Czech immigrants arrived in Texas around the mid-1800s and brought many native foodways with them, including the kolache. Over time, the stuffed dough balls evolved beyond their original form to include the beans, meats, and other foods for which Texas would become known. Now this iconic regional snack is on the national scene.
Eddie Huang is unconventional celebrity chef and restaurateur. His 2013 memoir, "Fresh Off the Boat," relating his experiences growing up in an immigrant family, has now been developed into a sitcom, which he also narrates.
Laura Poitras is a journalist and documentary filmmaker. In 2013, she was two years into making a new film about surveillance, when she received an encrypted email from an anonymous source calling himself Citizenfour. That source turned out to be NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden and she would find herself documenting his leak -- and the personal and political consequences -- as they unfolded.
Comedian Nick Kroll has created his own show on Comedy Central, aptly titled "Kroll Show," which consists largely of parodies of other television shows, in which he portrays dozens of characters from confused Canadian teenagers to idiot gigolos. The show's third and final season began this week.
Singer Joseph Calleja hails from Malta, where he started singing tenor at age sixteen. Today he's one of opera's emerging stars. This weekend, he wraps up a month-long residency at London's Royal Opera House. Off-stage he's a bit of a film fan, so he composed this list of his favorite opera moments in movies.
Texas was known mainly for cattle and cotton until Pattillo Higgins came along. His hunch that there might be oil in them thar' hills lead to the discovery of a massive gusher, which would fuel the 20th century.
There is a creature so feared by the government that citizens are being organized to kill it, en masse. It is a fish.
Comedian Nick Kroll serves up a juicy joke... about grapes (and prunes).
All the music from episode 287
Next week, Animal Collective member Noah Lennox, aka Panda Bear, releases his fifth solo album, "Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper." We take a listen to the second single off the years-in-the-making record, "Boys Latin."