Search results for

TV chef Mario Batali is known for the creative Italian fare he serves at his popular New York restaurants, including Babbo. But his latest cookbook, Molto Italiano, gets back to the basics.

Cheryl Corley reports on Phyllis Silhan (SILL-han), a pianist ho performs during the Christmas season at Chicago's Midway airport.

From forays into Jamaica's Blue Mountains to battles with stinky fruit in Thailand, Robb Walsh has gone to great lengths to sample the world's culinary phenomena. The food critic recounts his most recent adventures in a new book, Are You Really Going to Eat That? NPR's Liane Hansen talks with Walsh.

Retailers and manufacturers of computer software have turned their attention to girls this year. NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports on what parents can expect to find on the market this holiday season. Little girls can direct their own animated Barbie movie...join a virtual clique to talk about dating; creat invoices for their babysitting businesses; or find out "the hows and whys" of their developing bodies.

Linda talks with Dr. Ed Kilborn, a Research Professor of Microbiology at New York Medical College, about why influenza seems to strike and spread more during the winter than in any other season. Kilborn says it's a combination of factors...including the dryness of the air and the fact that the flu viruses tend to incubate better when people stay close together indoors in overheated environments.

Thailand's beach resort communities have been recovering slowly since the devastating tsunami struck a year ago. Hotels have been rebuilt and tourists have returned. Residents of the resort towns will commemorate the anniversary, but after that, many want to look forward rather than back.

The trip to Richard's parents-in-law is a holiday event in and of itself.By Richard SceifordWilmington NC – [Click the LISTEN button to hear Richard's…

Linda talks with Mike Woitalla, Senior Editor of Soccer America magazine. Major League Soccer had a successful inaugural season, with its championship being won last night by the D.C United soccer team from Washington. Woitalla thinks this success is due in large part to aggressive marketing to Hispanics, a group that had been ignored in previous attempts to market soccer in the United States.

and how things look halfway through the season.

Alan Cheuse gives his list of picks for the best literature to buy this holiday season. His list includes a new translation of the Odyssey by Robert Fagles; Continental Drift by James Houston; Quicker than the Eye by Ray Bradbury; In Their Own Voices: A Century of Recorded Poetry on CD by Rhino Records; The Norton Anthology of African American Literature; Lost Tales by Gleb Botkin; and The Children's Book of the Virtues by William Bennett.