I was recently asked whether I prefer snow peas, sugar peas or shelling peas. For eating in salads, I prefer snow peas. For cooking Asian dishes, either snow peas or sugar peas are acceptable with the exception that snow peas tend to be crunchier when not cooked to death. But for eating as a single dish or adding to American style dishes, shelling peas are hard to beat. It takes time to shell peas, but the flavor of freshly harvested shelled peas that are steamed and not boiled is...

Marylanders are planting oysters as if they can save the species by their effort alone. Perhaps they can. The Severn River is among a dozen waterways where Marylanders Grow Oysters, joining in a state program supported by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Oyster Recovery Partnership.   To rebuild oyster reefs in the Severn, more than 250 volunteers have tended 1,100 cages of spat suspended from docks along the river. Oysters were raised at private and community docks...

  --Every Friday, Carolyn Surrick, Ginger Hildebrand and Sue Richards drive from near Annapolis into Washington, D.C., to practice their music. For a year and a half, the Ensemble Galilei performers make the trek every week to Mologne House, an outpatient hotel for Walter Reed soldiers who manage without round-the-clock care. These practice sessions were the brainchild of viola da gamba player Surrick, who thought she could get more out of her practice time. “As musicians, you...

  The waxing moon reaches first-quarter phase Friday, appearing high in the southwest with sunset at 8:24. Each night after, the moon appears 15 degrees farther to the east and sets roughly 30 minutes later.  Thursday the moon shines less than 10 degrees to the right of Mars, well within the space of your fist held at arm’s length. A little beyond Mars shines Regulus, the heart of Leo the lion. While Mars is only a little brighter than its apparent stellar neighbor, the planet...