[Near West of Boston]

Best not to eat "seafood" in New England. Shellfish, yes, but not fish. Never, ever, under most circumstances eat fish in New England unless you caught it yourself, or maybe (just maybe) in a very high end restaurant and if it's "atlantic dayboat" fish. Boats go out for 5 days at a time, because really there's no fish near here, it's all gone. There are clams, though!

 

Summer Shack has as decent fried clams as you can find close to the city, if you can't make the drive up to Route 135 to get better ones. Their lobster is among the best cooked you can get in MA, but not as good as in Maine. If you go there don't be tempted to get fish, nor should you even think of getting your lobster prepared any other way than just steamed. 

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I've been a member of Cape Ann Fresh Catch community-supported fishery for a year now.  The fish is from Gulf of Maine dayboats, and I am told that it has usually been caught no more than 24 hours before delivery, never more than 48.  We get a reasonable variety including several kinds of flatfish, pollock, redfish, haddock, hake, monkfish, and bluefish, all caught "near here".

 

Jasper's Pan-Roasted Lobster is spectacularly good.  The buttery sauce contains roe, alcohol, and herbs.  Suggested serving: 1 per lifetime.

 

[Energy and Resource Consumption and Conservation in the Kitchen]

Whenever I turn off a burner on my electric cooktop stove, I cover it with a lidded pot of water.  The passively-heated water is then used to hand-wash dishes.  Likewise, I do the same when I've finished using the oven.  Not only do these pots of "free" hot water save wear and tear on my water heater, but they serve to remove heat from the kitchen in hot weather.  

 

After seeing a WIlliams-Sonoma staffer recommend doing so, if I remember, I soak dry pasta in tap water for 45-60 minutes before cooking it.  It dramatically reduces cooking time.  A lasagna pan is convenient for soaking long shapes like spaghetti.  

 

From a friend, I learned that pasta cooks just fine if you don't continually boil it, and you can use less than half the generally-recommended amount of water.  For a pound of dry pasta (unsoaked), bring 3 quarts of water to a boil.  Stir in the pasta (give long strands a minute to soften and submerge), put the lid on, turn off the heat, and add 3-5 minutes to the cooking time recommended on the package.  Especially for stranded pasta, you might want to quickly lift the lid and stir once midway through the "steeping" time.  An added plus is that this method eliminates boil-overs.

 

I keep my refrigerator and freezer quite full, as the thermal mass conserves the cold so the unit does not need to run as much.

On the rare occasions when there is open space in the freezer, I fill it with containers of water,  If the weather forecast sounds like the risk of power outages is increased, I make sure to have these DIY "ice blocks" in the freezer.  If the power fails, I quickly transfer one from the freezer to the top shelf of the fridge, then shut it and don't open either door until the power is restored.  A few years ago when the Halloween snowstorm hit New England, I had no power for 106 hours.  The only thing that spoiled was an opened container of cream that was on the verge of curdling before the storm arrived.  

[Lubberwort]

I am surprised this word is not commonplace in foodie discourse, and am on a mission to popularize it.

I'd never heard it until it was a definition question on the NPR word-game program, Says You.  Originally the name of a mythical herb said to cause those who consume it to become lazy and idle, it has come to mean food or drink lacking in nutritional value - i.e., junk food.  Pass it on!

[Baking with Double Yolk Eggs]

Double yolks happen when the hens first begin laying, and their hormones haven't balanced out yet, according to my local poultry farmer.  I agree with using them no differently than ordinary eggs, unless you are separating them, in which case at least measure them by volume, if you don't have a scale.