Lobster Season Is Here; Durian-Flavored Condoms

It's lobster season. I was in Maine a couple of weeks ago and I still have lobster on my mind. First, you should know that I didn't eat seafood of any kind until I was 19. My first taste of lobster was at a restaurant in upstate New York, at a staff party, and all I remember is accidentally flinging a whole lobster off my plate and at my then boss while trying to get some lobster meat out of a claw. I didn't eat lobster again until I was 25, and it was butter poached and perfect — but this time I was in California, so the concept of Maine lobster remained a vague notion in my mind until earlier this month when I took a ride on a lobster boat. Suffice to say it was an eye opening experience. Just for fun, here are three things you maybe didn't know about Maine lobster:

1. It's currently Maine lobster season. Lobsters off the coast of the Atlantic are molting, which means they're shedding their hard outer shell and growing a new, softer shell. This lets some sea water sink into their meat, resulting in a more tender meat and sweet-salty taste. The season ends in late September when the water starts getting colder.

2. On lobster claws: If they lose one, it takes about a year to regenerate; every lobster has two types of claws: a pincher claw and a clamper claw; the clamper claw is strong enough to take off a human finger; the clamper claw contains more meat than the pincher claw.

3. Maine lobstermen don't harvest female, egg-laying lobsters. When they catch one carrying a network of eggs along her belly, they notch the second tail fin from the right to let every lobstermen who catches her forever into the future know she's a reproductive female and therefore should live forever. This sustainability measure has been in place off the coast of Maine since the 1930s, and it's heartening to know some Maine lobsters get to live forever.

Finally, here is Kickstarter for a live (and totally bizarre) Periscope game involving a motorcycle decked out to look like a lobster, secret seafood pop-up dinners, and a golden claw.

Watch: How to break down a Lobster

In other news:

— President Obama named LGBT landmark the Stonewall Inn a National Monument.

— Jamie Oliver on Brexit:

A thought for Great Britain..... For the last two years, I have been filming all over the world in places where people live the longest, healthiest, happiest and most productive lives studying there food and culture. And now I finish my journey on the beautiful island of Sardinia, where at the end of the day's filming, as the sun set - I looked back and saw the European flag. For me.. symbolic and very sad. But in life you don't always get what you want. So guys, whether you voted In or Out, we are where we are. But at some point soon we all need to come back together and make the best of what will be a very bumpy 5 years. This referendum has fractured Europe, divided families and split the country. The divorce of our European marriage will be very costly and provoke a bitterness towards us as a trusted country in the world...However I do believe in democracy and Britain has spoken. In my own way I will now roll up my sleeves and work harder than ever to make this work. But I BEG YOU ONE THING GREAT BRITAIN ???? Give me Boris fucking Johnson as our Prime Minister and I'm done. I'm out. My faith in us will be broken forever. So speak up people - let's stop being spectators! We can not let this happen- share the shit out of this !! #BuggerOffBoris Trust and building relationships with other country's is the only currency that really works.

— This is a purse designed to carry a box of wine.

— Heston Blumenthal would prefer that you do not photograph your food at the table: "I would prefer if they (diners) didn't take any photos and just enjoyed themselves at the table and certainly not take them throughout the whole meal. At the end of the day, sometimes people take pictures from the moment they get somewhere and the camera disengages them from the emotion of being in the environment and the moment, as opposed to taking in the atmosphere, smelling, seeing, hearing, touching, feeling, all of those senses."

— Durian-flavored condoms exist.

— Pepsi is reintroducing aspartame into some of its drinks a year after pulling the ingredient due to health concerns.