Portrait carved with pattern transfer paper

You might remember the story about my friend who carved her first pumpkin portrait  who I wrote about in a previous blog post.

When came to visit us over this past weekend and we had planned for her to carve the pumpkin that her friends had asked her to carve.

If you didn’t read my past blog post, my friend carved her first pumpkin portrait. It was done from a photo of her friend’s daughter. When her friends saw the pumpkin carved to look like their daughter, they asked my friend if they could hire her to carve another for Halloween.  So this past weekend our plan was for my friend to carve another and I was going to carve something else.

As it turned out, continue reading…

Have you ever heard of making music with vegetables? It gives a whole new meaning to “playing with your food”.

You might have if you saw my blog article about vegetable instruments that I posted a while back.

Well now, I just heard about a vegetable orchestra in Vienna. It was brought to my attention by one of my customer / students, Sheetal Patel. It’s another creative way to carve vegetables, another form of food art.

This is not your typical orchestra. Each performance is different because their instruments are different each time. It depends on what vegetables and fruits they find in the marketplace on the day of their performance. They drum, flap, toot, scrape, crinkle and even make string instruments from vegetables. continue reading…

Are you looking for creative and fun vegetable activities for kids?

Here is a fun idea that is great for getting children in on the fun of creating with vegetables. This will be an activity where you can actually encourage them to play with their food. And, it’s great for small children, too because no sharp knives are required.

Vegetable Activities Get Kids Involved

For one of these vegetable activities, start out be cutting up various vegetables into a variety of shapes. Slice zucchinis into wheel shapes. Carrots can be cut in various lengths. continue reading…

Don’t you just love fresh and colorful fruit arrangements? They make wonderful gifts, attractive centerpieces and you don’t have to feel guilty about eating them!

Homemade fruit arrangements are fun and delicious as well as beautiful.

Even parents with little picky eaters at home can “trick” their kids into enjoying a healthier snack with pretty fruit arrangements that can be eaten. I know this was the case with my son. For some reason, things are just more fun to eat when they are served on a stick!

The problem with store bought fruit arrangements is that they can be quite expensive, especially if you want special additions such as chocolate dipped fruit.

The good news is that it’s easy to make your own fruit arrangements at home. Read on to see photos of homemade fruit arrangements and vegetable bouquets and get some tips on how to make your own edible creation. continue reading…

Ray Villafane is one of the best (if not THE best) pumpkin carvers ever.

Ray would never say that about himself, but I would! And thousand of others would agree with me.

You’ve seen his work in many viral emails that circulate at this time of year.

You’ve seen Ray Villafane win pumpkin carving competitions on the Food Network.

He’s appeared on The Today Show, the Evening News with Katie Couric, Martha Stewart and more.

Ray Villafane has carved all over the world and has even had the honor of carving pumpkins at the White House.

Now, you have an opportunity to learn secrets of outrageous pumpkin carving in a small LIVE class with Ray Villafane.  And it’s just in  time for Halloween!

Can Ray Villafane really teach you?

Ray Villafane taught art in K-12 schools for 13 years. So, he knows how to teach! If Ray can teach children, he can surely teach you. He is great at breaking it down to steps so that even a beginner can have great results with their pumpkin carvings. for those who already have pumpkin carving skills, he will take you to the next level. To see photos, video and details about Ray Villafane’s outrageous pumpkin carving class, click here.

Or visit http://www.vegetablefruitcarving.com/pumpkin-carving-instruction-ray-villafane/

With Ray Villafane’s expert instruction in a small class setting, you will be carving the most amazing Halloween pumpkins that you have ever carved!

Seats have been filling up fast, so take a look at this opportunity now.

When you go to the page that gives more detail about Ray Villafane’s live class, you will see lots more photos and videos of his amazing pumpkin carvings.

Ray Villafane and his carvings are truly amazing. With Ray Villafane’s expert instruction, you will amaze your friends and family with your outrageous 3D pumpkin  carvings this Halloween.

