A quick search through Google News shows that the bubble tea (aka pearl tea, aka boba tea) phenomenon has spread to most metropolitan areas of the U.S. News reports made mention of the tapioca balls appearing in teas in North Carolina, Las Vegas, New Mexico, and even India. Despite having been exposed to bubble tea early on in its journey from Taiwan to Asian American communities, it took me until yesterday to be struck by the recollection that little gelatinous balls in a beverage had been marketed once before: Orbitz Soda. While it’s not the same as bubble tea, whose tapioca balls usually settle to the bottom of the milky tea to be slurped up through specially super-sized straws, I can’t help but think of Orbitz as a strange alien step-relative…ahead of its time perhaps, but alas, just not very pleasant tasting.

Penzey’s, purveyor of pungent spices, is holding a postcard contest to determine where to open their next retail store. Their goods have been recommended to me by many a serious home chef, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that they have a retail store near my home town, so next time I’m in Connecticut I can check out their wares. Until then, sending postcard votes from Seattle is a grand scheme.

Astound your sports friends with this bit of NFL trivia. Among the new rules approved by the NFL this week, wide receivers can now wear the numbers 10-19. They were previously limited to 80-89. The uniform numbering system was adopted in 1973.

The discriminating and elite cross-section of readers who are fans of both NPR and a certain small, terry cloth monkey will certainly enjoy the fun and detailed monkey tour of NPR’s headquarters.

Madeleine L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time” has been adapted for a 3-hour television “event” that will be shown on May 15, during sweeps. It’s been in the works at Miramax since 2001 and will air on ABC’s “Wonderful World of Disney.” (via TV Picks)