try and get nominated for the “Funniest Answer of the Week” award!
Or, scroll down and play it here!
MONDAY QUIZ - THEME: CHESTNUT CHEESECAKE
What is the second most expensive spice in the world, after saffron? It is native to Mexico, but made it’s way to Madagascar where 12yr old Edmond Albius invented a technique for pollinating the plant quickly by hand on Reunion Island. Now Madagascar produces over 80% of the worlds supply! The etymology is argued, but could derive its name for the Spanish for “little pod” or the Latin word meaning ”sheath / scabbard”.
Originally named Shrinky Dinx - but changed to avoid a lawsuit from Milton Bradley - which band with the hit songs “Fly“, “Every Morning“, and “Someday“ named themselves instead to honor a legendary boxer with surname Leonard? His two word moniker is also shared by another boxer with surname Robinson. Muhammad Ali said that he was the greatest pound for pound boxer of all time.
Codified under a specific 1886 United States Act of Congress to penalise counterfeit oleomargarine, which food staple undergoes a phase inversion from an oil-in-water emulsion to a water-in-oil emulsion during mechanical agitation? French food writer Brillat-Savarin famously praised the pre-eminence of its salted, unwashed "demi-sel" Breton variety, which derives its complex, nutty flavor profile from diacetyl compounds produced during traditional lactic fermentation.
Boy! That was sciency! It is also an ingredient in the French Mother Sauce Hollandaise.
Surpassing his own previous world records by devouring seventy-six hot dogs in 10 minutes, which prominent competitive eater holds an astonishing total of over 55 distinct Major League Eating records? He began his professional eating career in 2005 by defeating the legendary rich-boy eater Rich LeFevre in an asparagus-eating contest. I bet the bathrooms after that were fun to clean.
Originating from an experimental stall in the Detroit dynamic food scene managed by Oscar and Evelyn Overton, which prominent casual restaurant chain debuted its first physical storefront in Beverly Hills? It’s menu items include hundreds of varieties of their titular dessert - but also have a problematically named “Skinnylicious” menu which has courted controversy over recent years. It’s famous wait-staff include Penny from The Big Bang Theory!
Deriving its modern etymological name directly from the diminutive Latin term for a chestnut due to its physical resemblance, which idiosyncratic idiophone instrument belongs to the clapper family? It consists of two asymmetrical hardwood cups structurally bound by a decorative thread, utilizing a distinct "macho" and "hembra" pitch system to produce different tonal registers. The instrument is played by tapping the wood swiftly against the palm to provide rhythmic counterpoints for flamenco performances. I personally use them to spice up office meetings.
Conceived backstage as a frantic, last-minute replacement Christmas concept instead of the original intended pilot, "Some Enchanted Evening” which had severe coloring and animation mistakes that required 70% of the episode to be entirely redone… which beloved American animated series debuted its premiere episode centered on a desperate father tracking down a runaway greyhound tracking dog at a local racetrack on Christmas Eve? The festive episode title prominently featured a playful lyrical reference to Nat King Cole’s iconic seasonal performance (but the title of the TV series replaces the word chestnut).
Which classic European pastry is shaped using a specialized vermicelli rici press? The base features a sweetened, unctuous chestnut puree that is lightened with rum and vanilla before being draped carefully in snowy mounds of vanilla chantilly. It is historically served to resemble the towering, snow-capped granite peak of the Graian Alps, which straddles the French-Italian border - and it the highest peak in Western Europe.
Blown out to create intricate pysanky geometric talismans in Slavic Easter rituals, which universal culinary symbol is preserved in horse urine and clay for Chinese meal pidan? Sorry for the grab-your-attention-shock-fact, but this horse urine thing is a myth! It’s actually usually kept in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, quicklime, and rice husks over several weeks or months! This turns the albumen to a nice jelly consistency.
Formed in London by Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker in 1966, which short-lived British rock power trio is widely considered the world's first supergroup? They seamlessly fused heavy blues-rock with psychedelic improvisation on landmark albums like Disraeli Gears, featuring the iconic wah-wah pedal anthem Sunshine of Your Love. The virtuosic band took their culinary name to signify they were the absolute top tier, or the literal best, of the jazz and blues scene.
Time for the answers! I hope you enjoyed!
ANSWERS:
What is the second most expensive spice in the world, after saffron? It is native to Mexico, but made it’s way to Madagascar where 12yr old Edmond Albius invented a technique for pollinating the plant quickly by hand. Now Madagascar produces over 80% of the worlds supply! The etymology is argued, but could derive its name for the Spanish for “little pod” or the Latin word meaning ”sheath / scabbard”.
