Oysters

8-ounce tub of oysters, chopped, with juice 1 pint clam juice 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons flour 2 cups milk 1 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon black pepper 1. Add oysters to 1 pint of clam juice and bring to a boil. 2. Make white sauce: In a saucepan, melt the butter over a medium flame and stir in the flour. When it starts to bubble, take the pan from the fire and slowly stir in 1 cup of milk, letting the flour absorb the liquid. Put the pan back over the heat and just as slowly add 1 cup more of milk, never ceasing the stirring.

Tired of shelling out a lot of clams to sell their oysters, some seafood dealers in Pennsylvania are making a stink and have asked the state legislature for help. The target of their wrath is a 1925 law that the state Agriculture Department has paid particular attention to of late - a law requiring seafood shops to sell oysters by count. What that means is that retailers who buy their oysters in bulk, then repackage them for resale in smaller containers, can't merely dump them into new packages.

AW, SHUCKS! "Who steals oysters out of the back of a truck?" asks Jason Cichonski, owner of Ela (3rd & Bainbridge), who was among restaurateurs who didn't get his delivery Wednesday following the Rittenhouse Square theft of a box of Pacific oysters. "There's a lot of worse things that can happen to you," oyster distributor Paul Appleby said of what he says was the pilfering of about 90 pounds of oysters from the back of his Ford F-350 on 18th Street near Locust. Appleby, who owns West Chester's SeaFresh Oysters, said he parked, made deliveries to Parc and Dandelion, and returned to his truck.

When Jimmy Garrett first started shucking oysters, his hands used to get tired. Handling a knife with tired hands can be dangerous - he used to slip once in a while and cut himself. But that was in the old days, close to 50 years ago. These days, Garrett wouldn't think twice about shucking 350 oysters on a busy day at Old Original Bookbinders in Society Hill. The renowned restaurant can handle close to 1,000 people in its sprawling dining rooms - imagine what happens if everybody orders oysters.

Viewed from outside, the fire hall here seemed to rock and sway Friday night in an effort to contain all the noise and commotion inside. "It doesn't get rowdy, and you know why?" declared Jim Atkinson, 65, of Millsboro. "There are no females here. " But there were 1,200 men in there. Twelve hundred men comprising every conceivable shape, size and socioeconomic status. They milled about elbow-to-elbow in the packed hall, swilling beer and eating oysters and ham sandwiches.

It's only Friday, and already you're probably tired of turkey. Not only that, you have a week's worth of leftovers. Don't fret - take a fish break. For example, when's the last time you visited the Sansom Street Oyster House? This landmark restaurant - unlike its perishable products - seems to get better as it gets older. It's been around since 1976 but has the spirit of the city's old oyster houses: good food, good prices and a simple atmosphere. Fresh is the key word here.

Bruce Fenstermacher is a man whose bulk suggests he usually drinks his beer far more efficiently than he did on this occasion, when he sipped it most daintily through two tiny cocktail straws. He was trying not to get his panties wet. The red lace ones over his head. Early into the Rocky Mountain Testicle Festival, Fenstermacher was already into the spirit of things. The annual festival, which draws more than 10,000 people to an isolated northwestern Montana tavern, inevitably features a certain amount of testosterone-enhanced behavior.

For 50 years, the Delaware Bay's oysters have been in a losing battle against two parasites that have decimated their numbers, and scientists have spent as many years trying to bring them back. Last week, biologists announced that the latest efforts yielded a 27 percent jump in last summer's harvest of the salty, meaty oyster. But they also warned that ensuring a healthy future for the bivalve would cost millions. In 1957, a parasite called MSX swept through the bay, killing as many as 95 percent of the oysters in some beds.

Gluttony may be one of the seven deadly sins. But as Election Day approaches, don't tell that to the folks at St. Thomas' Episcopal Church. For more than 50 years, the 400-member congregation has served up oysters, ham, potato salad, pepper hash and assorted pies to anyone who is hungry on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The Election Day fund-raising event attracts politicians, South Jersey residents and even people from the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River.

8-ounce tub of oysters, chopped, with juice 1 pint clam juice 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons flour 2 cups milk 1 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon black pepper 1. Add oysters to 1 pint of clam juice and bring to a boil. 2. Make white sauce: In a saucepan, melt the butter over a medium flame and stir in the flour. When it starts to bubble, take the pan from the fire and slowly stir in 1 cup of milk, letting the flour absorb the liquid. Put the pan back over the heat and just as slowly add 1 cup more of milk, never ceasing the stirring.

