Around the House Trivia Quiz

Answer: In the Garden

Euphorbia is a diverse genus of plants known for its unique milky sap and often sculptural, other-worldly appearance. The foliage can be blue-grey, or have leaves that are tinged or striped with cream, red and green. Flowers appear at the tips of the plant in spring and summer, and depending on variety, have flowers of white, milky white, yellow, and yellow-green, and occasionally red.

Euphorbia are prized for their resilience and drought tolerance.

Answer: In the Garden

Native to South Africa, and featured on the reverse of the South African 50-cent coin, strelitzia is commonly called the bird of paradise plant. It is popular due to its dramatic foliage and striking flowers that resemble tropical birds. Thriving in warm climates, it adds a bold and worry-free architectural statement when planted gardens or in pots.

Answer: In the Garden

Oleander is an evergreen shrub originating in the Mediterranean, widely admired for its abundant, colourful flowers that bloom throughout the summer months. Its hardiness allows it to flourish even in poor soils and coastal conditions, making it favoured in gardens across the world.

While beautiful and low‑maintenance, all parts of the plant are highly toxic to humans, and it should be planted judiciously.

Answer: In the Garden

Boxwood (buxus sempervirens), is a classic evergreen shrub valued for its dense foliage and ability to be shaped into hedges and topiary. It was used in Roman Britain for decorative purposes, as well as being used in burial rituals. Mentioned numerous times in the Bible, in particular in Isaiah, the slow growth and texture of the boxwood plant make it a favourite in formal and cottage gardens alike.

The wood can be used in cabinetmaking, in woodturning and for the production of woodwind instruments.

Answer: In the Kitchen

In the kitchen, a mandolin is a device using an extremely sharp blade, and is useful for cutting extremely thin, uniform slices of vegetables and fruits. It is used in professional kitchens because of the precision of the cut, and the speed with which vegetables can be processed.

Many models include adjustable thickness settings, while some types have attachments that allow dicing and shredding.

Answer: In the Kitchen

A spurtle is a traditional 15th‑century Scottish wooden utensil particularly designed for stirring porridge. The device has a cylindrical rod shape, which allows the user to get right into the place where the sides and base of a saucepan meet, to prevent lumps from forming, and allowing for even mixing. It is an ideal gadget for stirring soups and stews, and is typically crafted from woods like beech, ash, or cherry.

Answer: In the Kitchen

Used with a rocking motion to chop herbs or vegetables efficiently, a mezzaluna is a curved, double‑handled knife, which takes its name from the Italian for half-moon. Some mezzalunas have dual blades, increasing the efficiency of the tool. Frequently used with a specific concave cutting board for even better precision, the tools have been used in Mediterranean kitchens for centuries.

They can also be used for chopping meat finely for serving a la tartare.

Answer: In the Kitchen

A tortilla press is a simple lever‑style tool that flattens dough balls into thin, evenly formed tortillas. Commonly used in Mexican cooking, the tortillas press enables the home cook to create fresh corn or flour tortillas to the desired thickness.

The weight and material of the press influence the ease and consistency of the final results. Some presses are made from wood, the traditional material from which they are made in Mexico, though most are made from cast iron or other metal.

Answer: In the Tool Shed

A traditional shaping tool with a curved blade set at a right angle to the handle, the adze has a long history that dates back to the Stone Age. Early humans fashioned blades from flint, basalt, or other hard stones and lashed them to wooden shafts. Iron later replaced the stone blade.

The adze remains an essential and versatile tool used in timber framing and carving, but also for smoothing and hollowing timber needed in shelter building, canoe making, and carpentry. It is valued by craftsmen when creating traditional or historical furniture for the control it provides when removing material and shaping.

Answer: In the Tool Shed

A darby is a long, flat tool (typically ranging from 60 cm (2 ft) to 2m (6 ft) in length, used in pargetry and concreting to level and smooth large surfaces. Its extended length helps eliminate minor rough spots and create a uniform finish, in preparation for the use of finer finishing tools. It is commonly made of lightweight aluminum for easier handling across wide areas.

The darby developed with advances in pargetry, evolving as building techniques became more refined in medieval and early modern construction. Despite the continued development of mechanised equipment, the darby remains a vital hand tool in plastering and masonry.

Answer: In the Tool Shed

A mattock is a robust hand tool with a dual-headed blade, combining a flat axe-like blade on one side with a pointed (adze shaped) blade for digging or chopping on the other. This makes the tool ideal for breaking hard soil and roots. Its versatility means it is invaluable in gardening, landscaping, and excavation. The weight distribution allows the user to deliver powerful blows with minimal effort.

It has its origins in both ancient Europe and the Near East, serving as a versatile digging and chopping tool essential for cultivation, mining, and ground clearing. For centuries it served as a fundamental implement for preparing fields, shaping irrigation channels, extracting minerals, and building settlements.

Answer: In the Tool Shed

A wooden dibber is an old-fashioned pointed gardening tool used to make holes in soil for planting seeds, bulbs, or seedlings. Its simple design allows for quick, consistent spacing and depth during planting tasks. Many gardeners prefer wooden dibbers for their traditional feel.

It has a simple but ingenious design for planting. The dibbler in medieval European agricultural records, where it was widely used to punch holes in the ground for seeds and seedlings. This made it an efficient, consistent planting device well before mechanised farming provided more sophisticated tools. This tool demonstrates the ingenuity of early agricultural workers and farmers across centuries.