Riding the Wave at "Wave - Asian Bistro & Sushi"

Restaurant Story/Review
Wave - Asian Bistro & Sushi

301 N Baker St #106, Mt Dora, FL 32757

(352) 383-9283

Dec 5th 2018

I don't always follow up on restaurant recommendations I receive. Especially from unknown shadowy figures at swanky second story bars.  But apparently I should.. The mystery man mentioned an amazing sushi place off the beaten path in Mount Dora but I couldn't recall much else. We narrowed down the potential establishments from my vague recollection to a second story alcove tucked off of the main streets downtown. You could easily look past the sign or the stairs guiding you up to the 30ish seat Wave - Asian Bistro & Sushi. It is deceptively small but cozy and modern with boldly depicted Japanese anime style murals on the walls. Soft house/lounge music amplifies the trendy hip vibe they are clearly cultivating. Large windows line the majority of the room and boast half beautiful lush green canopies to the east and intriguing cascading building-scapes to the west.

We almost didn't stay and eat that day. We had just had another consistently amazing lunch at Goblin Market. We had eaten light but were still fairly full. We pursued Wave's menu and a little bit of ignorance of Japanese food and delusion of this being a standard Asian joint nearly scared us away. The vibe, the glowing recommendation, and the enthusiasm of the person that greeted us tipped us in favor of staying..  "let's just try one thing to split," we said. They were mostly empty being that it was mid afternoon and we didn't  feel like we would be hogging up one of the few valuable tables.

After a while of numbly looking over our choices our server helpfully, and thankfully, pointed out some favorites. We settled on a Lima roll.  The menu states that their specialty rolls take more time than traditional rolls. Waiting on good food never bothers us and it only took 8-10 minutes before a beautiful yet unassuming plate was presented. We nonchalantly attacked with sword and shield (chopsticks and soy sauce) before it hit us.. These were different. These weren't your strip joint Sushi rolls. These were purposeful, intentional, delicately crafted pieces of art. And most of all, these were delicious! Upon closer inspection the intricacies of the preparation were better understood. In the center of each piece sat lightly fried tempura shrimp nestled against a bit of avocado and cradled with perfectly vinegared white sticky rice. Sushi is all about the rice after all..(http://travel.cnn.com/back-to-their-roots-sushi-chefs-head-home-tokyo-940261/) Draped on top sat a fresh and delicate piece of raw tuna. The roll was then artistically drizzled with a lima mayonnaise before a light dusting of togarashi (chili powder from Japanese peppers) and sprinkling of multicolored sesame seeds and scallions.

The ingredients list for the roll are unassuming. What shines is the quality and how carefully and intentionally these quality ingredients are incorporated. Each piece is a flavor and texture journey. The sensations tug and pull back and forth. The lightly fried shrimp provides a crunchy texture that balances out perfectly against the soft tuna and avocado. The delicate sweetness of tuna and avocado gets brought back by the small bite from the togarashi powder and the zip from the scallions. Everything playing in harmony. Just fantastic.

We ended up having another roll.

And then another before we finally we cut ourselves off.

Each roll a different journey. Each one special.

Thank you mystery man.

Lima roll

Dynamite roll. Seriously! Do you see this?

Torch charring. Yet another delicate layer

Tsunami roll

Awakened

A bit of tattered old paper from 2011 that I finally got transcribed.

Awakened:

Kasey Nesselrotte

A cold wave of nausea flooded over him as his awareness of the situation greeted his senses. A sharp smell began to creep into his reality, which at the moment, was a swirling blur of convoluted thoughts and images. Slowly his brain began to piece together the sights around him and connect the smell invading his nostrils with the sights of the horribly shattered corpse lying on the floor. The dead body appeared to have belonged to a man but any other distinguishing features were rendered completely unidentifiable from the large gaping wounds that pocketed the corpse. The holes resembled meteor craters. Instead craters comprised of rock and earth they consisted of flesh, organs, bones, and blood. Lots and lots of blood. His sight expanded from the tunnel vision view of the mutilated man to encompass the rest of the blood scattered around the room. It was everywhere.  The ceiling and walls were splattered with artistic and almost elegant streaks, lines, and droplets of congealing red gore. A giant seeping pool of blood had spread from the body. It grotesquely matted the dingy carpet in it’s persistent march away from its host. It was now that a large piece of the puzzle clicked into place. He discovered the person and method responsible for the sickening display of carnage. Scattered randomly around the man’s feet were a slew of tiny, spent, shiny brass cylinders. He suddenly felt a tremendous weight in his hand.  He was clutching a solid black, blood speckled, .45 caliber, 1911 pistol. Had he shot the man lying on the floor? Something in his subconscious told him that he did do it. Something told him that it had happened.. again..

Back for the first time.

It has been a year and a half since my last post.. Almost to the day, And that's ok. I attempt to do things I like when i like as to not force myself to do something my heart is not totally into. 

Moving forward with the blog I have several purposes I hope to accomplish while improving and practicing my writing.

• I like writing. It is therapeutic and enjoyable to me.
• I want to finish (or start new) one of the novel ideas I have. This has been a very long term goal of mine that I wish to start focusing on and completing in regular segments.
• I want to blog / vlog / Instagram about food more. This is a very important goal for me. I love food. Food is my life. Working in restaurants, eating in restaurants, cooking at home. The majority of my life revolves around food in some way. My son asked me one time "what can (his girlfriend) and I go do in Orlando?" I had the hardest time finding an answer that didn't revolve around food or drinks. I mean really, it was super difficult..

