Vegetable Art

See that cucumber? I chopped off the flower's other leaf - oops. The small red flower is a tomato peel and the other four flowers were made with a Daikon radish sliced paper-thin then dipped in colored water. Don't you just love my apple bird? For my very first time of ever making one, it’s not half bad (even if the head didn't want to say in).




This is a closer shot showing my flowers. I wish the orange flower were in this close up. It was my favorite of all and ironically, it was the smoothest and easiest to make, too.

A close up of the cucumber. I was quite impressed with myself other than cutting off the other leaf. I had somewhat of a hard time visualizing what I needed to do to get this started, but once I made that "first cut," I couldn't believe just how easy these are to make. Those of you that occasionally dine with us can expect to see "cucumber art" on future table settings. Lucky you!




The Apple Bird. I know my Grandgirls are going to love having one of these to eat.

Next week we are "cheese" tasting so we will not be making any projects. But I will be working at home with Salt Dough and Tallow for my final presentation's table decoration. Since I am going to do an Italian theme, the Chef suggested I make the Leaning Tower of Pisa. That man is such a hoot! Especially since I thought I'd make a basket with the tallow and some bread with the salt dough to put in the basket, add a few flowers around it and I'd be done with that part of my table. Oh well, I have 9-weeks. And if I think about it - I made a bird out of an apple, flowers out of a radish, and a plant out of a cucumber. Maybe I can make the Leaning Tower of Pisa out of Salt Dough. I'll post pictures as it progresses.

Butterfly Aspic

This was my first project for Garde Manger. It is a butterfly made with colored aspic (unflavored gelatin) and then coated in clear aspic. Not only did we have to make our own theme, we had to use a minimum of four colors along with a combination of cutout cutters and freehand to cut the gel with. I mostly used freehand. After the project was graded (I got an A!) we had the option of tossing it, taking it home or leaving it at the school to use with our final presentation. I cut out the butterfly, covered it and put it back in the refrigerator. I'll probably use it on my final table but where you see the green as the background will be clear instead. I'll have to get a picture taken of just the butterfly and post it for you.