VANILLA. It is the only edible fruit produced by the entire orchid family, and every single flower must be hand-pollinated with a tiny bamboo splinter during a single morning when it blooms.Originally named Shrinky Dinx - but changed to avoid a lawsuit from Milton Bradley - which band with the hit songs “Fly“, “Every Morning“, and “Someday“ named themselves instead to honor a legendary boxer with surname Leonard? His two word moniker is also shared by another boxer with surname Robinson. Muhammad Ali said that he was the greatest pound for pound boxer of all time.
SUGAR RAY. Sugar Ray Robinson was so phenomenally fast and talented that sports writers literally invented the phrase "pound-for-pound" the greatest fighter just to rank him fairly against heavyweights.Codified under a specific 1886 United States Act of Congress to penalise counterfeit oleomargarine, which food staple undergoes a phase inversion from an oil-in-water emulsion to a water-in-oil emulsion during mechanical agitation? French food writer Brillat-Savarin famously praised the pre-eminence of its salted, unwashed “demi-sel” Breton variety, which derives its complex, nutty flavor profile from diacetyl compounds produced during traditional lactic fermentation.
Boy! That was sciency! It is also an ingredient in the French Mother Sauce Hollandaise.
BUTTER! In 2014, scientists discovered a 3,000-year-old, still-edible block of "bog butter" buried in an Irish swamp. I think the technical term of edible is doing a lot of heavy lifting there…Surpassing his own previous world records by devouring seventy-six hot dogs in 10 minutes, which prominent competitive eater holds an astonishing total of over 55 distinct Major League Eating records? He began his professional eating career in 2005 by defeating the legendary rich-boy eater Rich LeFevre in an asparagus-eating contest. I bet the bathrooms after that were fun to clean.
Joey CHESTNUT. By the way… it was 12.1 pounds (5.5 kg) of deep-fried asparagus spears in just 10 minutes.Originating from an experimental stall in the Detroit dynamic food scene managed by Oscar and Evelyn Overton, which prominent casual restaurant chain debuted its first physical storefront in Beverly Hills? It’s menu items include hundreds of varieties of their titular dessert - but also have a problematically named “Skinnylicious” menu which has courted controversy over recent years.
The CHEESECAKE FACTORYDeriving its modern etymological name directly from the diminutive Latin term for a chestnut due to its physical resemblance, which idiosyncratic idiophone instrument belongs to the clapper family? It consists of two asymmetrical hardwood cups structurally bound by a decorative thread, utilizing a distinct “macho” and “hembra” pitch system to produce different tonal registers. The instrument is played by tapping the wood swiftly against the palm to provide rhythmic counterpoints for flamenco performances. I personally use them to spice up office meetings.
CASTANETConceived backstage as a frantic, last-minute replacement concept when the creative team lacked the budget for a high-concept sci-fi short, which groundbreaking American animated series debuted its premiere episode centered on a desperate father tracking down a runaway greyhound tracking dog at a local racetrack on Christmas Eve? The festive episode title prominently featured a playful lyrical reference to Nat King Cole’s iconic seasonal performance.
The SIMPSONS! (The episode was “Simpsons roasting on an open fire”, parodying “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”)Tracing its aristocratic origins directly back to the prestigious culinary courts of fifteenth-century Italy, which classic European pastry is shaped using a specialized vermicelli rici press? The base features a sweetened, unctuous chestnur puree that is lightened with rum and vanilla before being draped carefully in snowy mounds of vanilla chantilly. It is historically served to resemble the towering, snow-capped granite peak of the Graian Alps, which straddles the French-Italian border - and it the highest peak in Western Europe.
MONT BLANC. Apparently, the dessert is so phenomenally popular in Japan that it has its own specialized boutiques dedicated exclusively to variations of it.Blown out to create intricate pysanky geometric talismans in Slavic Easter rituals, which universal culinary symbol is preserved in horse urine and clay for Chinese meal pidan? Sorry for the grab-your-attention-shock-fact, but this horse urine thing is a myth! It’s actually usually kept in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, quicklime, and rice hulls over several weeks or months!
EGGS!Formed in London by Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker in 1966, which short-lived British rock power trio is widely considered the world’s first supergroup? They seamlessly fused heavy blues-rock with psychedelic improvisation on landmark albums like Disraeli Gears, featuring the iconic wah-wah pedal anthem Sunshine of Your Love. The virtuosic band took their culinary name to signify they were the absolute top tier, or the literal best, of the jazz and blues scene.
CREAM. The band Cream’s 1968 farewell concert at the Royal Albert Hall was the first rock concert ever to be recorded in color.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks! I hope you loved these 10 questions on a theme chosen by the love of my life!
Want to support me? Hit subscribe and buy me a coffee a month!
Want a blast from the past? Do a Monday (1/5 difficulty) quiz!
Want to join the community? Here’s the Discord: