Happy Black Friday

I have just partaken in one of the strangest rituals in our society. I wanted to experience something bizarre, unnecessary, and capable of inflicting extreme discomfort to all the millions of participants it attracts annually. I'm talking about Black Friday shopping of course.
I've been up since 4am, trying to psyche myself up to go out there and join the battlefield. Finally at 5:30, I mustered up enough courage to brave the cold and the crowds and out I went. Kohls had opened at 4am, and next door to it, Target, was opening at 6am. I walked into Kohls with one item in mind. When I found it, before taking it down from the shelves, I tried to find the end of the line. It was wrapped around the back of the store and was almost back to the entrance. This was not good. It actually freaked me out enough, the idea of standing in line for an hour for one item, (which they had plenty of, and were running no risk of running out of before the end of the sale tomorrow) so I bolted, empty-handed. I got to Target 20 minutes before the doors opened. The line outside the doors was already 200 people deep. I had a gameplan. Again, I only wanted one item. I stood there and froze in the 15 degree pre-dawn morning air and waited. And waited. Time stretches out a little more when it's below freezing. When the doors opened one enthusiastic shopper let out a whoop and everyone filed in. Here's where I learned a few things:

1. Never get a cart if you can avoid it. Bring friends if you need arms to carry things. Carts slow you down. I was able to nimbly maneuver through the cart traffic jam on my way to the checkout.
   
2. This is no time to be afraid to ask for directions. If you're in elecronics and there is a store clerk standing there, it is vital to ask them where to find your specific desired item. This will save valuable time if you're after a popular item, which in this case, I was.
   
3. Abandon slow moving check out lines quickly. The guy fussing slowly over the credit card key pad will not be done in an acceptable period of time. If the lane next to you opens up, Run!

So that's it. I pulled my car into the garage at 6:07am, with the most important item on my list purchased and a firm belief that I can get the other big ticket item for it's sale price after the hub-bub has died down. Next year I will scan the sales fliers better and if I want more than one item, I'll map out a course in the store. This was definitely a bizarre experience.

Now, about Thanksgiving:
Michael and I tag-teamed the pies this year. I made all the crusts and he made most of the fillings. This is his pumpkin egg-nog pie. I copied the leaf design from a Martha Stewart template.
Here we have Apple and Pecan pie. I thought it was adorable that Michael was amazed that the only filling in an apple pie is apples, cinnamon and sugar. I think he was under the impression that I made a rich elaborate sauce when I made an apple pie. Both of these turned out excellent.
The show stopper was the orange cranberry sour cream tart. (Pardon the plastic wrap, this picture was taken after it was assembled and ready for transport.)

We were also tasked with bringing rolls. We used the Fleishmann's 60 minute rolls recipe, and we made 2 batches. Next time we might make the rolls a little bigger, but they were more moist and chewy than store-bought and that was appreciated, which makes all the effort completely worthwhile.