Alas, the demands of my day job (which for the past couple of months has really been more of a day, night, and weekend job) prevented me from preparing anything really spectacular for the fish edition of IMBB. So I'm cheating this time around. I've dragged a metaphorical net through the Frost Street Archives and pulled together a retrospective of tasty sea-treats.

There was the softshell crab sandwich I made for memorial day, which is still eminently in season.

There was the jigsaw puzzle of a shad fillet, the steeliness of its roe and the quirkiness of its history.

There was the heart made of gravlax, along with a history of buried salmon, that was inspired by a trip to the Culinary Institute of America.

There were oysters upon oysters, with all their sultry suggestiveness.

There were anchovies from the House of Roque, in Collioure, several of which are still sitting packed in salt in my pantry. (I wonder if they're still good?)

And of course, there was the smoked fish from Citarella, that kept me warm on a cold winter night, and saved me from the ignominy of back-to-back grilled cheese dinners.

Who would have thought fish could do all that?