Fresh Thoughts for 2012: Alewife's Chad Wells scheduled for National Aquarium's dining series

Events for 2012 are starting to pop up in the inbox. This one got our attention. The National Aquarium's ongoing series of Fresh Thoughts dinners resumes on Jan. 24 with Chad Wells, who will be presenting a menu of invasive species from Maryland waters, including crab, blue catfish and snakehead.

Wells has honchoed a few of these invasive-species dinners already -- at his own Alewife, at the Creative Alliance and at an all-star October benefit for the Oyster Recovery Partnership at Rockfish in Annapolis

Tickets for the Fresh Thoughts dinner with Chad Wells at the National Aquarium are $89. The evening begins with a cocktail reception and cooking demonstration, followed by a four-course dinner featuring a Maryland blue crab appetizer , a "Frankenfish Taco," and a deconstructed paella with smoked Chesapeake gold oyster and seared blue catfish. The event concluded with a stroll through the Aquarium.

Tickets are $89. For reservations, call 410-576-3869.