Ume (Japanese plum) season is upon us! Through the years, we’ve brought you many posts about making umeshu (plum cordial) at home. We’ve had several umeshu features and recipes on the blog, from Yoko’s kitchen in Tokyo, MOTO’s kitchen in NYC, and from Sylvan’s Peko Peko HQ in Oakland.

There have been loads of of questions and feedback from these various posts, with lots of specific questions about the umeshu-making process.

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We had a fun, bustling opening last month for our friend Aya Brackett‘s photography show opening. Titled Home is Oakland, Home is Japan, 12 of Aya’s photos are on exhibit on the back walls and nook of Umami Mart. Professionally, Aya’s food photography has been published in The New York Times, Monocle and Bon Appetit – for this show, Aya has chosen select pieces that reflect domestic moments in California and Japan. 

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Our next photo exhibition will be by the lovely and talented Aya Brackett in a show titled Home is Oakland, Home is Japan. Professionally, Aya’s food photography has been published in The New York Times, Monocle and Bon Appetit, and for this show, Aya has chosen select pieces that reflect domestic moments in California and Japan. Capturing kitchen scenes in Oakland, or at her grandmother’s and friend’s homes in Tokyo and Kyoto, Aya’s photos are at once intimate and playful.

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Photos by Jazmine Livingston

On a cold December night, just days before Christmas, we hosted Peko-Peko for a night of HOT noodles! Sylvan and Hayato showed up with two big boxes of hand-pulled udon, plus roasted duck and leaks for garnish. And a huge pot for boiling the noodles! It was a wonderful event, full of hungry Martians waiting in line for Sylvan’s excellent udon.

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It’s chilly out! Come by on Thursday for a bowl of udon, hand-pulled by Sylvan Brackett of Peko Peko. He will most likely be serving the soup with roasted duck and mushrooms. Sylvan’s udon are some of the best I’ve had in the Bay Area. Don’t miss this!

WHAT:
Peko Peko pop-up @ Umami Mart, serving hot hand-pulled udon with duck and mushrooms.

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I was fortunate enough to peek into the Peko Peko kitchen this last weekend, while they were preparing all 40 boxes of their highly coveted annual osechi bentos. What a crew! Sylvan had about five people working the kitchen — peeling, dicing, de-shelling 40 Dungeness crabs… wow.

Sylvan and his right-hand chef Yuko took me through one of the dishes in the bento, tataki gobo.

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For the last four years, Sylvan of Peko-Peko catering in San Francisco has been making osechi bento sets for the first of the year. Osechi, as you know from Yamahomo’s annual posts (here and here), are foods that are traditionally cooked for the new year, that are consumed for good luck. There is a special significance to every dish, often word plays (medetai = joyous; tai = snapper), and are usually stews and foods that can be eaten over the course of several days.

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Sylvan Mishima Brackett is the mastermind behind Peko Peko, a Japanese catering service in the Bay Area. After working as Alice Waters’ assistant for SIX YEARS (dude must have the patience of a Zen master. Just kidding, love you Alice!), he apprenticed in a soba shop in Saitama, Japan, then came back to the Bay Area to start Peko Peko.

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