Turtles at work

Turtle Bars!

This is another one of the recipes from Real Simple's holiday cookie calendar, and a quick, easy path to scrumptiousness! And I don't know why they are called turtle bars, but maybe someone will be inspired to get to the bottom of that mystery and let me know... I fudged and futzed with the recipe, mainly because I didn't want to pay the price for all the Heath bar pieces. It still came out well, and it was drop-dead easy: crust, sweetened condensed milk (that was leftover from the sweet potato pie whirligig), and candy goodness!

(what was left an hour after I brought them into work...)

Quote

"It isn't the big pleasures that count the most; it's making a great deal out of the little ones."

-Jean Webster

Book Swap, Friend Meet

This was a great idea, if I do say so myself.I invited a few friends over for a book swap. I contained my grandiose tendencies to do a book AND clothing swap, on top of the dishes to be cooked, etc. This is progress in Margaret-land. :-)
So, the dishes:
pasta with butternut squash parmesan sauce
curry parsnip soup (a standby, but somehow something lacked this time... maybe because I didn't reheat it thoroughly enough?)
curry roasted cauliflower (another yummy standby)
black bean chicken chili

And for dessert-type things, we had apple and pear cider, fruit salad, beautiful, iced chocolate cake (see photo!), homemade cookies, and my banana bread with chocolate and ginger (actually Molly Wizenberg's via the Wednesday Chef via The Leftoverist- whew!), which I can't believe I've never posted here before. I've made it several times now- a winner.
The upshot is that we all went home happily full, with several interesting books under our arm, and happy thoughts of new conversations explored.
Also, visions of sugarplums of swaps in the future- anyone up for a clothes AND book swap in late January??
I had a lovely time. :-)