When I was growing up, the silky sounds of Nat King Cole crooning, ‘chestnuts roasting on an open fire…’ was the hallmark of the holidays for me.  Every time I would hear it, I’d get that rush of childlike exuberance that encapsulates the magic of the season, and makes you feel like anything is possible.  

Yet, despite the fact that inordinate amounts of food were also synonymous with the holidays in my family (6 courses and 3 hours worth of dishes to be exact, by hand), we never had one dish with a chestnut in it.  Not a one.  For shame.

So, as I got older, and began to nurture my inner chef, I decided to remedy that travesty by starting a new tradition of savory chestnut soup to begin the descent into our annual colossal feast, much to my Grandmother’s chagrin who quite religiously served Italian Escarole soup.  (And by religiously, I mean had served Escarole for 30+ years prior to my first course usurping; or usouping, as it were. OK, bad joke.)

But my soup was a big hit, and each year I’d add or change the ingredients, perfecting my chestnut prowess with new and interesting pairings.  Needless to say, some years were better than others.  The addition of raisins, for example.  Disaster.  Cranberries, however.  Surprisingly delicious.  And those tart little buggers are still the perfect complement to the soup.  The cranberries, that is — not my family!

And now for the first time ever outside the hallowed halls of the Snowfield residence, I am sharing my coveted recipe for you to share, which now includes honey glazed grilled salmon, making it a hearty first — or even second — course for your own foray into holiday gorging and merriment.

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Here’s what the University of Illinois study found out about what’s on that TV:

• Only 13 percent of the programming labeled by the networks as “educational” was found to have real educational value. Nearly one in four of these programs was ranked as even “minimally educational.”
• The FCC requires at least three hours of educational programming per week for each broadcast station. Fifty-nine percent of stations offered only this minimum, with the programs primarily confined to weekend hours. Only three percent of stations exceeded four hours of “educational” programming per week.
• Of these educational programs, nearly a quarter were rated high in content that has physical and/or social aggression.
• Educational programming generally falls into three content categories; social-emotional, cognitive-intellectual, and health. Given the current obesity epidemic, it is surprising that only three percent of the programs covered health topics. Given the mix of advertising that is mostly for fast foods, sugared cereals, and snacks, this is not surprising. Just appalling.

All the more reason to:

• Turn it off and keep it off
• Watch only DVDs
• Tune in PBS more
• Go outside and play