Svetlana Partem and her 2nd prize winning fruit carving display at last year’s Heritage Days Vegetable and Fruit Carving Competition

Showcase your talent at transforming basic food into amazing pieces of art by entering a food art competition this year.

We are coming into the season for Food art contests here in the United States. Both amateurs and professionals can enter their elaborate, decorative carvings and compete for cash prizes and bragging rights.

As we’ve seen in past blogs, whether the artwork is created out of fruit, vegetables, pizza or lattes, the artistic masterpieces are often breathtaking. There are a several fruit carving competitions taking place this summer and fall in the Midwest United States. Find out more about these food art contests by reading on. continue reading…

Do you have a quick moment to have a laugh? Take a look at these two very short and funny videos where technology meets fruit carving.

The iPad is a great tool for those who want to be able to watch my fruit carving video lessons anywhere (as long as you have a high speed internet connections.

But the guy in this video seems content with using his iPad in the kitchen in a different way.  Take a look at this viral video. Even though this video is in German, you certainly don’t need to understand German to get a laugh out of it. Take a look. It’s funny. continue reading…

Latte Art by Mike Breach

Watermelon portraits and pizza portraits, both of which I recently posted about, are interesting forms of food art but I’ve come across yet another remarkable form of food portraits – coffee latte art - where images of people are drawn into lattes and cappuccinos!

Mike Breach, a barista at a Manhattan hotel, began experimenting with creating drawings on the top of lattes while at work. He sketches using a bamboo skewer and the contrast between the dark coffee and light milky foam creates stunning images. However, due to the fickle nature of the foam, the images only last a few minutes. Better snap a photo fast! continue reading…

Mother’s Day will be here soon. Flowers have been a long standing popular gift for Mother’s Day.

Making breakfast or brunch for Mom? Individual serving fruit bouquet would be fun.

Are you looking for something more original? If your mom lives near you, you can present her with something a little different. How about making her a flower bouquet made of fruits or vegetables?

Something Small and Sweet for Mother’s Day

An individual serving of fruit arranged in a small bouquet would be fun, especially if you are serving her breakfast in bed. This square garden fruit bouquet is one of the many projects taught in my Vegetable and Fruit Carving 101 Course for Beginners.

What about a melon carved to look like a bunch of flowers? This watermelon that I carved to look like a bunch of curled petal roses is a pattern that will be taught in one of my upcoming video lessons. The release date continue reading…

Happy Birthday Watermelon carving by Mariano Orozco

Recently I published a couple of articles showing Happy Birthday watermelon carvings that look like cakes. Now I’ll show you a few other birthday watermelon carvings that some of my student / customers have created for their loved ones and their customers.

Happy Birthday Watermelon Carving – Bowl

This first watermelon carving was made by one of my student/customers Rose Flores. She sent this photo to me back in June. Rose had been making some carvings for her friends and family before joining my lessons. She really caught on fast.  You can see one of her first rose watermelon carving in a previous blog post. Below, you can see her first paid order for a birthday watermelon carved fruit bowl. continue reading…

Tomorrow, Sunday April 12st, 2013 the Food Network will air a new episode of Giada in Paradise that shows the art of Thai fruit carving on national TV. This show was shot if beautiful Thailand. While there, Giada de Laurentiis visits the Siam Carving Academy in Thailand to try her hand at Thai Fruit Carving. What a treat for the eyes that will be. Giada is gorgeous, Thailand is a beautiful tropical paradise and the stunning art of fruit carving all in one show will quite lovely to watch.

Giada in Paradise show – Giada di Laurentiis learns to carve fruit – Photo courtesy of FoodNetwork.com

continue reading…

In Thailand, the Songkran Festival signifying  the Thai New Year is celebrated for 3 to 10 days. Songkran comes from the Sanskrit word meaning change or move. It is celebrated as a time for renewal and cleansing, improving attitudes and behaviors and setting new resolutions.

Songkran is also known as the water festival. Some of that traditions of Songkran are quiet, introspective and spiritual. While others are wet and wild! continue reading…

This year we hosted a family Easter party complete with carved fruit and veggie Easter Centerpieces. In this post I’ll share some of the fun we had and the carvings I made. You’ll see photos of my Easter Centerpieces and you can see a video of the highlights of our family Easter party.

This Easter, we had a larger than usual turn out. And, we had a super busy week leading up to the party before we even began on all we needed to do for the party. My husband and I had a lot of preparation to do. You know, the continue reading…

Carved melon hat by Abigail Veira

I receive so many photos of fun food carvings and ideas from my blog readers and students of my lessons. The photos show all kinds of fun ways that people do fruit and vegetable carvings and food art. The common thread of all these random carving images is creativity and fun. I love how some of the people in this article have brought different types of food art into their lives and the lives of others.

Fun food carvings are all about making people smile and spreading a little joy. And sometimes, it’s about eating healthy.

Fun Food Carvings To Make you Smile

A couple of weeks ago, I posted an article about watermelon hats.

In response, continue reading…

Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey, music mega-stars serve as judges on American Idol

I am a fan of American Idol. And I’ve been playing around with carving watermelon portraits. My watermelon carvings pretty much sum up the the relationship between Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey. At least that was my impression after seeing the audition in Charlotte, North Carolina.

I don’t have a lot to say about their antics on American Idol. I just thought it would be fun to carve this up and thought it might make people smile.

I’ve been experimenting with my new Transfer Pattern continue reading…

What are the benefits of having a hobby that you enjoy? Here are just a few:

• Pure Enjoyment
• Stress Relief
• A Creative Outlet
• A Sense of Accomplishment
• Meet New Friends – or do something new with existing friends
• Reduced Memory Impairment in later years

Stuart Brown, M.D describes the vast benefits of having hobbies well in his book, titled “Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul”.  Dr. Brown says “When you’re using your imagination and have a heightened mood, you open possibilities that you wouldn’t think otherwise.” Because of this, he encourages busy people to find a hobby or time to play during hardship and stress.

