My Bride's 57th Birthday

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Wednesday was my wife's 57th birthday.  While she spent the day visiting her mother, I was tasked with preparing her a wonderful meal, as best as my talents would allow.  The previous day I made the dessert, the infamous Hummingbird cake, but that is another story.



Next up, find the find the main course, fillet mignon, check:



Sear the steaks in the trusty iron skillet and slap them on the grill until medium rare:





Prep the veggies for roasting, then into a 375 degree oven for 40 minutes:



Sear the scallops and assemble the salad of scallops and toasted pecans on a bed on wilted arugula and Belgian endive with a warm maple syrup and soy dressing;





Finish the bernaise sauce and plate it up:



She seemed to enjoy it.  Good until next time.

Bill

[Rancanfish]

Ha!  That's what you call limited skills?   

I want to hear about the cake.

And Happy birthday to the missus.

[Long Enuff]

Since you asked:

Twenty five years ago in July my wife was pregnant with our oldest daughter and due any time. It was our last opportunity to have a really nice meal downtown in Charleston for quite awhile. We had dinner at a great little Italian Restaurant , Celia's Porta Via. The meal was awesome and for dessert Lois had their signature Hummingbird Cake. Later that evening, she went into labor with our oldest daughter, Rebecca. Over the years, she has jokingly claimed the cake was the trigger. I thought it would be only proper that I make her a Hummingbird Cake for dessert on her birthday. Fortunately, we had no recurring labor pains!

[mizmo67]

Happy Birthday to the Mrs. and yum, nice dinner!

[Swami805]

Wow what a meal!! And the trusty cast iron skillet, I inherited mine from my dad, wouldn't cook a steak without it. Next time try stuffing the fillet with crab meat, steak Oscar. Learned that one from the chef on the Polaris Supreme. Hope you'll post the hummingbird cake recipe,looks great and we have a lot of those pesky hummingbirds around here.

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Southern Living's original recipe from way back when:

Hummingbird Cake
This gorgeous and classic cake is all thanks to Mrs. L.H. Wiggins of Greensboro, North Carolina, who allowed this pineapple-banana spice cake with cream cheese frosting to become one of our most requested recipes. While there are many different variations of this delicious recipe out there now, we still stand by Mrs. Wiggins' original, indulgent creation. With a unique warm and spiced flavor and a moist banana and pineapple interior, this cake is a true Southern gem.
•   Yield: 12 servings


Ingredients
•         3 cups all-purpose flour
•         2 cups sugar
•         1 teaspoon salt
•         1 teaspoon baking soda
•         1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
•         3 large eggs, beaten
•         11/2 cups vegetable oil
      1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
      1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained
      2 cups chopped bananas
      1 cup chopped pecans
      Shortening
      Cream Cheese Frosting
      1/2 cup chopped pecans
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°. Whisk together flour and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl; add eggs and oil, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in vanilla, pineapple, bananas, and 1 cup chopped toasted pecans. Spoon batter into 3 well-greased (with shortening) and floured 9-inch round cake pans.
Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes our clean. Cool cake layers in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks, and cool completely (about 1 hour).
Place 1 cake layer on a serving platter. Spread 1 cup Cream Cheese Frosting over cake layer. Top with second layer, and spread 1 cup frosting over cake layer. Top with third cake layer, and spread top and sides of cake with remaining frosting. Arrange toasted pecan halves in a circular pattern over top of cake.Print


Cream Cheese Frosting
It doesn't get much better than classic cream cheese frosting. Serve with Hummingbird Cake.
•   Yield: 5 1/2 cupPrint

Ingredients
•         2 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
•         1 cup butter or margarine, softened
      2 (16-ounce) package powdered sugar, sifted
      2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preparation
Beat cream cheese and butter at medium-low speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Gradually add sugar, beating at low speed until blended. Stir in vanilla. Increase speed to medium-high,and beat 1 to 2 minutes or until fluffy.

[ChileRelleno]

Happy Birthday to your Wife!

Beautiful meal/dessert   

[Swami805]

Thanks for posting that, I have some family coming this week and I'll give that a try. Hat's off to the south when it comes to food.

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Good luck!  On a side note, I only used about half of the icing, just enough to cover the layers.

[ReelFishingProblems]

I read this post to my wife to show what an amazing group of people are in this group. Some of the finest people. Happy birthday to your wife.

[Dominick]

Yum, thanks for letting us in on your celebration.  Dominick

[handi2]

Wanna cook for my birthday??

Congrats

Keith

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Thank you all for the kind words and Lois says thank you for the birthday wishes.  Joe and Swami, let us know how the cake turns out.

Bill