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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I woke up on January 1, 2013 ready to shred on the tatami mats at my husband’s parent’s house in western Tokyo. After a great workout I took a walk and saw Mt. Fuji in clear view. It was a memorable Jan 1 already. At 12 o’clock, my in-laws and I all piled into a rented minivan and made our way to Ikaho in Gunma prefecture.

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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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We all have those comfort dishes that are close to our heart, and transport us back to childhood when biting into whatever it may be. For me, a bowl of chicken udon from Gombei always makes me tear up with nostalgia.

Originally a little diner-style eatery in San Jose’s Japantown, Gombei has been a Bay Area institution since the 80s. Always bustling during lunch, the Akabori’s would walk in and were warmly welcomed by the staff.

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“Oshibori Udon” is a famous udon from the Shinshu district of Nagano prefecture. It is delicious with spicy grated daikon. My friend made this batch!

*Nahoko Morimoto is a Tokyo-based photographer. Her work has been featured in Brutus and Vogue Japan.

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As we continue to celebrate the almighty noodle here, I give you one of my most delicious, yet absurdly lazyass recipes in my repertoire: curry udon. I love making Japanese-style curry in the winter, it is so soul-warming, with all the carrots, onions, meat and potatoes. But living alone means getting bored of having the same meal over and over for breakfast, lunch AND dinner.

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I’ve been obsessed with making this dish for a few months now — it is really satisfying when you are craving noodles, and so ridiculously easy to make. You can usually find nabeyaki udon on the menus at Japanese restaurants, for $12+. This is so easy to make at home, and cheap!

INGREDIENTS
1 pack of frozen udon noodles (if you only have the hard kind, that is fine too)
A few pieces of fishcake (I use chikuwa here)
A type of green (bok choy, napa cabbage, spinach)
Some green onions
Udon/Soba soup base

Optional: Egg and mushrooms

METHOD

1.

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Enjoying the early winter so far? I know I am.

I’m a cave bear and enjoy spending the long Scandinavian winter evenings in my studio or couch, working, crafting or watching Daria. In fact, since it is so windy, wet and utterly, depressively dark, I feel less bad about not hanging out on the beach, not frolicking around in the sun or not jogging around the lakes that I live nearby. 

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We’ve been very lucky. Since last summer, we’ve had a bona fide udon-ya (shop) right here in London. Serving sanuki udon (a type of udon from the Kagawa region of Japan) that is prepared in-house, Koya boasts chefs that trained at the famed Kunitoraya in Paris. Proper udon and one even my extremely fussy Japanese mother approves.

The best thing about udon is its simplicity–yet the eating experience is anything but.

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