Shades of green – A spring feast

*sigh* … When it comes to work load this is about the hardest time of the year… gritting one’s teeth, struggling through is the name of the game.

Under these adverse conditions I am especially happy that we could find the time for a lovely gathering with friends – to celebrate friendship, good food, spring… and my birthday – to let work be work and enjoy the moment.

In my mind I had my favourite season spring and its omnipresent colour green. Foodwise this ended in bread – store bought and homemade no-knead-bread – and a variety of dips and vegetables that basically emerged from a walk over the farmer’s market.

Guacamole, a pea and ricotta cream, green olives, asparagus with pistachios, dill and carrot top pesto, hummus, goat cheese truffles … everything merged into a fresh and green spring dinner.

For dessert I baked my first pavlova – slightly broken, but super marshmallowy inside – and my first satisfying pasteis de nata. Both recipes complement each other in a perfect way: no left over egg yolks, no left over egg whites! But more about pasteis upcoming. I am planning to dedicate an exclusive blog post to them, with better looking pictures as well!