At the risk of being tagged a "troll", here's my two cents on this old thread. I've had an empty box of Jules Destrooper's Almond Thins on my computer desk for several months to remind me to look again to see if anyone has developed a recipe and put it online. (I tried it a couple of times myself at first but the results were, well, disappointing.) I found this thread on today's Google search. I don't know anything about Trader Joe's similar cookies, as we don't have that supermarket chain in the New Orleans area, but the list of ingredients in the Destrooper butter almond cookie is clearly different from the "Destrooper" recipe linked above at Yahoo! Answers: INGREDIENTS: WHEAT FLOUR, BROWN SUGAR, BUTTER, ALMONDS, SALT. (Listed in that order.) Of note: no egg, no vanilla. The only sources of moisture in the genuine Destrooper's are the brown sugar and the butter and I'm guessing I could try a dozen more times before I figured out the proportions and baking technique that would work. (I'm an OK cook but not that much of a baker.) Perhaps "WHEAT FLOUR" is how folks in Belgium refer to "whole wheat flour" but I'm not thinking this is the critical difference, at least vis-a-vis Destrooper's (versus Trader Joe's). I'm thinking that adding egg and vanilla and omitting the molasses flavor of the brown sugar would tend to make a very different cookie, regardless of the proportions of other ingredients and the baking technique. I'll let you know if I ever figure it out...

Have any of you tried Oreo Cookie Balls yet? My husband brought me one home that someone at his office made. It was so good! I plan to make them for our holiday party this year. They sound very easy to make. Only three ingredients and no baking. If any of you are familiar with chocolate wafer ice box cake these work on the same principle. 1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened 36 OREO Cookies, finely crushed (about 3 cups) 4 pkg. (4 oz. each) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, broken into pieces, melted MIX cream cheese and cookie crumbs until blended. SHAPE into 48 (1-inch) balls. Freeze 10 min. Dip balls in melted chocolate; place in single layer in shallow waxed paper-lined pan. REFRIGERATE 1 hour or until firm. Here is a link that might be useful: Oreo cookie balls

This thread has been very, very interesting to read and although I like to think of myself as a pretty understanding person, hopefully it will remind me that often, circumstances impact how other people behave in ways that won't necessarily be obvious to us. We moved to a new home about a month ago, and noticed that our across-the-road neighbors had quite a bit of random yard furniture and building supplies stuffed into their front porch. It does look rather messy, although it doesn't bother me much (our neighborhood tends to be pretty casual). It was only about a week later that I realized these neighbors were having a new garage built, and had torn down their old garage. Now, I'm sure that's where the front porch items came from and I bet they'll make their way back to the new garage once it is complete. Had I judged my neighbors harshly based on first impressions, I would have not only been unfair to those neighbors but also would have denied myself a potentially good neighborhood relationship. One thing that I do think is interesting is that some people in this thread have mentioned not wanting to form closer relationships with neighbors specifically because they don't want to be held to higher standards of behavior or maintenance (as opposed to simply wanting more privacy, etc.). I'm sure that there are plenty of examples where this is the case, and neighbors will bully their "friends" into conforming with how THEY believe the neighborhood should look and behave. But, I think that more often than not, it's the other way around, and people will be more understanding of individual circumstances when they better know the people involved. My office actually had a workshop-type meeting at work this week led by a professional workplace consultant (not sure of her official title), with the intent to "improve office civility" that touched on this very point. The consultant brought up the example of what happens when someone cuts us off in traffic. Our first reaction, usually, is "What a jerk! That moron doesn't know how to drive." But if we then notice that it's actually a friend of ours, or something that we know and think well of, then we might decide that "There must be something wrong; perhaps he or she is late to something really important, or there's some emergency, or he or she simply made a mistake" or something along those lines. In other words, if we don't know a person, we are more likely to attribute poor behavior to the person him or herself. But if we do know a person, we're more likely to attribute poor behavior to an accident, emergency, or mistake. Of course, that's not the case in many situations, but perhaps it's worth thinking about. If I were in OP's position, I probably would put some effort into rebuilding relationships with my neighbors on a one house at a time basis (although I certainly wouldn't kill myself trying to make nice). But that's just because I enjoy my home more, and feel more comfortable in it (and especially spending time in the yard and garden), when I feel like I have a good relationship with the surrounding families. OP is certainly under no obligation to do so, however--this type of thing is so individual.

Hello Girls Yes it was on my porch after 6 last night. My package from Margo got me ready for fall. It had Bath and body works wallflowers holder with a caramel pumpkin swirl scent. French lavender and honey shower gel,. A beautiful blue butterfly canvas picture,solar dancing butterfly, insect repelling band{always use these} sour watermelon worms 2 cute bug rocks { I want to make these} poached egg seeds fleabane seeds dwarf toadflax seeds Mixed columbine seeds Margo I love all items Thank you for another great month in this friendly group.