Welcome to the world of coastal cooking! April is such a fun month in Coastal Country that we don't know whether we're coming or going. Besides launching our new Web site (you're reading it, hon!), we're in post-production for the first three episodes of our new television series, "Coastal Cooking with John Shields," the broadcast companion to my new book, due out August 3rd. The TV series will air on Public Broadcasting System stations around the country starting in October, so stay tuned! Early shows concentrate on the food and fun of New England, with Clambake Master of the Universe Ned Lightner from Maine; of the Pacific Northwest, with marvelous mussel farmers Ian Jeffards and Tim Jones, of Penn Cove Shellfish, Whidbey Island, Wash.; and of oh-so-sultry South Florida, with the lovely and talented Chef Michelle Bernstein, demonstrating her Miami mojo magic. There's also a trip to Baltimore's famous Lexington Market, where Bill Devine, fishmonger to the stars, presides at Faidley's. As you might imagine, putting together a TV show is a ton of work, but somehow it always turns into a big, happy party with lots of laughs. Actually, other people were laughing, but I wasn't, when we shot the opening and closing sequences on the waterside. Temperatures were in the 40s, so if my lips look blue, don't adjust your TV set, I'm just freezing out there!

April is also a big month for the food crowd here in Baltimore because the city is playing host to hundreds of chefs, cookbook authors, TV personalities, corporations and all sorts of folks involved in the culinary world when the International Association of Culinary Professionals holds its 26th Annual International Convention here the 21st through the 24th. The theme this year is Culinary Trade Winds, exploring the migration of ingredients and ideas that are transforming culinary scenes around the world. We're especially happy because our own Gertrude's restaurant, at the beautiful Baltimore Museum of Art, will be the setting the 2004 IACP Foundation Dinner on Friday night. This benefit dinner helps support endangered culinary treasures, which includes people, cookbooks and ways of life. There will be a special exhibit of historic Maryland cookbooks, menus, and dinnerware. Look for those B&O Railroad dining car menus! Special guest will be the legendary chef Jacques Pepin, and an introductory program will be co-hosted by Baltimore public television personality Rhea Feiken.

On Saturday there will be the Awards Gala and Dinner, with the presentation of the 2004 IACP Cookbook Awards, the Awards of Excellence, the Bert Greene Journalism Award, and, of course, the Cookbook of the Year Award. Maryland ingredients such as crab and rockfish star in a festive meal prepared by eight of the region's top chefs.

All the excitement is great, but I'm looking forward to a somewhat quieter but still colorful and delectable time when the farmers and vendors return to my local farmers' market at 32nd Street in Waverly. The weather's been kind of cold and nasty lately, but pretty soon there will be stacks of early produce, asparagus and rhubarb, and jars of honey, preserves and chutney, not to mention fresh flowers and baked goods. I visit every Saturday. Someday soon I'll take you along!