Next time you gear up to boil shrimp, take a cue from the pros and make a stock.

Shrimp are delicious hot, warm or cold, full of health benefits and perfect for summer grilling and beach side picnics. I start to feel like Bubba from "Forrest Gump" when I'm listing all the ways I cook them -- shrimp salad, shrimp skewers, shrimp dipped in coconut, shrimp with chipotle and orange -- but I think the guy was on to something.

In addition to their versatility, shrimp, also called "fruit of the sea," are high in tryptophane. That's one of the 10 essential amino acids, serving to soothe the nervous system and aid relaxation. They also contain high amounts of vitamin D, the new super antioxidant being touted for cancer prevention.

Read on for Jennifer's four-step method for devining shrimp and the reason she gets funny looks at the grocery store.

Do you have what it takes?

If you happen to be anywhere near Georgia this Saturday and have a hankering for grits -- consider a drive to Warwick. The town -- approximately 82 miles south of Macon -- holds its 12th annual National Grits Festival on April 11, complete with a cookoff, a Miss Grits pageant and the Grits Pit -- a creamy tub designed to get grits lovers, well, gritty (see photo above).

"That's a big attraction at 2 o'clock in the afternoon now," festival coordinator Bob Holland told Slashfood.

Warwick hosts this ode to the Southern larder despite the fact that it doesn't produce grits, though it does have a lot of corn growing amid the cotton and peanuts on nearby farmland, Holland said.

"You can do anything with grits," Holland said. "It depends on your taste and your imagination."

More gritty talk and the late great Bill Neal's recipe for shrimp and grits that turned me into a grits fan after the jump.

One of the most delicious ways to serve shrimp is to lather it in garlic butter. I learned this at a very young age, when my grandfather taught me the beauty of shrimp scampi and medium rare prime rib. The moment I had both, I became a gluttonous pig, making many servers double-take with my dinner orders. (And I never had to use a "doggie bag!")

Anyhow, most classic scampi recipes ask for some sauteed garlic that gets white wine and butter added to it. But have no fear -- if you have no white wines open or available, just use red. The flavor will, of course, be a little different, but it will still be darned good -- the wine flavor just works beautifully with the sinfully perfect melted garlic butter.

Back away from those tiny-shrimp platters! I don't know why, but every time someone throws a party, they pick up those rings of mini shrimp as if it's gourmet and delicious. Not only are those shrimp too tiny to enjoy, but they also offer barely a fraction of the taste of the freshly prepared, larger variety.

So, to help get you off the crappy shrimp ring bandwagon, I give you: How to Devein Shrimp. It's easy. It's quick. It just requires a short amount of time to get rid of the shell and devein, and a quick saute to cook. (Talk about an easy saute -- the shrimp turn pink when they're done, so there's absolutely no guesswork.) I swear -- it's better to have less shrimp and mouth-watering flavor than those little things with crappy flavor -- save those for your shrimp salad.

For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.

Here's another example of a Japanese mass-produced bento, from Payton Chung's photostream. We've got a nice fat shrimp, a small fish, bits of carrot and greens, shredded radish, noodles and a nice slice of hard-boiled egg. Seriously, could this not catch on in the United States? I'd take something like this over a turkey wrap any day.

For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.

As part of a Halloween-themed bento, Lorigami has put nori eyes to five large cooked shrimp, giving the critters a spooky, Jim Henson-gone-bad look. The shrimp appear to be emerging from a brakish pool of pesto like creatures from the deep.

I never thought anything could beat the combination of garlic, butter, and shrimp in scampi. But really, that's more because garlic and butter make most things taste great, rather than the trio being the perfect flavor combination. When my tongue got a taste of ginger shrimp, however, I discovered a true pairing. The crisp, spicy-yet-light ginger flavor is just meant to go with shrimp, and together, they're unstoppable. Put it in a stir-fry, pasta, pizza, or a wrap like above.

Seeing that I still have some homemade mayonnaise, I decided to whip together a quick shrimp salad. Some frozen shrimp was quickly sauteed with ginger, cooled, and then mixed with mayo, onions, orange peppers, and a little salt and pepper. Spooned into a wrap with some diced Swedish vodka currant cheddar, and you've got a great twist on the usual seafood salad.

For another twist -- add the ginger shrimp to some egg salad.

• It's Memorial Day, that means the grilling season has begun.
• Speaking of, here's a review of the book Grill It!,and an interview with Mario Batali about his book Italian Grill.
• A guide to finding the best nan around Boston.
• Restaurant reviews: Feng Shui, The Blue-Eyed Crab, and G Bar & Kitchen.
• McDonald's vs. Chick-fil-A, chicken-wise.
• This week's recipes: Spiced Couscous, Grilled Chicken Thighs with Sugar Snap Peas, Grilled Korean-Style Short Ribs with Chili Slaw, Tinga Poblana de Pollo, Grilled Radicchio Wrapped in Pancetta, and Shrimp and Grits.

