The Samantha Files

Dinner in a flash (or, we just got home from the gym and we're HUNGRY)

Tuesday night, after Dave and I got home from the gym (since I had been sick, it had been a few weeks... it was nice to get back into the swing of things), we wanted to make a really quick dinner.  Doesn't it look good? 

I remembered a post from Josh's site, and thought a no-cook sauce would be perfect tonight.  I had no cherry tomatoes, but I always have canned tomatoes (I have a stockpile at the moment, because I always buy them when we go to the store so we don't run out... yes, I am a canned tomato addict... let's move on, ok?).

I combined 2 cans of diced tomatoes with the juice in a large bowl, and added lemon oil (no lemons in the house, but lemon oil is perfect in a pinch as a substitute for zest), a little garlic oil, salt, pepper, Solar Power seasoning, thawed (frozen) basil cubes from trader joes, green beans cut into small pieces (I used frozen french green beans, thawed under running water then snipped up), fresh mozzarella diced small, and a can of rinsed and drained chickpeas.

We cooked up a pound of penne, drained and tossed together with the tomato mixture.  Top with a little grated parmesan and enjoy!

Posted while listening to The Best of Paolo Conte

Quote: Yoda

Do or do not.  There is no try.

from The Empire Strikes Back

Blog surveys are cool!

Quote: Henry James

The only obligation to which in advance we may hold a novel, without incurring the accusation of being arbitrary, is that it be interesting.

Mix CD Swap 1: The Goods

Here's the 5 discs I received from the Mix CD swap held by Christine over at Crafty Little Cow, and I included pics of the cd I sent out.

Can you believe these amazing cds?  I know, so professional!  The bar has been set for the CD Swap 2, being held by Jennifer of Piddleloop.  This time I'll have my swanky new computer, so I can print out super cool inserts and cd labels.

I'll post the info on the creators of the cd's pictured below later today, as well as talk about my track listing with links to the artists.  And if you want to get in on CD Swap 2, just click on the button over on the left... yup, the one with the cute monkey on it!

Quotes: An introduction

Many moons ago, when I was working at one of my culinary jobs, we had this big chalkboard where I would write out daily specials.  At one point, I decided to start adding a quote to the board, and would usually do a bit of drawing as well.

When I left that job, I had alot of people who were sad about not seeing the quote of the day on the board, so I got together a list of emails and started sending out a quote of the day electronically.  I kept that list going for a few years, but once I had to change my email address I was unable to send out big group emails (I had about 100 people on the list at it's peak).  I started a Yahoo group, but I wasn't as good about sending out a daily email.  So I thought I'd start putting quotes up here.  I'll put all the quotes in a quote category, so you can read them at your leisure.

A special thanks for all of those patient folks on my quote list who put up with my sporadic emails.  Hope you enjoy reading the quotes here!

Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

Mark Twain

London memories - Borough Market

Thanks to londonchef, a great photo gallery from Borough Market - one of my favorite food markets anywhere.

I wonder if I can get a pork pie shipped to me?

Cake thoughts - Cupcakes and my favorite easy cake recipe

Via not martha's site... don't these cupcakes sound scrumptious?!?

And I'm not a huge fan of Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade show, but  these Boston Creme cupcakes do sound pretty good.  I'd probably bake my standard cake-pan cake recipe, and use dark chocolate.

Squirrel in motion

We saw this little guy in Union Square when walking from the Greenmarket to the subway.  The lawn ends with a stone wall that is about shoulder-height.  Dave would get close to the wall, and the squirrel would get closer (assuming we must have some food).  A little hesitant to get to close again, he snapped this quick shot.. which I rather like.

Hello and welcome!

Just wanted to say hello to all the new folks coming to my site, nice to have you here!  New friends Adam, Clotilde, Lulu and Jessica all have had nice mentions of my site in the past week, since our big get-together in the big city.

Come on in and have a look around.  Say hi in the comments section if you'd like. 

And if you're in the NYC area, and want to meet a great group of people, drop me an email at thesamanthafilesATgmailDOTcom or comment below.  A bunch of us are getting together for a NYC C&Z-inspired potluck (Clotilde, Maxence and Mickey - we wish you could come too!!) and the more the merrier!