I’m excited to announce that my new DVD “Carving Watermelons – Roses, Buds and Leaves” is now available in my shop.

It is a great introduction to Thai style watermelon carving. But don’t let the title fool you, is this video lesson you will also learn rose patterns that you can also carve into other melons and fruits like mangos and papayas.

Examples of Fruits carved with patterns taught in "Carving Watermelons - Roses, Buds and Leaves"

I created this video with beginners in mind, however, it’s also helpful for intermediate fruit carvers who would like to improve their watermelon carving techniques for carving delicate graceful roses. continue reading…

Here is something that you might use in your New Year’s celebration. This video will show you a few variations on how to make an easy fancy carrot garnish.

You can your carrot garnishes in cocktails for your New Year’s Eve celebration. Add a cherry and an orange slice  to use in any tropical drink. Add a lime wedge for adding to a Mojito or Cosmo. Add a lime wedge and green olive with your carrot garnish on a long skewer and add to a Bloody Mary for New Year’s brunch. Add just an olive to add to a martini.

These carrot garnishes are also pretty additions to non- alcoholic beverages for your New Year’s brunch. You can add to fresh pressed carrot juice or fruit smoothies. continue reading…

I know that Thanksgiving has past for this year but I wanted to share the carvings that I made to bring to the Thanksgiving dinner that I attended. There were almost 30 people and 3 tables so I made one centerpiece for each table. Here they are. continue reading…

Sometimes we just don’t have time for vegetable carving. So, here is a super simple way to quickly dress up a dish of yams for Thanksgiving. Just add yam and sweet potato flowers to the top of your marshmallow covered yams. continue reading…

Here is an easy Thanksgiving decoration idea. You can make graceful birds using acorn squash and yellow crookneck squash. If you have the time you can carve feather and tail designs for your acorn squash bird’s body.  Or, you can just use the acorn squash without carving and you will still have a very pretty bird. These can be used as a lovely Thanksgiving decoration or as a Thanksgiving centerpiece  for your dinner table.

It’s really pretty simple. Take a look at this quick video to see how. continue reading…

Today is November 20 and I still have on display a carved white pumpkin lantern that I made on Halloween. That was October 31. So this pumpkin is now 21 days old! I’m finally about ready to throw it out. Amazingly, it is only now starting to get a little bit moldy on the inside. I’ve been keeping in on the table unrefrigerated all this time!

This is a huge contrast to the common orange pumpkins that I carved on the same day. Those got really black with mold on the inside within only 3 or 4 days.

Watch the video to see how this white pumpkin lantern has changed from day 1 to day 18. continue reading…

The first time that I carved flowers from vegetables was just before Thanksgiving. I assembled this bouquet and brought it to my mother-in-law’s home where about 25 of us were gathering for Thanksgiving dinner.

My first vegetable bouquet - used at Thanksgiving

I was excited to bring them to use as a centerpiece but Wow, I never expected such an enthusiastic response. I got so many compliments even from the men who usually don’t care about this sort of thing. The children were enchanted, too. One Uncle kept insisting that I should be on the Rachael Ray show.

If you look close, you can see that these are not the most perfect flowers ever carved. After all, it was my first time carving. But if I can do it and get all those ooohs and aahhhhs, so can you. continue reading…

Create Vegetable and Fruit Carvings that your Guests will Talk about and Remember

Learn Secrets that professional vegetable and fruit carving experts have used for years.

• Learn How to Avoid the 5 Most Common and Costly Mistakes made by Beginning Fruit Carvers that make the difference between Success and Failure.
• Step by step fruits carving instructions show you exactly how to create memorable garnishes and spectacular centerpieces more easily than you dreamed possible.
• Detailed Video Instructions that show action details that books with photos and words cannot communicate.
• We begin with simple elegant vegetables and fruit carvings that you can make in minutes with tools that you already own.
• Video demonstrations proceed to show you how you can create the same  elegant results seen on cruise ships and in five star restaurants without having to spend years in a culinary academy.
• You will learn about the most important “must have” vegetables and fruit carving tool that will give you the spectacular results that you see in traditional thai fruit carving.
• Video demonstrations of how to use additional vegetable and fruits carving tools that combined with the techniques we teach will give you WOW results while saving you time.
• How to select the best vegetables and fruits for the best carving results.
• How to keep your vegetable and fruit carvings fresh looking until ready to display, and learn which fruits and vegetables that you can carve days in advance of your event.
• You’ll also learn fast and fun carvings that will have your children happily eating more healthy fruits and vegetables.
• Our video vegetables and fruits carving instructions are even better than taking a live class because you can refer to them time and time again on your own schedule at your convenience in the comfort of your own kitchen.

