Watermelon Shark - 52 Church PotLuck Dishes

Happy Labor day Weekend!  Not too late for one more fun outdoor party!  And every party needs a fun carved centerpiece.  This particular one is about as simple as it gets...

Watermellon

cut a wedge

carefully hollow out the guts, form into balls if you have a handy melon baller

carefully carve the teeth and cut a thin layer away from the outside so the whites of the teeth show

Garnish with eyes (I used tiny marbles, the one I saw used black olives)

Every kid LOVES eating watermelon from a shark!

as Center Pieces go, the shark was painfully fast, easy and among my key audience, very impressive (key audience being my 4-7 year old nieces and nephews).  But eRecipeCards.com has a  WONDERFUL contributor, Selena of the FRUIT CARVING ARRANGEMENTS AND FOOD GARNISHES Blog.  Selena is unusual in many ways, first, she lives on an historically disputed island in the northern Pacific, a narrow strait divides Selena's SAKHALIN Island and Russia, while many miles from Japan, the island has been disputed by both countries for generations.  Since World War 2 (one of the recent wars to end all wars), the island has been controlled by Russia.  But neighboring islands are still disputed.

Selina's blog is in English.  She covers the subject of fruit carving and presentation extremely well, with dozens and dozens of examples.  Her bio page is pretty incomplete, beyond her name, where she lives and her joy in sharing the fun side of Carving, Arrangements and Garnishes.  I do hope that at some point she gets more personal, I would love to learn a little bit about her history (Is she native to the island?  How does a fruit and vegetable carver even find raw materials on an island where most things are imported (only 100 day growing season)?  I see a lot of her carvings are used at events... Does she do this full time, part time... is there good money in being a fruit carver in Sakhalin Island???  Do you whale watch or is the sight of a whale off shore so common that the thrill is gone (never existed)  But that's just me.  I enjoy hearing everyone's stories.).  Selena, that was a hint.  Do a couple of posts about who you are and what your day is like... Now that we've found you, we want to know!

Selena must love food bloggers just as much as I do.  After all, Selena posts tricks of the trade on her blog, freely shares them through her exposure on eRecipeCards.com and also provides FREE downloadable eBooks and carving videos so anyone can look good!

Click HERE to see her page of free downloads.  What a gracious thing to do.