Julia Holmes Bailey, Weekend Edition

As you start making your Thanksgiving dinner plans, you might enjoy Weekend Edition host Scott Simon's interview with Evan Kleiman, the host of member station KCRW's program "Good Food." They talked about her obsession with pie, the season's essential dish. Yet the roots of this obsession started over the summer when -- despite not having a regular oven of her own -- she made a pie a day and blogged about it:

In the process, she learned all sorts of tips and tweaks to make the perfect pie, which she passed on. Her listeners, in return, submitted their own pie creations, including "Squirrel Pie" -- "pie pops" cut into the shape of squirrels -- and a Savory Tomato Pie with onions, garlic and a cheese crust.

Now, her program is hosting a pie contest and you can find out more about it, including how to submit your pie.

Davar Ardalan, Danyell Irby, Tony Marcano, NPR News

Coming up next week on our Impact of War series - Five years ago psychiatrist Judith Broder created The Soldiers Project which provides free confidential treatment to military service members and their families for as long as needed. Supporters say these volunteer services fill a crucial gap in VA services for the military. Last month, Broder received the Purpose prize for successful social entrepreneurs.

Our series will be produced in cooperation with NPR's Impact of War Project. The collaboration is an outreach effort to NPR member station reporters around the country to aid in increasing their local coverage of the experiences and sacrifices of US troops and their communities. Links to many of these stories examining how community attitudes, public policy, military strategy, medicine and technology are altered by the wars can be found on npr.org.

Feel free to tell us your story -- how have the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq affected your family?

Gemma Watters, Production Assistant.

This week, on Weekend Edition Saturday, you can hear a highly entertaining conversation with Host Scott Simon and British actor Philip Glenister about his role as Detective Gene Hunt on the hit television show Life on Mars - the UK version. Detective Hunt works without a rulebook, and also seems to have a problem with women in the workplace. Check out the clip below, and before you go be sure to leave your memories of 1973.

This week, most of the Weekend Edition team gathered at the home of NPR's food essayist Bonny Wolf to taste three -- er, four -- of the recipes you submitted for our latest Calling All Chefs contest. We asked for your best ginger recipes, and we received more than 200 entries. Bonny scoured through them all and picked a few that she thought Liane might enjoy. Since using ginger was Liane's idea, she got to pick a winner. But everyone there got to taste the dishes. Check out the video below for staff reactions:

Davar Iran Ardalan, Danyell Irby, Tony Marcano, NPR News

Next week, we'll bring you a series of stories focused on the impact of war on people thousands of miles from the battlefield -- military families struggling to cope and the unique network of supporters who are dedicated to helping.

The series begins on November 7th with the story of the wife of a Navy Petty officer -- a mother of three children, all under the age of 7, including one who is developmentally disabled. Also, NPR's Daniel Zwerdling will talk to us about legislation pending in Congress to assist caregivers of military families.

Our series will be produced in cooperation with NPR's Impact of War Project. The collaboration is an outreach effort to NPR member station reporters around the country to aid in increasing their local coverage of the experiences and sacrifices of US troops and their communities. Links to many of these stories examining how community attitudes, public policy, military strategy, medicine and technology are altered by the wars can be found on npr.org.

Feel free to tell us your story -- how have the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq affected your family?

Thomas Pierce, Weekend Edition

It wasn't even 6 a.m., and I knew I might be in trouble when Captain Wayne Magwood turned to me and said if you're ever going to get sick on a boat, this is where it will happen. There's the seafood smell, he explained, plus the fact that shrimp trawlers have a particularly hard roll in the waves.

I sat down in the deck house kitchen, gazing out the window where the lights on shore moved up and down as we rocked. I had to lean back and close my eyes. I'd been deep-sea fishing before but never experienced anything like this. I watched the crew at work, smoking cigarette after cigarette, and wondered at their fortitude.

This was my first hour on the Winds of Fortune, a shrimp boat based on Shem Creek in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. We had a long day ahead of us. Captain Magwood -- mustached, dressed in two flannel shirts, his hair curled by the salty air -- sat in the captain's chair, guiding his boat through the dark, twinkling lights bobbing on the waves.

But Captain Magwood's work doesn't begin and end on the boat. Competing with a huge supply of overseas, farm-raised shrimp, Magwood is leading the way to market his shrimp -- both on the docks and online. His market recently created a Facebook fan page for his shrimp, which, at the time of this post, has almost 600 members.

They keep it updated with the size of each day's catch. On September 28, for instance, they wrote: "anyone wants large heads off 50lbs or more 5.50 per lb. today only." And on October 2: "Capt. Wayne got 1,000lbs today! Awsome day. We needed it."

Of course, they haven't given up on more traditional means of spreading the word about their product. These stickers have been around for a number of years and show up on bumpers all over the state -- and beyond:

There's been another development in swine flu news -- so-called "swine flu parties" where people supposedly expose themselves to the virus on purpose. While the evidence is anecdotal, and this may just be a false rumor spreading on the Internet, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is taking it seriously. It has issued a recommendation on its website to avoid such gatherings.

Do you know someone who has held a swine-flu party? Have you held one? To tell us what you think, join our discussion group on facebook. Or you can post your comments below.

Activists concerned about climate change have planned more than 4,000 events around the world this weekend to draw attention to global warming. The group's organizers argue that we need rapid and radical changes in the world's energy sources and forestry practices. So why 350? According to the group's website, scientists say that 350 is the highest amount of carbon dioxide (measured in parts per million) that can safely exist in our atmosphere. Their goal is to reduce the atmosphere's carbon dioxide back to that level.

Click here to see American soldiers stationed in Afghanistan:

Watch children in rural Kenya

And students in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia:

Should the healthcare overhaul include federal funds for abortion services? Join the conversation by posting your comments below. Check out comments already posted on our facebook page.

Kimberly Adams, Production Assistant

I recently visited the Zabaleen neighborhood of Minsheyet Nasr in Cairo, Egypt, and met with Hana Fathy. Weekend Edition Sunday host Liane Hansen, senior supervising producer Davar Ardalan, and senior producer Ned Wharton met Hana when they visited Cairo last year. The reporting trip was part of an NPR series, in collaboration with National Geographic, called "Climate Connections."

Continue reading "Solar Cities And Enviornmentalism In Egypt: An Update" >