in the spirit of Thanksgiving, i decided i’d bring a sour cream apple pie to the family gathering. i was excited about this, because Thanksgiving for my family is important, and this would be the first year i actually brought food. i called my aunt who is hosting to ask if there were any holes in the menu. she told me no, so i asked her about desserts. she told me there’d be brownies and that my parents were bringing a store bought apple pie from Sam’s. (WTF!) i exclaimed “i was going to make an apple pie!”, to which my aunt responded with “i was going to make a pineapple upside down cake!” we ended the phone call frustrated at the prospect of our culinary talents being stymied by the store bought pie.

after consulting with friends, i decided to still bring something, but not the apple pie. there’s nothing wrong with store bought food, but Thanksgiving? my friend Alton would be so disappointed.