They say before you plot your revenge to dig two graves, yours and your victim's. But sometimes, revenge is just too good and sweet to give yourself over. It's too fun.

I was waiting for an email in my Hotmail account to arrive, and I happened to see one from Kjerstina from a long time ago that I never opened. The irony--I think you could call it that--of this email is quite amusing. Tit for tat from a smart citizen against a big corporation, or sweet, free revenge for a small, expensive chocolate loaded sweet.

My daughter and I had just finished a salad at a Neiman-Marcus Cafe in Dallas, and we decided to have a small dessert. Because both of us are such cookie lovers, we decided to try the "Neiman-Marcus cookie."

It was so excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe, and the waitress said with a small frown, "I'm afraid not, but you can buy the recipe."

Well, I asked how much, and she responded, "Only two fifty--it's a great deal!" I agreed to that and told her to just add it to my tab.

Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement, and the Neiman-Marcus charge was $285.00! I looked again, and I remembered I had only spent $9.95 for two salads and about $20.00 for a scarf.

As I glanced at the bottom of the statement, it said, "Cookie Recipe--$250.00." That was outrageous!

I called Neiman's Accounting Department and told them the waitress said it was "two fifty," which clearly does not mean "two hundred fifty dollars" by any reasonable interpretation of the phrase.

Neiman-Marcus refused to budge. They would not refund my money because, according to them, "What the waitress told you is not our problem. You have already seen the recipe. We absolutely will not refund your money at this point."

I explained to the Accounting Department lady the criminal statues which govern fraud in the state of Texas. I threatened to report them to the Better Business Bureau and the Texas Attorney General's office for engaging in fraud. I was basically told, "Do what you want."

Don't bother thinking of how you can get even, and don't bother trying to get any of your money back. I just said, "Okay, you folks got my $250, and now I'm going to have $250 worth of fun." I told her that I was going to see to it that every cookie lover in the United States with an email account has a $250 cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus...for free.

She replied, "I wish you wouldn't do this." I said, "Well, perhaps you should have thought of that before you ripped me off!" and slammed down the phone.

So here it is! Please, please, please pass it on to everyone you can possibly think of. I paid $250 for this, and I don't want Neiman-Marcus to EVER make another penny off of this recipe!

So everyone, here is a very expensive cookie recipe. Go to your kitchens after writing it down, make these and see if they are worth $250. *quirks a brow and the corner of her lip*

Neiman-Marcus Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (Recipe may be halved)

• 2 cups butter
  
• 24 oz. chocolate chips
  
• 4 cups flour
  
• 2 cups brown sugar
  
• 2 tsp. soda
  
• 1 tsp. salt
  
• 2 cups sugar
  
• 1 8 oz. Hershey's bar (grated)
  
• 5 cups blended oatmeal
  
• 4 eggs
  
• 2 tsp. baking powder
  
• 2 tsp. vanilla
  
• 3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)

Measure oatmeal and blend in a blender to a fine powder. Cream the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder and soda. Add chocolate chips, Hershey bar and nuts. Roll into balls and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 112 cookies.

Enjoy and pass this on! Said to be a true story, too.

..:: Remembered�����E�����Occuring ::..

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