Just Thinkin' About Black Friday

Watching the local and national news it would seem the most important thing happing in the world is reliving "Black Friday."  How busy were the malls?  How much more did people spend this year than last?  Is the economy on the rebound?  A woman in Wisconsin was arrested for threatening other shoppers in line at "Toys R Us." 

For much of my life, the Friday after Thanksgiving was reserved for making five pounds of homemade fruitcake using my grandmother's recipe.  This project required the stainless steel bowl bread bowl that we also used to stir up ten loaves of bread three times a week, baking spoon, measuring cups/spoons, paring knife, wax paper saved from cereal boxes, baking pans and a bib apron.  

The fruit and nuts were cut up, soaked in brandy and set aside.  Lots of sugar and butter were creamed, eggs beaten and added using the biggest baking spoon we had.  This spoon blended everything including the first scoops of flour.  Our hands, arms, shoulders, tummy muscles did all the whipping, blending, stirring.  The flour was added last using the strengh in our hands and bodies to combine the last of the flour completely into the batter. Imagine, we washed our hands before we started baking and put them into batters and doughs over and over again without giving it a thought.  Today cooks wear gloves like surgeons to protect from the dreaded GERMS!

Pans were lined with cereal box paper greased with lard rendered from the last pig we butchered.  A jelly roll pan with water was placed on the lowest oven rack and then each pan was added to the oven with the slightest space between each one until there was no room for another.  As gramma's recipe said, "bake slow till a toothpick in the middle comes out clean."

Once cooled, the fruitcakes were wrapped in brandy soaked cheese cloths and stored in gramma's cool pantry until Christmas Eve. For the whole weekend after Thanksgiving these divine aromas filled the house.

Several times over the years I tried to "get into" shopping on Black Friday.  I failed miserably.  As a friend said a number of years ago, "you are the only woman I ever met who flunks shopping!"  He was/is right.  I'd rather be in the kitchen baking with love and joy our annual Gramma's Christmas Fruitcake.  We rarely make it anymore saying it is unhealthy full of sugar, butter and cholesterol laden.  I no longer make it because it has become too expensive.  What a loss.