I just had to cook this weekend, but what? I decided to stop by Conrad’s Crabs and Seafood Market in Parkville. (Remember when that area used to be called Baynesville?) Owner/waterman Tony Conrad always has a beautiful display of fresh seafood.

I knew something would grab me, and it did—Maryland soft shells. They were $5.50 a piece for jumbos. I bought them, even though there are better prices around town. Our administrative assistant Marge got some beauts on Saturday at a produce market at the old North Point Drive-In in Dundalk. They were three for $12 and still wriggling.

I know I blogged about my Mother’s Day crabs, but now I wanted to mess up my own kitchen. And I love my soft-shell-crab recipe. I discovered it a few years ago in Bon Appetit magazine.

You soak the soft shells in buttermilk for an hour in the fridge, then dredge them in a cornmeal-flour mixture. But the kicker is adding a 1/4 teaspoon cayenne (I add more) to the mix. Then, you cook those babies in hot peanut oil (watch for the popping) for about 2 1/2 minutes on each side. Dinner is served.

There’s one drawback—the leftover smell. But I’ve discovered a new product that takes care of kitchen odors—soy-based candles by Glade. They have a wonderful fragrance (I particularly like the orange vanilla), not cloying at all. Before you even digest the crabs, your kitchen is smelling sweet again.

The Waverly restaurant is not closing. I was surprised to see a comment on Chowhound that Darker Than Blue had a "bank notice" on the front of its building and was going to be sold. That’s not true.

I just spoke to chef/owner Casey Jenkins. "We’re not being sold," he confirmed. "We’re actually growing."

Casey said this isn’t the first time someone has driven by the restaurant and seen the sign out front and claimed the restaurant’s demise.

There is indeed a sign. But it’s a notice for a liquor-board hearing, scheduled for June 25, Casey said. Currently, the restaurant is BYOB.

I reported in April that the restaurant was expanding, adding space to its second floor. That is still happening. Casey expects construction to start any day.

Sharpen your knives. Bravo’s "Top Chef Masters" starts tomorrow (June 10) at 10 p.m. But what’s really going to be fun is having a locally produced blog to turn to for all sorts of tidbits and recaps about this competition as well as the regular "Top Chef" challenge, when it starts again in the fall. There will also be updates and gossip about the chefs who have been on the shows.

Kathy Patterson, aka Minx Eats, is the inspiration for the new blog All Top Chef! She’s pretty amazing. Besides her day job as a researcher at a local university, Kathy also blogs about perfume, knitting, and fashion. "I was bored," she explains with a laugh during a phone conversation.

Another local blogger, Kit Pollard of Mango and Ginger, is also contributing to All Top Chef as well as several other folks. And former cheftestant Stefan Richter (Season 5) has offered to do guest posts when the regular "Top Chef" returns. Check out his cockychefclothing T-shirt, designed by Kathy. (Does she sleep?)

During the new TCM show, the site also will post a conversation with the four chefs who are competing that week. This week features chefs Hubert Keller, Michael Schlow, Tim Love, and Christopher Lee.

I interviewed Chris Lee a couple of years ago for The News Journal in Wilmington, DE, when he was the executive chef at the Striped Bass in Philadelphia. He now runs the kitchen at Aureole in New York.

I don’t know how Chris will come off on TV, but he’s a really sweet guy, who’s shy and likable and close to his family. He was the James Beard Rising Star Chef of the Year in 2005. He also used to give fun cooking demos at Celebrity Kitchens in Wilmington.

But back to TCM, here’s a rundown of how the show will work. There are 24 contestants, including such hot names as Wylie Dufresne, Rick Bayliss, and Roy Yamaguchi. For the first six weeks, four chefs will compete against each other for one winner. During the final four weeks, the six winners will battle it out.

The prize: $100,000 for the charity of their choice as well as the grandiose title Top Chef Master. Let the chopping begin.

If you can’t make it to the Waverly farmers’ market on Saturday mornings, there’s another option now. The Green Spring Station farmers’ market starts Saturday (June 6) with afternoon hours.

It goes from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and will run through Nov. 21. There’s plenty of parking at the market, tucked between the Green Spring Station shops and Hopkins complex at the intersection of Falls and Joppa roads in Lutherville.

