Hi, Chris.

I'm Minette.

It's so good to see you.

And I'm so glad you're here.

We were talking a little bit about holiday traditions, and I thought who would be better to talk holiday traditions with then Chris Fenimore.

So here we are, perched in this weird little space between Thanksgiving and Kwanzaa and Hanukkah and Christmas.

So I'm going to ask you about your holiday traditions.

Well, actually, I do them all.

We have latke night.

You know, we have the Thanksgiving like everybody else.

And and Christmas.

And because I come from an Italian background, the feast of the Seven Fishes was a very early and consistent part of my family tradition.

So we're going to be doing we'll be doing the feast of the Three Fishes.

I think I don't need to do seven fishes.

You know there were some families that when we did the feast of the Seven Fishes program, what I found is that there are families that do like the feast of the 13 fishes or the 15 fish.

They go crazy.

Everything that ever was in the sea is on the table for that night for them.

And here at WQED, this is a very special day because today what we're going to be celebrating is a feast that I grew up celebrating.

And that is the Feast of La Vigilia, the vigil, the Christmas Eve, on Christmas Eve, you couldn't eat any meat.

And so it was supposed to be a day of abstinence and whatnot, but it turned out to be a day of feasting, because what we, what we did was that we made these enormous, seafood dinners, and I, harken back and I'll tell you all my stories about my grandmother and all of those wonderful Christmas Eves that we celebrated in my house, and today is about.

So let me ask you about the whole this the fish is set, whether it's seven, 13 or 3.

Are they served simultaneously or do you just put one out at a time and say, oh, there go the smelts.

Now next up we're going to have our our tradition is to just lay it all out.

And especially, you know, if you're having a bunch of people over, it's good to just put it out on a buffet.

And then people can select the fishes that they like and then go someplace else in the house to sit down and eat with each other.

I say that, but when I was young, there were actually two courses.

There was a, there was a pasta course, and then there was a regular fish course, and the pastas were all fish pastas.

We did, pasta with, anchovies, pasta calica We called it, and then we did, pasta with clam sauce.

And, of course, we kids at the time always wanted the clam sauce.

We didn't want those little fishes, you know, the salty.

I don't know where they came from.

And now, you know, my tastebuds have turned around completely.

I can't get enough pasta calica I love those anchovies.

And, our tradition was very strange for that night, as far as I was as a kid concerned, because, suddenly you weren't putting cheese on on the pasta.

You were putting, seasoned and toasted breadcrumbs, and you would sprinkle those on the top.

And I just thought that was magic.

Because it wasn't.

It wasn't grated Romano cheese, which is what we had on every other pasta every other week of the whole year.

And we had pasta every week.

So was there a reason for the change to the butter breadcrumbs?

Just an add a little texture, a difference because of the fish that we were being.

So it was just a tradition that that, that they didn't.

And then I found out when I went to Italy and I, I was I ordered some, you know, spaghetti with some kind of fish, clams or something like that.

And I said, can I have the cheese, please?

And they, they looked at me like, what do you got with those that you don't put cheese on seafood, you only put cheese on regular pasta.

So I don't know, you know, bring me the cheese.

I'm from out of town.

It's.

And you're not going to eat it.

I am, here's a question for you that's kind of like step back a little bit.

What makes a holiday tradition?

Does it have to involve food?

Does it have to be?

Can you start your own holiday tradition, or does it have to have come from a previous generation to qualify as a tradition?

I think traditions can be made in, in the snap of a finger.

In a family, as long as, you know, somebody, enjoyed it to the point where they want to repeat it, they want to have that experience again.

And, you know, for me, that would I have so many traditions from my family and, most of them having to do with food.

But there were other traditions that we follow too, that we enjoyed, you know, certain games that we would play and, you know, after we had our, dinner on the feast of the Seven Fishes, we would, we would always play bingo.

And, you know, it's not an Italian tradition, but my great great aunt Sia, we recalls her, was in her 80s, 90s, whatever.

One hundreds.

And that's what she wanted to do, because she was going to be up late, and she wanted to amuse herself and, and us.

And so we we used to play bingo.

And I remember the bingo set that we had, that had to be replicated, you know, it had to be the kind with the, the sort of the, the, the spinny wheel wheel and the little ball comes out.

