Aranya Mingkwan Traditional Thai Fruit Carving Teacher - Summer Course 2004 Thai Basil Restaurant 208 Town & Country Village Sunnyvale, CA 94086 (408) 774-0244

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1. Aranya levels one end and carves the leaves before turning the melon over to work on flower design.

2. She starts the flower by marking only the center of each petal of the first layer.

3. She gently makes undulating cuts at  the petal edges to create this delicate design.

4. She adds a galangal flower design between leaves. All the work is completed within 30 minutes.

Aranya Mingkwan is an accomplished carver studied under Professor Sangaroon Chuawongboon, Head of the General Home Economics Program, Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, Bangkok. Aranya is a visiting teacher at the Thai Basil Restaurant School in Sunnyvale.         Waralee Winijchai, also from Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, teaches Thai desserts.      They paid a visit at Wat Buddhapradeep in San Bruno on June 26, 2004. Aranya graciously demonstrated her craft to the temple's "Carving Club."      Aranya has traveled to demonstrate Thai Fruit Carving in many countries around the world. She spent three months in Finland, carving six hours a day, everyday. She got tired of sitting in one place for a long time. But as long as she had a good, sharp knife, she could happily create dozens of beautiful flowers from fruit or vegetables with amazing speed.

Main Fruit and Vegetable Carving

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