Announcing Art You Eat #2 - Eggs & Egg Shapes

Hello again! We have another challenge before us, chosen by AYE #1’s winner, the lovely and oh so creative, Inge of Vanielje Kitchen. For this challenge Inge and I agreed that eggs and creations that are shaped like eggs would be eligible to participate.

As before, posts you have published before can be entered as long as you repost it as an entry to the event with a link back and tell us how you made your creation look so amazing and artful.

So, whether you make something with eggs as a main ingredient or in the shape of an egg, try to make it celebrate the coming spring and Easter season!

Please email entries to artyoueat AT gmail DOT com by the end of March 19th and include the following:

NAME:
LOCATION:
ENTRY TITLE:
BLOG TITLE:
BLOG URL:
POST URL:
THEME IDEA IF YOU WIN:

The top three entries will be chosen by Inge and myself for this challenge (mostly by Inge since it is her theme – I just get to put my two cents in!) and then voting will begin to choose who will host the next round.

Thanks for checking this out! We hope you can join in!

Holly
AYE Admin

P.S. To get your creative juices flowing, check out this picture of tea-stained marbelized eggs I found at http://whatscookingamerica.net/EllenEaston/TeaInfusedEggs.htm.

Art You Eat #1 Chocolate Challenge - And the Winner Is...

African Vanielje of Vanielje Kitchen took the vote and the win for the very first "Art You Eat" Edible Art Challenge Chocolate with her Wildberry Dark Chocolate Mousse in a Bitter Chocolate Bramble Cage. Congratulations to Inge and many thanks for participating!

This beautiful creation and how to make it can be seen more fully on Vanielje Kitchen and I suggest that if you want to impress, you should give this a try. Get creative and give your own spin to it! A different pattern? Around a cake? Would white chocolate work? Hey, if you give this a try, please let us know so we can post that here as well!

Thank you again to all the participants and all of you who voted for making this challenge a success. I knew I could count on all of you to make this little idea of mine come true and obviously it wouldn't work without you.

So, that said, please tune back in in a few days for the announcement of Art You Eat #2 Challenge. As the winner of this first round African Vanielje wins the right to choose the theme for the next challenge. I will be posting her announcement here as well as on Is My Blog Burning which is so kindly maintained by the wonderful Andrew of Spitoon Extra. Watch for the announcement to come.

Here's to all of you and a great challenge. Now, on to the next one!

The Round-up & Top Three - Art You Eat #1 - CHOCOLATE CHALLENGE

Hello again! It is finally here and I am so excited to show you all the round-up for my very first event hosting - The "Art You Eat" challenge. I am so grateful to all of the wonderful bloggers who joined in this challenge. Obviously, I couldn't do it without your participation, so thank you, thank you, thank you!

Now, I know you didn't come here to here me on my chocolate box (errr... soapbox) so I will only pontificate for a second about the topic - and also because, well, what can I really say? It is CHOCOLATE for heaven's sake! It speaks so gloriously for itself - and apparently so can the web on this well beloved topic. My personal favorite for a bit on the subject and history though, if you are interested, can be found here. Besides, if you watched Food Network this weekend (and oh, I did) then you have already seen and heard about more chocolate than you can probably stand (unless you are me - they could have chocolate weekend every time and I wouldn't complain!). Sorry, I digress...so...

Now, I said that I was going to choose the top three. Frankly, it was really hard. So, please keep in mind that when I created the event I had a very specific idea in mind. Using chocolate not just as an ingredient, but to make your creation look fabulous. All of the entries brought this to the table. So, as for the top three, they are simply the three that I thought really exemplified the theme idea. You may agree. You may not. Either way, please vote for a winner from the three to be the next "host" for Art You Eat.

Without further ado, but lots of gilding the lily - here is the round-up and my personal favorite top three for voting at the bottom.

Please, please check out all the competitors below. The entries were all beautiful and absolutely worth trying out! Once again, thanks to all of you that entered for making this event happen!

THE ROUND-UP!


Since I figured I had to put something in too. My contribution was totally experimental and to be honest, I think it is cute and they taste good, but it could have been a lot better. I won't give up on this technique quite yet though. I made Dark Chocolate Truffles on a White Chocolate Plate. Enough about me... check these out!



Priya over at 365 Days of Pure Vegetarian brought these fun and beautiful Chocolate Cups to the party. I can see doing so many fabulous things with this idea!






Anke of Vegan Bounty gives us a lovely tofu-free alternative to typical chocolate mousse with her Chocolate Mousse on Caramel with Red Nettles that looks velvety light and smooth (and did I mention tofu free)!







Mansi of Fun and Food brought, in my opinion, a truly original (and gorgeous) idea on the "molten" theme with her Molten Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Filling.










Deeba who is Passionate About Baking...& beyond made shows us how to make a Chocolate Strawberry Cake which, as she says, is quite the Ultimate Combination.






Annina of Ann's Food gives us this Banana Chocolate Swirl Cake. She suggests that it would be great with a cup of coffee to impress a loved one.

Elle who says her blog is about Feeding My Enthusiasms
said that this Chocolate Turtle Fondue was so goo the first time around she has brought it back for this event. It looks absolutely decadent. I bet I'll keep bringing this one back too!

Emma, The Chef and The Photographer joins in the fun with her Peanut Butter Chocolate Mousse Torte which she says makes for a sweet ending. Seriously? I'll just skip the meal and take the whole torte please! Chocolate. And. Peanut Butter. Seriously. 'Nuff said.

Melissa, creator of The Mighty Muffin joins us for her very first event with this really fun and tasty looking Double Chocolate Peanut Brittle.

THE CONTENDERS

--- TOP THREE FOR VOTING!