I talked to organizer Marge Wildey, who said people have been calling to get into the market. So far, there are 28 vendors, including the Baltimore Dog Bakery, Hawks Hill Creamery, Three Springs Fruit Farm, Pahl’s Farm, Locust Point Flowers, Zeke’s Coffee, a mushroom stand, and Quite a Stir bakery.

Marge, who has owned The Nut Farm in Green Spring Station with her husband, Clay, for 14 years, says she visited many area farmers’ market, including one at Dupont Circle in D.C., to get an idea of what vendors to target for the new venture.

Towson resident Julie Salter of Quite a Stir thinks it’s a great location for the market, and after people shop, they can "go over to Tark’s (Grill) for happy hour," she says.

Why not?

For a complete list of local markets, check out the farmers’ market directory.

Glasz Cafe won’t be empty for long. Robb Banks, the new owner of the space in Lake Falls Village, is already hard at work, adding more tables and coming up with a menu for Banksy’s Cafe, named after his late grandfather.

If anyone can make this place fly, it’s Robb, a former Baltimore County judge and, more recently, a stay-at-home dad of three girls (10-year-old twins and a 12-year-old). The man has got to be organized!

The cafe will feature "creative American cuisine," he says. There will be house-made infused waters, coffees, teas, salads, soups, sandwiches, paninis, and decadent desserts. He’ll also have clever snacks like a pickle on a stick. Prices will be wallet friendly, he says.

Robb doesn’t get keys to the restaurant until Monday, but he hopes to open sometime between mid-June and mid-July. He describes the décor as "fun, light, and handsome" with Burberry plaid and Sangria red accents. He’s got lots of plans and is already thinking of a second location in Towson.

I had my first soft-shell crab of the season on Mother’s Day, courtesy of my chef-daughter Brigitte. After a hard day’s work at Miss Shirley’s, where people were lined up before the doors opened at 7:30, she cooked up amazing soft shells in her own kitchen later that day.

And what a treat it was. Brigitte stuffed the soft shells with a mini crab cake, dusted them with flour, pan fried them, and then finished them off in the oven. She also made a caprese-salad stack with heirloom tomatoes and fresh mozzarella drizzled with balsamic and a fresh corn salad. Yum. Am I a lucky mom or what?

But ever since, I’ve been craving more soft shells. So I was glad to get chef Marcus Olson’s e-mail about Soft-Shell Restaurant Week, which starts today and runs through May 31. This is not a fixed-price event. It shines the spotlight on a local food.

Marcus, the hardworking chef at The Brass Elephant, and The Downtown Partnership are working together on this venture. Other restaurants paying homage to our soft-shell crabs include Charleston, Ixia, La Scala, Mother’s Federal Hill Grille, and Sotto Sopra.

At The Brass Elephant, you’ll find such offerings as a soft-shell crab with black bean sauce, spinach, and seaweed salad; a soft-shell-crab salad with Louisiana crawfish, and a soft-shell crab paired with an Angus flat-iron steak.

Marylanders appreciate the joys of eating the whole crab during its short molting season. But it’s always funny to get non-locals reactions. One time, I was eating a soft-shell sandwich at a restaurant, when a little girl at the next table looked over horrified and announced loudly, "That lady is eating a spider."

Thank you, guest bloggers. It was so much fun reading everyone’s posts. I hope you’ll add your voices again in the future, but without me having surgery next time!

I’m healing and getting around with one crutch, but I’m working from home until my doc gives me the okay to return to the office. I go tomorrow to get my stitches out, so I may be back at my desk on Wednesday.

To while away the time last week, I watched David Simon’s The Wire. I followed the first season intently, as I sat elevating and icing my knee. In one of the episodes, there was a great scene with D’Angelo and his girl (the mother of his toddler son) going to The Prime Rib.

At least, I’m pretty sure it was The Prime Rib. It looked like its logo was on the menus, and the leopard carpet is one of a kind. But D didn’t have a jacket on, which is required at this primo Baltimore spot.

What fascinated me, though, was the dessert cart. In The Wire scene, D reaches for one of the plated cakes, only to be politely told he can’t just take one off the cart. It spoke volumes about class culture.

But it got me thinking about how dessert carts and trays used to be so ubiquitous in restaurants. Now, I’m trying to remember when I was last presented with one. Has anyone seen one lately?