Coffee Art by Chef Said

Here is some coffee art just for fun. This is not fruit and vegetable carving but it is related to beautiful food presentation. This coffee art video was made by Chef Said.

There are so many fun and creative ways to present all kinds of food. I just stumbled across this coffee art  and thought that your might enjoy seeing it. If you master this, you’ll have lots of fun presenting very special espresso coffee drinks that will delight and surprise your guests. It certainly adds that special touch to a cup of cappuccino or a cafe latte. continue reading…

Are you looking for ideas for making fruit arrangements?

Today, I received a very nice email from student /customer Summer Dawn. She also sent some photos of her recent fruit arrangements that are very pretty. I thought that you might enjoy seeing them to give you ideas for your own fruit arrangements. continue reading…

In addition to the lovely Thai fruit carving display that I shared with you in yesterday’s blog post, there was so much color, beauty and tradition at the Thai Songkran Festival.

There was traditional Thai dancing performed in Thai costume. There were beautiful flower displays, performances of traditional Thai music and more. Here are some photos and video so that you can see some of the colorful beauty at the Thai Songkran festival. continue reading…

Take a look at some beautiful Thai fruit carving that we displayed during the Songkran festival a couple of weeks ago. The Songkran festival celebrates traditional Thai new year. A group of us who carve  each brought some fruit carvings to display at the Songkran festival. Here they are:

Thai Fruit Carving and Vegetable Carving

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

12►

continue reading…

A Create n Carve Fruit and Vegetable Event is being held by Nayna at SimplySensationalFood.com. It’s a friendly way for food bloggers and fruit and vegetable carvers to share their carving creations online. continue reading…

When I set out to create my Vegetable and Fruit Carving Course 101 for Beginners I really wanted my students to experience success right away. I want them to have creative satisfaction and get oooohs and aaaaahs from friends and family. Based on my own experiences, I knew they would. My goal was…and is…..to eliminate some of the frustration that comes with starting out and now knowing where to learn or what tools to buy and which books are a waste of money.

And so, it’s so rewarding to hear from students like this one. continue reading…

Are you considering making some kind of Easter fruit display but want to keep it simple?

Some fruit carving ideas can be easy and still make quite a pretty presentation. Take a look at these photos one of my blog readers, Ken Hildebrand sent to me of an attractive fruit display that he created. Something like this would be nice for an Easter fruit display. continue reading…

Here is what one student had to say about my 11 week Vegetable and Fruit Carving Course for Beginners.

I recently received this very enthusiastic email from a student of my Vegetable and Fruit Carving Course.

“Dear Nita,

I cant express in words how thrilled I am that I got your contact… Its indeed a great privilege to be associated with you… I am just amazed at all the beautiful work you do… the carvings are just wonderful, thanks for releasing all the 11 videos I have watched all of them.. first I need to grasp then i will start practising… i cant express in words how thrilled I am… do you offer any kind of certificates for the courses… just a suggestion.. so t hat it will nice for your students to have a certificate… when i practice, I will send you the photos of my work…. i was up until 1.00 a.m yesterday watching the videos… the instructions are so clear and its very easy to follow..

Thanks again for all your good work and valuable tips… You are such a talented lady…
May god bless you for imparting your knowledge to us.. It is a dream come true to me… continue reading…

Beautiful!

Oh, and the vegetable carving is nice. too.  :~) continue reading…

Edible Fruit Bouquet with carved butterfly

Edible fruit bouquets are a colorful way to serve fruit.

These are easy to make and fun to eat. When I made this edible fruit bouquet my son kept asking when we could eat it. Normally, he doesn’t eat much fruit without my coaxing him. But, he wanted to eat the fruit in this edible bouquet. When I served it at dinner time, he eagerly ate quite a bit of the bouquet. And he enjoyed it.

So, if you have kids in your house, try making this bouquet and see how eagerly they eat their fruit. continue reading…

Spring is here. And with it, the blooming of spring flowers.

Easy Vegetable Carving Calla Lilies are perfect for spring celebrations

Calla Lilies, also known as Easter Lilies are beautiful and elegant springtime flowers. Did you know that you can easily create your own Easter Lilies with vegetable carving? And it’s pretty easy. continue reading…

I love vegetable and fruit carving for Spring.

Vegetable and Fruit Carvings - that are Perfect for Spring

Probably because Spring is my favorite time of the year. It comes with lovely spring flowers blooming everywhere, bright happy colors, days that are warm and sunny, butterflies, birds nesting, and new life everywhere. Even if spring is not yet warm and sunny in your part of the world, you can brighten up your table with fresh spring vegetable and fruit carvings. Here are a few spring vegetable and fruit carving ideas. continue reading…

How long can your melon carvings last?

Melon carvings can often look good for about a week.  They look best the first day. When stored properly they can still look pretty darn good after 1 week. How good your melon carvings will look after a week depends on a few factors. continue reading…

Are you looking for a beautiful and creative food presentation idea for a wedding or buffet? Or even something to serve at your at home dinner party?

Here is a gorgeous and interesting yellow and orange butterfly idea for a smoked salmon plate. continue reading…

Kabocha Squash carved with Roses

Have you ever seen Thai fruit carving instructions that ask for Thai pumpkin? Or maybe the instructions just ask for pumpkin but it doesn’t look like the American pumpkin that you may be familiar with? That is what I experienced when first trying to learn fruit carving. Since then, my Thai friends and teachers have introduced me to Kabocha squash. This is what the Thai refer to as pumpkin. continue reading…

Here is my recipe which is my take on a wonderful cookie that is sold at Wolfgang Puck’s Jai restaurant at the La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla. It is essentially a soft chocolate chip type cookie but with white chocolate chunks and tart dried cherries. The tart cherries add a nice contrast to the sweet white chocolate. I hope that you enjoy the cookies that you make with this recipe. continue reading…

With the leftover white chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate used for the chocolate dipped strawberry bouquet that I showed in my two previous video mini-lessons, you can make some tasty white chocolate bark with this super simple recipe. continue reading…

Yesterday I posted a brief lesson showing how to make a white chocolate dipped strawberry bouquet. Today, I’ll show you a quick and easy way to decorate your white chocolate covered strawberries with contrasting semi-sweet chocolate. Watch this short video min-lesson. continue reading…

With fresh strawberries coming into season, it’s a great time to make a chocolate dipped strawberry bouquet. These strawberry bouquets can be made with white chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate or both. Strawberry bouquets are easy to make, beautiful and make a thoughtful gift or unexpected dessert during fresh strawberry season.

You can even make pretty strawberry bouquets with fresh strawberries that are not chocolate covered. You can serve your fresh strawberry bouquet along side a choice of dips that can include powdered sugar, brown sugar, chocolate sauce, minced fresh mint leaves, minced fresh basil, vanilla yogurt, plain greek yogurt, honey or sour cream and let your guests have fun mixing and matching the variety of dips. continue reading…

Strawberries are coming into season here in Southern California. Yummy, red, luscious strawberries.

Strawberries aren’t exactly the best or most popular fruit for carving. But there are a couple of pretty and super simple strawberry garnishes that you can make. One is a super simple way  to dress up a drink. It would be perfect with a frozen strawberry smoothie or ice cream shake. The other quick strawberry garnish is a strawberry fan that you can use to dress up a plate, individual servings of fruit salad or a dessert. continue reading…