• Three breakfast treats using apricots.
• How to cook a whole fish.
• Bake Me A Wish is sending cakes to troops overseas.
• Kids learn how to cook in a South Boston kitchen.
• Restaurant reviews: Flapjacks, Grezzo, and Center House of Pizza.
• This week's recipes: Cheese Biscuits, Buttermilk Pancakes, Plumped Ginger-Caramel Shrimp, French Toast with Lemony Cream Cheese and Warm Rhubarb Jam, Seared Baby Artichokes, and Marinated Chicken with Spring Vegetables and Ginger-Garlic Sauce.

We've all heard stories about food "rules" - the chef who refused to serve a food writer for ordering a Diet Coke with her meal, the waiter who wouldn't bring ketchup to the table because the frites were "supposed to be" eaten with garlic mayonnaise. Ordering the steak well done is sacrilege! Don't you dare put extra wasabi in your soy sauce dish - the sushi chef has already put in the exact right amount!

Writing in the New York Times Magazine, Robert Trachtenberg discusses the issue of food rules with an essay on the Italian taboo against putting Parmesan on seafood pasta. Trachtenberg knows it's against the rules, that traditional Italian chefs claim it masks the delicate seafood flavor. But he's not buying it - he likes it that way. Chefs chastise him, waiters serve him in secret, whispering that they fear for their jobs.

Seems pretty silly to me, the idea of rigid food rules. On the one hand, I'm always keen to eat the "original version" of a food, the way it's supposedly been eaten for hundreds of years in Thailand or made by grandmothers in Mexico for generations, yada yada yada. Tasting things the way the locals eat them is a way of connecting with the culture, of expanding your own horizons. And certainly I wouldn't want to disrespect a culture or a chef by doing something truly rude.

On the other hand, sometimes you just know what you like and what you don't like. And why is it anyone's business to tell you different? I would be pretty darn annoyed if a waiter withheld my Parmesan because the chef felt the pasta was better without. If a dining companion warned me against putting more wasabi on my sushi I would probably tell him to shut up. I really like wasabi. The very phrase "It's a matter of taste" is used to point out that taste is subjective, and necessarily varies from person to person. And does food really need to be taken so seriously anyway?

What do you think about following/breaking food "rules?"

• Russ Parsons sees nothing but Spring coming at the Farmers market with colorful cauliflower and watermelon radishes. He also goes into the kitchen and makes Spring soups: Potato and green garlic chowder, Shrimp and artichoke soup with spring herb gnocchi, and Chilled sweet pea bisque with Dungeness crab and mint.
• One the dining scene, LA restaurants are rounding dinner bills up (or down) and returning no coins in change. SIV finds Paperfish too flimsy, and takes a first look at STK Steakhouse.
• The Wine of the Week is 2005 Coudoulet de Beaucastel Côtes-du-Rhône and there's a new, faster, bartender in town.
  

Though I am personally not a big fan of seafood in general and shrimp in particular, I know that I am in the minority on this one. Most of the world's population loves shrimp. This fact plays out in a bad way in Jamaica.

For years, people in the mountains of Jamaica were able to catch giant shrimp in the rivers there. They would catch them in the old fashioned way, which was, of course, slow and difficult. And, just like throwing dynamite into the ocean to catch fish in Asia, someone came up with a quick new way to catch a lot of shrimp quickly for some fast cash. They dump some kind of poison into the river, instantly killing the shrimp (and everything else), which then float to the top. They're easy to catch that way.

The good news is that a lot of local people have joined a movement to stop this crime. They're taking steps to catch perpetrators, educate local judges (so offenders won't be simply released), and stop the poachers from selling their ill gotten gains at the market. Hopefully they'll be able to put a stop to this before the shrimp is gone for good or the environment is permanently damaged or both.

• We had a Boston/NY food showdown, and so does The Boston Globe.
• Make some chocolate goodies for your Valentine's Day honey.
• The Sneaky Chef vs. Deceptively Delicious.
• This chili is made with brisket and has no beans.
• Whoopie pies!
• Restaurant reviews: Kingston Station and Jack-Tar.
• This week's recipes: Lemon-Sugar Crepes, Magic Meatballs, Shrimp Remoulade, Turkey Chili, and Macaroni and Cheese.

When it comes to food like potstickers, I tend to stick to the ones that you can find in the freezer section of Trader Joe's. I've had times when I've been vaguely curious about wonton skins and thought briefly about experimenting with them, but I've always quickly come to my senses and purchased the pre-made ones instead.

However, this post from Alanna and Alex over at Two Fat Als makes me sort of intrigued. They took pictures to document their entire process and it just doesn't look too hard. And the results look delicious!