Monthly Archives: April 2009

Lemon-Cornmeal Cookies

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http://www.marthastewart….ornmeal-cookies

Well I tried to go a little healthier today with the Friday baked goodie but either it was too healthy or because there was leftover birthday cake and a fruit cake competing with my cookies, I actually had a few leftover.

My base recipe was the Lemon-Cornmeal Cookies recipe from marthastewart.com but I altered the ingredients a bit.

I used 1 cup of whole wheat flour + 1/2 cup of all purpose flour (instead of 1-1/2 cups all purpose flour) and 2 tbsp of lemon zest (instead of just 1 tbsp).

The reason why I wanted to do something with lemon was because someone brought in two full grocery bags of lemons from their tree so I grabbed a few thinking I could make something yummy. Plus Patsy gave me her extra micro zester so that it’d be easy to zest the lemons. I had a whole bag of yellow cornmeal which I didn’t know what to do with (I guess I could make cornbread…) so wanted to use it up as well.

I forgot to take pictures of the whole batch so here are the few remaining. I put a little bit of brown sugar on top to give it a touch of sweetness because they really weren’t all that sweet.

The whole wheat flour seems to make the cookie drier and more crumbly than it probably should be but some said they liked the crunch of it.

Well, maybe I’ll be more successful next week with some sort of lemon bar or lemon shortbread. I still need to figure out what to make with the lemon juice from the lemons I zested.

Bia’s Restaurant & Wine Bar

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http://www.biasrestaurantandwinebar.com/

I hadn’t given Vicki her birthday gift yet so we met up for dinner tonight. I went on Opentable to find a restaurant since I prefer to have a reservation somewhere so that we wouldn’t have to wait. I also wanted to try somewhere new and I’ve generally had good luck with the restaurants on Opentable.

We met up at Bia’s Restaurant & Wine Bar on Haight Street. We ended up selecting items from the prix fixe menu. Lucky for us we had a reservation before 7pm, so the prix fixe was only $26 per person. The menu includes an appetizer, main course, dessert, and glass of wine.

For an appetizer I ordered the prushki which is a pastry kind of thing stuffed with chicken, onions, and carrots. Surrounding it seemed like a tangy kind of tomato sauce.

I had the Kofta for the main course which was like a big meatball stuffed with raisins, nuts, apricots, and other herbs. It was also served with broccoli and roasted potatoes. The roasted potatoes were really good, crispy and just the right amount of salt. The meat itself was quite filling and had an interesting texture with the chewy raisins and crunchy nuts.

Vicki ordered the penne made with vodka, tomatoes, chili flakes, arugula in a light cream sauce. The penne may have been a touch overdone, a bit soft, but I liked the amount of chili they used, nice and spicy!

For dessert, we ordered one of each: chocolate souffle and the creme brulee. The chocolate souffle was fresh and steaming hot, the cream on top was especially nice… best souffle I’ve ever had. The creme brulee was only so-so, the custard a bit runny and the sugar on top a bit too hard, you really had to crack it to break into it.

They have a good selection of wines and the two we chose went well with our meals.

The restaurant itself is very cozy. We had the seat by the front window seat, with a bunch of cushions as our seats. Very much like the window seat I would like in my future home. Since it was a Weds night, it wasn’t very crowded so it was an easy place to have conversation. My only complaint about the area is my phone has terrible reception. I have AT&T and couldn’t get a signal on the whole block. But I guess if you don’t want to be bothered, it’s a good place to go. If I had the chance, I’d probably go dine there again.

Bia’s Restaurant & Wine Bar
1640 Haight Street