Irina's Birthday Dinner

This week's Sunday Soup segment will be bypassed, but with good reason. I want to tell you about the dinner I made last night in the honor of my dear friend Irina's birthday (Happy birthday again, Irina! Love you!)
As we all are crazy about Mexican food, I decided to make grilled chicken fajitas. This is a shot of my plate:
I know I've done a good job when the girls try to mumble "This is so good" with a mouth full of fajita : ) That's exactly the effect I go for.

Since the dinner was sort of impromptu, I didn't want to attempt making a classic multilayer frosted birthday cake and decided to make something simple and full-proof instead. I had some beautiful pears in my fridge, as they're in season right now, and I thought what better way to showcase them then in a rustic, unpretentious, buttery tart.
I wasn't sure if the ladies would like this sort of dessert - they usually prefer something of the molten cake/chocolate mousse-variety. But turns out, my worries were futile : )

*If you would like either of these recipes, feel free to email me and I'll gladly share.