Dinner (wa)s served

Last weekend we had some friends over for dinner. Dinner parties always bring along some stress because it means I have to cook. For dessert there is no problem: baking sweets (cookies, a cake ...) is one of my specialties (when it comes to cooking). Putting together and preparing a decent meal on the other hand shouldn’t be taken for granted. Especially when you know that I tend to forget the essential ingredients - I'm thinking: pizza without cheese, cookie dough without eggs ...

Anyway, this was Saturday night's menu:

For starters there were plenty of snacks (home-made ovensnacks, crisps, crack-a-nuts, olives, crackers, etc.) that were served with a special bottle of cava that we had saved for the occasion (see picture below). 

After a few hours of snacking we went straight to the main course. Here le Boyfriend helped me out with the meat (pork tenderloin) and cambozola cheese sauce (which I don’t really like because of its typical bitter taste, but everybody else seems to adore). The side-dish, an improvised ratatouille, was entirely prepared by me. As everybody ate their portion I guess it did taste good.

For dessert we had split the tasks: I baked some delicious Tessa Kiros vanilla / chocolate cookies and my roomie took care of the tiramisu, which he made with caramelized biscuits (speculoos).

cookies and chocolates
to provide the "diners" with sweet dreams

In the end it was an evening full of food and I have to say it all (even my “creations”) tasted good. So good that I’m already looking forward to the next dinner party with friends!

FYI: the recipes
Ratatouille: this recipe of the famous Belgian cook "Jeroen Meus" was my source of inspiration, but I did not follow all of his instructions.
Cambozola sauce: here you find a good description of how to make it yourself.
Pork tenderloin: crispy-crust it in a steel pan (about 2 minutes) and add some salt and pepper before baking it in the oven for another 20 minutes.
Cookies: et voilà, Tessa Kiros' recipe.

P.S. As good food photography is difficult (i.e. if you want appetizing pictures) I didn't take photos of our menu.