The calamari is prepared very simply, so if you can’t find lemon-pepper pasta, I suggest you substitute it with an equally flavorful pasta to give the meal a kick of herbs or spices. Anything citrusy is ideal, although spinach or garlic-flavored pasta would be a good match too.

Ingredients:
1 package lemon-pepper linguine
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pound calamari, sliced
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest, divided

1. Heat oil in a skillet and saute garlic over medium heat, 2 minutes. Season calamari with 1/4 teaspoon salt, increase heat to high and add to skillet. Continue cooking 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Add lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and stir in lemon zest.

3. Meanwhile, cook linguine in a pot of salted boiling water until al dente; drain and return to pot. Add calamari mixture to linguine and toss. Transfer to serving platter and serve.

But I’ve caved in. I’m a breakfast person now. I like eggs and turkey bacon; I devour sausages and hashbrowns. And that’s why I’ve become a repeat visitor to St. Francis Fountain, San Francisco’s old school diner-slash-candy store in the Mission District. Expect a wait, but it’ll be an entertaining wait as the place is always packed with the most hipstery of hipsters.

The chef’s mess (scrambled eggs with bacon, peppers, cheese, sour cream and salsa) is a popular favorite, but I often get the huevos rancheros.

The eggs are cooked just right and the salsa is fresh-tasting and spicy. During my last visit, I was feeling extra hungry and ordered the biscuits with sausage gravy, which also comes with two eggs.

The potatoes were perfectly crispy and the sausage gravy was delicious, but the biscuit was huge. Too huge. It felt like a rich mass of dough covered in a rich mass of sauce. Which is what it’s supposed to be, I guess, but in this case it was just too much. I think I was expecting a flakier, less intense biscuit.

Overall, St. Francis Fountain is a solid place to go to for breakfast or brunch. You can’t really go wrong on the menu, but some items certainly stand out more than others. The service is cheerful, the crowd is fun and I love the neighborhood.

i spent the better part of yesterday making an array of japanese stocks, learning that bonito, iriko, and konbu are indispensable tools for success. the results were well worth it:

miso soup with enoki mushrooms

rice with vegetables and chikuwa

moon-viewing noodles in broth

soy-braised sun-dried daikon

konbu and shiitake relish

tuna bagnat (okay, so this one isn’t japanese.)

happy new year. in between seemingly endless rainstorms and even more seemingly endless home improvement projects, i’ve kept up with the cooking:

lemongrass egg flower soup

siu mai

spicy okra in shrimp sauce

beer-battered ahi rolls

soft tofu and mushrooms in black vinegar sauce

chow fun chicken

i’m too exhausted from painting and moving and measuring and hammering to write about my pizza and champagne new year, or my crash course in japanese pantry essentials, or anything for that matter. its suffice to say that the past few days have been a real workout.

each year, the beginning of december always marks not only the rush to the holiday season, but also the start of a string of birthdays one after another through the next couple of months. four birthdays down this week (vic, dom, my cousin, and my dad), and several more to go.

i spent a couple of days in the city this week, where a group of us attended wonder-full with dj spinna and bobbito. we also wandered through downtown (its so busy this holiday season!) and drank communist-cum-yuppie coffee, amongst other things. despite the oh-so-hipster logo, my cup was suprisingly good. (and strong!) as if their nod to soviet-era russia wasn’t enough, the inside of shop boasts paper currency pinned to the wall, including none other than a 10,000 rial piece bearing the ayatollah’s likeness. the evil empire and the axis of evil all in one coffee shop!

oh yes, and i’ve been cooking too.

artichoke rice cakes with melting manchego

eggplant parcels stuffed with fresh mozzarella, basil, and tomatoes

beijing chilled vegetable stir-fry

braised tofu and mushrooms

green onion flatbreads

snow peas with fried tofu (served alongside nori-encrusted sirloin with shiitake mushrooms and jasmine rice)

i finally saw himalaya, twilight, and letters in the wind. the first is a must-see, the second was quite good, and the third was a bit of a dissapointment.

i finished searching for hassan: an american family’s journey home to iran as well. i highly recommend this to anyone with the slightest interest in iran. part travel memoir, part childhood memories, and part reflections on the religious and historical culture of the country, searching for hassan is a fantastically written ode to iran. it touches on so many aspects of iranian society without seeming biased or too generalized. nostalgia constantly crept up on me while reading this. this book was stunning in every respect.