Chefs Give Back: Share Your Season

By: Debra Puchalla

I'm always dazzled at how the holidays bring out the impulse for people to give to others. And I love the fact that the Food Network community takes part in giving good causes, too. This year, Food Network and our partner Share Our Strength are sponsoring Share Your Season, a program that aims to help end childhood hunger in America. As part of the festivities, we asked some chefs to share favorite holiday memories. Maybe Boston restaurateur Chef Andy Husbands' reminiscences below will spark some of your own-and to share them with others. Enjoy!

Having a four-year-old niece is the best thing ever. I adore Tessa and this year I am looking forward to spending the holidays with her (and, of course, the rest of my family) in Seattle.

Seattle invokes memories of my childhood. I grew up there. It's where I learned to make doughnuts in the fourth grade, watch my mom make popovers, and spent long days picking blackberries until my hands were stained reddish black with the sweet-and-sour juices of the best berries ever. It's where I started to develop a passion for food.

Little Tessa loves to spend time in the kitchen with me and I with her. Maybe one day she'll be a chef, but if nothing else I'm sure she'll have a love for food, a passion for cooking. She's fascinated by dough, stirring, and of course anything sweet.

This year I am planning to make sugar cookies with her. I bought 'gingerbread' people, snowflake, and snowmen cookie cutters; green, gold, pink, and silver sprinkles; and we'll make sticky white icing. No matter how they look, they will be beautiful; and whether they are burnt, undercooked or perfectly done, they will be delicious. Because we made them.

This will be the best present I can give my niece. In return, I will have my time with her. Kids and holidays are the gifts that keep giving. . .

I wish everyone the best holiday,
Chef/Owner
Boston, Massachusetts

Hungry for cookies, thanks to Andy's inspiration? Here are a few to bake and savor in this week before Christmas.

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