Oh, you shoot and then you give it to a kid and they go B17 And it can't be B17.

They had to be B16.

And so, you know, those little things, were just, things that we did and we had traditions for the 4th of July.

It was my parent's anniversary.

We had, traditions that we did on people's birthdays.

Whether it was a food or it was a thing that we had to do.

So I think traditions are great, and I, you know, my Joe, has been wonderful because he carries on every tradition I ever exposed him to.

He doesn't he didn't leave anything by the side of the road.

He he has taken it all on.

And now that he's got a little guy, he's passing it on to the little Jacob.

So who knows how long these traditions can go on?

Well, I think that's what makes it so wonderful.

I mean, each of us as individuals, as families, as found families is just however it is that we celebrate being together.

We find a way to commemorate that.

And someone will always remember, say, remember last year when we did whatever, when I was younger?

And I don't mean like a child.

I mean, I was a fully grown adult.

And I have to as you know, I have two very large brothers, and I was heavily influenced by Raiders of the Lost Ark.

And there's a great scene in the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark, where Marion, Indiana Jones lost girlfriend, is having a shot drinking contest with a bunch of rough looking, you know, scurrilous guys in her bar in Nepal.

And they drink shots until one of them falls over.

And that was our Christmas Eve tradition.

Me and my two brothers, because they're big, like the guy in the movie.

And I'm a little like Marion.

And I was just like, you know, so, you know, inspiration.

You never know where it'll show up.

Oh.

That's that's one we didn't do.

But there's a tradition then, and the, you know, it's just it's it's going to use a lot less, the liquor in the future because you know, it, it'll.

And what will happen?

Let me just say it didn't last very long.

By the time 30 rolled around, that tradition kind of got put, you know.

Yes.

Not 30 shots 30 years, 30 years.

Right.

I love that you mentioned Joe and that Joe has picked up those traditions.

And, for people who I can't imagine who they might be, but people who don't know, your son Joe has been part of the cooking experience and what you share with WQED for literally since he was a tiny baby.

We have photos, which I hope to find of you holding the infant Joe.

And then now Joe's this tall, full grown, handsome man with a beard, and now he's got a child of his own and the thing about those traditions are that you said he just picked them up and he's taking them with him, and so a whole new member of the family is going to you know, all that great stuff about fish and breadcrumbs and bingos and all that sort of thing.

And, you know, it's funny because we'll do things and I don't even notice the details of it because I'm just, you know, it's in the memory there somewhere.

But he understands it.

And then he if he has any questions about it, you say, you know, why do you put the capers on this?

But you never put the capers in that recipe.

And any other time.

And I go, well, because it's, it's, Christmas Eve, that's why.

Can I tell people about, one of my favorite Chris Fenimore traditions.

And as long as I've known you and as long as you've been here at WQED, you do this wonderful thing.

Every year, you send out an email to the entire staff that says, if you are looking for a warm meal and good fellowship, come to my house on Thanksgiving Day and you cook a full meal.

And it's like this beautiful, warm invitation to just come and join your family and eat your face off.

And what motivated you to do that?

Because it is one of my favorite parts of being here that it's just such a purely generous thing to do.

Well, in a way, that's a tradition, too, that my family, it took part in, they their, their table was always open.

No one was left out.

And and especially on the holidays, they would be actually go out and look for people who might end up alone and not.

And sitting there watching, I don't know, the parade and football or something like that, but nothing, you know, and they said, that's terrible.

It'd be the worst thing in the world because they couldn't imagine anything worse than that.

So over the course of the years, when I was living at home, there were always people that I never saw before at our table at Thanksgiving.

Sometimes it might be like, students, foreign students, we we we make great friends with a bunch of Turkish students who were studying, I think, at NYU.

We we lived in Brooklyn, New York.

And somehow through the Holy Name Society, my father found, this, group that was hooking up students who were, foreign students who didn't have any place to go.

So they came.

And of course, Thanksgiving wasn't one of their traditions, but they came.

And then after they were there one year, they came every year until they graduated and went back.

There was also, you know, so, so that that's what I was worried about.

