• 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!

Looking for something to make for dinner tonight? Why not try this one from my grandma Bunny's recipe box called Shrimp Curry Improv (I want to make it just for the name). It is a recipe that is definitely a product of it's time (I'm guessing sometime in the late sixties or early seventies) in that it uses a can of mushroom soup to constitute most of the base of the sauce. I don't know if she made this one up or if it comes from some other, more exalted source, but all that aside, I'm guessing it would be pretty tasty, served over rice and with a side of sauteed spinach or other wilted green.

So, did you hear about the cooked shrimp that glowed in the dark? I realize that sounds like the set-up to a joke, but it's no joke. A Seattle man recently bought some cooked shrimp at his local Thriftway. He ate some of it and then left the rest sitting on his kitchen counter for a moment. When he came back he noticed that in the darkened kitchen the shrimp was glowing, "like a bright eerie light was shining on it."

The FDA has said that they have no plans of looking into the case of the glowing shrimp (sounds like a Nancy Drew mystery) as since no one got sick, it isn't a food safety issue. Apparently, this is not the first time that seafood has glowed in the dark. It is thought to be caused luminescent species of bacteria found in ocean waters that the shrimp picked up while they were alive.

[via Portland Food and Drink]
Photo link

I once had a boyfriend who could not tolerate the taste or smell of hard boiled eggs. I remember learning this the hard way, after I had made a really terrific, labor-intensive salmon salad (with freshly poached salmon, not canned). We sat down to eat, and as he put the fork into his mouth, a terrible looked passed across his face and he looked like he was about to retch. The fork beat a hasty retreat back to the plate, and he looked at me with a very serious expression on his face and asked, "Does this have hard boiled eggs in it?"

These days I try to ferret out whether someone is a picky eater before I get too attached, but I've discovered that just about everyone has that one thing that they just can't stand to eat. For some folks, it has to do with a texture and for others it's the association that makes it objectionable. My mom doesn't care for pepper and my dad hates the combination of crunchy and creamy (think ice cream with candy bits in it). My list is fairly short, consisting only of shrimp (as I have a highly inconvenient allergy).

What's your objectionable ingredient? Has your list gotten short as you've gotten older? How do you handle it if you are served something that contains this item?

This post inspired by a question on Serious Eats' Food and Drink forum.

I'm usually glad to peruse tomorrow's New York Times headlines when it comes to food as I did last night. I say usually because last night the news I learned was rather disturbing. The FDA has issued an alert about the safety of five types of farm-raised seafood imported from China. It seems that multiple tests showed contamination from carcinogens and antibiotics.

The five types of seafood in question are shrimp, catfish, eel, basa (a type of catfish) and dace (Chinese mud carp). These fish will have to be tested before they can be sold in the U.S. The FDA noted that there's no immediate health threat, but that prolonged exposure could cause health problems. Somehow that doesn't make me feel very safe, probably because I've consumed more than a few cans of canned dace with black bean sauce in my day. And the ban may not be such good news for fish eaters in general, either. Chinese seafood accounts for 21 percent of all seafood imports. Shrimp lovers may be hit especially hard since it's the number one seafood imported from China.

Seafood is usually a fairly photogenic genre of meat as far as food porn goes. Sushi can be absolutely beautiful and cooked fish, with the possible exception of the bland-looking poached fish, can look tempting, as well. Shrimp, on the other hand, are not usually the most appetizing of sea creatures, which is what makes this photo of Ginger Chili Shrimp from Hooked on Heat all the more amazing. These tasty fried shrimp are first marinated in a mixture of turmeric, chili powder and lime juice before hitting the oil for a quick fry. The remaining oil is then used as a base for a spicy sauce made with ginger, onions, chili flakes, tomato paste and soy sauce, which is tossed with the shrimps to give them the nicely browned look that you see above. This dish could easily be served as an appetizer with margaritas at a cocktail party or enjoyed as part of a light dinner when you're in the mood for some spice and seafood.

Funny post over at Boston.com's Dig blog. They list a number of items that you can get with $50, including the season two box set of Grey's Anatomy, a car model, and an entire dinner at one of Boston's finest restaurants. Or, you could get one omelet.

That's what they're offering for brunch at Tremont 647 in Boston. And before you say, "$50 for, what, a ham and cheese omelet?!", note that it is stuffed with foie gras, lobster, shrimp and steak (gah - except for the steak and eggs it sounds like my meal in hell).

I've often wondered what I would eat if I was ridiculously wealthy. Would I start eating at the finest restaurants all the time? Would I eat only the best steaks? Would I have a personal chef? Would I spend money on $50 omelets and other expensive foods we always here about, like $100 hamburgers and $10,000 bottles of champagne? If I was ridiculously rich? Yeah, probably.

When is a lobster not a lobster? When it's actually a langostino. And what's a langostino? Well sometimes is is a lobster (in Europe), sometimes it's a prawn (in Spain), and sometimes it's a crab.

And such is the reason why the people in Maine are a little more than angy that restaurants are selling langostinos as "lobsters." Senator Olympia Snowe from Maine wants the FDA to ban restaurants from calling langostinos on the menu, "lobster." According to Kristen Millar of the Maine Lobster Promotion Council, serving langostino as lobster is an "insult to Maine and to the lobster industry."

The whole concept of Nathalie Dupree's Shrimp and Grits originated with one dish: shrimp and grits, a breakfast dish that is popular in South Carolina. The combination is delicious, but the elements are so versatile that you could order the dish in one hundred diners and get it one hundred different ways. The book doesn't focus only on the ways to prepare this one dish, but it does take the ingredients and showcase exactly how many different ways they can be used. The author shares tips on preparing shrimp and cooking grits to perfection. Variations on the main dish include BLT Shrimp and Grits and a Cheese Grits Soufflé with Shrimp Sauce. If you're looking for something a little different, there are also recipes for things like crackers and desserts - Peach and Grits Cobbler, anyone?

Nathalie Dupree is a great resource for Southern cooking and Southern recipes, with more than 10 cookbooks to her name. If you're already a fan, you can actually order an autographed copy of this book on her website.

While there are worries about mercury and other toxins in seafood, fish is still a healthy source of protein, high in omega-3 fatty acids and other vitamins and minerals, that people love to eat. But adding one more negative strike to seafood is the issue of sustainability. Some species are over-fished and others are simply discarded when caught due to a lack of demand. Farming can be a solution in some instances, but not all, and keeping track of what types of fish are the safest and most environmentally friendly can be a challenge.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has a Seafood Watch (SFW) program that is designed to help make seafood consumers' lives easier. Their website aims to provide enough information to help people learn more about sustainable seafood and make more environmentally sound choices. They provide a printable guide that gives you an idea of the good and bad choices in different areas of the country, or you can browse the guide online, if you don't need to take it along with you.