Just like the rest of the country, NPR staff is getting ready to fire up their grills and lather on the SPF for Memorial Day weekend. We asked some of our colleagues, who are known around the office for their culinary prowess, to share their favorite summertime recipes. Turns out Susan Stamberg isn't the only one with a recipe up her sleeve in this building (and that we have a bit of a sweet tooth).

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NPR's Ari Shapiro visited MSNBC's The Daily Rundown this morning to discuss what he found out in Cambridge about President Obama and former Governor Romney's years at Harvard. The reports are part of NPR's "Parallel Lives" series, which takes a closer look at the surprising similarities between the two candidates.

Today, NPR launches Cabinet of Wonders, a new radio program featuring the best of New York's acclaimed variety show by the same name. Cabinet is staged by its host and founder John Wesley Harding and routinely touts an exciting cast of comedians, authors and musicians. We picked Harding's brain this week about the show and how he selects each night's guests.

How did you come up with the idea for Cabinet of Wonders?

It was a way to combine the fact that I'm a musician and a writer. So I asked my writer friends (most of whom would like to be musicians) and my musician friends (most of whom would like to have their lyrics carefully considered as at a reading); and then I worked out that comedy could be the glue in the middle.

In fact, initially it was a fun way to do an album release party, and it blossomed from there. And that's how the show came about. Besides, the time was right for a little variety. Maybe watching one person on stage for 90 minutes is a bit old hat. This is more like a cross between the Stax Review and a Secret Policeman's Ball (with great literature).

From books to music you've got a great and varied background, how does that experience help you host the show?

Well, apart from anything else, it means I read a lot and I listen a lot, and I have pretty catholic tastes. The show's mainly stuff that I like and the idea is to put all those things together - great literary writing, really fine comedians, wonderful musicians - and then sculpt them into a show which, rather than seeming like a hastily thrown together benefit, is a carefully-curated Cabinet of Wonders: that's where the hard, and enjoyable, work is. And that's why the show has the format it has, involving poems about the performers and so on. My influences are all very vaudeville: I'm just trying to update those influences to my own ends.

What characteristics, talents, or abilities do you look for when picking your guests?

The main thing is that I love what they do. And after that (because I believe that all good performed art, whatever it's chosen genre or medium, can sit together happily on one bill) the only important thing is that no one is too much of a prima donna, because the show can't quite handle that.

There's very much a "let's do the show right here" atmosphere, so it's important that everyone digs in together. The great thing about performers is... they're performers. They want to be good. So if you pick people who are good, they very rarely let you down.

Is there a comedian, a writer and a musician you've also wanted to be part of the show, but haven't gotten yet. Who are they?

David Bowie! Because he's one of my musical heroes and he's been very quiet of late.

Any number of writers, though you have to be careful with writers in the Cabaret setting. I've seen writers kill with completely and totally serious readings, but it takes a special reader to do that.

Apart from that, I just love to put things together that people wouldn't expect, so they leave liking something they had no idea they would or simply had no idea that it even existed.

What do you do to makes the stage show radio friendly?

Have very few ventriloquist acts. Try to swear as little as possible. Describe what people are wearing in helpful detail.

Lead singer of Garbage, Shirley Manson, showed her NPR love when she stopped by NPR West to talk about her new album, Not Your Kind of People, with Morning Edition's Jess Gitner.

Did you know that every week, 26.4 million people tune in to NPR programs and newscasts? That's a lot of listeners, and they tend to ask some pretty insightful questions about NPR staff and programming, as well as general questions about NPR life. So interesting, in fact, that we are going to start sharing these questions and their answers provided by NPR Listener Services, right here. We're kicking off this new series, "The Curious Listener" with one of our most common questions:

Actress Tia Mowry, who has proven in recent years that she's got "The Game" both on and off screen, talked with Michel Martin of NPR's Tell Me More today about her career and her new book.

Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage stopped by NPR's New York office for a conversation with All Things Considered host Audie Cornish about his reservations in accepting the role of character Tyrion Lannister.

And not to worry, both Audio and Peter came out of the interview unscathed.

NPR announced today that it has hired news application editor Brian Boyer to lead a new "news apps" team dedicated to bolstering NPR's storytelling with even more interactive components. That means more data-driven reporting features like this Poisoned Places map and interactive visuals similar to the work for the recent series The Fracking Boom. Two articles offer you more about today's news:

Nieman Journalism Lab's Andrew Phelps spoke with Brian Boyer about his work:

And Steve Myers of Poynter took a look at how NPR's "news apps" team measures up to what other media outlets are doing with apps:

This week, NPR welcomes a seasoned journalist into its newsroom: Edith Chapin. Joining NPR as the senior supervising editor of the NPR News Foreign Desk, Edith brings with her nearly 25 years of experience covering game changing national and international news events and serving as a leader among her fellow reporters.

During her fourth day on the job, Edith took a break from tracking down her team of foreign correspondents stationed overseas to talk with us about her transition to radio, her vision for NPR's international coverage and her personal experiences from life as a reporter.

What drew you to NPR?

I'm in love with news. NPR is one of barely a handful of news organizations that does serious journalism and is not completely driven by breaking news. Having the time to give context and explain the "whys" instead of just the "whats" is fantastic.

Will you miss the visuals of television journalism?

I'm actually excited. In TV you are a slave to the pictures, for better or worse. But radio is pure storytelling. Radio reporting can paint a picture. It's so intimate. The journalists really take you there and you make the movie.

What will be your focus in this role?

I'm looking forward to giving a fresh perspective from the outside. To be an editor and ask questions. I hope by asking new, different questions NPR's coverage can be made better. And to collaborate across the newsroom to provide the best journalism.

How does good international news coverage benefit Americans?

It should take away some fear. It's human nature to feel fear. But if we explain and make connections the world seems smaller and more interdependent.

In your role, you are often required to send journalists into very dangerous places. What goes through your mind during those times?

No story is worth dying for. But many stories are important and need to be told. We just need to find the right mix of allowing reporters to tell these important stories but not to be targets because of their reporting on a story.

I will have sleepless nights every night our reporters are in dangerous situations. I don't take it lightly. I've done enough reporting in war zones to be able to appreciate how hard it is for those reporters and that it's worth doing.

You were in New York on 9/11.

It was breathtaking in the most literal sense of the word. The magnitude of it took a couple of hours to sink in. When I finally left work the next day, I had to cross a check point to get to my home in Manhattan. It was only then did I realize that something really different had happened.

Professionally you can never prepare for something like this. I realized that [journalism] was really a special profession. This is why we do journalism, to tell this story.

You've been to NPR for four days now, what have you noticed so far?

It's a really friendly place. Everyone is very welcoming. And they are passionate about their jobs and also having fun.

What's the favorite place you've ever lived?

I lived in Brazil for six years as a child, very formative years. It's is a sentimental place for me, very special. Something about Brazil has just stuck with me.

What are three things you always pack in your suitcase?

Wash and dry, power plug adapters, and a spare outfit.