I’m a California girl and fiercely proud of it, especially since I’ve moved to the Northwest, where any mention of the Golden State is a dirty word.  There are few things more Californian than San Francisco-style Cioppino, that staple of the restaurants around Fisherman’s Wharf.  My hometown had a ‘Cioppino Feed’ every year to support the Rotary Club, and after doing a quick google search, I see that it was not alone!  Indeed, the earliest  recipe I found for cioppino in the U.S. is from a book called Conservation Recipes, compiled by the Mobilized Women’s Organizations of Berkeley in 1918.  Ultimately, the dish is derived from any number of tomato-based fish soups from Italy (with nods to Southern France and Spain, of course).

Today’s cioppino recipe is from the California Heritage Cookbook, published in 1977 by the Pasadena Junior League.  I know this dates me, but I remember my mother using the cookbook as I was growing up.  I was so happy to find such a familiar book on the shelves of a local thrift shop.

As it happens, the recipe was a wonderful combination of rich broth and tender seafood–crusty bread is the perfect accompaniment!  I was lazy and bought some pre-shelled crab and cut back on the olive oil and butter a bit, but otherwise I followed this recipe very closely and was impressed by the results.

I have always loved gin.  Well, except for when I accidentally drank my father’s gin, thinking it was water.  Perhaps that early taste of gin, as horrid as I remember it to be, has given me an appreciation for its clean, yet floral, flavor.  Tonight Kevin and I made martinis.  Mine, with two humble green olives and his with a habanero-stuffed olive.  I like my martinis with just a splash of vermouth swirled in the martini glass, some olive juice, and Bombay Sapphire.  My favorite cocktail guide, Aquavit to Zombie (see my previous post about this wonderful book here), has the following to say about the gin martini.

I’ve never felt ‘let-down’ after a martini, with gin or vodka.  I didn’t realize, however, that vodka martinis were popular in the 1960s.  However you drink them — have a lovely weekend.  Cheers, everyone!

We sprang forward last weekend, and Seattle sprang with it.  The crocuses have been up for a few weeks, but its just now that the cherry blossoms have begun to look like cotton candy.  At Chez Butter, our Asian pear tree has just started to bloom, and the ubiquitous grape hyacinths have taken over our overgrown flowerbeds.  So, as you can imagine, my eyes are swimming in newly-found colors!

We’ve had a fun time researching Tamale Pie this week.  Since there were so many different versions to choose from, we decided to combine aspects of many different recipes.  What we created is Bit of Butter’s own rendition of Tamale Pie!  In the end, we really liked our results: the filling was hearty, but very flavorful, and the masa topping was a great accompaniment!