And now for something completely different. What’s even closer to my heart than real estate?  Food.

A hanger steak is a cut of beef steak which is said to “hang” from the diaphragm of the steer.^[

That’s a meaty description. There’s only one per steer and since it “hangs” close to the kidneys, it’s said to be particularly flavorful.

But cook it for a minute too long and it gets as tough as the hide from which it was parted.

These days, it’s becoming easier to find.  I picked some up at Whole Foods in Noe Valley for around $8.99 a pound.

French bistros serve hanger steak — onglet –  with a shallot sauce, pommes frites, and a pichet of rot-gut red.  My version takes about 10 minutes from refrigerator to table.  The challenge is to really believe it’s cooked after just 90 seconds per side.

Hanger Steak with Shallots

Ingredients (serves 2)

6 oz of hanger steak, in one or two pieces

1 large shallot, finely chopped

balsamic vinegar

¼ tsp beef concentrate

1/3 cup of water

2 or 3 tbs butter, cut into 3 pieces

non-virgin olive oil, salt and freshly ground pepper

a few slices of French or Italian batard

Warm a couple of plates in the oven. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Add around a tablespoon of oil to a heavy non-stick pan and heat until almost smoking.  Add the meat and count to 90 – slowly.  Flip and do the same on the other side. Take out the warm plates, put on the slices of bread and place the meat on top of the bread.  Return to the oven. Lower the heat to medium, toss the shallots into the dry pan and stir constantly for about minute until the shallots are just soft and not burned.

Add a long splash of balsamic vinegar to the shallots and stir quickly. The sauce should get sticky almost immediately.  Add the water and beef concentrate and continue stirring for a minute or two while the sauce reduces.  Lower the heat and stir in the pats of butter one by one.  Pour over the meat and serve.

Another glorious winter’s day in San Francisco.  My family and I biked over the GG Bridge to Sausalito and then took the ferry back to Fisherman’s Wharf. Thirty-five years in this town and I’ve only done that ride twice.   The previous time was a week ago, to celebrate my 10 year old son’s new birthday bike.

2009 was not a kind year.  I feel very grateful that my family has come through in reasonable shape.  It makes it easy to appreciate the fine views and the fine weather.

Exactly a year ago, I officially launched this blog. It’s been enormously gratifying writing it.  First, it’s made me feel plugged into the market in ways both large and small.  Secondly, because I’m a visual kinda guy, those charts that I’ve tried to make a central part of  this blog have helped me understand and retain what’s going on in ways that columns of numbers just don’t.   Plus, I’ve learned a heck of a lot more about Excel — and, alas, its limitations as a database –  than I ever knew before.)

And finally, it’s been great to feel appreciated!   Though I sometimes joke that I have a readership of 7½, it is a loyal, thoughtful and appreciative one.  Well, that’s three of you anyway.

Happy New Year everyone!  My best wishes to each of you, and thank you for your support.

Windsor Live+Work

Stay tuned for new posts and charts in the next few days.

For the three-and-a-half readers who may have wondered what happened to me, I’ve been up in the Sierras near Yosemite with my family at the wonderful San Francisco treasure, Camp Mather, a 9 mile bike-ride from Hetch-Hetchy reservoir, where San Francisco gets its world-class water from, and about a 45 minute drive from Yosemite.

No cell-phone service, no wi-fi.  Just lots of trees, sun, rock, and river.

Spent about 7 hours fly-fishing over two days and caught 3 fry and 1 bona-fide fish, probably not bigger than 9″.  (All were released.)

Fly-fishing has to be one of mankind’s greatest exercises in frustration.  How could we possibly make fishing more complicated.  Don’t use real bait, use tiny strings, beads, and feathers instead.  Don’t pick the right pattern, don’t get a fish.  Don’t “present” the fly naturally on the water, don’t get a fish.  Do all this will flinging 15 to 30 feet of line over your head while waist-deep in freezing water, surrounded by bushes, trees, rocks, and all manner of other obstacles that want to do nothing more than EAT YOUR FLY.

I had a blast!

The database for SF condos is almost complete, so I’ll be able to start reporting on that part of the market soon.  Still working on automating my district charts to that I can generate compartive charts more quickly.