Hi, everyone, just have some more pictures to share with you on our Northern California trip! We DID leave our hearts in San Francisco. There is so much to do!
Cow Hollow District
Being in San Francisco inspired me to make the Lemon Lemony Cupcake pictured above; the recipe and instructions are at the end of my post. My 16 year old son said that the "Lemon Lemony Cupcake" was "almost as good" as the cupcakes at Kara's Cupcakes! Kara sells cupcakes in Northern California. There is an outlet in the Cow Hollow District. The Key Lime Cupcakes at Kara's are the best cupcakes I have ever eaten. Okay, so they are not cheap --- $3.25 per cupcake, but really you need to try them if you can! Although I didn't know this when we made our visit, Kara was a contestant on the Food Network's Cupcake Wars this summer.
While we were in San Francisco we stayed at the Cow Hollow Motor Inn. It was a lovely motel, with free parking, on Lombard Street and Steiner. Bonnie, who writes the blog
City Home/Country Home visits San Francisco at least once a year and had recommended Cow Hollow Motor Inn when she wrote a "What We Ate" review of her trip. Drop by her blog; I enjoy reading it! She also was so kind enough to give me lots of other tips about where to eat and what to do in San Francisco. Thanks Bonnie!
This is a view from our motel room of the The City. In the bottom left-hand corner is Mel's Diner which has been a San Francisco tradition for over sixty years.
We ate at Johnny Rockets. It is a fun diner to go to with your kids. We had the best waitress who, without asking, brought our two youngest hot water, lemons, and honey to nurse their colds they were suffering from. Each table has a mini juke box where you can put in a nickel and they will play your song. The prices were on the inexpensive side and the food was good diner food. You can get a nice-sized patty melt and fries for $6.00.
A grocery store display of food on Chestnut Street. The Cow Hollow area has every service you could desire. There is a small Pottery Barn, a bookstore, bakeries, an Italian Deli, a movie theater, an Apple store, and an ice cream and candy store....just to mention a few of its offerings.
The Cow Hollow area has many homes similar to these and all it takes is a nice walk to get you to the Marina.
The famous Lombard Street! I attempted to drive UP the hill to drive down the curvy part....I would not recommend doing this with a stick shift! I chickened out...or dare I say the smell of asbestos from my clutch told me not to go any further. There is a staircase adjacent to the curvy part and we had a nice walk down.
We found the cable cars to be really fun to ride. Bonnie had suggested going on the California line, which we did, because there was no waiting!
View from California Line
We also rode one of the other two lines. We loved the conductor who pelted us tourists with lines such as "Thanks for leaving tourists," as people were leaving the cable car. My favorite line as he was squeezing through the crowd to collect fares was "No squeezing my muscles or pinching my bootie....sometimes the ladies get fresh, really fresh!"
We didn't always take cable cars; we walked and walked and walked! This is a view from Hyde Street. That's Alcatraz to the right.
The Wharf Area
The Wharf area is always alive! We loved the street performers, especially the band.
This guy was on a unicycle with a strait jacket. He was able to get out of the strait jacket while cycling.
The "Golden Guy."
Have some crab!
Have some chocolate!
Eat some bread at Boudin's. They pipe out the smell of baking bread to the street, really they do!
Watch the antics of the seals. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the seals came and stayed at Pier 39.
My kids enjoyed the Musee Mecanique where for 25 or 50 cents you can have some fun with antique coin operated arcade games or player pianos. The Musee Mecanique was shown on the original Princess Diaries movie.
Golden Gate Bridge
It seems as if everyone has to walk or bike across Golden Gate Bridge. It is a beautiful structure with great views of the San Francisco Bay. It is a suspension bridge. Our motel was right on Lombard Street; Lombard Street leads to 101 North , or 1 North, which takes you over the bridge. It is free to leave the city and I believe it is $6.00 to enter the city. The Bridge is not golden, but rather a rust color, officially called vermilion orange.
Unfortunately, the Golden Gate Bridge is the most popular suicide location in the world. There are at least two locations where there are crisis line phones.
Most of the over 1200 people who have attempted to commit suicide have succeeded. There is a 98 per cent fatality rate. I believe they stopped keeping records in 2005. It is estimated a suicide from Golden Gate Bridge occurs every two weeks. In 2009, 31 people committed suicide on the Golden Gate Bridge. As of 2006 only 26 have survived. One man who did survive, said that as he was jumping, all of the things that he was worried about he realized were fixable...except the jump. Thankfully he survived.
Lemon Lemony Cupcakes
These were really good and really tart and sweet at the same time. The cupcake recipe is from Martha Stewart I found it at
Squidoo.com The frosting recipe was adapted from a recipe from my sister Jacqueline at
Purple Chocolat Home. These cupcakes consist of cupcakes, lemon curd, and frosting.
(Makes 24 cupcakes.)
Cupcake Instructions:
3 cups flour (all-purpose)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks or 1/2 cup) unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
Grated zest of 3 lemons or about 3 tablespoons
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners. Add flour, baking powder, and salt together. Mix butter and sugar together with mixer at medium speed. Add eggs one at a time, until mixed well, then add zest and vanilla. Add flour mixture in three batches with two batches of buttermilk and lemon juice in between. Beat until just combined after each addition. Place batter in lined cups filling about three-quarters full. Bake until golden, cake tester comes out clean or about 25 minutes. Cool completely before removing from the muffin tins.
Lemon Curd Instructions:
When cupcakes are cool, pipe frosting into cupcakes to fill them or spread a thin layer of lemon curd on top of each cupcake. If you like sweet, do both!
Frosting Instructions:
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 C. butter, softened
1 - 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1/4 cup lemon curd, use Trader Joe's or Dickinson's brands.
4 3/4 cups to 5 cups powdered sugar
In large mixing bowl, beat all ingredients together. Add additional powdered sugar if necessary to have frosting be stiff enough, yet fluffy.
I found this cake server at Ross this summer. His tail is the cake server!
Thank you for dropping by my RED COUCH.
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