Benjamin Henion

For any readers that I know on a personal level, this comes as no surprise . But, for those of you who know me only through the submissions of events and food from this blog, I apologize for the time it has taken me to get the blog back on track. I have permanently relocated to the beautiful island of Maui. As I wait for my belongings to arrive, I am stuck shooting any photos with the camera in my phone, so I am not fully able to keep the blog rolling. I do fully intend on filling the blog with all the items that I will be working on in the future. Once I have gotten squared away with some issues we face at the new property, I should post on a more regular basis. Rest assured, I have not abandoned the website, its just that I am in the process of relocating. Much Mahalo for your patience and for reading my blog.

When your asked to prepare a fresh fruit plate and you want it to stand out, what do you do? I approached this with the mindset that I would give the guest an upgraded version of what they most likely expect when ordering. With a sushi bar in the Pacific Rim Fusion concepted restaurant, I used the sashimi theme for the light fruit desert. You get all your basics of a fresh fruit, including papaya, kula strawberries, mango, honeydew, cantaloupe and pineapple. The exception is, that the presentation is meant to somewhat mirror the sushi plates. I use a whipped coconut creme cheese under the fruit " sashimi ", a drizzle of kula strawberry balsamic honey which is served in a Japanese spoon, and shiso caviar for garnish. The shiso leaf is a Japanese leaf that in some ways has mint-like characteristics. Using the sodium alginate /calcium chloride spherefication method, I made the caviar to finish the " sashimi " feel.