Every time I travel and return home with a head full of experiences I am always remiss that I don't record that in some form. While it's true I usually do an Instagram post or two during every adventure this does not wholly complete the experience. Instagram is a beautiful and poetic visual media but it is highly filtered and biased. It doesn't express the sensations, feelings, and emotions, like words can.

The youtube vlog is another animal all together. Not one for this discussion but one i still hold near and dear.

So i think the first thing to do is to go back to the beginning.  Pull from the grave (google photos) some of the most enjoyable and memorable food experiences and regale those here on the blog.

Clean Culture x Import Expo car show April 9th 2017

Highlights from Orange County Convention Center

Project drift S14 (part 8)

The past 8 months since the last "project_drift_s14" have been filled with automotive shenanigans with plenty of highs and lows.

She ran great for a short period of time where we took her to the ocala car meets, did an autocross event, and did some drifting on the back roads of Marion Oaks.

https://youtu.be/aw8apBimGD8?list=PL6RNybc8PV_yHYlh0Rzoh3pNcSdHt2xoc

As far as the last post is concerned i'll address the points that I intended to tackle once returning from the trip to the keys.

• The Fuel tank.... still leaks. Still want a fuel cell.
• I replaced the shifter boot seal thingy. No more gear oil smell or loss of tranny fluid.
• No more screwdriver needed to start the car. There are switches for power on, fans, and a button for the starter.
• The power steering still slightly leaks...
• The slight pull to the right in the steering was remedied with new tires. It still needs a front end alignment though.
• Not sure where the oil leak was but it is fixed now because we got rod knock drifting in Marion Oaks and had to pull the bottom end apart to change the bearings. That was a huge ordeal but now there is no oil leak, new rod bearings, the engine bay was painted and the wiring harness was tucked while the motor was out. Cool stuff!

• The differential was just welded last week and the one test drive so far was awesome! It feels like a real drift car now.
• The hydraulic e-brake is hooked up and mounted but the rod that connects the master cylinder to the handle is not strong enough to handle the force of being snatched on. I have to build a much stronger one.
• Rear camber arms and toe arms are going to be coming soon. Along with bolt on wheel spacer to get the offset for the new Rota wheels I picked up perfect.
• Still need injectors.
• Paint. Yeah it's painted. Rustoleum gloss white. Rattle can baby! I am really happy with it though.
• No body kit yet. I got a front lip for the bumper so i'm thinking of getting some side skirts and calling it a day... for now.

She's becoming really legit really quick.  Several drift events are on the calendar this year and with Austin learning how to drift we can't wait to crush the crete!

Memoirs of the first trip of a lifetime

It has been 3 months since we got back from our sailing trip to the keys.  It feels like a lifetime ago.  It feels painfully long ago.  We have not used the boat since.  For the first month it was ok that we hadn't been back to the boat. In fact it was expected after spending so much time on her.  Now changes in work situations are preventing us from sneaking down and spending one or two glorious nights on her.  Day sailing just won't cut it.  We are both dying to get back out on the water, relax, unwind, and get that different perspective on life that you can only achieve by being taken out of the day to day grind and being placed on a sailboat.

The bad part is we've gotten a really good taste for "the life."  Living free on the water. Exploring and moving on whims and at will.  On the sailboat 90% of the things you do during the day are for your own survival. By this I mean making sure you have food, water, and shelter.  We take all this for granted on land.

Food: Do we have food? Is it spoiled or wet? How can it be cooked? How long will what we have last before all the dry ice or regular ice melts and there is no way to keep it cold. What order should stuff be eaten in. Etc.

Water: Do we have water. How much? Is mold growing in that container?  If we get stranded how long will the water last before things get desperate?

Shelter: Where are we? What condition is the boat in? Where do we need to go? How do we get there? Whats tide condition, wind direction, depth? What happens if we run aground? Capsize? Get a large leak? Sail rips? Motor breaks? Etc.

Normal life on land is cushy and relatively safe.  Only probably 10% of your regular life thoughts and activity go towards making sure you have food, water, and shelter.

I miss the meaning and purpose I got from regular activities during a typical day aboard a sailboat.

The big trip 2016 (part 17)

I'm lying in bed now finishing this last post. Unfortunately I mean my the real bed at home, not the boat. This is a very comfortable bed but it's bitter sweet being back home.  Neither Amber or myself were looking forward to getting off the boat. Matter of fact we spent an entire extra day, after docking at Skeleton Key marina, just hanging out at the boat and the nearby bar.  Who would have thought 29 days on our 26ft boat still would not be enough.

We really enjoyed the 150 miles of the gulf intracoastal waterway even though it was completely by motor and handsteering.  I love being offshore and having sails up but you can't do that in the channels.  we got to see a part of Florida that we usually never see.

It wasn't all perfect. We hit some terrible weather attempting to go to Egmont Key when crossing the mouth of Tampa Bay.  Waves beat us at anchor to the point that we had ditch bags out and ready even though we were 200ft from shore.

This has definitely been an experience that none of us will ever forget.  And the best part is Amber and I survived 29 days on a small trailerable sailboat, didn't kill each other, and she still wants to marry me.  It's gotta be meant to be!