I, there were a lot of we used to have a lot of people at WQED, and a lot of them were students, sometimes interns or something like that.

And I thought, you know, there might be people here who just don't have any place to go.

And I, you know, where they going to go eat and park Thanksgiving dinner.

Why?

I was no, dear at the food.

You know, I don't make small on on Thanksgiving I go big, I go big all the way.

When do you ever make small?

I know it's the problem now that Joe's not here to take up the slack.

We we, we live on leftovers now because I just don't.

I don't know how to make for two.

Listen, Ken and I are five blocks away, so you.

Well, you know what?

You can come any night Maybe even if it's share our leftovers.

Anyway, it was something that I did, And and over the years, we've had some wonderful people come and visit and share that meal in that time with us.

And, and then express to us, you know, how much it meant to them some years later, maybe, you know, and I always tell them that once you're invited, I'm not going to send out an invitation.

You just come.

It's fine.

But you got to call me at least the the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so that I know to put another cup of water in the soup.

And sometimes we've had, you know, people stretching out into the living room, taking their plates with them and sitting on the couch and sometimes we're just at our main table, which can actually sit about 14.

So it's not the smallest place.

No, but this year, Rick Sebak Was one of your guests, and he did this.

Anybody who's been watching his his recent programing knows that he went to the Weirton Chicken Blast, which is this place out in Weirton, West Virginia, where they do this special thing where they roast these chickens on a spit.

And this year he took the turkey there.

And he sent me photographs.

So that must have been combined with the wonderful side dishes and everything else that you guys prepare.

That must have been a feast.

Well, he that that turkey, I mean, he always brings the turkey, or I it's.

If he didn't bring it the first year he came, he brought the second he was he used to go out to pounds and get this beautiful turkey.

I mean, I'm talking about a turkey that is so clean and tasty and beautiful that you could I mean, you could lick the skin.

It was just, you know, really good.

And we used to cook that.

And then this year he found, a way to bring that turkey to the, the Serbians and Weirton.

And he, he drove out to Weirton Thursday morning and or.

No, Wednesday night, and then and then and then when did he go?

I think he dropped it off Wednesday night, dropped it off on Wednesday, and then he drove back on Thursday to pick it up or cooked, and then drove right to our house and delivered it in a little cooler, cooler to keep it warm.

And it would I didn't even have to reheat it.

It was it was fabulous.

And it had that wonderful flavor of the flames.

You can't do that at home.

And people talk about, you know, frying a turkey and what not has nothing on the, the, the fire roasted turkey.

Yeah.

So it's it's beautiful.

I just love the way that everything.

But it's all about the joining together again.

It's the traditions.

It's joining together.

It's everyone contributing part of the meal and then just sharing it all.

Like in that space around your table or around your living room or wherever it was.

It's it's just it's what makes it all worth it, you know?

Yeah.

It is.

It's a great meal.

I mean, it's it is a great time because it is the embodiment of what I think of, you know, why we cook and eat together?

It's primal.

And you, you share things with the people around the table that you don't share with anybody else.

So it's very intimate in its own way.

And I love it.

Yeah, I love to have people around the table anytime.

Thanksgiving is a special time.

And.

And Christmas and New Year's and, you know, birthdays and anniversaries and anniversaries.

So do you have an absolute favorite holiday tradition?

You mean in terms of a food, in terms of if you had to think back on all of the things that make it, what was the thing you most enjoy sharing and doing year after year?

Well, I mean, Thanksgiving is is really up there.

Because I think we, we, we have, you know, more access to different people.

Christmas and New Year's, or, Christmas Eve is, is really, you know, it's become smaller and smaller is but, I would say so Thanksgiving.

This is the tops.

I think that Christmas Eve is number two.

Christmas Day.

I got to admit, we sort of stay in our pajamas.

That's the tradition.

I like, and go nowhere, and we just eat leftovers from the night before, so I don't even have to cook.

That sounds wonderful.

But I have a feeling Christmas Eve is going to be changing for you.

With a grandson in the house.

There's going to be toys to put together, bicycles to swear at.

There's going to be all kinds of.

Yeah, we're going back to some of this things that we enjoyed with Joe and that I enjoyed with my girls, Sharon and Mary Ann And, so he's, you know, it's a be a new generation of all of that stuff that you mentioned about the presents and, and then being so excited about Santa and all of that.

