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For Christmas, my aunt gave me a nifty trivia game all about food. It has four sets of cards and each set tackles a different set of terms, from ingredients to foodie lingo.

I busted it out last night while my in-laws were there because my father-in-law, Bill, is something of a foodie himself and was curious about how difficult the game would be. The very first card was a multiple choice question: What is quinoa? I was the only one who even knew how to pronounce the word, much less knew what it is (a grain).

Before they declared me a know-it-all, I held up my hand and said, "I have to tell you a story." Not long into my stint as food writer here, I interviewed a chef about whole grain cooking. And I butchered the pronunciation of "quinoa" worse than a sacrificial lamb. I think I said something like "kee-Noah," as in the guy who loaded the ark with animals. The chef paused and replied to the question using the term again and conspicuously pronouncing it the correct way: "Keen-wah." I felt like a goof. A fraud.

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I'm going to do something really cruel here. I'm going to share a photo of the gorgeous prime rib roast my father made for Christmas, then segue into healthy eating.

But wait! It's not going to be as bad as you think!

I'm not a fan of January weight loss resolutions. For that matter, I'm not a fan of New Year's resolutions at all. They are cliche and they perpetuate the idea that January is the only time we can make a promise to ourselves to turn over a new leaf. Any time of year is a perfect time to start taking better care of yourself, whether physically or emotionally.

As big food lovers and good cooks, we have an advantage: we like vegetables and fruit and grains and other healthy foods and we know how to make them taste good without overloading them with seasonings. In fact, I'll bet a lot of us think of a baked winter squash or some roasted brussels sprouts with olive oil and sea salt as a delicious side dish, not diet food. Many of us love beans, which are high in fiber, and actually enjoy salads of all kinds.

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I hope everyone is having a lovely holiday season so far. I missed our banter while I was away from the blog. Looks like I was a tad bit early in my announcement that Geonetti's Specialty Subs was open, but they are open now. Maybe I'll head down there for lunch today.

If your holiday was anything like mine, you may feel the need to eat salads all week, though. We had so many cakes, cookies and pies at my father's house that cakes, cookies and pies were greatly devalued. I never even made it to the pumpkin or pecan pie and didn't eat any pound cake or chocolate bourbon cake. I only had eyes for the raspberry coconut cake and the lemon bars. The best mouthful of food I had all Christmas long, though, was a perfectly roasted prime rib my dad made for dinner one night.

I didn't get my KitchenAid mixer, but I did make out well with a new 6-quart, oval-shaped crock pot with a warm setting, perfect for big roasts as well as keeping appetizers hot. Santa also brought me an expandable salad bowl and a soap pump from Pampered Chef, as well as a miniature colander for berries and a jar of marinated artichoke hearts the size of my head. Santa knows what I like.

But with all that delicious food and all the preparations, Christmas still just wasn't the same. My hubby fell ill with a nasty intestinal bug early Christmas morning and didn't get to eat much of anything all weekend. A few of my co-workers were also struck down. That taught me not to pile so many hopes on one day out of the entire year. It's probably better to pray for healthy friends and family members so that even average days can feel special. When hubby is 100 percent, I'll fix him a nice dinner and we'll celebrate, whether it's a holiday or not.

What was your best mouthful over the long weekend? Did anyone get a spectacular foodie gift for Christmas or Hannukah? Fill us in.

Some of you have asked me to re-run the White Bean and Chicken Chili recipe, so I'm going to attach it right after the jump. Hope you enjoy! It came from Chef Tom Hamelman at the Jackson River Technical Center in Alleghany County.

In other news, I just got the menu for a new sub shop in downtown Roanoke called Geonetti's Specialty Subs. It has opened in the old Mill Mountain Coffee & Tea location on Campbell Avenue. As the name indicates, they specialize in subs like cheese steak, Philly cheese steak, Italians, a pizza hero, a meatball sub and more. They also have six different salads on the menu, including a Greek salad and a taco salad, and a "lighter side" with a diet turkey sub and a veggie sub.

Geonetti's will be competing with Subway and New York Subs, which is located inside the market building. I'll have to send my sub judge (the hubby) over for an Italian soon. Prices are $5.49 for an 8-inch, $7.99 for a 12-inch and $9.99 for a 16-inch. If you go, let us know what you think.

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Follow-up note: I left 6 cloves of garlic off the ingredient list for this stew. But the instructions do reflect what you should do with the garlic.