Please choose your favorite from these top three. They were chosen for really making their creations look like works of art as well as look delicious. The other reason is because they got really creative working with the chocolate in its pure form. Not easy, but the results here are simply beautiful.

To vote just post a comment with your favorite. Voting will end on February 16th and I will post the winner who will "host" the next event!

Arfi, the author and culinary creator at HomeMadeS, brings us a beautiful creation suitable for decorating anything you want... cakes, mousse, my fireplace mantle (ok, the last is just me being obsessive - but seriously). Chocolate Lace. Pretty much speaks for itself.

African Vanielje of Vanielje Kitchen made some true edible art for all of us to wonder at with her Wildberry Dark Chocolate Mousse in a Bitter Chocolate Bramble Cage which are truly spectacular! I can't wait to impress with these beauties!

Linda is true to her blog's name and helps us all to make life sweeter! by teaching us how she made this Chocolate ganache covered orange sponge cakewith planetary chocolate decoration. Seriously cool, huh?!

Please remember to vote for your favorite and check back on the 16th to see who wins and gets to choose the theme for the next event!

Holly

Art You Eat

Art You Eat - First Event - Chocolate!

Art You Eat #1 - Chocolate
Event Date: January 17, 2008 5:00 pm MST to February 5, 2008 5:00 pm MST
DEADLINE EXTENDED to FEBRUARY 11, 2008!

As this new year gets rolling I thought it would be fun to start a new event to help us all enjoy the beauty as well as the tastes and textures of different foods. Join in the fun and let's make 2008 the most beautiful and brilliant year yet!

The Idea: We all want our creations to look as wonderful as they taste and there are tons of absolutely gorgeous examples out there of the amazing creations that all you beautiful bloggers create. Why not hold an event that shares the decorating and presentation tips as well as the food? After all, if someone is going to try to recreate your masterpiece, shouldn't it look spectacular too?

Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus defines artistry as a noun that means "creativity". What I really love are the synonyms though: ability, accomplishment, art, brilliance, craftsmanship, creativity, finesse, flair, genius, mastery, proficiency, style, talent, taste, touch, virtuosity, workmanship. (Source: Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1) Copyright © 2008 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.)

That is exactly what I want to see from you all!

The Plan: Each month we will hold an event that will focus on a different kind of decorating theme, medium, idea, holiday, etc. That way we can all go for variations on a similar theme for that month and end up with lots of ideas to choose from! It should be fun to see all the variations we come up with.

You can post something you love that you created before, as long as you repost with instructions on how you made it look beautiful. Ideas should range from the sublimely simple to the extravagent. I've created a new blog where the winning ideas will be archived, as well as links to all posts each month.

The Rules: For this first round I will host the event and choose my three favorites according to to originality/creativity (the "wow" factor) as well as the ease of understanding the instructions on how to recreate (including the recipe for the dish). Though the entires won't all be recreated, if we can't understand the instructions, then that won't help anyone. I am hoping for entries from around the world, but please post in English. That will be taken into consideration when judging, especially if English isn't your first language!

Entry posts must site any sources, special equipment, techniques, supplies, and recipes that were used. Because writing the how to could take some time, entries can be something you have posted before as long as you repost with instructions on how you made it look that way. Pictures throughout the process are helpful, but there must at least be a photo of the finished product. Want to submit video of the process? Great!

The only requirement is that the "theme" be followed. How it is followed is up to you. It can be an ingredient, plating, decoration, whatever - as long as you use it.
Once the favorites are chosen, I will post a poll on the "Art You Eat" site. Voting will last for 3 days after the roundup is posted (in this case since all entries must be submitted and posted by Feb 5th. I will create the roundup and the poll, and barring any disasters, polling will start a couple of days later. The voting end date will be on the site with the 3 finalists.

Whichever entry wins gets to "host" the next event - in this case, that means they get to choose the theme (ingredient, holiday, or technique to be featured) and join me in choosing the finalists to place in the poll. I will post the roundup on the "Art You Eat" site with a special message on the theme from the "host" and featuring their entry for the theme. This may be a little different than normal, but this way all of these great ideas and their links end up being in one place and linked to your site. That way we all have easy access to links for great ideas on how to make all our culinary creations look spectacular.

So... ON TO THE EVENT!! Since Valentine's Day is almost here - and because it is what it is - I am choosing CHOCOLATE to kick this off with. This means chocolate in any type, but not cocoa. I want to see what you can do with the stuff you melt, or chop, or curl, or mould, or whatever! You can use cocoa too if you want, but there must still be chocolate involved (and this can include white chocolate... even if it isn't really chocolate)! Only one entry per person please. If you don't have a blog, just email me the information and it will still be included in the roundup.

Please make sure that you include the subject/tag "Art You Eat #1 - Chocolate" into your post and a link to the site: http://www.artyoueat.squarespace.com/ (I am working on moving this site to blogger instead - just FYI).

Here are the details for the entry. Please join me in this! I think it could be great, and I hope I'm not alone in wanting to know how you wonderful bloggers make things look so phenomenal!

SEND ALL ENTRIES TO:
artyoueat AT gmail DOT com
INCLUDE (please cut and paste into your email):
NAME:
BLOG NAME:
BLOG URL:
POST URL:
POST TITLE:
CREATION TITLE & DESCRIPTION (as in name what you did or made- i.e., curling chocolate):
Attach your favorite photo to be used in the roundup and let us know if there is video available at your site (for bloggers - emailers can email video directly to be posted on the site).

IF YOU WIN, WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE THE THEME TO BE (and it doesn't have to be something you are great at! In fact, it should be something you want to really know more about!)
I hope you will join in the fun and make some art we can all eat!