Holiday Baking

This weekend I tried out my new Lekue silicone molds.

Mini hearts mold allowed me to bake the nice biscuits cakes as on the photo below. Before filling the mold with a white dough I drew some designs with cocoa dough in the mold bottom.

The Imperial Queen mold inspired me to making a multi layer cake. Each layer contains different fruits and berries like apples, citrus and red bilberry. For cream I used condensed milk whipped with butter.

The molds are 100% platinum silicone made by Lekue company. It is a 15 years warranty product.

The mini heart mold and the Imperial Queen mold 

(100% platinum silicone produced by Lekue)

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Cookie Parade

Linked to Cook for Valentines Event

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Penguin Family. Fruit and Vegetable Carving Demo at Christmas Crafts Exhibition.

More Christmas crafts and displays:
Be Magical! Pumpkin Snowmen
Christmas Fruit Platter With Candles
Handmade Christmas Tree
Candy Bouquets Gallery

There is hot time before Christmas and New Year. I have public carving demonstrations and classes every week. Today I'd like to share some pictures from a live demo I made at Christmas Crafts Exhibition. 

There were many handmade crafts presented at the exhibitions. They were jewelry, toys, new year decorations and handmade trees, scrabbooking cards and boxes, candy bouquets and crafts made with natural materials. Some artists showed a piblic demonstration on their arts as making patchwork, 3D origami, scrabbooking, quilling and fruit carving (of course :)

A theme of my class was making fruit and vegetable toys. My idea was to show how to turn an usual vegetable into a character of a fairy world to display at your Christmas and New Year family party for making a special atmosphere.

We had a couple of green marrow squashes and carrots to make a cute little penguin. I made a penguin for a sample and then enthusiastic visitors made theirs. At the end we got a penguin family. Each penguin has got an uniqe image.

Penguin Family made with vegetables

(click photo for a closer look)

Penguins living their own life.
Let them have fun at your table among your Christmas dishes ))

Penguin Daughter (my work) and Penguin Papa (made by a visitor)
I asked people to think on an accessory for penguins. Papa got a hat.

Penguin Junior goes sled riding.
Junior is made by a 6 years old boy with a help of his mom.

Young Penguin has got a delicious icicle. Made by a visitor.

Visitors and participants

While the carving demo

During the exhibition time I was talking to people, answering questions about carving tools and making edible crafts. I also presented new russian books about carving.
For my work and classes I use carving tools made by Triangle company (Germany).  

More works form the exhibition

Flowers carved in apple and a rabbit made with oranges

Apple garnishes carved with tools

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Be Magical. Christmas Crafts

Well, it's time for Christmas crafting.
I hope you remember the pumpkin snowman I made in November? At that time I said it was a long-play craft. Now I am going to dress him up for a New Year costume party (in Russia we use a word 'masquerade' for a new year costume party. In all other cases we say a "costume party" :)). I made some accessory for my pumpkin buddies.

Pumpkin Buddy is Back in Town!

The pimpkin snowman got a Santa Claus look.

Can you see the yellow pumpkin a floor down at the photo? He is still alive!

Christmas craft. Snowman wearing a Santa hat

I had more pumpkins left from my Halloween crafts. I've decided to make more snowmen with them.

White pumpkins stored in the box

Apply some sewing skills and imagination

And Voila!

Snowmen brigade

Be Magical!

Pumpkin snowman in a costume of a Magician

Magical Snowman in a tophat and a cape

Countryside Snowman

The Snowman will be OK in cold winter nights.

Snowman in a hat and scarf

I am looking forward for Christmas to set them down by our new year tree!

Linked to:

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Fruit adn Vegetable Classes and Live Demo

This week I was travelling to some neighboring towns with carving demonstrations and classes. I had fruit and vegetable carving activities in schools and in a new trading center for its opening ceremony. Many things were showed. They were new and old ideas like a fruit snowman, vegetable and fruit mini arrangements and sandwich decorating ideas. 

Sandwiches decorated with cucumber.
Crhistmas tree, butterfly and ornament made with cucumber slices.
Check up Cucumber pictures

Baby Penguin from a marrow squash

Fruit exotic flowers arranged into a bouquet
See the downloadable tutorial how to make flowers with fruits

It has been snowing for several days. I would like to share an image that looks fabulous. 

Mounting ash barry tree in snow. The berries looks like bells. Cristmas bells made by Nature.

View of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, my native city.
There are lot of  mounting ashberry trees  along the city  streets.

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Bouquet With Vegetable Orchids and Apples

Phalaenopsis Orchid flowers made of vegetables

arranged into a bouquet with carved apples

Flowers are carved out of carrot, radish and daikon.

Apples are carved with a thai knife and V-shape knife.

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Wedding Arrangement: Watermelon Vase and Vegetable Carving Flowers

Fruit display with a watermelon vase and vegetable carving flowers, made for Autumn themed wedding.


Green flowers are carved of daikon with U-shape knife.
Watermelon skin decor is carved with V-shape and U-shape knives.
The apple, kiwi and the red cabbage anturiums are carved with a thai knife.
The display is arranged in a watermelon plate with oins.

