My Gen X Playlist: Three Strange Days – School of Fish

I’m not great in the kitchen. I can fix something for dinner, but probably not something that I would serve dinner guests. If I have a recipe, I prefer it to be simple and not include too many obscure spices and herbs. Something easy I can make is salmon in the air fryer. A little olive oil, garlic salt and flip the switch on. I don’t think it gets much easier than that and it’s healthy!

This brings back a little nostalgia from my time living in Japan. A Japanese friend invited me to his hometown for the weekend. He grew up in the Japan alps, in the city of Takayama. The alps were beautiful! One afternoon, we went swimming in the river, diving off rocks into the cool waters. It turns out, his father was upstream fishing for ayu.

Ayu is called sweetfish in English for its delicate taste, and a sweet aroma, like watermelon. Salt grilling over low heat is the most common method of cooking, and they are often served whole due to their small size.

– Kochi Fresh

His father came by with his fresh catch from the morning and built a fire on the shore. He skewered the fish whole, salted each side and buried the end of the stick in the sand so one side of the fish leaned towards the flames. He turned it to cook the other side and when both sides were done, he handed me a “fish on a stick”. I noticed that they didn’t clean the guts and wasn’t sure how to eat it. My friend encouraged me to eat the whole fish, head, innards and all. I hesitated. Is this a joke on the foreigner? I waited until they all took a bite of the head and said to myself, “When in Rome…” It was delicious and it didn’t get any fresher than this. One of the wonderful things about travel is experiencing the culture through food and this definitely was an experience. And I loved the simplicity – fresh fish, salt and fire. I’ve not had anything like this since. I wish my air fryer could do this!

For the playlist, I’m adding a one hit wonder from School of Fish, Three Strange Days. It’s the only fish related song I could think of. Happy Sunday.

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

For three strange days
I had no obligations
My mind was a blur
I did not know what to do
And I think I lost myself
When I lost my motivation
Now I'm walking 'round the city
Just waiting to come to
For three strange...

For three strange days
Well I couldn't put a smile on my face
So they dressed me up in all of their clothes
And took me somewhere else
And Johnny Clueless was there
With his simulated wood grain
So I pulled up a chair
And started drinking by myself
For three strange...

And I've got to make it through
No matter what it takes
I've got to make it through
These strange days

Well I lay down for a while
And I woke up on the ocean
Floating on my back
And staring at the gray
It was completely still
Except the pounding of my heart
Bringing me back to life
From three strange days
Three strange...
Three strange days
Three strange days