Chris Kimball, founder, publisher and editor of Cook’s Illustrated and host of “America’s Test Kitchen,” was on the Leonard Lopate Show recently to share his list of essential kitchen equipment. Here’s his list – along with some helpful pointers about how to care for your pots and pans.

We asked you to share your essential cookbooks - you know, the ones that have stains and notes all over them that contain your favorite, tried-and-true recipes.

Listeners shared over 50 titles with us! Click below to see them all, and maybe find a new favorite. Don't see your old stand-by on the list? Add it to the list in the comments below!

Jack Bishop, editorial director of America’s Test Kitchen, joined us recently to talk about what essential ingredients every cook should have on-hand in their kitchen at all times. Here’s his list – along with some helpful tips on how to store them so that they last longer:

There are quite a few "Downton Abbey" fans here at the show, and we're pretty excited to watch the end of Season Three. In preparation for Sunday's finale, you can listen back to Leonard's conversation with Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, and Joanne Froggatt. (You may know them better as Lord and Lady Grantham and Anna Bates.) They were on the show at the beginning of Season Two. You can also read Dan Stevens's Guest Picks!

WNYC will be live-chatting during Sunday's finale, which starts at 9 pm. Join us!

It’s not every day that you get to hear a first-hand account of what political conventions used to be like when a floor fight an expected part of the proceedings. On today’s show, Leonard spoke to Diana Serra Cary, who had been a child star in Hollywood during the Silent Era. Now 93, she was hired by the Democrats as a kind of mascot to appear alongside Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the 1924 Convention. Hear her describe the chaotic scene on the floor that she saw, far different from the carefully choreographed events we see today.

Gore Vidal was many things—a writer, social critic, playwright, political candidate, sometime actor, and perennial iconoclast. He was on the Leonard Lopate Show several times. You can listen to two of his more recent conversations below.

John Damani Mahama was on the Lopate Show on July 10 to discuss his memoir and his political rise to become the Vice President of Ghana. Yesterday, following the death of Pres. John Atta Mills, Mr. Mahama was sworn in as Ghana's 4th president.  You can listen to Leonard's conversation with John Dramani Mahama:

Some choice quotations about bicycles, art, and tattoo care heard on this week's show.

The 2012 Tony Awards were presented on June 10, and you can hear Leonard’s conversations with some of the winners!

A collection of the amazing, profound and funny things we heard on the Lopate Show this week.

A collection of the unexpected, somewhat random things we learned on the Lopate Show this week.

The nominations for the 2012 Tony Awards were announced on Tuesday, May 1, and you can hear Leonard's conversations with many of this year’s nominees. (You can find a full list of the nominees here.) The awards will be presented on June 10.

Our weekly roundup of the quirky, profound, and unexpected things we heard on the Lopate Show this week.

A collection of the touching, funny, and off-beat things we heard on the air this week.

A collection of the odd, wonderful, and even funny things we learned on the Lopate Show this week.

A roundup of the interesting, strange and profound things we learned on the Lopate Show this week.

A collection of the random, profound, true, and funny things we heard on the show this week.

A roundup of the random, interesting, and unexpected things we learned on the show this week.

Federal court papers that were unsealed on Tuesday revealed that six suspected hackers who are affiliated with Lulzsec, part of the hacking collective Anonymous, had been arrested. The papers also revealed that one of them, Hector Xavier Monsegur, had pleaded guilty to 12 counts of criminal hacking and had been working as an informant for the FBI.

You can find out more about how Anonymous and LulzSec organize and carry out their attacks by listening to Leonard’s interviews earlier this year with Quinn Norton, who’s covered Anonymous for Wired Magazine’s Threat Level blog.

A collection random facts, insights, and impressions from the Lopate Show this week.