8 medium stewing oysters, shucked 4 ounces oyster liquor 4 ounces clam juice 6 ounces heavy cream 1 teaspoon melted butter Salt, pepper and celery salt to taste Oyster crackers   1. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the oysters, oyster liquor, and clam juice and cook, stirring frequently, just until the oysters begin to curl at the edges. Do not allow it to boil. Transfer to a large serving bowl and cover to keep warm.

AW, SHUCKS! "Who steals oysters out of the back of a truck?" asks Jason Cichonski, owner of Ela (3rd & Bainbridge), who was among restaurateurs who didn't get his delivery Wednesday following the Rittenhouse Square theft of a box of Pacific oysters. "There's a lot of worse things that can happen to you," oyster distributor Paul Appleby said of what he says was the pilfering of about 90 pounds of oysters from the back of his Ford F-350 on 18th Street near Locust. Appleby, who owns West Chester's SeaFresh Oysters, said he parked, made deliveries to Parc and Dandelion, and returned to his truck.

* Celebrate all things vegan at Weavers Way's Second Annual Vegan Fest, noon to 4 p.m. Sunday at Weavers Way Mt. Airy (559 Carpenter Lane, 215-866-9150, weaversway.coop). Live music, grilled vegan food, product demos and lots of samples, plus Vegetarian Starter Kits from PETA. Beauty and health product info, too, since going vegan means more than just what you eat. * Square Peg (929 Walnut St., 215-413-3600), a casual, bi-level restaurant/bar, opens at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in Midtown Village.

BIVALVE, N.J. - Clyde Phillips, 78, looked past the docks and the old oyster shipping sheds that are now the Bayshore Discovery Project and past its showpiece, the floating museum A.J. Meerwald, covered in plastic for the winter, and fixed his blue-eyed gaze on the only thing unchanged in all the years he has taken in this scene: the Maurice River emptying into Delaware Bay. In his mind's eye, the resident of nearby Mauricetown could see what...

It's 60 minutes of sheer delight - jam-packed with slapstick humor, astonishing acrobatic feats, witty visual effects, romance, heartbreak, and music ranging from jazz to Tuvan throat singing. Oyster , inspired by a book of poems by filmmaker Tim Burton, is a signature work of Israel's award-winning Inbal Pinto & Avshalom Pollak Dance Company. The troupe's three-day run at the Annenberg Center, which began Thursday, marks the end of its latest U.S. tour. While each of the vignettes that make up Oyster evokes its own mood, the overall sense of eeriness and androgyny - and especially the dancers' stark white makeup, fright wigs, and outrageous costumes - are certainly Burtonesque.

CAPE MAY - The farming of oysters and clams at the New Jersey Shore, helped by new technologies, has struck deep enough roots for experts and state officials to turn their focus to growing and marketing shellfish aquaculture, including a push to open more coastal waters to the industry. In a new report, "Opportunities and Potential for Aquaculture in New Jersey," the state Department of Agriculture, usually preoccupied with promoting land-based crops, contends that the $6 million aquaculture shellfish industry - a small part of the $178 million state seafood industry - has the potential to grow much bigger.

LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. - A year ago, New Jersey environmental officials reached a deal with the owners of the nation's oldest nuclear power plant to shut it down 10 years earlier than expected. In return, the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station would not have to build costly cooling towers. On Wednesday, state officials kept their end of the deal, granting Chicago-based Exelon Corp. a permit that will enable the plant to continue drawing water from Oyster Creek to help cool the nuclear reactor.

Last year, Tara O'Brien, the director of conservation and preservation at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, was rummaging through the third-floor storage archives, collecting items for a forthcoming exhibit. She got distracted when stumbling upon a small document box. It was the attached note, scribbled in pencil, that caught the avid cook's eye. It said simply, "Recipe Book. " "One of my favorite items we have is Martha Washington's cookbook," O'Brien says. "I've been keeping my eyes open for similar things since I got here.

WELLFLEET, Mass. - All roads lead to water. Which means, here on the outer curl of Cape Cod, 70 miles or so into the Atlantic Ocean, where tall marsh greens in autumn turn the color of butterscotch, all roads lead to oysters. Bumper stickers remind you of the oyster fishermen who drive alongside you down U.S. Highway 6. Oysters are painted on the sides of homes. Oysters dominate every menu and suck at your heels on the beach. Heading north down the long neck of the Cape, toward Provincetown, you can make two turns at Wellfleet.