The Stars at Night

I recently had the good fortune of befriending someone from the Northeast. It’s the first time this Yank’s set foot on my turf, and I’m feeling compelled to show her some good ol’ Southern hospitality. My question to those of you who are familiar with both Texas and elsewheres (be they at home or abroad) is this: what do we do in this great Republic that might surprise/befuddle/please/annoy or otherwise inspire emotion in strangers to our land (other than, you know, continue to refer to ourselves as a Republic)? I’d like to prepare a cheat sheet to help my friend with the transition. I’ve already come up with a few decent insights, including:

• Hwy 635 is the slippery Satan in this Eden of ours.
• QuikTrip is so much more than just a gas station. Try the coffee! And the buffalo chicken bites! Mmm boy!
• Whataburger is all you need.
• Universities 101: UT and Texas A&M are NOT the same school! God help you if you suggest otherwise. Texas Tech and Texas A&M are like oil and water. So are UT and OU. Baylor is irrelevant (sorry, BU fans, it’s true!). 
• Summer lasts from the beginning of May through the middle of October. Everything else is winter.
• Always carry an umbrella; you never know when it’s going to rain.
• True Tex-Mex and BBQ don’t exist across the state line.
• We “ma’am” and “sir” out of respect, not rudeness. It’s not required, but it’s definitely appreciated.  

I don’t imagine you need to be a Texas resident to have more ideas. (After only a week and a half of residency, my friend has already discovered that Texas drivers are far less apt to use their horns than are our neighbors to the north. WHO KNEW!?) All I suspect you really need is an awareness of our customs. So what say you, friends? What makes the Promised Land so special?

Pie there!

Yesterday was Turkey Day on the patriarch's side, and after we'd all stuffed ourselves full of turkey, dressing, and mashed potatoes and rolled on the floor clutching our distended bellies for half an hour, we descended on the desserts table. The options on the table were nice and varied--chewy chocolate chip cookies, berry cobbler, grandma's toxic pumpkin and pecan pies (she's not a baker, you see)--but lacked one key offering: my dessert. My instinct to bake for the holidays was crippled by a busy weekend that began with a Friday evening dinner party, evolved into a matinee movie and high school football playoff game that began on Saturday evening and ended in the wee hours of Sunday morning, and was punctuated by a sleepy trip to Waco and back yesterday. Still, I couldn't help but feel misused as I scanned the dessert table yesterday afternoon, so I vowed to make it up to myself by baking something outstanding for the matriarchal Thanksgiving on Thursday.

While my dad's family is into cakes and cobblers, my mom's family prefers more traditional pies and cookies. That said, I'm loath to make a plain Jane pie when there are so many recipes out there for pies with pizazz. And anyway, it's really fairer to say that my mom's family prefers desserts that are pie-shaped, so they wouldn't be opposed to something unfamiliar as long as its pieces had pointy tips and rounded back ends.

In the end, I'm leaving it to you, dearests, to supply me with Thanksgiving dessert inspiration: vote below on the type of pie I should pimp or leave suggestions in the comments section, s'il vous plaît :)

Which pie do you always have room for after the turkey's been gobbled?