Sushi in the South

Oh dear.

Dan had warned me not to have too high expectations about Asian cuisine. Having both lived a few years in Asia, and having been surrounded by an excellent array of good quality Asian restaurants in Victoria and Vancouver (there is a huge Asian population there, so much so that Vancouver is often referred to as "Wangcouver"), we have an appreciation for Asian done well.

I'm sure it is true of every cuisine that gets exported and adulterated. The new cuisine gets blended with the tastes and cooking styles of the local environment.

When Dan asked me what I wanted for dinner on Wednesday night, I said "sushi". Having tried Kinston's offerings, Dan decided we would be better off trying Greenville instead. A place called Wasabi 88 was recommended, so we went there.

The parking lot was full, so that was a good sign. When we walked in we were told there would be about a 30 minute wait. Was it worth it?

It turned out to be only a 20 minute wait, and we sat down to look at a very confusing menu. They call themselves an "Asian Bistro", so they had a blend of Thai, Chinese, and other Asian-sounding dishes on the menu. The only drink menu was for cocktails and sake (there is a great tradition of having beer in Japanese restaurants, but there was no beer here). We asked for green tea.

The tea came in a traditional pot with two small drinking bowls that felt like they were made of metal, which made the tea too hot to even pick up at first, but really that was the best part of the whole experience. Then our server came by and asked if we wanted sugar for our tea. I could not help the look of horror on my face and said NO!, and I think our poor guy was taken aback at my emphatic reaction. I tweeted this exchange and a number of Southerners responded strongly, defending 'sweet tea' (It's a thing around here).

There was a deal on at this restaurant for buy one sushi roll, get one free. When our server was explaining to us which menu items were applicable, he offered to split the bill for us. (Why would he offer that? Could he not tell we were married?) We said no thanks, that won't be necessary. We puzzled over why there would be catfish and tilapia (the crappiest of crappy fish) in sushi.

The hot and sour soup came. It wasn't bad, maybe a bit too gelatinous, and with button mushrooms. My friend Jeni makes a far better hot & sour soup (I miss you Jeni!)

Now when you order a sushi roll that costs $14, you expect it to be big, right? We were used to small rolls in Japan and Canada, but for the fancy ones with lots of stuff, those rolls are usually big. This is what came out.

I think this was the first time I had ever been served sushi on a round plate. It was beautifully displayed to be sure, it looked wonderful. The taste however was disappointing. A gal came by and asked us if we wanted soy sauce. Of course! The wasabi was quite wimpy, it was no wonder they gave such a big portion of it.

Thus, before we were halfway done our meal, we cheerfully declared to each other that we would never need to eat here again. Our server came by and once again offered to split the check. What? Maybe that's what the rest of their clientele does but dude, we even have matching wedding rings. Perhaps he was just young.

I think we will, however, investigate and sample all the Asian restaurants in the area over time. We are both quite proficient in cooking Asian cuisine if we can find the right ingredients, so I expect we'll be doing some entertaining on this front.

power outage, nuclear fallout

We're having quite a blowsy storm just now with rain coming at us from a 45 degree angle. This is what we refer to as "sideways rain", but really, it's the only kind of rain we get around here.

The power went out in Tofino around 11:30am, and BC Hyrdo says it should be back on by 1:30pm. Tofino often experiences power outages whereas Ucluelet doesn't. There are probably some good reasons for this, but my guess is that Ucluelet has better-reinforced power lines; those power lines don't have as far to go; there are fewer obstacles (trees that get blown over in winds like this) in the way of the power lines. The power goes out in Ucluelet once for every ten times it goes out in Tofino. So when it goes out in Ucluelet, you know that either it's a really big storm or some drunk driver smashed into a power pole. Hey, that really happened. Last fall. 9:30am on a weekday morning. Alcohol abuse is rampant around here.

I don't think our weather today is related to the earthquake or tsunami, since we get this kind of weather all winter long. This is why we buy rain gear: waterproof jackets, pants, and boots.

In other news, I guess there was some concern about the two nulcear reactors that were damaged and leaking in Japan, concerns that the fallout from those leaks would make their way across the Pacific Ocean and land on us here on the west coast. The CBC just released a story to reassure us that we are not at risk of nuclear fallout. This is good! Our friends in Japan, however, well the same is not true for them.

I lived in Japan in 2003-4, Dan lived there 2004-6. We both know people there. I have pretty much lost touch will all I knew there (most of them were North Americans who may have returned anyway), but Dan knows quite a few people who are still there. And some are missing. Some are not responding to emails. One is never prepared to deal with this sort of thing.