WANTED!

Wanted: Young-“ish” new friends

  • Age range: 30’s-60’s
  • Location: Sonoma County
  • Interests: food
  • Personality: curious, like to laugh
  • Plus-side for you: you may become smarter and more content
  • How to sign up: simply respond to this blog (see “Contact” at the top right)

Our daughter and her salsa-dancing friends in Oaxaca; they were born in 4 different decades. How multi-generational can you get?!

Mind you, we love all of our friends here in the Glen Ellen/Sonoma area (Hi, y’all!). BUT these friends are all around our age, which, shall we say, is “senior-ish?” I’m obsessing about this a bit, since there have been numerous articles lately proclaiming the value of intergenerational friendships.

Arthur Brooks, the “How to Build a Happy Life” podcast guy, had this to say in an Atlantic article: “Simply seeking out people who are different from you will make you smarter and more contented.“ Whoa, we could benefit from that! (And – from an English teacher’s perspective – should it be “more contented” or “more content?”)

An August article in the NYTimes states that an “exchange of perspectives and life experiences is a hallmark of cross-generational friendship, which experts said can be an antidote to social isolation, an issue particularly pervasive among older Americans, and ageism.“

If you listen to podcasts, Esther Perel, a psychotherapist who is 63 and hosts the podcast Where Should We Begin? comments in an Atlantic article that “I’ve recently built a whole community of people half my age. It’s the most important shift in my life, friendship-wise. They’re at my dinner table. I have three friends having babies.” She goes on to tell the interviewer that these intergenerational friendships are one of the unexpected joys of middle age and give her access to a new vocabulary, a new culture, a new set of mores—at just the moment when the culture seems to have passed her generation by.

That sounds so cool! But Andy in Our Little Corner today confesses to some qualms about these possible new, younger friends. Actually, he’s worried they may be a pain in the butt. Be sure to read his take on it.

Our 18-year-old grandson, Moss, recently alerted me to Tik Tok’s “Gaming Foodie,” Alissa Nguyen. It’s clear that if Alissa lived in Sonoma, I’d want her to be my new young friend. She’s hysterical, loves food, cooks, AND she’s only 32. 

Moss says a trendy food among his Generation Z friends (at least those who attend UC Santa Cruz) is Baked Sushi, and here’s Nguyen, a Generation Y-er, teaching us how to do it. On Tik Tok! (how cool and young-ish can I get?) But before you watch that, you might start with Alissa’s video where she’s making a cabbage salad dressing to go with her pork katsu. It’s a welcome change from watching too much of Ina Garten! 🙂

@gaming_foodie

CABBAGE DRESSING 1/4 cup thinly sliced Japanese mayo 1 TBSP sriracha 1 tsp fish sauce 1 tsp vinegar 1.5 tsp sugar 1 glove garlic, minced – Mix this all together. Adjust to taste. Drizzle of thinly sliced cabbage KATSU DIPPING SAUCE 2 TBSP ketchup 2 tso Worcestershire sauce 1 tsp oyster sauce 1 tsp sugar – Mix this together. Adjust to taste. I use this to dip my katsu =)

♬ original sound – Alissa Nguyen | Gaming Foodie
@gaming_foodie

30 MINUTE SUSHI BAKE⤵️ Makes 3-5 serving 1/2 lb salmon, seasoned to preference 1/2 lb imitation crab, shredded & cut into smaller pieces 3 oz cream cheese 1/4 cup Japanese mayo 1 TBSP sriracha 2-3 cups cooked rice 2 TBSP rice vinegar Furikake / shredded seaweed 1. Season salmon to preference. I seasoned mine with garlic powder, salt & black pepper. And then airfry at 400 for 9 mins. If your salmon is thicker, you may have to cook more 2. Then shred salmon and add it into your shredded imitation crab. 3. Then add the rest of your ingredients: cream cheese, Japanese Mayo & sriracha. Combine well and set aside. 4. Combine 2-3 cups of cooked rice with 2 TBSP rice vinegar. Mix well. Then pour rice into an oven safe dish and flatten it/ create an flat – equal surface. 5. Top the rice off with shredded seaweed or furikake. I used 3 seaweed sheets 6. Then top your rice + seaweed off with your salmon mixture and spread it evenly 7. Bake at 380 for 10 mins (broil for 2-3 mins optional) 8. I served my sushi bake wrapped in seaweed. I also like to at cucumbers and/ or avocados into the wrap but I didn’t have any☹️ Bon Appétittites

♬ original sound – Alissa Nguyen | Gaming Foodie

Here’s our version of Gaming Foodies’s Sushi Bake. The Tik Tok video Andy and I made of ourselves making the sushi needs help…lots of help. Maybe our new young friends will work on it with us! :)   

Sushi Bake

Sushi Bake

Of course you can substitute real crab for the imitation crab, but it makes this a very $$ dish. Or vice versa, use only imitation crab (1 lb total) for a cheaper dish. Here is a link to what “imitation crab” is. Adapted from the Gaming Foodie’s 30-Minute Sushi Bake, as seen on Tik Tok.


1/2 lb salmon
1/2 lb imitation crab, shredded & cut into smaller pieces
3 oz cream cheese
1/4 c Japanese mayo, preferably, but regular mayo works too
1 T sriracha
3-4 c cooked rice, preferably a short grain or Jasmine
2 T rice vinegar
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp Diamond kosher salt
1/3 c furikake seasoning – or shredded seaweed
roasted nori seaweed sheets for serving
avocado and cucumber slices for serving

Season salmon with a little salt and pepper. Then bake, skin side down, in a 450 degree oven for 12-15 minutes.

Let the salmon cool. If your salmon has skin, remove it. Then shred salmon and add it into your shredded imitation crab.

Then add the rest of your ingredients: cream cheese, Japanese Mayo and sriracha. Combine well and set aside.

Combine cooked rice with rice vinegar, sugar, and salt. Mix well. Then pour rice into a 9″x 9″ oven-safe dish, flatten it and create and even surface. Sprinkle 1/2 of the furikake on top of the rice. Then spread the salmon mixture over the top of that. Sprinkle the rest of the furikake over the salmon mixture.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes; then broil for about 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and drizzle Japanese mayo over it all (see the photo).

Serve with sheets of roasted seaweed, cucumbers and avocados.
Recipe brought to you by BigLittleMeals.com and Andy and Ann.

4 thoughts on “WANTED!”

  1. Anonymous


    That’s a very nice recipe. I think I’d go with the Pollock rather than the crab. Regarding finding young friends, that ain’t easy, but lots of things become less easy as we age; still, it’s usually worth the effort.

    Reply
  2. Anonymous


    I have always been drawn to unique and different people regardless of age. But didn’t know it had a name “intergenerational friendships”. I love that! I hope it catches on.

    Reply

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