Coco-Cabana.................

Coconut dacquoise, chocolate-rum ganache, chocolate moelleux, and coconut bavarian cream.

Cherry Tart...............

In season now. Pate sucre', creme d'amande, fresh rainier cherries, topped with a vanilla bavarian cream, creme chantilly, and fresh cherry.

Fruit Tart.....................

All time classic done in the french manner. Sable brenton, creme patisserie, and fresh fruits.

桃タルト。。。。。。。

White peach poached in a pink Zinfandel sweetened and infused with vanilla. The peach is then placed in a demisphere mold and topped with a jelly made with the poaching liquid. Base is a sweet crust base with almond cream(baked) and a thin layer of pastry cream. Garnish is white chocolate ring with crystallized pansies. かわいいでしょう！

Custard Cheesecake..................

Custard cheesecake with a graham cracker crust covered with a white chocolate cinnamon glacage, topped with a joconde decore and creme chantilly

Chocolate Caramel Tart................

Chocolate pate sucre', chocolate custard, chocolate ganache, covered with a chocolate glacage. Topped with a caramel cremeux glazed with caramel glacage.

Caramel sale' macaron...........................

Another one of my favorite macaron, caramel sale'. Here I used Hawaiian red salt instead of fleur de sel.

Macaron Framboise.......................

One of my favorites to make, macaron sandwiched with fresh raspberries and layered with lemon curd and fresh whipped cream. Easy!

Tropical.........................

Biscuit joconde decor layered with lilikoi citrus mousse, creme chantilly, and mango gelee'

Dome........................

My new adventure begins at the Honolulu Coffee Company as their new head pastry chef. Lots of work to be done, items need to be changed, design of the desserts need to be enhanced, and recipes need to be reworked. It never fails to surprise me when I work at different places how the basic, classic recipes, the foundations of what we know(or at least some of us), get totally side tracked. Several of which I have encountered recently include, the classic italian base buttercream with twice the amount of sugar, macarons sandwiched with flavored white chocolate ganache(gross! the shell is already sweet to begin with!), and the all time favorite here in Hawaii (where I have many times seen this done) anglaise made with straight heavy cream. I honestly hope that they are not teaching students in the culinary programs these things.

My work begins............

Serge Gens.........................

The first patisserie in Japan to offer course dessert menus. Located in Sakae, Nagoya on the main strip. You can find three to four course dessert menus as well as an assortment of petit gateaus, confiseur, and confectionery within their pastry showcase. Very elegant, classy, and chic. Just one of the many high end outlets that the main branch has throughout Nagoya. Nothing cutting edge in terms of plating. You really won't find any aspects of molecular gastronomy utilized in their service but the idea is a good one and a first for Japan.

http://sg-sakae.jp/1f/

ショコラヘーゼルナッツバー。。。。。。。。。。。。

Decided to make some gourmet candy bars. You won't find this at your local grocery store. Chocolate hazelnut candy bar-two layers of hazelnut dacquoise layered with milk chocolate feuilletine, praline ganache, and hazelnut croquant, and then coated with a generous layer of milk chocolate.

Curried Pecan Tart................

Here's something that I have done long time ago and have recently revisited. The combination of curry and pecans go suprisingly well together. For this, I have lightly tossed the pecans in simple syrup and lightly sprinkled curried powder over them, tossing them to coat well. Lay them out on a sheet pan lined with panliner, sprinkle with powdered sugar and toast in the oven. The flavors of the curry with develop and the smokiness of the pecans will come out with a nice balance of sweetness from the caramelization of the sugars. Fill your prepared pan with the toasted pecans and add your filling. The filling does not need to have curry powder in the mixture. The curry alone on the pecans should suffice.

Mont St. Claire........................

Whenever I look for new ideas I always keep track of what other chefs are doing throughout Japan and France. Here is one shop located in Jiyugaoka, Tokyo. This place is the mecca of patisseries and boulangeries in Tokyo. I have yet to visit all of them. The chef actually trained in France, as most of them have. Mont St. Claire, extremely popular and well know throughout Japan having other cakes shops throughout Tokyo. They do everything from viennoiseries to mini gateau's as well as having their own line chocolate. Visit their site, even though you might not know Japanese. The quality of their pastries is outstanding to say the least.

http://www.ms-clair.co.jp/index.html

The proper portion....................

What is the proper portion for a plated dessert in a restaurant that serves course lunch or dinners? Not too many chefs even think about the ideal portioning of a dessert and just resort to the use of various molds and forms without second guessing the finished product. Or better yet, What is the proper portion of a full course meal? It's not written as a law but a little bit of common sense in regards to food consumption, the proper portion of a full course meal should be between 450g. no more. Whether its a 3 course dinner or a 15 course dinner, the portions should remain within those parameters. As for dessert, 90-100 g.. Yes, 90-100 g. and that includes the ice or sorbet that accompanies the dessert. For restaurant cafe's, 120 g. max.

This, however , seems not to be the case here in Hawaii or most of America for that matter, which has become somewhat of a never ending battle to pull back the portions. The dessert, the closing of a meal which leaves the lasting imprint of the finality of the dining experience. It should be enough to leave a "longing" of wanting to come back and try that experience again.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to fill one's appetite but when the servings get too large where it leaves the customer so full to the point where they can't even move. I feel that we as chefs have failed to create that perfect dining experience for the customer, whether its a 3 star restaurant or a cafe.

I clearly recall doing a 9 course dinner here and seeing a 7 ounce steak go out as the 5th course. 7 ounces-that's over 200 g. of meat! You can imagine after that, everything else was going into to-go containers-even the dessert.

This I fear will be a never ending stuggle here at least until I return to the land of the rising sun.

Plasir Sucre..........................

In English, sweet pleasure.............

Yesterday was my son's birthday and his favorite cake is Pierre Herme's Plasir Sucre.

We would often visit his shop for this cake as well as others on the weekends in Omotesando, Tokyo. Asides from the cakes, out of all the many patiserries and cafe's that I had visited, their coffee was the best.

さすがアメリカ人。。。。。。。。。。。。。

日本でありえない！

やった！！！！！！！！！！！

本日行われました、「世界パティスリー2009」の総合順位は以下のようになっております。
優勝　　　日本
準優勝　　フランス
3位　　　 アメリカ

The results are in for the International Patisserie Grand Prix 2009, Japan

First Japan

Second France

Third America

4th Italy

5th Singapore

6th China

7th Australia

8th Malaysia

I honestly don't believe there is any country, as a whole, that takes more pride and seriousness when it comes to patiserrie than the Japanese. Well done Japan! おつかれさまでした！

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvfxa06fbJM

International Patisserie Grand Prix Japan 2009........

After coming in 4th place in the Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie 2009, Japan is looking to take center stage in its own sponsored International Patisserie Grand Prix which is taking place right now in Tokyo, Japan. It will be interesting to see who will come on top. 日本がんばれ！

マカロン。。。。。。

ショコラ、コーヒ、マンゴーマカロン

Chocolate, coffee, mango

苺、パションフルーツ、ショコラマカロン

Strawberry, lilikoi(passion fruit), and chocolate

***

We pretty much stick to the basic flavors, yet, try to include tropical flavors as well. I can think of more wild flavors such as a strawberry-balsamic or how about an apple-celery macaron? Yet, considering our customer base.............I am pretty sure that they would not sell.