We're we're about to reenter that phase.

Decorating the tree and figuring out, like, where all this stuff goes and hiding things.

It's just, you know, when I was a kid, I said, we lived in New York.

We used to actually go to Macy's.

So, you know, we we would watch the the Thanksgiving Day parade and then we would go to Macy's and see Santa, the real Santa, you know, the one from the North Pole, that guy.

And it was so exciting.

And we had all of the little traditions around that, because when we went to see Santa and we got out, we went to Horn and Hardart across the street, which is a, a restaurant chain.

I don't know if they were anywhere but New York, where you put little coins in the wall and opened up a, a window and the food was inside and you would take it out, and then they would put something fresh in there.

They would refill it.

The automat?

Yeah.

The automat.

That's what it was called.

It was.

And I like that as much as I liked Santa.

I mean, Santa was a thrill, you know, they had elves and and whatnot, which, you know, they were pretty girls in tights.

It's like, what's not to like?

Yeah, I think this year North Pole is a good boy.

I think I may head there someday.

Anyway, and then they would take a picture and then we would have I have all of these pictures of myself with Santa Claus from, you know, the times when I had no front teeth and, you know, almost until I was 22.

So, no, wait a minute, I didnt do it that long.

But but I had a great time, when we did that, and and it was sort of like being a part of history when I think back on that now, because I don't.

I'm.

I guess they still do Santa at malls and places like that in stores, but, but, at Macy's, it was quite special.

What a wonderful memory to have been part of New York during that time when, you know, I think of all those, you know, the big department stores and the automat and just the Christmas of the air and people in their Christmas outfits, it must have been a wonderful feeling.

Oh, Macy's was made up, the lights and the banners and this all the decorations were just unbelievable.

They went crazy for Christmas.

Um, no I do wish that everybody would, take the holiday time as sort of a time off all of the other things that you engage yourself with for the rest of the year.

Just take a break.

Enjoy the moment, the moments and and the time that you have, because they are it's it's such a blessing.

It's irreplaceable.

You can't do it unless the holiday allows you.

And it does allow you.

So take advantage of that gift and just enjoy being with the people that you love and who love you and, and, and have not just one happy holiday and enjoy them all.

As I said, you know, we're going to we're going to do, latke night here.

The, the person that I play, Dixieland jazz with Dixie doc and our trumpet player, Hal Weiss, they come over and I make, soup and latkes, and that's what we have.

And they gorge themselves on, on a tradition that they both enjoyed as young boys, when they were growing up.

So we, we just drop everything else, go back to our childhood, enjoy the time, enjoy the people.

And, and have a good time.

Well, I want to thank you for spending this time with us, and I want to thank Nick for being here and being such a good producer and sharing his memories of growing up with you and his mom watching you on television.

It's just, it's just really, really special to be able to have this conversation with you.

And I have to tell you, just a little sidebar story.

Do you remember the firehouse cooking show?

Oh, yeah.

You made linguine with clam sauce, and you said there should be.

I don't know if it was you or one of the firemen said there should be a half a stick of butter per person.

And I swore by that recipe, and I made that linguine and clam sauce.

And then I invited, like, a very close friends a couple over for us.

And Mike still talks about those clams.

He's like, you're never going to make those clams again.

And I was like, do you know how much butter was in that?

But it was it was worth every ounce of cholesterol, you see.

So that makes the tradition.

That's that little special part of the of the recipe.

It's true.

It's like half a stick of butter.

Well, that's why my nickname at the station is stick of butter.

If you go to my desk, in the office, that there are several sticks of butter, in, you know, molded plastic or whatever.

They're, that people have given me over the years because they know my recipes always start.

Well, you take a stick of butter and melted in a pan, or you put it in the soup or you.

But.

And that's what makes things taste great.

Well, it has been rumored that you have a land O'Lakes tattoo.

I've heard that, but I don't.

I, I can't show it.

Thank you again, Chris.

It's been such a pleasure talking to you.

And you guys have a wonderful holiday and say hello to Joe and the family for me and have a great time.

Thanks so much, Minette.

It is always so great to talk to you.