My favorite Christmas song of all time is "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire." When I lived in New York, I loved getting roasted chestnuts on the street corners. So, when I saw that Trader's Joes had whole Italian chestnuts to roast yourself, I was excited. The little buggers are slippery, making it difficult to cut an "X" into the flat side - and a few had no flat sides. Of the whole lot, about seventy-five percent had already gone bad - it is a rather soft nut seemingly prone to mold. So, after roasting, we only culled about 10 good nuts. They popped open, cream colored and wrinkly, but tasty. Santa approved as an accompaniment to frosted sugar cookies on Christmas Eve.
Buon Natale!
