On Christmas Eve, we hitched up the reindeer and set out for an evening of feasting and family. Naturally we travelled through three states to do it...

We had a Feast of Seven Fishes at one brother's place in Maine, and then another in Massachusetts. You might think that makes 14 fishes, a feast in anyone's book, but mine is a cautious family when it comes to tradition; for fear of having only six fishes if a recipe fails, we might have a backup fish, or two, or three. I can only assume it was an obsession with compliance with tradition that led to the presence of a bowl of Goldfish crackers and a bowl of Swedish Fish at one of the two homes! 

Between the two events, we had:

• Oysters on the half-shell and Oysters Rockefeller
• Littlenecks and Cherrystones on the half-shell
• Stuffed Quahogs
• Haddock Chowder
• Stuffed Calamari and a Calamari Salad
• Stuffed Shells with Lobster and Bill's Lobster Pie
• Tuna Sashimi and Dave's Tuna Tartare
• Crab Toasts
• Seed-encrusted Baccala
• Cold Poached Salmon
• Shelley's Cioppino 

It's this last that I have to give Best of Show honors. I love Cioppino, but it's one of those recipes that anyone can make badly and few make well. Cioppino is not really Italian - it's Italian-American. It was invented by San Francisco Italian fishermen as a sort of Pacific Ocean version of Cacciucco using local fish. This makes it a truly locavore dish.

The trick with a Cioppino is that it's made with what's fresh that day, so you don't know what flavors will be there until you are putting it all together. A good recipe cannot call for a tablespoon of this and a pinch of that because you don't know what's in it until it's there. A great cioppino relies on the intuition of the cook, a sense of vision and tradition, and a ready supply of seasonings. Shelley knocked this one out of the park, against some pretty stiff competition.