#ProcessPigs, Food Sculpture

This may be the cutest #ProcessPig yet! The kids and I went for a bike ride to the library on a very nice day this week.  We were hot upon our return and what is better on a hot summer day than watermelon.  You know me, I couldn't just cut this and eat it, it had to be an art project.  Meet Phil.  My son came up with that name because we later 'phil-ed' the watermelon up with jello and fruit. Her is the process of making the pig Phil.

We bought a watermelon and cut the upper portion off the top.

Then we used something called a melon baller to take out all the watermelon.  This process took a long time but it was a tasty job.  We took turns scooping and eating.

I cut a hole in the face of the pig.  This is going to become the snout. I flipped the portion that I cut out so that the pink side was out.  Then I put the two nostrils in for the pig nose.  We placed some toothpicks in the melon to help secure the nose.

The next I did the ears.  I carved them out of the part of the rhine that I cut so that we could scoop the melon out.  Small square notches were cut out of the mellon and the ear was carved so it could be placed right into the space. 

A toothpick was used to secure the ear in place so they would not fall out.

Now, the eyes.  Again I used the rhine from the top of the pig and a melon baller.  There was a natural pink on a portion of the eye so we used that for the eyelid.  

The eyes were placed on the pig using toothpicks.  I placed them into the rhine from inside the pig. We found that using one toothpick allowed the eyeball to rotate and it wasn't very secure, two prevented this issue.

 A toothpick and blueberry completed the face of Phil.

Now for Phil's back end... 

Our pig had part of the vine left on it. My daughter curled it around the melon baller to give it more of a curve.  Her idea...

The kids and I decided to make jello to go into the pig.  We only had raspberry so we gave that a try.

I'm glad we had Phil in the sink when we were 'Phil-ing' him up because he started leaking out of his mouth.

Then we put Phil to bed for the night in the fridge.  He had a 'blanket' so that he would tip back and not spill any more out of his mouth.  It took longer then it usually does to set. 

Now we eat!  Phil was served to our friends.  The review on the jello was mixed.  I don't think watermelon and raspberries really go together that well.  Overall, it was a fun process and now Phil will go into the compost pile!