To Get Your Free Lesson Now, simply sign in below.

To Learn More about our Vegetable and Fruit Carving 101, eleven week online course click here.

Just a quick not to let you know that I have just added a couple of new products to my shopping page. 

One of the 5 variations of root vegetable flowers demonstrated in the Yam and Turnip Flower Video

 Lots of people have asked for video instructions on how to make the “carrot” flowers that I show in the video demonstrating the Corrugated U-Cutters. (Although those flowers look like “carrots”, they are actually yams.)

So, now I have the lessons available on DVD. It’s called Yam and Turnip Flowers – made with corrugated U-cutters.

From the very first time that I made these and brought them to a Thanksgiving dinner, I’ve always gotten ooohs and aaahs when I make these. They look impressively intricate but they are actually  easy to make once you know how. For variety, the same design variations can be made with other root vegetables including beets, daikon, really fat carrots and sweet potatoes.

I’ve also just add a set of great quality, sharp and sturdy fruit carving knives by Kom Kom. You can check it all out in my shop.

It is not common knowledge but today is National Watermelon Day in the United States. Refreshing, delicious. sweet watermelon. Yum. Why not have celebrate national watermelon day while watermelons are at the peak of their season? They are plentiful and inexpensive right now. I just bought a huge one today for only $1.99!

The following are some great ideas in honor of National Watermelon Day.

Watermelon Lanterns

If you are planning a luau or summer party that will go into the evening hours, you can create dramatic, glowing watermelon lanterns much like a Halloween Jack-O-Lantern – but prettier!  Your carved watermelon can be beautiful by day and night. Here are photos showing a carved watermelon that I made before and after turning it into a lantern. You can light your watermelon with a flashlight, or other battery powered light. You might try lighting with battery powered candle type lights. You can even light with a real candle as long as you open up the top or create holes to allow enough oxygen so that the flame will burn.

Besides carving, there are so many other things you can do with watermelon. Here are a few delicious, fun, unusual and downright silly watermelon ideas you may want to try.

continue reading…

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You may be surprised at how simple it can be to make a carved vegetable centerpiece that you will be proud of and will make your guests smile.

If you are an experienced carver, you will enjoy this as a new idea to implement. It is simple and beautiful and quite inexpensive to make.

Once you experience the fun and satisfaction of creating beautiful carved fruits and vegetables, I think you will want to learn more. And if you want to learn more, I have more video lessons from which you can learn.

So, to get your free video now, just sign in below and I’ll see you on the next page.

Do you have a lemon, tangerine or orange tree with plentiful fruit? Here’s something fun you can do with them to make your next meal presentation prettier.

I was recently given a whole bunch of fresh lemons and tangerines which prompted me to make this quick video showing you an easy way to make roses with citrus peels.

It’s a quick video. Only 2 and 1/4 minutes. Hope you enjoy it.

continue reading…

Here is one way that of my customers has improvised with beautiful results.

In my Hearts and Roses video lessons, I show how to make swans from apples. One of my customers, Al Kitchen in Arizona, used the same design concept to create a beautiful swans from honeydew melon.

Al Kitchen's honeydew swans

Al's duck carved from cantelope

He also made a very charming duck from cantaloupe with the same design idea. It was a very clever adaptation of the apple swan design.

If you would like to learn more about my video vegetable and fruit carving lessons where I show you how to carve the apple swan design, you can check it out here.