Arts & Life

Books
Arts

In Vargas Llosa's Latest, Dickens Meets Soap Opera

12:27pm March 13, 2015

by Alan Cheuse

The Peruvian Nobel Prize-winning writer, Mario Vargas Llosa, has a new novel out, and he's not resting on his laurels. It's an ambitious and weighty novel that's worth the effort.

Planet: bottom of a glass containing half-and-half, water and food coloring. Moons: bottom of a glass containing coconut milk, water and food coloring. Stars: salt, cinnamon, baking powder and Tums.

Science
Arts

Behold! The Cosmos Created From The Contents Of A Kitchen

12:13pm March 13, 2015

by Poncie Rutsch

From spices, flour, milk, water and food coloring, a photographer creates startlingly realistic-looking images of space. These photos are convincing enough to impress an astrophysicist.

Jack Bishop says it's the soy sauce in the Mushroom Bolognese that really makes it pop.

Books
Arts

'Test Kitchen': How To Make Vegetarian Dishes Pop With A Little Umami

11:46am March 13, 2015

Cooking with plant foods naturally high in compounds called glutamates can stimulate the same taste receptors that meat does. America's Test Kitchen explains in The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook.

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The cuisines of the classical world made use of cumin both as a flavoring and a drug.

From Ancient Sumeria To Chipotle Tacos, Cumin Has Spiced Up The World

11:44am March 13, 2015

by Adam Maskevich

Cumin has been popular since the dawn of written history: It's the only English word that can be traced directly back to Sumerian. Since then it has insinuated itself into cuisines around the world.

A drawing of two clinking martini glasses.

Arts

Pop Culture Happy Hour: Cultural Anniversaries And Great Things For Kids

10:20am March 13, 2015

by Linda Holmes

On this week's show, live from NPR HQ, we talk with Guy Raz about anniversaries and kid things, and we rattle off our favorite happy-making things.

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Terry Pratchett at the 2012 South Bank Sky Arts Awards in London.

Books
Arts

Terry Pratchett, Prolific Fantasy Author, Dies At 66

7:56am March 13, 2015

by Colin Dwyer

The Discworld series author had for years struggled with a rare form of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Pratchett amassed a devoted following over four decades of writing — and dozens of novels.

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Books
Arts

How We Deal With Loss In Different Ways In Two Beautifully Written Memoirs

7:16pm March 12, 2015

by Maureen Corrigan

In Abigail Thomas' What Comes Next and How to Like It, the aging process robs the 70-something of beauty and energy. In H Is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald trains a goshawk after her father dies.

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Books
Arts

The Ecstatic, Erotic Joy Of Reading 'Girl In The Dark'

5:45pm March 12, 2015

by Annalisa Quinn

Anna Lyndsey's pseudonymous memoir of her severe light sensitivity is full of rich, sensuous language, all grounded in the ever-present limits of a body that keeps her to the margins of normal life.

Horses drive traffic on London's Oxford Street in 1890. According to author Lee Jackson, by the 1890s, the city's horses produced approximately 1,000 tons of dung a day.

Books
Arts

'Dirty Old London': A History Of The Victorians' Infamous Filth

5:20pm March 12, 2015

In the 1800s, the Thames River was thick with human sewage and the streets were covered with horse dung, the removal of which, according to Lee Jackson, presented an "impossible challenge."

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Toasting or roasting brings nut oils to the surface, and pecans are practically overflowing: 75 percent of the nut is pure oil.

Southerners Are Getting Creative With Their Favorite Nut: Pecan

3:46pm March 12, 2015

by Jill Neimark

The pecan has become the latest obsession of Southern farmers, chefs and craft breweries. They're giving the buttery nut new opportunities to shine in the form of oil, flour and even beer.