Fall wedding fruit display

Close look of the design

Bouquet of flowers carved of vegetables

Read more...

Babyshower Fruit Toys

More fruit toys and crafts for kids:
Pokemon Melon Cup
Lightning McQueen Watermelon Basket
Hello Kitty Watermelon
Fruit Princess Story (Cinderella)

I love to make fruit displays for babyshower parties. Cute animals and characters bring joy to children and adults. Some people hardly believe that the toys made of edible fruits. They think it is plastic. I ensure the display is completely made of fruit and vegetable :) I just wish the toys could have a longer life...

I enjoyed my work today. This display is my favorite one now. It took 2 hours and 30 minutes to carve and assemble them.

Fruit Toys Display For Babyshower Party

Fruit toys

I found a pineapple to be a convinient base for fixing fruit crafts on it.
On the picture below you see a rabbit made of an orange. He is a character of a famous russian cartoon. His name is Krosh.

krosh Rabbit on a pineapple

A close look of a spiral apple and a bee made of cumquat.

Cunquat bee and an apple lollypop

A fruit tiger pilots a melon airplane.

I have used special tools for making the fruit toys.

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Fall Vegetable Displays at Citymall

Last weekend I made fall vegetable carving centerpices to display at Citymall, a big trading and recreation center in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. 

Citymall organized some activities to celebrate a second anniversary for its openning. Last year we had a culinary show with carving displays and a quiz at the foodcourt. This year I made a vegetable flowers bouquet and made a free fruit carving demonstration.

Fall bouquet with vegetable carving flowers:
peppers and Beijing cabbage flowers in a pumpkin vase

Quick & Easy fall centerpices demo

If you are time limited for a party decorating take a look at the Last Minute Pumpkin Buddies Project. 

This is a non-carving centerpiece made in 10 minutes. This is also a long-play centerpiece. I made the Yellow Pumpkin Guy in September and it is still in a perfect condition. 

Fall is a good time to collect some nice pumpkins to make a Pumpkin Snowman before the Christmas and New Year holidays pop up. Dress up your snowman according to a season. A scarf and a hat for winter  or sunglasses and a hawaiian shirt for summer :)

Pumpkin Buddies
Happy Birthday Snowman and Yellow Pumpkin Buddy

Drink garnish demo

For the Drink Garnish demo I showed some easy ways to decorate a beverage wirh apples. The gearwheels from the picture below are made by demo visitors.

Apple garnish for a drink

Apple carving centerpieces

There are some apples below carved with a help of U-shape knife.

Apple carving

Apple carving centerpieces

Check up more fall centerpieces:

Fall Wedding Centerpiece

Gothic Moon Lantern in A Pumpkin

Melon Bird or Melon Turkey

Read more...

Fall Wedding Centerpiece

More fall centerpieces:
Pumpkin With a Gothic Moon Design
Melon Basket
Melon Peacock Bird

Fall wedding centerpice made with the carved melon vase, swan scuptures and vegetable flowers.
Before I made the swans for the watermelon fruit bowl.

Today was raining. I met a mountain ash tree on my way. The ash berries with rain drops were magnificent.

Mountain ash berry in the rain

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Halloween Disney Garnish From Carrot

Look at what I bought in Tokyo Disney Land. This is a Mickey Lantern keychain.

Halloween Disney lantern

I made a Mickey copy in carrot. It is absolutely edible.
Carved with a thai knife.

Mickey carrot garnish  for Halloween food

Chicken, salad and carrot Mickey garnish

There are a chicken fry with soft dough (my chicken tempura:)) and pumpkin salad on the picture above. For the salad I used the pumpkin I practiced the thai design in. I never throw away carving waste and my carved fruit and vegetables. I bake and fry them or store in a fridge for the future cooking.

Pumpkin salad ingredients:
radish,
cucumber,
raw pumpkin,
vegetable oil
salt

Check up more salad recipes with garnishes

Linked to:
eRecipeCards.com
Sweetology
Tea Rose Home

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Ancient Medallion. Soap Carving

I've got an idea to carve the Pumpkin Moon design in a soap. That soap looks like a medallion. It also reminds me a pattern from a ancient shield. I sticked a soap rose to the center and got a magical ancient medallion.

Ancient medallion carved in a soap

I have the other soap with an ancient design. In my eyes that soap looks like a seal of the Middle Ages. The photo has vkusnoeda.com watermark which is the other website of mine. I made the website at the times when I started to learn fruit and vegetable carving art. I hope you will find many ideas for your first steps in carving on there.

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Apple Carving For Today

I carved wavy design in apples this morning practicing my Triangle knife skills.

Apple carving

Curd with cranberries for breakfast and apple carving for knife skills practice

Cranberry

Dessert:

Curd,
Sugar 2 teaspoons
Sour cream 2 tablespoons
Cranberry as much as you like

read more about:
cranberry for drinks
cranberry for plate garnish

Wavy design in apple

carved with my Triangle thai knife

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