The Unexpected Benefits of a Hobby Revealed in Mayo Clinic Study

The reduced memory impairment continue reading…

Why limit watermelon hats to just people?

Well, people will do all sorts of things with carved watermelons. Even wear them!

January 15th is National Hat Day. In honor of that, take a look at these hats made of carved watermelons.

Watermelon hats are so popular with Saskatchewan Roughrider fans that the grocery stores frequently sell out of watermelons in the day or two preceding the games.

The following video shows the story behind the Saskatchewan Roughrider watermelon hats and how you can make continue reading…

The Festival of Lights in Thailand commemorates the New Lunar Year. Look near the bottom of this article to see a 29 second video of this scene. It’s remarkable!

Thailand’s Festival of Lights is a spectacular sight to behold. I am always fascinated with Thai celebrations because vegetable and fruit carving is very popular in Thailand. My wonderful carving teachers are Thai and so I feel a connection with their culture and always want to learn more about it.

Today, I want to share with you some photos from Thailand’s Festival of Lights, also known as Loy Krathong, which is a spiritual celebration full of colors and mesmerizing lights. Since summer holidays are over and it may be getting a little colder where you live, I thought you could use an armchair adventure right about now. I know I could! So let’s escape for a few moments to mystical Thailand to catch the amazing Loy Krathong Festival. 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…

Japanese food is as much about art as it is about taste

Great for school lunches, casual picnics or work place breaks, Bento boxes are a fun and creative form of Japanese food art.

In Japan, the presentation and artistic nature of a meal is just as important as the taste. This doesn’t just apply to fancy five star restaurants – home chefs, including clever parents and caregivers, pride themselves in creating awe-inspiring food art for their childrens’ school lunch boxes, or bento boxes.

A bento box in Japan is a single portion meal, which is commonly eaten at lunch or for any meal away from home. It usually contains a balanced list of ingredients including rice, meat and vegetables. Not only do homemakers spend time making the food healthy and delicious, they also put considerable effort into making the food presentation spectacular! A common belief is that when food looks and tastes good, it will enhance the mood of the person eating it and improve their performance continue reading…

Julia Child was a popular TV Chef and Author

August 15th this year would have been the 100th birthday of Julia Child, legendary TV chef and cookbook author. This event has inspired chefs, restaurant owners and food enthusiasts all over America to celebrate in honor of her memory. And rightly so, since she was, and still is, a major iconic figure in the culinary world.

Julia Child was credited with introducing French cuisine into the American mainstream.

She was a trail blazer for TV cooking shows.What made her so popular was not just her cooking expertise, but her great sense of humor!

Her work earned her the honor of being the first woman woman inducted into the Culinary Institute Hall of Fame. Julia passed away in 2004 at the age of 92, but her legacy lives on and continues to influence the American cuisine. Find out how America is remembering this culinary icon on the centennial of her birth. continue reading…

August 3rd is National Watermelon Day in the United States

Did you know that that August 3rd is National Watermelon Day here in the United States? This delicious fruit is so well loved that it has been given its own national day! Watermelon is the perfect thirst quencher on hot summer days and although it is usually thought of as a sweet snack, watermelon can be used in savory recipes as well. Of course, if you are a fruit carver, you’ll know that watermelon is a popular fruit to work with because of its soft texture and beautiful contrasting colors.

My blog is full of watermelon carving ideas. But, given all the great qualities of watermelon, it seems fitting to mention National Watermelon Day on today’s post and share with you some fun and delicious ways to enjoy this versatile fruit! continue reading…

Watermelon skiing during Australia's Melon Festival

August 3rd is National Watermelon Day here in the United Sates, and in keeping with this theme, I wanted share with you some really wild, whimsical and wacky watermelon ideas.

I’m not just talking about using watermelon in an innovative recipe, I’m talking everything from watermelon themed automobiles and eyelashes to watermelon sports. Yep, these watermelon inspired inventions are certainly cute and eccentric and some are a bit wacky. Or maybe these watermelon ideas are just plain brilliant…you decide!

Take a look at some of these out-of-the-box watermelon ideas and inventions! continue reading…

Today is National All or Nothing Day. It’s celebrated every year on July 26th.

It may be little known and unofficial but it’s a great day to ponder and take action.

Today is a day to take a chance. Make a commitment. Start something new. Make a decision.

Do that thing you’ve been wanting to do but something, maybe fear, is holding you back.

What is that thing you’ve been wanting to do? Is there something you’ve been wanting to do to improve your personal or business life? What one step could you take toward that long held desire, TODAY?

Make that commitment to someone or something that you have been considering. Stop waffling and make that decision. Once you do, you will begin to see more opportunities that support your decision. Your dream will begin to become reality.

While reading this, I’ll bet something popped into your mind. I suggest that you take action on that very thing.

Some Ideas for All or Nothing Day continue reading…

Building sand castles and sculptures is a classic summer activity

In the spirit of celebrating summer, I thought you might enjoy some photos of amazing sand sculptures. Playing in the sand is such a classic summer activity and makes for great family fun. And just like fruit carving, sand carving is a wonderful artistic and creative outlet. Isn’t it a satisfying feeling to make a beautiful and original image out of plain sand or a simple watermelon? Carving and sculpting are so much fun!

Well, to kick off summer, check out some of these photos of sand sculptures from around the world. Maybe you’ll get some ideas for making your own continue reading…