I know that my colleague, Outdoors writer Mark Taylor, would never toot his own horn. So I'm here to toot it for him.

For the second year in a row, The Roanoke Times newsroom turned its holiday potluck into a "Top Chef" competition of sorts. After packing in unwise amounts of food, we all vote for our top two favorite dishes. Last year, Taylor took top prize with his venison ragout over garlic mashed potatoes. And this year, he didn't disappoint us. He took top prize again with an Alaskan fish camp stew recipe he got from his brother, who used to work at a commercial fishing camp in Alaska. The flavors of curry, salmon and coconut milk surely warmed many a belly up in those frozen parts.

I can't complain too much, because my kind colleagues voted me in for the number two spot. I made what I'm starting to call The World's Best White Chicken Chili from a recipe I've shared here before. But I'll bet you'd much rather see Mark's recipe, so in the hopes that he doesn't mind, here goes:

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Many countries have their own version of the American fruitcake, and I say that lightly because some of these versions bear little resemblance in appearance or flavor to the American fruitcake -- in fact, they are technically breads instead. I would put the Italian panettone and the German stollen (pictured) in that category.

I've long been familiar with the panettone because it is one of my mom's favorite Christmas treats. Panettone [pan-uh-tonee] is a sweet yeast bread made with pine nuts, citron and raisins and flavored with anise. It's always baked in a tall, straight-sided mold. You've probably seen them for sale in gourmet food shops and other specialty stores; they usually come in a box with a string handle.

To be quite honest, I never knew what was the big deal with the panettone (sorry, Ma). I think it's a bit dry and flaky. But mom enjoys it with coffee in the mornings, I think.

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My sister's mother-in-law, Alice, is the Christmas cookie queen. For as long as Kim has been with her husband, I can remember hearing about the many varieties of cookies Alice bakes every year. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I even get a few leftovers when Sis gets home for Christmas.

There are little fruit fold overs, miniature pecan pies, molasses cookies and more. Her secret: she starts baking early and freezes the goodies so all she has to do is pull them out when company comes.

Because I currently have two giant tubs of Christmas cookies in my kitchen, I'm seriously considering freezing a couple dozen so they'll still be fresh next week. But they are all different kinds -- some frosted, some not; some with raisins, some with chips, some with coconut. I wondered if some cookies freeze better than others.

Thanks to a Web site called Cookie Club Recipes, I now know. See below the jump for their cookie freezing tips. And if you have any advice, feel free to contribute it!

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If all has gone according to plan, there's a new lunch spot open in downtown Roanoke today called The Judge's Chambers. It's located in the old peanut shop on Jefferson Street, across from Thai Orchid and the post office.

Owner Waqar Malik and his wife, Martha "Randy" Taylor (who helped open The Isaac's Restaurant but have now relinquished their stake in that spot) are clearly hoping for some business from the court crowd -- they are located next to the BB&T building, which houses the U.S. Attorney's office and the FBI's Roanoke staff. But I'm sure they would welcome anyone to come in and check out the breakfast wraps, paninis and salads.

The motto at The Judge's Chambers is "Heart healthy food for a life sentence!" They use ingredients like lean meats, turkey bacon, turkey pepperoni and lite mayo to lighten up their dishes. I was excited to see several vegetarian options, too, including "The Innocent," which I ordered at a preview luncheon last week. That was a panini topped with grilled zucchini and yellow squash, provolone cheese, lettuce and tomato. It was very fresh and tasty and I would order it again.

All of the dishes at this eatery sport cute judicial names like The Defender, 10 to 20, Misdemeanor and Jury's Verdict, and the walls are adorned with artwork of courtroom scenes by Taylor's mother. Check it out and let me know what you think.

I've received a call or two from readers who are interested in knowing what restaurants will be open on Christmas Day. I'm told that we will shortly be running a big advertisement containing this information, but thanks to the ad rep, Jeremy, I have a list right now that I can share with you guys.

I'm afraid the list is a little short and heavy on the Asian cuisine. But hey, if it was good enough for the family in "A Christmas Story," it's good enough for me!

Open Christmas Day:

Hotel Roanoke (booked)
Inn at Virginia Tech (Preston's)
Cracker Barrel
Golden Corral
IHOP
Denny's
Szechuan
Ichiban
Sakura

If anyone knows of other places that will be open, please let me know so I can pass those along to readers. Thanks!