You know, it isn’t the most newsworthy item out there this week, but the Crustastun is what jumped out at us when someone asked what was new in the realm of food news. It’s more fodder for the ongoing discussion that, if it were a college course, might be called How We Kill the Things We Eat.

Jane Black wrote in today’s Washington Post about this invention that is kind to lobsters and their kin. “The Crustastun, which was on display at this week’s Boston Seafood Show, is an electronic stunning system that knocks crabs, lobsters and crayfish unconscious in less than half a second and kills them in five seconds — far less than the five minutes it takes to kill a large shellfish when it is thrown into a pot of boiling water.”

Following up with more trend stuff, which we touched on here last week, there’s another Post story reporting that “Washington has caught up to a trend that has been building in other major U.S. cities for more than a decade.” That trend is cupcakes, and not the cheapo kind found in the bakery departments of major grocery chains. Georgetown Cupcake offers flavors like lava fudge and lemon blossom, and you need 3 Benjamins to get one. We know from living in New York at the start of the Magnolia Bakery craze that with these high-end cupcakes, you usually do get what you pay for.

Speaking of cake, how vintage-y cool would you be if you baked up a classic Victoria Sandwich Cake for your kid’s humble, at-home birthday party? (Do these exist anymore?) The Post writes about this treat and includes the recipe. You’ll be the Nigella-esque star of the birthday party circuit with one of these on hand!

More on the sweet tip: Pinkberry and Red Mango are two frozen-yogurt joints that are open across from each other on Bleeker Street in Manhattan’s West Village. Yogurt World, Flurt, Berrywild, Yolato — all of these fro-yo-with-toppings places are very hot right now, reports The New York Times in “The Legions of Frozen Yogurt Push East.” Hot Plates can’t help but think this is such 1980s redux, as we recall trips to TCBY (The Country’s Best Yogurt: Where are you now?). A female-heavy crowd would swarm the place, loading tons of candy and junk on top of fat-free yogurt. It seems the game has changed a hair or two, but it’s still a “guilt-free treat” kind of thing (which has always seemed to us an oxymoron).

Some savory items of note: This description of fried green tomatoes by Jane Black in her “Worth the Trip” blurb got us totally fiending for this snack. We live barely outside the Beltway, and when we dine out it’s rare we’d take a long trip to a far-out area such as Purcellville, but this one really might inspire a day trip that ends in an eat-fest there.

The L.A. Times chimes in with an uplifting Farmer’s Market feature about “pastel vegetables.” Do they mean the pink tomatoes commonly available in northeast grocery stores during winter? No, they’re talking about pale-green cauliflower and “watermelon radishes.” These really are pretty and will add color to the bland winter table — they just need to be creatively presented and prepared for maximum flavor.

The second spring-y item is also from the Times: Spring soups that sound so totally perfect to us right now. The article includes a photo of “silky chilled bisque of English peas … topped with crab and slivers of fresh mint.” Writer Russ Parsons describes “A chunky chowder rich with the earthy flavor of freshly dug potatoes and the pungent sweetness of green garlic” or a “fragrant shrimp broth enlivened by artichokes and tender gnocchi perfumed with fresh spring herbs.” Don’t you want to eat this right now?

Parsons makes this excellent point about winter cooking: for months, we “have had to work to get flavor — roasting, caramelizing, simmering for hours. Now, with all of this vibrant spring produce at our fingertips, that same intensity of taste is ours for the asking.”