For the longest time, the scallops I ordered in restaurants tasted better to me than the ones I cooked. In fact, I almost gave up on using them in my kitchen for fear of offending my guests. Then I made a big breakthrough—I bought some fresh, sweet-smelling scallops from a nearby market, and I wanted to pop them in my mouth immediately. Dry packed scallops not only taste better, cook better, and look better than frozen ones, they're also not filled with water, phosphates, or any other substances (sometimes chemical, harmful) that cause them to weigh more when they're purchased. And who needs soap in their scallops?

Sarah Pazur owns Tapenade Fine Catering (tapenadeonline.com) based in Dearborn, MI. She is also a teacher and curriculum coordinator at Henry Ford Academy in Detroit. Her writings and poems have appeared in several quarterlies including The Allegheny Review, Driftwood, Gertrude, and Life News. She lives in Dearborn, MI with her husband, son, and her dog, Benny, a Jack Russel Terrier who is the apple of her eye.

Carly Sachs’ first book of poems, the steam sequence won the 2006 Washington Writers’ Publishing House book prize. She is the editor of the Why and Later, an anthology of poems that women have written about rape and sexual assault (Deep Cleveland Press 2007). Her poems have appeared in The Best American Poetry 2004, Another Chicago Magazine, Nextbook, MiPoesis, PMS, The New Vilna Review, The Saint Ann’s Review, and Present Tense. She received her MFA from The New School and has taught courses at George Washington University. Currently she is a bartender and yoga teacher in New York City.