Orange Date Cake

Ingredients:

1       - cup butter or margarine, softened
2       - cups sugar
4       - large eggs
4       - cups all-purpose flour, divided
1       - teaspoon baking soda
1/2    - teaspoon salt
1 1/3 - cups buttermilk
1 1/2 - tablespoons grated orange rind, divided
1       - cup chopped pecans
1       - cup chopped dates
1       - cup sugar
1/2    - cup orange juice
Procedure:

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer about 2 minutes or until creamy. Gradually add 2 cups sugar, beating at medium speed 5 to 7 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until yellow disappears.
Combine 3 3/4 cups flour, soda, and salt, add to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in 1 tablespoon orange rind.
Combine pecans, dates, and remaining 1/4 cup flour, salt into batter.
Spoon batter into a greased and floured 10-ince tube pan.
Bake at 325 degrees for 1 1/2 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Combine 1 cup sugar, orange juice, and remaining 1/2 tablespoon orange rind in a small saucepan, cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves.
Pour glaze over warm cake, cool in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes. Remove from pan, let cool completely on wire rack.

Adobo Pusit

One very important aspect we need to remember when cooking squid is that its never good to over cook them.  It gives a tough and rubbery like texture.  So for this adobo recipe this is a guaranteed express and yet specially good.


Ingredients:

1 kilo of squid

- it is preferable to use smaller squids for this recipe

- clean your squid by washing them in a running water.  Pull gently the plastic like thing (which is actually the bone of a squid) including the tiny pouch carrying the ink (its defense mechanism).  Clean them and pat them dry with a paper towel

5 cloves of garlic minced
2 shallots chopped (sibuyas tagalog)
3 tablespoons of cane vinegar (or you can use any type of vinegar available)
1 teaspoon of pepper
some salt
fresh chinese parsley or kintsay chopped
some cooking oil

Procedure:

Start by preparing your marinate.  Mix the minced garlic with salt, vinegar and pepper.  Let your squid sit in this marinade for a minimum of thirty minutes.  Then heat your pan, pour your cooking oil, put your shallots and squid.  Cook them as you are stir-frying them.  Hot pan, mediumfire and constant mixing.  If you use small squids in about five minutes they are already cooked but if you use bigger size seven minutes would be the maximum you can let on your pan.  Cut the fire and sprinkle it with your chopped chinese parsley.

Chocolate Mousse Parfait

Yield : 6 servings.

Ingredients:
1       - cup (6-ounce) milk chocolate morsels
1/4    - cup (6 ounces) milk chocolate morsels
2       - tablespoons water
2       - teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 - cups whipping cream, whipped
1       - cup vanilla wafers, crushed
Procedure:

Combine first 3 ingredients in a heavy saucepan; cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate melts. Cool.
Stir in vanilla, and gently fold in whipped cream
Layer mousse and vanilla wafer crumbs evenly into 6 (4-ounce) parfait glasses. Cover.
Freeze at least 1 hour or up to 2 days. Let stand 10 minutes to 15 inutes before serving.