My hiking partner, Karen, and I signed up to do snacks for Book Club at the library today.

As a vegan, Karen always brings hummus and tofu dip. Few people like it. I asked Karen to also bring her dried fruits and vegetables. Karen's lacy, dried tomatoes are wonderful!

I chose to bring dessert. Last night after hiking, and early this morning I made:

1. Date Bars from Cooking Light.
2. Lemon Bars from The Tassajara Bread Book.

Starting at age 3, my daughter, Claire, has eaten lemon slices. (shudder) Instead of birthday cake, Claire wants lemon bars.

p.s. They cleaned the platter (my late grandmother's).

An 83-year-old lady mistook Karen's garlicky hummus for a whipped topping. She put a big glob of hummus on a lemon bar.

"I didn't like the topping for the lemon squares," she said afterward.

"That was Karen's hummus," I replied. "She put lots of garlic in it." Wish I had stopped her.