The Pork Boys Do My Birthday 2015

My best friend M.P. outdid himself this week with not one but two superb dinners in celebration of my birthday.

First, a totally scrumptious meal of fish and chips, Southern style:  fried tilapia breaded with corn meal, homemade french fries, hushpuppies made from scratch, and a can of Bush's best homestyle baked beans (that was my humble contribution).

For the second night's dinner, the entree was a sort of "pork wellington" - i.e., a succulent pork loin tenderly baked in homemade puff pastry, accompanied by some sultry Cajun gravy:

For a side dish, M.P. dreamed up a festive casserole of potatoes, rutabagas, carrots, sauteed onions, and Ro-Tel tomatoes in a pink bechamel sauce - yummm is the only word to describe it:

Our other vegetable was a homely dish of fried green beans with black pepper mayonnaise on the side - if you haven't tried it, you don't know what you're missing:

The combination of all the above made a very pretty, very delicious plate:

The piece de resistance was M.P.'s own invention, which he calls a Tiger Butter cake - the inside contains stripes of buttery, spicy, sweet and moist cake, topped with a luscious buttercream icing made from scratch; words fail me in attempting to describe how damn good it is. Simply the *best*cake*EVER*** - take my word for it, boys.

And so a good time was had by both, and how sweet it was!