Russian Hill walk.

Due to various complaints suggestions (and some hand raising), I'm doing a blog post.

In the middle of March, I met Trav and Steph on the Caltrain and we went to San Francisco. After a brief lunch and a quick taxi ride, we met John on the corner of Polk and Lombard streets.

Here's a map from Runkeeper, I'm using this one because Google can't follow all the footpaths and this one also shows the elevation change.

Trav also had a guide book which gave short descriptions of some of the houses and features along the route.

From the intersection of Polk and Lombard we walked up Lombard st and went down the steps halfway along on the left, towards Chestnut st.

It was a pretty little lane with some interesting houses and the guide book gave a brief history of some of them.

We saw horses.


And Spanish themed houses.


An interesting slab sided house. I took this over the top of Steph taking a photo.


Some unusual doors.




John, Trav and Steph.


This was outside a villa in Chestnut st, built by the owner of a silver mine.


The rest of the villa.


Listening to the reading of the book.


A set of steps up to the rest of Chestnut st.


View fro the top of the steps, the Golden Gate bridge is hidden by the building, you can just see the on-ramp.


Up on the corner of Chestnut and Larkin streets, looking out over the bay towards Alcatraz island.


See, I told it it was Chestnut and Larkin.


A lovely looking building, with unusual curtains.


We climb up to Sterling park, where the Alice Marble tennis courts are and it had a better view of the bridge.


Alice Marble tennis courts. (obviously)


The building next to the tennis courts, 14 stories on top of a hill in San Francisco, with the Hyde st cable car going past.


Tourists looking down the squiggly bit of Lombard st.


A lovely house on Chestnut st. near Hyde st.


Another cable car coming up Hyde st.


A row of houses in Chestnut st, obviously a topiary competition going on.


Locals going off to a party.


The doorway to the Norwegian church in San Francisco.


A contrast of styles.


House detail.


Comparing pets.


Looking across to Coit Tower.


Another interesting house, see the chimney ?


A long way down to the carport. I wonder if they have an internal tunnel ...


Fay Park. Right hand side of the map.


Marching up the hill.


Another house built on clif. Can you spot the ... ??


Hidden in the foliage.


Red door, blue house.


More tourists going down Lombard st.


The queue of cars waiting to drive down the twisty bits of Lombard st.


Face in the window. He was standing there looking out and when he saw me turn towards him with my camera, he put his hand up.


We then walked across to the souffle place near Coit tower and had a wonderful meal.


Answer to the Spot the ... ? A shower with a view.

MintyBoost.

What is MintyBoost, I hear you ask ? (If you didn't ask, then you aren't reading your script correctly.)
MintyBoost is a little package of electronics that allow you to charge your iPhone, iPod and any other device that charges from a USB port, from AA batteries.

Why are the electronics needed, I hear you ask ? (What do you mean that's not in the script ? Which script do you have ?)
The elctronics are needed because two AA batteries output 3 Volts but a USB port is 5 Volts. The electronics are needed to step the voltage up, smooth it out and restrict how much current the device being charged, can take.

Why did I build one, I hear you ask ? (Look! Keep up, it's over the page.)
I bought and built one because I found that my phone was flat after a days riding and tracking where I was going on Runkeeper. This meant that after a hard days riding, when I just wanted to relax on the train and listen to some music, I couldn't as my phone was flat.

Where are the photos ? (Ok, now you're just being stupid by ad libbing.)

The innocent Mint tin that has been corrupted. (The mints were delicious, even if they are not "curiously strong")


The inside showing the battery holder for the 3 AA's and the electronics with the USB port to the right.


Closeup of the USB port and the electronics.


Batteries included !

Chicken Stock.

It started with the book, Cooking for Geeks, continued with various internet post about the freshness and ease of making stock.
I'd have to agree it is very easy, throw everything in a pot and simmer it for a couple of hours. Strain and bottle.
I was given a leftover chook (Thanks Chrissie !) and supplemented it with a pound of chook necks.


After the simmer for 2 hours, I was left with 3 bowls of very delicious looking chicken soup.


It did look like a horrific accident involving a chicken coop, a steam boiler and a vegie patch.


This is the result after coarse filtering (aka strainer), I didn't skim the fat off before this stage as is was entwined with the herbs and carrots.


I filtered it with a 100 micron filter to remove some of the solids.


This was the solids left in the filter.


And the end result was a lovely bowl of stock.


I'll put this back into the fridge to solidify the fat ready to be skimmed off. I'll then divide it up and put some through a very fine 5 micron filter to make a clear consomme.