Yes. It's kinda sad when we live in a state that has to overlegislate something as simple as selling off your excess catch. Otherwise, where does it go? In the trash bin? Bait bucket?

I live in DC now, but some of the best seafood industries in the country were formed by fisherman selling their surplus at the docks. DCs Maine St. Wharf originally started that way, and now it is a small commerce hub that employs a few hundred people.

Someone should invite Gov. Christie to a fish fry and see if he can pull some strings and repeal such a stupid law!

I just got one (against my wife's insistence that it would NOT be tasty).

Going to try a variation of the way my mom used to stew a whole duckling.

Clean the insides and out - scrubbing with salt, rinse with cold water, then season with salt, pepper, some crushed garlic and soy sauce.

Smash a couple scallion stalks and put them inside the cavity.

Leave it in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.

In the morning, I'll brown it on all sides in a skillet and set aside.

In the skillet, I'll slice a few onions and lightly brown them with some sliced carrot and mushrooms (any kind you like, or make a mix of oyster, shitake, and white mushrooms)

Stuff the cavity with this mixture and put it in a slow cooker. If you have extra, just throw them into the cooker too.

Deglaze the pan with some orange juice and pour over the duck.

My mom would use a thumb sized knob of rock sugar. You can use white sugar instead ( a good tablespoon of it) and put on top of the duck. Instead, I'll use a handful of chopped, sweet dates.

If you have them, you can also throw in a handful of Dried asian red dates (these are not so sweet, but they add some color to the dish).

I figure to set it on low and leave it til I come home from work.

Skim off the duckfat and reserve for future use (roasting or frying potatoes, making roux, etc.)

Serve with rice.

I agree with everyone else. You do not want to take this guy to a crab feast! It means sitting on newspaper covered picnic tables and wearing t-shirts so you can clean up after being splattered when somone hammers a shell or eats corn on the cob.

Better to go to a ritzy restaurant and have some softshell crab, good lumpmeat crabcakes, or a nice shell-less crabmeat cocktail and a good 12 year old single malt scotch. If more casual, some Sam Adams.

If you want a great view of the city, the Sky Dome on top of the DoubleTree hotel in Crystal City - Across from the Pentagon is a great place to sip scotch, watch people doing Karaoke, and the restaurant revolves, so you can get a good view of the city. They serve a great crab cake there too!

Are you talking about a whole lamb or a leg of lamb?

My recommendation is to use injected marinades if you use marinades at all.

Some famous chef posted a video with his instructions to marinade in liquid. That causes the skin to be overhydrated and rubbery when cooked.

What's worse is the marinade he used contained sugar which caused the skin to burn. In his video he abrubtly ends it after the scene where the pig is flipped. You never see the pig taken out or eaten - probably because it was a rubbery burned up mess!!

I've used a steak cubing device to prick the skin all over and rubbed with a little baking soda to help break down the skin and cause nice crisp bubbles. I might try some lye water in a few weeks on my 4th pig.

In the last 30 minutes when you are crisping the skin, don't put the coals back on the cooker straight. Sort of turn it a few degrees left or right and leave a crack open in the cooker to allow steam to escape, otherwise the skin becomes steamed and rubbery.

I've made them before - they are a pain.

Not sure if you have tried this, but remember, the starches in rice sort of "crystalize" when they have been refrigerated overnight. I think this gives it that nice chewy texture. I would also try grinding some "sweet" rice that has more glutin in it.

Hence, you never get good fried rice by frying fresh rice right out of the steamer. You always have to use leftover rice that had been cooled overnight.

If your noodles are not durable, perhaps it is because you have not allowed them to cure overnight in the fridge. Spray a vegetable cooking spray on the rice sheets. Do not lay them flat against each other, or they will stick into a big laminated block!

Just kinda randomly smush them together after oiling with cooking spray, so they can peel apart easier when you slice and cook. Let it cure overnight and then try it.

Overall, I find buying the ho-fun bundles in the asian markets are cheaper and more satisfying.

Good luck!

Back when I was working the night shift at the Pentagon, I would get off at 7AM and stop there once in a while at 7:30 for a breakfast of a half pound of steamed shrimp and a bowl full of clam chowder. Mmmmmm.

Of course, having worked the night shift, that was more like a late dinner before going to bed in the daytime.

It's been a while since I bought fish on the docks from the incoming party boats. Not since before the 2000.

I used to go there and see people waiting in the parking lot with plastic supermarket shopping bags hanging out of their pockets.

We'd just go and see if anyone had some of their catch to sell. $5 used to get me a couple nice bluefish or a dozen mackeral. Throw in another $5 and they would clean them for me.

Never thought it was illegal. just fisherman or crew making a few bucks from their surplus catch.

At the JW Marriott on Pennsylvania Ave, they have a cafe downstairs that has a fantastic lunchtime prime rib buffet. they are also known for their warm bread pudding. All you can eat, peel and eat shrimp, carvery and salads.

My mistake was going to Phillips in the sumer time (August I think). Sweltering at lunchtime. Inadequate AC and little air circulation. Raw tuna, sushi (very little variety) and such was kinda warm on the chill table - there was no ice - they set wicker baskets and platic bowls directly on the table which was not chilling thoroughly. For a place known for crabs, there were no crabs on the buffet menu. Lots of fried chicken and other breaded things though. For the price, you are better off walking a hundred yards to the wharf and buying a nice seafood lunch or dinner on a styrofoam takeout container. Yea, the place may have been good once. Now it's a tourist trap. If you can drive out to Alexandria, the chain of Old Country Buffets offer better food, quality and value.

There's a Legal Seafoods close to me in Crystal City. I'll have to investigate.

Otherwise, the $1.95 half pound cheeseburger and fries can't be beat at McCormick & Schmick's. Though I found their oyster shooters to be bland. I notice that M&S in Tysons is done differently with a robust red cocktail sauce. With the two drink minimum, you end up spending about $15 The Thai Chicken Skewers and wings are also good for $1.95 each. The $3.95 menu had some not so good mussels and asian pork ribs at the Tysons location.

Morton's steakhouse has free steak sandwiches that are pretty tasty, on an excellent bun, but not much steak (Hey! what do you expect? It's FREE). I had to get some more substantial protein. so I ordered the crabmeat cocktail. So after a couple drinks, I ended up paying $30 for free steak sandwiches.