Trivia

The fast-service drive-in window goes way back. In 1753, Boswell’s Tavern was built in the Virginia Piedmont, and for about 150 years thereafter, horseback riders sidled up at a barred window to reach out for flagons of spirit.

To keep food from sticking, heat the pan first, then put in the cold oil, and add the food immediately. So advises a chef.

The bell on the mountaintop can be seen from a greater distance than the bell in the valley. But everything has its compensation, no? It’s the bell in the valley that can be heard from a greater distance.

Spanish gourmets proffer the whimsy that most lambs sleep on their right sides, so a roast from the left side is the tenderer.

It’s tough being a teenager, isn’t it? President-to-be James K. Polk had a gallstone operation without anesthetic at age 17.

Q. In France near Normandy is a place called La Perche, revered for one thing more than any other. What?

A. Its much beloved workhorse, the Percheron.

A terrapin can swallow only underwater.