17th of April's Theme

Good evening dear ladies,

The theme for next weekend's 'first time ever with partners' dinner is: Food that is surprisingly good for the amount of time / ingredients / effort that went into it. I know this is a bit vague, but the constriction lies in that whatever you make, you either have to be able to eat it by hand, or from a small plate while standing up (unless the hubbies want to bring their own big plates!)

In keeping with the tradition, I added a few quotes. All of them short and sweet, as your recipies should be!
"Without rice, even the cleverest housewife cannot cook."
- Chinese proverb

"...tomatoes and oregano make it Italian, wine and tarragon make it French, sour cream makes it Russian, lemon and cinnamon make it Greek, soy sauce makes it Chinese, garlic makes it good."
- Alice May Brock

"...my secret ingredient.....salt!"
-Marge Simpson

We'll start at 7:30. Hope you all have babysitters arranged!

Clare, I'm sorry you will not be able to make this one, you will be missed!
Mascha, I'm really glad you can finally join us again! We had to go too long without your good cooking!
And Colleen, we all decided that there's definitely a way that you can spin your calamari recipe around so that it will fit in with this theme!

As to what food will be served: I will make samoosas. I remember when I made them the first time, I had such an 'ahh, this is much easier than I thought' feeling, which is exactly what this evening will be all about. The rest of the menu will follow. I'm anxiously awaiting to hear what you all will come up with!

Cheers,
Monique