Looking for Pretty Food Ideas for Valentines Day? Some of these are beautiful, one is wacky, one is not so successful. My heart just melted. But I’ll show you how yours will be successful.

For starters, how about bacon roses? That’s right. You will find fruits and vegetables carvings in the shape of roses all over my website. But, I’ll bet you’ve probably never seen roses made from bacon! I wish I could give credit to someone for this original idea but I got this photo from a fellow fruit carver, Carl Jones, who got it from a friend who got it from who knows where. It’s so fun, I had to share it. Take a look. continue reading…

Decoration with carved squash and pumpkin are not just for Halloween. There are lots of ways to carve pumpkins and hard squashes that make them perfect for other fall festivities. In this article, I’ll show you how some of my students and readers have used carved pumpkins and other squashes for autumn parties. You might get some great ideas that you can put to use for your upcoming autumn celebrations, including Thanksgiving.

White Pumpkins are Great for Wedding and Baby Shower Decorations

Take a took at how Kay Bullard carved some white pumpkins for a baby shower and with wedding themes. continue reading…

Did you know that in the early days of America’s independence, Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird instead of the bald eagle? Even though the bald eagle was chosen, the Turkey which is native to North America has become an American symbol of Thanksgiving.

How did the turkey get its name?

I found several explanations.

Theory 1 – The Native Americans called the turkey “firkee”. If that is true, I wonder which tribe? (It sounds a lot like the vegetarian substitute for turkey that is made of soy. It’s called tofurkey.)

Theory 2- When Columbus reached America, he thought he landed in India so he dubbed the Native Americans, Indians. He believed the the bird that he saw which we now know as the American Turkey was a type of peacock. In the Indian language, Tamil, ‘peacock’ is ‘tuka’. continue reading…

With Halloween fast approaching, I’ve got some fun pumpkin carving ideas to share with you. Many of the following photos show student’s first pumpkin creations.

Maybe these photos will give you some ideas and some inspiration to carve your own fun pumpkins.

Pumpkin Carving Portraits

This first photo is of the first pumpkin portrait carved by Ann Haddock after watching my Pumpkin Portraits video lessons. She did a very good job, don’t you think?

Ann Haddock's First Pumpkin Portrait

When you carve pumpkin portraits, you can use photos of your friends and family or you can try you hand at carving celebrities. Here a couple that I carved. continue reading…

August 30th is National Toasted Marshmallow Day

August 30th is National Toasted Marshmallow Day. That’s right, now there’s a day where you don’t have to feel guilty about indulging in this yummy, sweet treat. Sticky, gooey and oh-so-good – almost nothing beats a toasted marshmallow at a backyard bonfire. This soft, pillowy confectionery is so well loved that it gets its own national holiday! August seems to be a good time to celebrate food because August 3rd was National Watermelon Day, and August 15th is a day of food and wine celebrations in America for legendary TV chef Julia Child’s 100th Birthday, if she were alive today.

The origin and creator of Toasted Marshmallow Day is unknown, although I’ve read that it has been celebrated for many years. 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…

August is National Picnic Month

August is National Picnic Month, so today I wanted to share some creative picnic ideas with you.

Having an outdoor picnic with fresh food and fun games is a classic summer activity and can bring out the kid in anyone! Even the simplest foods taste wonderful when packed in a picnic basket and eaten outside in the sun. It gives everyone a chance to relax and get a little silly with fun family games before the kids go back to school. So I invite you to pack a basket and enjoy some sun and fresh air with these creative picnic ideas. continue reading…

Get creative with watermelon this summer

Since August 3rd is National Watermelon Day in the United States, I wanted to share some fresh and fun watermelon recipes with you. Even if you don’t live in the United States, you really don’t a special day to celebrate this delicious and versatile fruit. Watermelon is enjoyed and loved any day of the year, but nothing beats it on hot summer days!

Watermelon is delicious on its own, but there are many different and interesting ways to use it as well. So here are a few watermelon recipes to get your creative culinary juices flowing. Oh and keep reading to find out about my free watermelon carving lessons! continue reading…

Fruit arrangements that can be eaten are fun, fresh, pretty to look at and are always a welcome addition at any special event. You may have even given or received fruit arrangements as a thank you gift. There are several companies selling their own fruit bouquets and  arrangements; but have you ever thought that you can make these yourself at home?

With the fresh fruit and vegetables available in Spring, what better way to celebrate the season than by making your own  fruit arrangements for a potluck, dinner party or just for fun with your kids or grandkids? If you celebrate Easter, homemade flower fruit arrangements with colorful fruits and vegetables will really brighten up your table! continue reading…

Whenever I need a creative gift idea, or just something unique to bring to a dinner, I can always be sure that vegetable bouquet arrangements will be a big hit. Not only are they colorful and attractive to look at, depending on the veggies used, they’re fun to eat for both kids and grown-ups.

While some Vegetable bouquet arrangements are purely decorative, they can  also serve as a healthy alternative at potlucks and brunches, where there are already plenty of rich foods to indulge in.

People are usually so impressed by homemade vegetable bouquet arrangements because they think, “Wow, that must have been hard to make!”

The truth is they are actually quite easy to make once you learn how. continue reading…

Some of the first vegetable carvings that I made were for a Thanksgiving centerpiece. It was a bouquet of vegetable flowers. If I could make this my first time, you can, too.

I show you step-by-step how to make the yam (orange) and turnip (white) flowers as well as cucumber leaves in my video lesson, Yam and Turnip Flowers Made with U-cutters. And, you can learn how to make the beet roses in my video lessons, Hearts and Roses.  It’s easy once I show you  how.

Carved Root Vegetables Make a Beautiful Thanksgiving Centerpiece.

My first vegetable bouquet - used at Thanksgiving

I carved and assembled this bouquet continue reading…

Don’t Throw Away Your Watermelon Rinds!

When you cut up a watermelon to serve, why not make something fun and decorative with the watermelon rind?

The watermelon rind can be easily carved into a serving plate for fruit salad. In an earlier blog article I showed how to make a watermelon bowl. Why not make a watermelon rind platter?  Take a look at these to pretty carving ideas sent to me.

With some creative strokes of the knife, student/customer Teresita Stafford took some watermelon rind that might otherwise be thrown away and turned in into a pretty flower shaped serving dish for fruit salad. continue reading…

 Have you ever seen how pretty Armenian cucumbers are? Do you know when is a cucumber really a melon? Find out in the short video below. continue reading…

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 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…

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…