SUSAN STAMBERG, Host:
Time now for your letters. Last week, I spoke with Yotam Ottolenghi, the London-based Israeli chef and food columnist who has a new vegetable cookbook, "Plenty." He described in vivid detail a burnt eggplant dish, sprinkled on top with pomegranate seeds.
YOTAM OTTOLENGHI: They are really symbols of abundance because there are so much of them in every pomegranate. And they obviously have beautiful color and they have this sort of sharpness that is a little bit sweet. So, you can add them in so many contexts and they always sort of add a little extra something, which is hard to explain. But it's very visual. It's completely beautiful.
STAMBERG: John Phillips of Redondo Beach, California writes: After the mouth-watering description of the burnt eggplant dish, I dashed right out to gather the ingredients. Eggplant, check. Tahini, check. Pomegranate juice to make my own molasses, check. Pomegranate? Pomegranate? Imagine my dismay when the produce manager informed me that pomegranates are out-of-season. Sigh. I'll have to wait for September to get those jewels in the crown. But Rebecca Hansbrough writes on NPR.org: Those vegetarian dishes look great but they wouldn't make a dent in my belly, especially after a workout. You'd have to serve me more than that little old salad dish's worth of greenery.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "A BETTER DAY WILL COME")
JAMES TORME: (Singing) It's true that life is no picnic. It often seems a disaster but don't you grieve, when you're deceived, a better day will come.
STAMBERG: Singer James Torme joined us last week. He's the son of the late Mel Torme, and told what it was like, being raised around some of music's greatest voices.
TORME: Having grown up, so to speak, you know, being bounced on the knees on some of the greats - Ella Fitzgerald included, you know, Peggy Lee, Sammy Davis Jr., Nat Cole, my dad, of course - you know, I think I osmosized, as it were, a lot from those people.
STAMBERG: Cheryl Grundemann of Chicago writes: I don't envy the man with such footsteps to follow in. Finding his own voice is hard enough to do without the constant comparison. That said, he does have a handle on the scat - and that is not easy. He's got the stuff, as they say. But then I'm a huge Mel fan. Doreen Wheaton writes on our Facebook wall: I was lucky enough to be in the front row when Mel Torme performed at Booth Amphitheatre in Cary, North Carolina. I could hear his dad in James's voice. So glad he's bringing back some of those wonderful old songs. We like hearing from you osmosing the love, or whatever. Go to NPR.org and click on the link that says Contact Us. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook at NPRWeekend.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "A BETTER DAY WILL COME")
TORME: (Singing) A better day will come.
STAMBERG: This is NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.