Making flavored (smoked, sweetened) salts: http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/holiday-handbook/2011/12/3-delici...

Dry-age your steak at home: http://lifehacker.com/5865849/dry+age-steak-at-home-for-steakhouse+quali...

Ice cube trays and nigiri: http://lifehacker.com/5859069/make-nigiri-sushi-quickly-in-an-ice-cube-tray

Shuck Local - the business behind a good Rappahannock Oyster: http://www.welovedc.com/2011/12/15/we-love-food-rappahannock-river-oyste...

Eight bacon "hacks" : http://lifehacker.com/5837068/8-essential-bacon-hacks (best hack: bacon cups). OK, one more bacon hack: homemade bacon salt: http://lifehacker.com/5838933/make-your-own-bacon-salt . OK, last bacon hack, a Cooks Illustrated method for using bacon paste (their term, not mine) to help chicken kabobs: http://www.101cookingfortwo.com/2011/04/bacon-coated-chicken-kabobs.html

Another fun hack (or a disaster) - sous-vide cooking salmon in your sink: http://lifehacker.com/5830856/cook-salmon-sous+vide-in-your-kitchen-sink...

In DC, we are at the peak weeks for stone fruit. Peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums. If it's a drupe, it's in season. For those of us with generally laughable growing seasons, this is pretty exciting. So, well, we might have gone a bit overboard in buying the past few weeks. We bought Marvin out of apricots the first week he had them to make jam for the winter, and keep ending up with, well, more peaches and nectarines than most sane people would try to tackle in a week.

Sun: grilled whole rainbow trout, stuffed with lemon and rosemary, brushed with garlic scape pesto, with quinoa, grilled squash, and side salad of purslane and seabeans.

Mon : artesenal pizza w/salad on top
Tues: Gnocci in a brown butter sauce and side veg
Wed : Composed Salad w/ tuna
Thus: H St. / Art Walk
Fri : Baguette slices with heirloom tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, cured meats, cheese, olives, pickled mushrooms...

1. House-made brioche with smoked trout roe and greek yogurt
2. Cured salmon with squid ink toast and raw pacific mexican whitefish with green tomato
3. Raw scallops two ways - with coconut milk and with crumbled pistachios
4. Burrata with asparagus and lemon breadcrumbs
5. Egg ravioli with ramps and dried tuna flakes
6. One-bite spanakopita
7. Smoked fois gras with pea purée
8. House-made half smoke with spicy tomato chutney, half sour pickle and beer
9. Warm date stuffed with marscspone topped w olive oil and sea salt