Ribs and a Fabergé Watermelon

How’s this for a fancy way to serve your fruit?? The watermelon was an after school project that is now destined to be tomorrow’s grade 1 snack. Think the class will be surprised when W shows up with a basketload of watermelon, carved into a Fabergé egg?

Perhaps because we were going to see OVO tonight we had eggs on the brain. But the boys wanted to carve a watermelon (remember the T-rex? and the shark?) and when my mom popped by for dinner, she started drawing whimsical designs on the outside of the watermelon with a washable marker, and then we all sat working at it with small paring knives, as if it were a communal pumpkin or a puzzle.

The cool thing about carving a watermelon like this is that you can add any design you want – swirls and stripes and checkerboards and diamonds – and some can go through to the white part of the rind, other parts can go right through to the pink. No watermelon is wasted, and it looks far fancier – dressed up, even – for a party. I’m thinking when Easter comes around again a watermelon will make a pretty cool giant Easter egg.

Dinner last night was smoked ribs from Jojo’s BBQ – her truck has been broken down and is now getting an extreme makeover, including a new smoker, so she’s been out of the food truck loop half the summer. The half during which Calgarians have been losing their minds over meals on wheels. And so this week she tweeted out that she’d be making home deliveries each dinnertime. (This week only! Although I’m hoping she’ll change her mind.) She brought ribs, and BEANS, and pink pickled onions, and barbecue sauce.

I wanted to make another batch of this Honey Sage Cornbread, but we were out of cornmeal.

Other people who live around us got some barbecue too, and we all saddled up to the table with about a half dozen salads and hummus and my sister’s leftover lasagna from across the street. (A. brought potato salad, made with potatoes dug up from her own back yard. The ones the voles left for her, anyway. Dolled up with fresh mint and olives and topped with crunchy fried yellow lentils. Super yum.)

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27 comments on “Ribs and a Fabergé Watermelon

  1. Jan @ Family Bites
    September 8, 2011 at 7:53 am

    That watermelon is brilliant. I can only imagine what you guys will do with a pumpkin!

  2. Erica B.
    September 8, 2011 at 8:09 am

    Any houses for sale on your street? 😉

  3. Heidi M
    September 8, 2011 at 8:09 am

    Exquisite Faberge!
    Julie, your food photography continues to astound me.
    I can manage to photograph anything raw or fruit or veg – but anything cooked or baked? forget it!
    Can you give us some tips on food photography?
    Heidi

  4. Jaya
    September 8, 2011 at 9:13 am

    Wow, talk about putting the “fab” in faberge!

  5. CathyH
    September 8, 2011 at 11:54 am

    Beautiful! Love that your mom has her cell phone nearby…….

  6. Fareen
    September 8, 2011 at 1:02 pm

    That watermelon is pretty spectacular!

  7. Sue. D
    September 8, 2011 at 1:23 pm

    Good grief your Mom is brilliant! WOW.

  8. Annaliese
    September 8, 2011 at 6:11 pm

    After you carve the outside, how do you eat/cut the watermelon into pieces?

  9. JulieVR
    September 8, 2011 at 6:59 pm

    Just hack it up! I often cut watermelon into chunks without the rind anyway – makes it easy for the kids to pick up bite sized pieces and pop them in their mouth!

  10. Words Of Deliciousness
    September 8, 2011 at 8:35 pm

    The watermelon is truly a work of art! It looks like it would have taken a long time to carve.

  11. Elle Marie
    September 8, 2011 at 11:36 pm

    Great piece of art. seems you had fun 🙂 love the photos.

  12. myFudo
    September 9, 2011 at 12:40 am

    The watermelon is wonderful,the photos so nice the dish must be delicious!

  13. SJ
    September 9, 2011 at 7:16 am

    That watermelon is unreal! Well done!

  14. the other Al
    September 9, 2011 at 9:27 am

    I love that your moms Blackberry is sitting right next to her as she carves…

  15. Gerlinde
    September 9, 2011 at 11:50 am

    What a lovely watermelon!

  16. wanda
    September 9, 2011 at 12:19 pm

    The potato looks yum. Any chance of posting the recipe?

  17. Sra
    September 9, 2011 at 1:27 pm

    What an out-of-the-box idea! It’s so pretty! How did the class react? Came over through Tastespotting!

  18. Kendall
    September 9, 2011 at 2:51 pm

    This is beautiful! I can’t wait to try it! Would you recommend the tools from those little pumpkin carving kits to do this, or is a paring knife better?

  19. culinaryneophyte
    September 9, 2011 at 9:29 pm

    Beautiful!!

  20. Vivian
    September 11, 2011 at 12:20 pm

    Honey Sage Cornbread…so simple…so elegant! That watermelon “egg” is a wonder. I once made a “handled” basket with incised designs. Melons are so great to work with. Wonder if one could use a cantaloupe. Bless your Mom…she shows such strength (literal and figurative)in her arms and hands.

  21. Bonnie White
    September 12, 2011 at 6:14 pm

    Do you have the recipe for the potato salad. It does look delicious. And that Fabrege Petique is absolutely ingenious.

  22. Uncle Doug
    September 13, 2011 at 9:42 am

    The Faberge watermelon is exquisite. Please send a copy to the Faberge company if it still exists, or post on You Tube. I’d love a photo.

  23. Dawn Kilgore
    June 24, 2013 at 2:58 pm

    Would you mind if your watermelon design would be posted on pinterest. How wonderful!!

  24. Julie
    June 24, 2013 at 7:34 pm

    Of course – thank you!

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