Of course

First, I’m mentioned in this article about champ Dan McShane, who survived today to become a 3-time champ.
Next, I’m considering giving away the box of Mental Floss issues I bought when I was studying for Jeopardy! There are more than 40 in the box. I would pick someone randomly from whoever posts their Coryat scores here in a comment, in a predetermined time frame. Leave a comment if this interests you. (If you need to learn how to keep score that way, I can help.)
This quadruple-stumper came from Monday’s episode, in the category What’s Next: “White House state dinner May 7, 2007: Soup, fish, meat, this course.” This clue was the reason for many a post on this episode’s thread on the J! message boards. Many people said dessert, as did I and one of the contestants. One person said he (she?) didn’t respond because he was considering nuts, cheese, dessert, and salad. (Responding with one of those, not eating them.)

I wondered whether there was something significant about the date, May 7. This doesn’t appear to be the case, but for what it’s worth, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were in attendance. And in case you’re wondering what makes a “state dinner” just that, an ask.com Wiki says it’s “a dinner or banquet paid by a government and hosted by a head of state in his or her official residence in order to renew and celebrate diplomatic ties between the host country and the country of a foreign head of state or head of government who was issued an invitation.” Got it?

One poster on the boards said he (she?) just learned these courses. I’ve asked him where he learned this. I’m not sure where I would have except my book of mnemonic devices, and it wasn’t there. He thinks he learned it watching Top Chef, within the past month! When I looked into this myself, I find that dessert comes after salad, and fruit sometimes follows dessert. Cheese sometimes follows that, or nuts. (You’ve heard of “from soup to nuts”?)
It occurred to me as I was looking for info that a caterer was in California taping Jeopardy! when I was. And I do know it’s a “she.” I’d have no way to reach her except – surprise – she joined the message boards shortly after taping. Her name’s Melanie. She says she responded, “What is cheese!” She says she blames this on liking and thinking about cheese more often than salad. (And who can blame her?)
My Coryat Monday, by the way, was 18000. Today’s was 19200.