Blackberry pie and pumpkin agnolotti

Even though I want to jump right into this pie, I'm going to freeze it for TG. It does look good though, yes!? And how cute are these pumpkin agnolotti? I was very pleased that the recipe called for full-scale cheating in that you use wonton wrappers for the pasta. If y'all recall my last foray into pasta making -attempting Yotam's lemon and goat cheese ravioli- you'll remember that while they were very pretty, they were also very leaden and making them took me hours. These took about 15 minutes!

Fabulous holiday goodies to make, enjoy and definitely to share

Growing up, I was always so proud of how beloved a doctor my dad was. His patients just thought he hung the moon, and around Thanksgiving and Christmas, their fondness for him manifested itself in a huge, seemingly never-ending array, of edible goodies: homemade fudge of all kinds, cookies, rum cakes, pound cakes, jams, sausage, honey, nuts, caramel corn. It was a veritable cornucopia of sugar-infused love, and I loved it. Probably because of those memories, I still feel that the holidays aren't quite the same without goodie bags and boxes just waiting to be opened and enjoyed. I recently talked about my Aunt Renee's rum balls which I will soon be making, but I also want to share with you one of my dearest friend's home-state specialty, the Buckeye.

SJ hails from OH, and last year gifted me a bag of these chocolate-peanut butter delights. I tasted one, and immediately hid and did not even consider sharing the rest. Not a huge fan of peanut butter in general, I was nonetheless immediately smitten with these light yet sinful treats. The buckeye is the state tree of Ohio and produces a nut that looks like this.  Imagine it rendered in peanut butter whipped with powdered sugar and then dipped in chocolate. Aah. SJ has generously agreed to let me post this recipe though she warns that despite its relative simplicity, a lot of the production is by feel, how you decide to dip, and so forth. hey, even if they don't look like this, they're probably going to taste pretty darn good, yes?

Off to post both recipes!

Totally shallow US Weekly observations

Friends: -who are Kim Zolciak and Kroy Biermann, and why did her wedding dress weigh 32 pounds? In the picture, it looks like a vat of meringue erupted on to her as she began to walk down the aisle. Seriously, all I see is frilly, white poofiness, an enormous veil and some boobs.

-why did Kendall Jenner, apparently one of the Kardashian clan, get a $90K car for her 16th birthday? This family is so tacky. That obscene wedding? People, give this money to charity, not to 16 year olds and 72 day nuptials.

-does anyone else feel that Brooke Burke looks like a terrifying wax museum model? And why did she name her kids Neriah, Shaya, Rain and the like?

-why is Alexa Chung famous, and why does she always have deer-in-the-headlights eyes? Can she, too, not believe what she's wearing?

-how long does it take Nicki Minaj to get dressed? who is Nicki Minaj?

-why are Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber staying in ritzy Paris hotels? People, I don't care how famous I was, my parents would definitely NOT have let me jaunt to Paris and stay with my bf at that age. For the love, T and I could not share a room at my parents' house until after we were married.

Based on the probably apparent disdain in the above commentary, why do I read US Weekly? Hmm...Food for thought.