In Garde Manger today we followed in the footsteps of all those NSCC peeps who had gone before and carved ourselves some melon swans. Let me just say there is nothing that brings out the inappropriate, under-the-breath comments like a case of melons.
The swans themselves were pretty good I thought for a bunch of people who have never carved cantaloupes before. I free-handed mine and really looked more like a flaming swan, which I can live with. (I took the pictures with my phone, so they aren’t very sharp.)
We also did a butternut squash vase of turnip, beet and carrot flowers. The color on the turnips comes from those thick Wilton paste dyes rubbed on with paper towels or the color bleeding from the beets. The finished vases looked so much like those dubious craft projects from the 1970s that were in Childcraft and those Time Life Family Craft Library (man, I love those books… they have everything from batik printing to building tree houses and every weird macaroni, string art project in between). My efforts at least impressed Julian, so I feel very accomplished.
In other odd news of Nashville’s being a very small puddle… one of my students from Ye Olde Pot & Pannery had Keifel’s boss over for dinner to eat one of the dishes I had demonstrated in class. It isn’t exactly a “what-are-the-odds?” situation but it is quite the coincidence. I also have my first private student. We are about to embark on a six-week odyssey together. I am very grateful that she is willing to be the guinea pig for this. She leaves a bit of a hike out of town so it’s a big commitment on both our parts. I’m hopeful that I am up to the challenge and she is patient with my unkinking efforts in developing a curriculum and figure out how to teach to one person who is paying that much for my undivided attention. Frankly, I’m a little nervous.
