Making it Pretty

One of my goals in starting this blog was to share my exploration of a totally unknown (to me at least) world of food styling. I've been cooking for more years than I care to admit, but until now have never really been concerned about the finer points of presentation. Oh, of course I knew that it should be attractive to the eye, i.e. never serve white mashed potatoes with white chicken breasts, or go an extra step and plop a sprig of parsley & a dab of butter on your mashed potatoes for special occasions, but on a busy evening after a hectic day at the office I'm not sure we even noticed what color our food was! However, I'm suddenly very interested in colors and textures - I've discovered that food presentation is definitely an art form and one that can be very satisfying! It's amazing how a little flower or a sprig of mint tucked in just the right spot can make the dish much more appealing. And, lucky us to live on "the Drive", a wonderful neighborhood of Vancouver with a vast array of vegetable and fruit stands where one can always buy everything from dragon fruit to cactus leaves! Every time I walk down the street now, my eye is searching for a new color combination or an exotic fruit that I haven't tried before - persimmons, cactus pears, or baby tangerines with their leaves still attached. And drizzles, now that's a whole other world! A little squiggle of blackberry coulis, or caramel, or white chocolate is a wonderful thing. Attached are some photos of some of our more recent offerings to our guests, souffled asparagus quiche, cantaloupe ribbons with raspberries, home made jam (it was pear, pecan & coffee jam this morning), crispy waffles with bananas & whipped cream, dusted with icing sugar, drizzled with blackberry coulis (of course!) and topped off with a purple & yellow pansy, purple grapes frosted with sugar crystals, spring flowers tucked into whipping cream, eggs benny on potato latkes, blueberries zabaliogne in caramel lace cups, sparkling grapefruit and watermelon cooler, the list goes on.....