Our common nature is a musical journey with Yo-Yo Ma and me, Ana Gonzalez, through this complicated country.

We go into caves, onto boats, and up mountain trails to meet people, hear their stories, their poetry, and of course, play some music, all to reconnect to nature and get closer to the things we're missing.

Listen to Our Common Nature from WNYC, wherever you get podcasts.

It's Ling Rossetto, Casper, with the splendid table.

Today, our favorite food scientist is back.

Shirley Courier is author of Cookwise,

and a woman who not only makes food science logical,

she makes it fun.

And with a little of Shirley's science, you can keep ahead of lettuce in top shape for six weeks.

Our road food mavens, Jane and Michael Stern discovered the king of steak sandwiches in Chicago.

Cheesemonger Steve Jenkins talks great melters. We hear what makes a dish sing from a legendary chef, kitchen designer Deborah Krasner shops the web, and we have open lines for your calls. All this coming up on the splendid table. But first this.

Hi, it's Lynn Rosetta, Casper, with Kitchen Chronicles, where knowledge is power and cooking is pleasure, a practical guide to nourishing ourselves and the people we

care about. Today, I'd like to talk about fennel, both the vegetable and the seed. I think they're

overlooked by a lot of people because they don't know how to use them. So here's a few ideas.

First, let's figure out how to identify fennel. Now, the vegetable is

sometimes labeled anus, probably because it has a subtle, sweet taste of anise. What's interesting

here is that a lot of people who don't like the flavor of anise like fennel. Well, there's something about it. I don't know what it is,

but it makes it very appealing. Now, if you've never seen the vegetable fennel, it has stalks that

look a lot like bright green celery and leaves that are lacy and delicate, like dill.

The base of the stalks, though, plump up into these

white bulbs that are about the size of a fist. Now, that's what you eat, and you can eat it raw,

roasted, steamed, brazed, almost any way that you'd like to cook it. Now, fennel seed comes from another member of the

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